Something Special

Chapter 7

We got to Lucas's party and my jaw dropped. It looked like the entire school was there. I had no idea Lucas was so popular, but then again freshman year he was on the varsity football team. He ended up being one of the youngest quarterbacks to play varsity in the whole county. So, I guess, it does kind of make sense that everyone knew him.

Claire and Ryan were in just as much "awe" as I was. I turned to see Kyle's reaction, but he was gone. I turned in, nearly, a full circle before I saw him. He was walking towards the alcohol table. He normally hated it when anyone would drink and now he was participating. Something was definitely up with him.

"Hey, I'm going to talk to Kyle. I'll catch up with you guys in a little bit." I said as I walked away.

"Okay. Just call me." Claire's voice trailed behind me.

When I caught up with Kyle, it looked like he was already half-way done with the beer in his hand. When our eyes met he offered me a drink. "No thanks. You know I don't drink." I said blandly.

"Fine. More for me." he shrugged.

"Is something wrong?" He seemed really distracted. He wouldn't even look me in the eye.

"No. I worked hard all week and I just want to relax."

"Okay. Just take it slow, for me?"

"Okay babe. I see Josh over there. I'm going to go say hi." he said.

"I'm going to go find Claire and Ryan. Have fun." Before I got the rest of my sentence out he was walking away. "Okay then."

I was on my own at this big party. There were tons of people, but there I was by myself. I started looking for Claire and Ryan. This was the first time I had been to Lucas's dad's house since the divorce. They sold the house in my neighborhood and his dad bought this huge place. My dad had told me it had 6 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms. I never could figure out why he bought a house with so much room in it, it had just been him for the last few years.

As I was walking through the house I noticed all of the pictures of Lucas as a little kid. I had forgotten how cute he was. Then I saw the picture hanging beside the stairs and walked over so I could get a closer look. It was Lucas and a little girl. They couldn't have been any older than six years old. As I studied the picture my jaw dropped. The little girl was me. I remembered the Minnie Mouse shirt. The picture was taken at the playground our dads used to take us to when we were little. Lucas used to chase me around the tire swing and we would always see who could swing the highest.

"That's my favorite picture." a voice from behind me said.

I whipped around to see Lucas standing there. "Gosh, you scared me. Is that really us?" I asked.

"Yep. Sure is."

"Wow, it's so hard to believe we were ever that little." I said.

"I know." He let out a half-hearted laugh. "Would you like to see the rest of the house?"

"Oh..um.." I said while searching the crowd for Claire, Ryan, and Kyle.

"Come on. Please?" He stuck out his bottom lip and began to pout.

"Okay fine." I said laughing and rolling my eyes at him.

"Awesome!" He smiled and started heading up the stairs. We walked up the big, winding staircase. When we got to the top, there was a long hallway with a lot of doors. "This is dad's office." He said opening the first door and walking in. I followed behind him.

"Whoa." We had stepped into a huge room. It had a desk, a couch, and so many bookshelves. There were hundreds of books. I started walking around and skimming the titles on the shelves. I remembered when I would come over to hang out with Lucas, his dad always had a new book he wanted to show me. We both loved reading. His dad was like another dad to me. I hated how things had turned out between his parents. His dad had always been such a happy and loving man. I had not seen him in a long time, but my dad told me that he had been very depressed.

"I thought you might like this room." He smiled.

"I could get lost in here." I smiled, while picking up a copy of To Kill A Mockingbird and flipping through the pages.

"I sit here and think sometimes. It's nice and quiet."

"Isn't the whole house quiet? It's huge for just two people." I stated.

"Yeah, I think he bought it in an attempt to get mom to come back."

"The divorce was tough on him, wasn't it?" I looked up to see the expression on Lucas's face change from happy to pained.

"You have no idea." he sighed. "He didn't want to get a divorce, but he knew mom wasn't happy anymore. She was out almost every night. She said she was working late, but we both knew she just didn't want to come home.  They hardly ever spoke and when they did, they fought. It was almost like they were already divorced."

"I'm so sorry Lucas. I know it must have been so hard for you." I frowned.

"Yeah. It's been a rough three years. I haven't had much of a support system since I left."

"You didn't have to leave." I said staring at the ground.

"My dad asked me to look after my mom. I couldn't tell him no." He said while taking a few steps towards me. I could smell his cologne. It smelled so familiar and so comfortable. My heart started racing faster with each step he took towards me.

"He shouldn't have put that kind of pressure on you. You had a life here." My head started spinning and I was letting out all of these thoughts and emotions I hadn't let out since that night. "You had Claire and Ryan. You had football. You had..."

"You?" He cut me off.

"I didn't say that." My eyes darted from his eyes to the floor. I felt like I was starting to panic.

He cupped my chin and pulled my gaze back up to his eyes. "But you wanted to."

"Yes." I gasped.

He began to lean towards me. My heart felt like it was going to explode. I had so many thoughts and emotions running through my head all at once. His lips were so close to mine. I could feel his breath. I wondered if his heart was beating as fast as mine was.