This Romantic Novel [√]

Chapter 12: Pt2 Too Quickly

Turning to Kane (who I heard chuckle) made me look at him with a confused look, "Did I say something wrong?" I said to him, hoping that he didn't.

However, that only made me chuckle more as he stared at me with a sincere smile.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that but, do you always think that way during vacations,?" He questioned curiously.

I opened my mouth to say something when James beat me to it.

"Of course she thinks like that, there are times when I vacationed with her to see her ending up staying in her room all day to write scenes," James sighed sadly while poking my tongue.

"Don't judge me," I added before taking a sip of the stew in my bowl.

Soon enough, Penelope and Marcus chuckled together.

"It's amazing that after all these years, you still are friends with one another," Marcus said to all of us.

We all faced Marcus and Penelope.

"I mean, why wouldn't we,?" James said, "Though we may not talk that much to each other during our past, the only thing that matters is us being friends and talking now," James added.

"That's right," Amanda smiled gleamingly.

"Uh, let's not forget that I only met you when I was working with Jade," Lance nervously said to James

"And if Jade didn't introduce you to James then you wouldn't have met the rest of us," Andrew said in relief.

Lance smiled as he took a sip of beer from a glass with ice floating on the mere surface. "But I'm kind of curious as to what type of person you were in high school," Lance spoke out loud.

"Well, that was a no brainer," James joked, taking a sip of wine from his wine glass, "I've been the same as always, while Jade was usually quiet and reserved from the rest of the class," James started.

"Was not," I denied it, however in some sort of way, felt it was so true.

"Don't deny it," Amanda says cheekily, "I remember the time when the teacher called you out to answer a question - you began freaking out," Amanda recalled.

And so I allowed my cheeks to be painted with pink - feeling my skin burning in embarrassment. "It wasn't my fault that I didn't know the answer, I wasn't even paying attention," I defended, covering my cheeks with my hands.

"Aww, that must have been so cute," I hear Lance saying as I felt him patting my head like a dog.

Hearing those words coming out of his mouth made my cheeks warmer, growing hotter by the second - while his further actions allowed my heart to race faster. My heart never raced like this before with him (even when he would hug me tightly and tell me that I'm beautiful) but now, his statement and action today gave me this warm feeling - as if my own heart was falling for him. Though it may be that case, the only person that would make my heart beat even faster than Lance would be-

"It was cute"

Everyone's action stopped as we all stared at the figure that said that - and it was no other than Luke Parker himself. I observe his features as I see his eyes staring at his can beer, whilst his index finger slowly traces the rim of the beer can.

"What,?" I hear Lance comment quietly, while I can imagine James smirking at Luke's comment.

"How did you know about that, were you observing her during high school?" James teased.

"No, not really," He answered with his eyes averting to me, seeing hurt in my eyes - as my body slightly trembled by his response to being uninterested towards me. "However, there was a point where I seemed to have noticed her more and more," He added.

"Ooo, do tell," James snickered, thinking how this was going to end up.

"Yes please," Penelope encouraged Luke as I knew both of them were thinking of the same idea.

"What I think will stay in my head," Luke answered, placing his index finger in front of his lips, "It will always be kept a secret," He said, causing groans from everyone - everyone except Amanda.

I took the courage to break away the eye contact; looking at Amanda to see she was looking down on the table as her mouth was closed. I also noticed her knuckles turning white, observing her fist which tightened more like she wanted blood to spill. I too also felt Lance become tense after Luke's statement, questioning myself - why would he?.

"You're no fun," James took a big gulp of beer into his mouth. Penelope just took a small sip of her wine.

~~~

After all that fun at lunchtime talking and reminiscing, we all left our separate ways as Marcus and Penelope left to their rooms. Lance went with James to the market to buy some meat and drinks for tonight while Kane and Amanda were outside admiring the view with Luke. I didn't know where he went, however, I assumed that he was in his room sleeping. Meanwhile, I was in the kitchen, sitting on the kitchen bench with my laptop and book (with line paper in front of me) thinking of what I should write next. My arms were crossed in front of my chest as I stared at the laptop once again; to the word that was written in bold letters 'LOVE'. Observing the word even longer has caused me to sigh once again - rubbing my eyes from being tired.

I was supposed to sleep, however, thinking about writing my novel seemed to be too important right now (since I didn't have the motivation to write it) plus, once I am done with this draft, I can go and relax once more."I just hope that I will be able to write something," I thought out loud.

"I thought you were supposed to be vacationing,?" I hear Luke's voice behind.

Not knowing he was there, I jumped by the sound of his voice; shifting around to see him leaning against the wall, staring at me. With my heart calming down, I took a deep breath - turning back around to my computer and book.

"Can you not do that right now," I said harshly, trying to focus.

However, it didn't seem like he followed my instructions, as I heard him next walking slowly towards me - until I could see him next to me in the corner of my eye. He was quiet for a moment but I heard him sigh.

"I don't know how long I can keep this up," He said softly.

This was the part where I pretended to play dumb for a moment as I replied: "What on earth do you mean?" with this sarcastic tone.

I hear another sigh coming from his mouth.

"You know what I meant," He mumbles.

"Sorry no," I continued, pretending to type on my laptop when we both know that all I was typing was random letters that can be seen with the red-underlined.

"It's clear that you know what I am talking about. You're just typing random letters just to prevent the tension from rising even more," Luke said, becoming frustrated.

I too - was also becoming frustrated that I shut my laptop (and my book) before jumping off the stool that I was sitting in to stand in front of Luke - who was staring at me.

"What do you want me to talk about? The night before?" I questioned.

"Yes," Luke answered, "Yes," He repeated.

"What do you want me to say?" I asked again, trying to control myself to not scream so loud.

"That I'm not the only one that feels the same way" He breathed desperately.