The Town of Last Haven: A Zombie Novel

Part 11

Julia shut the bedroom door behind her as Luke followed her downstairs to the ground floor. And when Julia was certain that her siblings weren't watching her, she ducked into the kitchen with Luke by her side.

"I'm okay," Julia said quietly, then looked up at Luke's face. He was so handsome--even now. Even with panic written all over his face.

"I can see you're alright." Luke brushed a hand through his hair before looking to the barricaded back door. "Do you want me to leave?"

Before Luke could take a step away from Julia, she grabbed his hand in hers. "No!" she said all too quickly. "I mean, no... No, don't go. I-I don't want you to go." Julia was damning herself as she spoke, but she didn't have the will or strength to care about that. "I'm glad your family is okay... but did you really steal your dad's car to get to me?" she asked, and Luke's silence told her yes, he did. "I'm sorry." Julia felt her heart in her throat--Luke was the only one in Julia's small world who could ever do that to her.

"What did you think of our last date?" Luke asked, that smirk on his face telling Julia that things were cool between them on his end.

"You mean, the date where we were with my family on an outing--the one where my sister took a photo of us, then decided to photoshop it to make it black and white and red?"

"Yeah," Luke said. "That one."

Julia looked from Luke's face to the group of photos on the kitchen wall--her mother had a thing for hanging up photos of people who meant something to her and the family, and that was where Julia had hung the photo of herself and Luke...

"It's still there," Julia said with a nod of her head, Luke turning to look at the photo. He smiled, thinking back on the memory.

"I was a real idiot," he said.

"Yeah, you were." Julia smirked. "I still... think about those times we had. You and me... together."

Luke was getting near-dangerously close to Julia. He looked to a small child as if he'd pin Julia against the wall and kiss her hard on the lips.

"See anything?" Trent whispered to Clarise, who shook her head no. When her hand slipped against the dry polish on the banister, she almost tripped, but Trent held her upright. And Julia nor Luke noticed Julia's brother and sister spying on them.

"Ever think about that night?" Luke asked slowly. "That plays in my head... a lot." Julia looked up to Luke with a pinkish blush in her normally pale cheeks. And she offered him the smile he loved so much. "I don't want... anyone else's kiss but yours."

"What are they talking about?" Clarise mouthed to Trent, who shrugged all too much--they were too young to understand even the concept of young love, early love, any kind of romantic love. Can you blame them? Trent was ten and Clarise was eight!

Julia leaned against the wall, hands pinned behind her by her hips. She looked down at her feet, then glanced up at Luke again. "Remember that poetry contest I won before we... broke up?" she asked, and Luke nodded. "I could tell something was going to happen--it did, but... but I knew I'd have a warring heart that wanted what I shouldn't have."

"What?" Luke's brows knitted into one. "Julia, what do you mean? You can be such a riddle to me sometimes... but I love your riddles. It's one of the things I always found intriguing about you."

Julia chewed on the inside of her cheek, staring into her ex-boyfriend's beautifully captivating eyes. "What I wanted was you--for better, for worse, you were the only one I've ever wanted. I didn't care about anything else." Julia stood on her toes, pushing ever so slowly off the wall to be nearer to her Luke.

"I know you're not lying to me, but... but how can you say that when you threatened to push me out the window back there?" Luke glanced to the front of the house, seeing Clarise and Trent's shadows. He chuckled, then slowly pulled himself away from Julia--a hard thing for him to do because all he wanted was to be with Julia again. "It looks like we have two spies amongst us."

"Trent, Clarise, come on out." Julia's face exploded red, but she kept her aura cool as her brother and sister appeared before them. "What can we do for you?" Julia asked with a cross of her arms.

"Are you going to kill him?" Clarise asked, head cocking. "Or do you want us to kill him for you?"

"Warring heart or not, you're not killing my... ex-boyfriend," Julia said, clearing her throat. Julia looked to Luke again--he was so much taller now than he was in the picture on the wall, and it seemed like such a short time ago. Julia said to Luke in French--they studied it together, "I still love you."

Neither Trent nor Clarise knew enough French to know what their sister had said. And if they did figure it out on their own, they would be in shock to find that their sister still loved the one boy who broke her heart--how could she have forgiven him for his betrayal?