The Bartender and The Injured

Chapter Seven: Luke

Chapter Seven:

Luke

I couldn't take seeing her cry like that. Maybe I was still drunk. But I just felt all those old feelings of an innocent fifth grader rush at me again. Yeah, I was still completely wasted.

"Kay, it's okay, I promise. That's why I volunteer. I try to help them get through the chemo and think about all that Alex had to go through as a baby."

That was my other problem. Why had I even told her in the first place? Something about her silence unnerved me. I wanted to tell her. Something made me want to share  my story with her. I wanted her to know.

I just didn't know why.

"S-sorry," she whispered. Her lips were pressed against my chest again and holy shit, it felt like she wanted to kiss me.

And I reallllllly wanted to kiss her back.

"Kay," I said serious. I pulled her face up with a finger to her chin to make her look at me. Her big chocolate eyes stared back at me. "I can't say I'm over it, because that'll never happen, but at the same time, you learn. I've learned to live with it and try to make other kids' lives better when I didn't know how to for Alex."

She frowned and I wondered what I'd said wrong. "Luke you were a child. Not even your parents must've known what to do. You can't say that you didn't try to help. It wasn't your fault."

And I knew that. But I still couldn't help but feel some guilt, knowing that there had to have been something I could have done to save him.

A single tear fell free, total movie moment style, and Kay kissed it away. The moment she laid her head back onto my arm, I knew that this wasn't just going to be some weekend thing. No such thing as a fling anymore.

I had to know more about her. She seemed so genuine and innocent. I'd told her about my life, now I wanted to know about hers.

"Thanks, Kaylee." There was quiet again. I tried to make my voice sound less depressing and added, "So now you know."

"Now I know."

"And I bet you wish you hadn't asked." I hadn't meant to upset her when I said it but I could tell it had.

In a second, I felt her stiffen. "No. I'm glad you told me. I wanted to know. I'm just..."

I looked down at her and realized she was blushing. Why was she blushing?

"Yeah?" I prompted.

She pushed herself off me this time, and I was shocked by how much I missed her warmness and weight on me. She sat up, one leg under her while she rested her chin on her left knee. Her hair was up in a messy bun that looked sexy as hell.

"Nothing, Luke."

Yeah, right! "C'mon Kaylee, tell me." I sat up so we were in the same position.

"I said, nothing."

In another second, she had pushed the covers away from her body and rushed out of the room.