cast l.h

week eight part four

I made the last adjustments of the decorations: pouring fake eyeballs inside each wine glass, placing fresh dry ice in containers of water to create fake fog, and filling elegant gift bags with silly halloween trinkets.

¨Izzy!¨ Shyla shouts from the kitchen. All day she has been on edge, in fear of not having a successful party. We set the house decorations to revolve around a murder house theme, with creepy music playing in the back room, and surprises at every turn.

I saunter slowly to the kitchen to find my disgruntled Aunt, pacing in front of the oven, awaiting a crispy brown chicken to finish cooking. ¨You have to taste everything and make sure it is good!¨ She says while motioning towards the array of halloween themed meal courses.

I laugh, ¨Why didn't you just hire a caterer?¨

She gasps, like I've insulted every bone in her body. ¨A southern woman NEVER hires a cook for her own party!¨

I smirk, trying to hold back a laugh. I can't remember when my mother DID NOT hire a caterer for her various events. I look at the dishes, they all smell delicious and my stomach urges to scarf every last piece up.

I grab a fork and try the platters, half way through I hear footsteps enter the room, already knowing it to be Luke. I slow my previously rapid chewing and wipe my face as Shyla and him greet each other. With each chew of pumpkin pie I contemplate the state of relations him and I are in.

Does last night mean we are friends again? Or has nothing changed?

I turn away from the rows of food on the island counter and towards them. I smile with my mouth closed, due to the large amount of food remaining.

When I make eye contact, Luke looks down. My heart drops. Just as I'm about to conclude that he still hates my guts, he looks back up into my eyes and pulls his lip ring between his teeth and shyly grins.

I feel a pang of contrite, like I've done something horrible, allowing him to take care of me in a disgustingly ashamed state. I feel even more pentinence that he made me feel as if the near rape occurrence didn't even happen and that everything was alright.

No one speaks until my aunt decides to shoo the both of us out of the room, going on about how we needed to put our costumes on already. Just before I turn the corner, I find his gaze again, warm and forgiving.

This boy will be the death of me.

I dig through my clean clothes and full closet to find leather leggings, a black off the shoulder crop top, and a black waist belt. I pull low heeled red pumps out of their box. Luckily I had found them at a thrift store for $8 when I was searching for knick knacks to put in the suite rooms.

I apply deep red lipstick and fluff my curled hair in front of the mirror when I hear the door slowly open. Luya's head peeks through with a big smile plastered on it, as usual.

"How are you feeling?" She asks as she drops her things on the ground and plops on my unmade bed.

Quick flashbacks of hazy memories unfold in my mind, but I've grown accustomed to shoving those kinds of this far far away. I shrug, "Better, thanks for taking me home."

"Oh it was no problem, I brought your car back."

"How are you gonna get back to the dorms, are you staying the night? You could be our first guest."

She laughs, "Maybe another time. Michael and me drove separate so we could return it!" Even the smallest mention of him makes her turn red and all happy, its adorable.

I nod and slip on my shoes only now noticing my friend looks like she has just fallen out of a disney movie, the resemblance of her to Pocahontas is uncanny. "You look great!" I tell her as I sit on my vanity chair facing the bed.

She props herself up, "Thank you!"

"So where is John Smith, huh?" I joke.

"With Danny of course, he wanted to share the good news," She jokes.

"He's not Danny, he would never come up with something like that! He's probably like pikachu, or mario. And what good news?" I say laughing.

"Oh he didn't have to come up with something like that, Michael told him you wanted him to be Danny." She mumbles covering her face with a pillow.

My eyes widen, "Luya!" but I can't help a spur of laughter pour out of my mouth.

"Sorry sorry,we just thought it'd be funny."

I roll my eyes.

"Oh the good news! Michael is moving here, he got into the arts school."

That's awesome for them, now they can constantly drool over one another and be all cute. Plus, I can already tell the bromance between Luke and Michael has begun.

Luke's POV

"You sure she wanted to do a pair costume? I was just planning on going as Mario." I ask pulling out the leather jacket Michael had brought me.

"Oh for sure man, she tells Luya everything."

I raise my eyebrow wondering what else he might know. Last night was weird, definitely weird. But I guess a good kind because now I don't have to keep acting so cold to Izzy anymore, I hated it.

I can't fool myself though, it still hurts how she said I was nothing to her. It always seems that whenever I care for someone they fall into a mindset that I'm too delicate to handle real life pain.

I slip on the leather coat over the white v-neck I have on. I turn towards the mirror to reveal a goofy version of myself. I chuckle and turn towards Michael, who is captivated by the game he's playing.

"Doesn't Danny have black hair?" I ask, he turns the game on pause and peers over at me.

"Idk man, I've never seen Grease before. But I know John Travolta played him, so probably." He shrugs, still scanning my appearance.

"Oh yeah."

"If you're really so concerned about looking exactly like him, I vote you dye your hair black. I've got talent in dying." He says motioning to his bright red hair.

"I don't know man," I actually contemplate his suggestion for a few seconds, but wuss out in the end. He shrugs and returns to his game. I walk over to the couch and sit next to him, watching him kill every last electronic enemy. "You're pretty good at this huh?"

His eyes stay fixed on the screen but responds, "Yeah, there's not a lot to do when your best friend lives states away." He says talking about Luya.

I don't respond, not knowing the feelings of ever being in love with your best friend, or even having a best friend for a matter of fact. I can see Michael being a good friend though. "I wish you lived here dude." I complain.

"I do." He smirks.

"Wait what?" I ask with caution of being tricked.

"Yeah I applied to an art school here in Savannah and I found out I can start next semester. Luya and I plan on looking for apartments next week." His voice radiates in excitement.

Well this is perfect, "Awesome bro."

Maybe now I'll have a good friend here, and maybe eventually find a girl to be my best friend and the love of my life. Even thinking that way makes me realize how silly I am, I'm only 18.

Michael and Luya are a rare case of true love at this age, they seem to be incredibly in love. Some part of me wants what they have, okay a big part. But I always get hurt, no matter what. But what if I didn't, what if I let someone in? It's a big risk. A risk probably worth it in the end.

Without control, an image of Izzy laying in my arms from last night, asleep and innocent, pops up in my head. Reluctantly I allow the thought to wander... Maybe its her beauty, maybe its her need to always have the last word, maybe its the way she acts so tough yet so clearly wants to be taken care of, no matter the reason... I can't help but thinking maybe I'm just as lucky as Michael.

Maybe I've found the one.

And if I'm lucky maybe the one will find me too.