Knight In Disguise

The Dreaded 'I Love You'

"You've been spending a lot of time with this Luke boy, Gem. Are you guys getting pretty serious?" I set my spoon down in my bowl of ice cream.  "I guess so, he calls me his girlfriend." My dad just looks at me and smiles. "Has he told you he loves you?" I smile with a mouthful of ice cream, "Once but it was a heat of the moment kind of thing." He grabs my hand, "Luke makes you happy. I can tell, I have only seen you smile like that at me." I look at my charm bracelet, I had only had it for a couple of days. Luke already has a charm. (3 days ago. "What about this one?" Luke held up a little penguin charm. "Why that one?" I say laughing, looking at it closer. "Cause I like penguins." Luke says defensively. "Fine, I'll get you the penguin." I say taking it away from him. While walking to the cashier I spot a necklace/bracelet combo. "I will take both these things." I say handing them to the cashier. "That will be $7.50. please." Luke hands her the money and I grab the necklace and the bracket. "So why did you buy this?" He asks while taking the bracelet out of my hand and slipping it on his wrist, careful of the key charm dangling from it. "I bought it for us. It has a meaning you know." I say clasping the penguin on my charm bracelet. "Hmm, the penguin needs a name." Luke says grabbing the necklace and placing it around my neck. "What do you want to name the penguin?" "Luke Jr." I shove him, "We are not naming the penguin Luke Jr." He rubs his arm where I shoved him. "Fine, you name him Sapphire." "Lets name him Waddles." "Not as cool as Luke Jr." I stick my tongue out at Luke. "So, what is this meaning with the bracelet and necklace?" I show him the charm on the bracelet. "A key?" I hold up the charm on my necklace. "A lock. Sapphire you're going to have to explain." I laugh, "You have the key to my heart, genius." Luke takes the key in his hand and puts it into the heart shaped lock hanging from my necklace. With a click the lock opens. "I love it." He says. "I love you.") "That's a great story Gem. Now I have some bad news. " I look at my dad, "Trust me I'm sure it can't be that bad." He laughs, "But with bad news comes good news. Which do you want to hear first?" "Bad, obviously." My dad sighs and rubs his forehead. "Your mother wants to see you this weekend. I know you want to see her, but I also know how upset you are with her. So you just have to spend a day with her." I stand up with my bowl and walk to the kitchen, my dad following. "But the good news is I talked to your mother and she said you can bring Luke." I set my bowl in the sink and smile. "Gem?" I turn and hug my dad, "Thank you." "Anything for my Gem." I head upstairs to my room and call Luke. "Hello?" I sigh, "I'm sorry, did I wake you?" "No, I've just been up forever, late night sessions, getting ready to leave soon that kind of stuff." I take a deep breath and hold back tears, Luke will have to leave soon. "Do you maybe want to go to my mom's tomorrow?" "Yeah, that sounds cool." At least I don't have to face her alone. Alone I would be terrified. "Sapphire, I have to go but I will text you tomorrow. I love you." Before I can say anything he hangs up. "I love you too."