Impavid

The New Kid

     The entire next two weeks, I was very uncomfortable. Sophie continued to prompt me with questions that made me nauseous, I couldn't make eye contact with Melanie, Dave kept giving me weird, sympathetic, knowing smiles at family dinners, and tutoring with Luke was just awkward. Things slowly returned to normal, however. Dave had seemed to forget the whole thing by the second to last week of school. I was relieved after finishing the last tutoring session with Luke earlier in the week. I was amazed at how quickly the last few months had flown by. It was hard to believe that Luke had moved in to his house in March, and it was already the end of May. I found myself laying awake in bed one night thinking of Luke. I thought back to when I had first met him and thought about how much had changed. 

    I had met him the third week of March. I thought about the incidents with the police in early April, the incident with Dave just a couple of weeks ago in early May, and the numerous twice-a-week tutoring sessions in between. Things had constantly been changing between Luke and I. We had gone from eating lunch together his first day of school and him coming to dinner later that night to not talking until he showed up on my front porch bloody, sporting a black eye. We had had awkward waves alternating with times where we laughed almost the entire tutoring session. I was weirdly almost sad to know that there was only a week and a half left of school, and within the next three weeks I would be preparing to go to camp. I knew I wouldn't see Luke often over the summer, and as much as he annoyed me, I knew I'd somehow miss him. I started to think of exactly when I had first met him, and my mind flashed back to that day, when I had just gotten off the phone with Sophie to tell her about getting into camp, helped my mom pack up the cakes I had made the day before, and waved hello to Luke, who was playing basketball, before I had actually gone with Melanie to have a real conversation with the boys. 

 I heard when Melanie returned home a couple hours later from her weekly Sunday brunch with her boyfriend, the front door closing loudly behind her. It startled me, even though I was all the way up in my room reading the latest novel assigned for my literature class. We've got to get that thing fixed. "Hey," She called out, as I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. "In here," I answered.

She nudged my partially open door, entering the room as it widened. She settled on my bed, sitting cross-legged, watching me read. I set the book down on my desk, turning to face her. The desk chair spun as she reached across the distance to the nightstand to gather the envelope in her hand. She waved it toward me. "This is a huge deal, Carson!" I nodded. "I'm reading, is that all you need?"

She scoffed a no, and I folded my arms, waiting for more. "I just met the new guys across the street!" She sat up taller, dropping the envelope beside her. I stood, moving to grab it and slide it safely back on my nightstand before looking out the window across the room. Two shirtless guys, the same I saw earlier, were dribbling a basketball around each other. I wondered how long it would be until a hoop was set up. I wondered how many nights I'd be woken up to the sound of them dribbling the ball on the blacktop.

I looked back toward her, waiting for me. "Luke's your age, and Max is going to be a sophomore in college," She explained, "He's just home for Spring Break to help them move in. We probably won't see him much." She kept her eyes on me. "But Luke is way cute, and you should..." I interrupted her, "I'll meet him eventually, I'm sure."

"Let's go say hi now, Carson!" She suggested. "No," I grunted, "I'm reading."

Obviously that didn't stick, because she was on her feet, grabbing my arm and tugging me out the door within seconds. "I told them I'd bring you right out!" I rolled my eyes. Of course, my sister was playing match-maker.

"Hey boys!" Melanie cheerfully exclaimed as she bounced down the front walk, dragging my along by my arm. "This is my sister Carson!" I tried not to laugh at how ridiculous her level of excitement was. I wanted to remind her to stop drooling; she had a boyfriend. I kept my mouth shut and followed quietly behind her as we crossed the street. 

"Hey." Max grinned, but Luke didn't seem very interested. I sensed there was tension within him. Maybe he was even bitter from the move. 

"Hi," I responded.

"So Luke, Carson's a junior too! Maybe you two will have a class together!" Melanie beamed. Luke and I seemed to have the same reaction. We both acknowledged her with a nod. I did catch Luke's eyes sweep over me before we made eye contact. I was instantly embarrassed by this; I didn't need him to check me out. Besides, I didn't even look my best! I sensed Melanie about to start in on a new topic. Knowing her, it was probably to brag to Luke about how I had just gotten into that camp. I grabbed her arm and smiled politely to the boys. 

"It was nice meeting you both," I was smiling as I continued, "but I really have some reading I need to get done for tomorrow. We'll see you later. Come on, Mel."

When I reentered the house, an angry Melanie stomping in behind me. "You could have been more polite!" She growled, but I just ignored her, moving back up the stairs. "This is why you don't have a boyfriend!" She shouted, as I closed my bedroom door behind me. I glanced out the window from across the room before settling back at my desk and flipping open the book that needed to be finished my class tomorrow.

     I realized I still didn't know the details of the police incidents or why he had a black eye. I needed to talk to him. I needed to know the details. I needed to know about him and Aly. I needed to make sure he knew the truth about Dave and I. I needed to talk to Luke that instant. I grabbed my phone on my nightstand, pulling it toward me and stretching the cord it was attached to. I thought of how Luke and I had each others' numbers but we rarely talked. I considered calling him. I considered walking over to his house and ringing his doorbell despite it being almost one in the morning. I considered sending him a text to ask him to meet me outside, or even just texting him to ask for the details. I figured none of these were the best options, so I tossed my phone back onto the end table beside me and rolled over, trying to forget about Luke as I drifted to sleep.