Bad Girl's Nerd

Chapter 44: "King Maximus, Has Summoned Your Sorry Asses"

Lia's POV:-

I find Luke sitting cross-legged on the beach, drawing patterns on the sand with a stick. He was talking on the phone.

As I go nearer, I hear him say, "Yeah, that's a better plan."

He looks up at me and mumbles into the phone, "Mom I gotta go. Call you later."

I wait for him to hang up. He stands up, and comes closer to me. My hands were shaking so I clasp them in front of me. 

"Lia-"

"No Luke" I firmly shake my head, stopping him. "Before you break up with me, or start to loathe me, I just want to have one chance at explanation" I take a deep breath to stop my voice from quivering. "I feel, like I deserve that much.. To be honest, I don't know what I deserve. But I know, that you don't deserve to be hurt like that. And Luke, I swear.." Tears had started flowing down in full force as my sentences were starting to break. "..I didn't know he was going to-"

I try to swallow, but my voice was getting choked up. A sob escapes my mouth before I could stop it.

"Hey.. Shh.. It's okay. Lia, calm down" Luke brings out a napkin, and offers me. "Julian just left. He talked to me, and explained what happened. I know, it's not your fault" he rubs my arms. "Jesus, you are trembling" he hugs me, rubbing my back. I lean my head against his chest, weeping in relief. 

"So, you don't hate me?" I ask stepping back, once I recovered. 

"I don't think, I could do that" he smiles softly, placing his hands in his pockets.

"We're good?"

"We're good" he confirms. I breath out easily, wiping my face. Luke was looking back at the sea. 

"Did you know, Max and rest of them knew about us?"

"I think, I was always aware at some level" he mutters. 

"Really?" I feel surprised.

Luke nods, "When you said, Ian made a move on you in the party, I felt more certain. And if I am correct, then that punch in the bus, was Max's indirect warning to me."

"A little heads up, would have been nice" I frown indignantly.

"It was just a theory" he shrugs. "I wasn't sure."

"Did you also know about Julian and Dylan?" 

"Yeah. Although their case is troubling.." Luke sighs. 

"What is it?"

"Ask Julian. In fact, you should talk to Julian.. I don't think I could ever, without punching his face," his tone grows colder. Wisely, I keep quiet. Luke had his hands in his pocket, as he angrily studied the waves. His body was taut, shoulders rigid. It took me a moment to understand, he was still in deep anger.

"Luke, are you alrig-"

"I'm fine" he snaps. I step back startled.

He sighs. "I'm sorry.." he says in a calmer voice, looking at me. "I just can't handle my anger."

"I'm sorry too."

"Why are you sorry?" he kicks a stone towards the water.

"I don't know. But I am," I mumble. Luke steps closer to me, our sides touching. I hold on to his hand. He stays there, not moving, just staring at the water. 

"Something fell," he mutters.

"What?"

"From your pocket" he signals with his eyebrow at the white rectangular box, lying in the sand.