Once

Chapter 8

I shake my head to ensure I heard him right. I do my best to avoid eye contact with him for as long as possible. When I look up, Luke is staring directly into my eyes.

"Please say something so I don't look pathetic" he begs me.

"Right...You said you thought that Jocelynn was the only girl you were capable of loving. So, where does that leave me?" I ask him, avoiding his eyes.

"Yes, I know. Please don't laugh when I say this. I'm going to sound awkward and shit because, if you haven't noticed, I never talk about my feelings" he says, showing disgust at the word 'feelings'. "There's something about you Kylie that makes me believe I can learn to love again." he finishes.

"Why me though?"

"I have no idea. it's the weirdest thing. I've known you for years, but never taking much notice to you. Until now that is" he shrugs. "But um, anyways, let's head back."

"Yeah, good idea." I say quietly. I missed all but one classes today, but spending time getting to know and appreciate Luke more made it all totally worth it.

Luke drops me off back at my dorm and I am thankful to see that it is empty, yet again. I decide to spend my time with a pen, paper, and my guitar. I got into music and songwriting after all of the pain and drama I experienced my freshman year of high school.

I lost several people that I loved dearly that year, as well as struggled with emotions and much more. Music became my escape, and I had once thought that I wanted to pursue a career in it. But those plans changed after the loss of my brother, James.

I play some new pieces that I have been working on, before becoming exhausted and put away my guitar so I can go to sleep.

The rest of the week flew by, and Friday came in the blink if an eye. As I am walking back to the dorms after my last class of the day, I nearly run into Luke.

"Sorry!" I say as his phone nearly tumbles to the ground.

"Kylie Wright, just the woman I wanted to see!"

What?

"You see, I opened up to you the other day. I gave you my whole back story, but I still know next to nothing about you. So let's hangout. Talk a little" he urges me.

"Hangout like...now?" I ask, a but confused.

"Yeah" he says, as if it wasn't obvious before.

"Alright, where to?" I ask him.

"You choose." he says.

I decide to take us to the Faneuil Hall Marketplace, so we can walk while I tell him about my twisted life.

Luke walks next to me and stares, waiting for me to tell him about my life, as he did to me just a few days earlier.

"Well...where to begin?" I say, more to myself than to Luke. "Um, freshman year was the worst year of my life no doubt about that" I say, trying to smile through the pain that the telling of this story is about to cause me.

Luke looks at me, with a slight sense of worry.

"Well, for starters. I lost my older brother James in early October of that year. I couldn't even tell you my last memory with him, because I never knew that moment with him would be my last. He was a Junior in high school at the time, you may not remember him because he went to a private school. Anyways, everyone was busy that night. I went to a football game, my parents had a dinner party to go to, and James had a school dance." I say, trying to fight back the tears that threaten my eyes.

"I got a call from my mom after the game, when I was grabbing a bite to eat with my friends. Worry was clear in her voice but when I asked her what was wrong, she didn't tell me. I called James's best friend, Tyler, to see if he knew what happened. Before the dance, my brother decided that it was a good idea to do a few shots, however, it was much more than just a few. James ended up blacking out and getting rushed to the hospital. At around 2 AM that night, my dad came home to take me to the hospital to say my goodbyes to James. He passed away a few hours later with a BAC of .38" I said, a few tears have since streamed down my face, but my makeup is still in tact, thankfully.

Luke stares at me and stays silent for a minute. "So, that's why you don't drink?" he questions.

"Yes. And that's why I'm here too." I say.

"What do you mean by 'here'?"

"Well, after James died, I vowed to him that I would finish out his dreams for him. He wants to become a best-selling author. He wrote a chapter book with 50 chapters when he was ten. he was so talented. So I decided I would do just that for him. I read every note he had taken and every draft of a possible book idea he had." I say.

"So... what if he were here? What would you be doing instead?"

"Well, um, I'm really into music and songwriting. And I mean songwriting is a form of literature, I guess, so it's not too far away from what I had originally wanted to do" I shrug.

"That's stupid, I'm sorry but it is. I'm sure your brother would've wanted to see you live out your own dream instead" he shakes his head. I think about his words for a minute and choose not to retaliate.

"So, anyways, there's more. Later that year, in February, my dad, mom and I went to go visit our family in Buffalo. There was a ton of snow, and obviously my dad wasn't used to driving on the snowy roads. We got into an accident. I walked away with stitches on my leg and a broken wrist. My mom with a concussion, and my dad...dead" I say, tears threaten and I welcome them. I haven't talked about that day in so long.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Kylie. I-I had no idea you had to deal with that." he looks at me, face full of curiosity. "How is it that you went through so much and are so fucking strong, then there's me, who went through nothing but a major heartbreak, and I'm so fucked up?"

"Well that's not even all, but the rest if it will have to be save for another time. One more tear and my makeup will be running down my face" I laugh. "And for the record, you're not fucked up" I do my best and smile at him and he returns it.

"Anyways, I better go, see you later" I say and begin to walk away.

"Wait! Party tomorrow. Same place. Be there?" he asks.

The last thing I wanna do is go to a party. But, however, if it means I'll see Luke again..."I'm in!" I blurt before my sub-conscious can creep in, listing all the reasons I shouldn't go.

"Great, see you then" he smiles and walks away.

(Hi guys! 500 reads I know it's not really a lot but it is to me so thank you! I'm Erin! so I imagine Kylie as Maia Mitchell from The Fosters and Teen Beach Movie hahaha. And yes that was an Amnesia reference earlier ;) I haven't really decided who Megan is yet but if you picture her as some celeb just let me know! :) thank youuuu!)