𝐑𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 | 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐬

𝟏𝟒 | 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞

We appeared on the roof of the garage with the sun blaring down on us.

"What are we doing up here?"

I ignored Luke's question. "You know you can talk to me, right?"

"Right," Luke confirmed.

I took a step closer to him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Luke smiled, but his eyes said otherwise.

"Okay," I smiled and crossed my arms, allowing silence to fill the air.

"Well, I am now," Luke eventually admitted, having hated every second of the silence.

"Alright," I sat down and patted the roof tiles next to me. "Let's talk."

"There's not much to talk about," Luke sat next to me. "I went to my parents' house."

"Enough said," I nodded.

"Yeah, it wasn't great," Luke chuckled.

When I noticed Luke had let the silence linger, I turned to face him. I assumed he had started to tear up or was lost in thought, but no, he was looking at me.

"What?" I laughed.

"Nothing," Luke smiled.

"You never let silence take over for more than two seconds," I countered. "What is it?"

"You've got a freckle on your nose."

"So?" I laughed at the random observation.

"Nothing," Luke grinned, his cheeks gone a light shade of pink. "It's cute."

I felt my entire face go red. Luke looked at me again, the silence wavering.

"Did I just make you blush, Ruth Sinclair?"

"No," I covered my face.

"Then why did your cheeks go red?"

"I'm embarrassed," I turned to humour. "I thought my nose freckle was a secret, but I guess it's out there for everyone to see."

Luke pursed his lips and shook his head as he looked away. "You are one extravagant liar."

"It's a very faint freckle."

"It is pretty faint."

"It would take quite a lot of staring for someone to notice it, don't you think?"

It was my turn to make Luke blush.

"Did I just make you blush, Luke Patterson?"

"Maybe."

Luke disappeared before I could take in the victory.

———

When I arrived in Julie's room, Alex was looking around the dresser, Luke was snooping around the shelves and Reggie was lying on her bed.

"This is a whole other level of wrong," I sighed as I flopped onto the bed next to Reggie.

"It's not wrong," Reggie shrugged. "We're dead. Technically, we're not even here."

"What are you guys doing in my room?" Julie exclaimed as she entered the room.

I shot up from the bed and raised my hands in defence. "I was looking for them."

"We were looking for the kitchen," Luke replied.

"This. This. Can't happen," Julie said. "It's creepy."

"I tried to tell them that, but did they listen?" I turned around to face the guys. "No."

"Hey, you're in here too, okay?" Alex pointed out.

"No, I'm not," I said before poofing out.

I figured I'd let the boys dig themselves out of that one.