The High Road

Chapter Three

A week went by and I had no contact with Luke. I'd like to say it was a blessing, but it wasn't. I felt left in the dark. I was hoping he'd talk to me the next day, but he didn't. He was purposely avoiding me. "Please tell me your night shifts are over?" Erin runs over to me, leaning against the locker next to mine. "If I don't have a night shift at the diner then I have a night shift babysitting my brothers." I say meekly, collecting my Trigonometry textbook and notebook from my locker. "Your brother's fifteen! Can't he watch Jackson for just one night?" Erin begs. "Possibly, which night did you have in mind?" I query.

"Zach's having a party this Friday night after the football game. I know you hate sports and pep rallies so we can just skip that and get ready for the party at my house."

"Last time we went to Zach's party it didn't end so well for you." I muse, reminiscing in the memories of Erin's failed attempt at drunk flirting with this guy she had a crush on since forever. Turns out, he was gay.

"I wasn't sober enough to make decent choices." she pouts.

"Once again proving that alcohol and Erin Summers are not a good mix, which is why we should skip the party and watch a movie, or something."

"I'm a senior now, I've learned from my mistakes. Plus, you wouldn't want to disband your keg standing tradition now would you?" The mention of the keg standing makes me roll my eyes. Keg Standing, Beer Pong, Never Have I Ever, and much more were all activities I had included myself in whenever I got crazy drunk at one of Zach's party.

"I don't know, I-" my voice trails off as soon as a smirking Luke slides up cooly between Erin and I. "Hey, Chloe. Just the girl I wanted to see." Once he says that, Erin looks over at me, giving me the 'why-the-hell-is-this-sex-god-talking-to-you-and-what-does-he-want-with-you' kind of look. I respond with the 'I'll-explain-later-it's-a-long-story' look. She nods, walking off awkwardly as Luke assesses her. "She's hot." he smirks. To some degree, he had a very good point, Erin was stunning. I envied many features about her. "Is there something you want?" I ask, rolling my eyes as I slam my locker shut.

"Yep." He says, popping the P, and continues "I got a customer up in Cincinnati today."

"Are you requesting my company?"

"It's more of a demand,"

"And what if I were to say no?" I challenge, looking up at him innocently.

"Then I'd say you can kiss that five grand that you were gonna get good-bye."

"Five grand?"

"Oh, so now I've peaked your interest?"

"More or less,"

"Oh come on, Chloe. we made a deal."

"Remind me again, why I have to go with you? It's been a week and no scary drug dealing gang has abducted my family or sold me into human trafficking."

"It doesn't work that way, princess. A bullet goes through your head in half a second, they usually wont abduct or torture unless they want and answer from you." he takes a step closer, invading my personal space.

"Maybe they'd want to ask me where you are."

"Would you tell them?"

"Of course," I shrug.

"Well, this is definitely a good relationship we have," He says, sarcasm pouring out of his mouth, "But don't worry, we'll have plenty of time to bond when we go to Cincinnati after school. You better be out in the senior parking lot at three." he barks. Whoa, mood swing. I nod 'yes' and he flashes me a tilted grin, casually walking away as if this conversation had never happened. Unfortunately for him, I have homework and two brothers to take care of, so it looks like he'll just have to ride solo on this one.

I park my car into the garage, swirling the keys with my fingers as I opened up the front door, my two brothers rushing in before me. So much for manners. I lock the door closed, throwing my bag on the ground and pulling out my Mac Book Pro to start some homework. "Do we have anything to eat?" Ryan yells from the kitchen, his head far into the fridge. "We have some bananas. Or cereal." I call back, typing up an essay for English. "I don't want to eat that. I want food food." "Then get a job." I retort. "Fuck you," he murmurs, a little too loud for my liking. "Hey, no swearing!" Jackson warns, waving his pointer finger back and forth in dismay. I laugh as Ryan walks back into his room, probably mumbling some other choice words. Jackson shuffles to the couch, switching on the T.V. The whole house seems to be at peace until there was a thundering knock at the door . My eyes widened as I started thinking about the drug dealers Luke warned me about. I grab Jackson by the arm,  swiftly leading him upstairs down the hall. The loud banging still persists, bringing a pissed off Ryan out of his room. "What the hell is that?" he yells, looking around. I pushed Jackson into Ryan's room, saying "Stay in there with your brother, I'll be back." he gives me a worried look as he shuts the door slowly. I run back downstairs, grabbing a steak knife from the kitchen and holding it behind my back as I walk towards the door, cautiously opening it up.

 "Boo," Luke smirked, inviting himself into the house. Like the spastic I am, I gasp, too startled to say anything. I seriously thought it was the 'bad guy drug dealers'. "What's behind your back?" He quizzes, grabbing onto my shoulders and spinning me around to see my hand still clutching onto the steak knife. "You see, I knew that 'I'm a tough girl' act was a load of bullshit." he chuckles slightly. I turn back around to face him.

"How the hell do you know where I live?"

"I could've easily found it on Google, but that wouldn't be fun. So I decided to ask your friend Erin for your address."

"And she just gave it to you willingly?"

"No, my transaction came in the form of second base."

"That's disgusting!" I gasp. Would she really sell me out for a fifteen minute sexscapade with Luke? As a matter of fact, she would. Who wouldn't? This is Luke Millers we're talking about.

"I don't really like when someone stands me up on my plans, Willis." He snarls, his hazel eyes growing dark with anger.

"Fine, whatever. I'll go to Cincinnati with you, just let me tell my brothers."

He furrows his eyebrows, obviously not expecting me to give up that easily. "That didn't take as much convincing as I thought."

I roll my eyes at his response, placing the steak knife back into the kitchen and walking upstairs to get my brothers. They come down,  both giving me strange looks when they see Luke casually leaning up against the front door. Being a small town, everyone knows each other, or has at least has heard about each other. If you lived in Yellow Springs, you'd know Luke Millers is the son of the beloved sheriff and has a mother with good values, but that doesn't mean Luke stays out of trouble. "What's he doing here?" Ryan murmurs as his eyes flicker to Luke. "We're going out for a few hours." I huff, looking at Luke, and then back to my brothers.

"Out, like on a date?" Ryan asks, perplexed.

"Yeah, something like that." Luke snorts. Ryan gives me one last look of reassurance before he walks back into his room, dumbfounded.

"Come on sweetheart, I made early dinner reservations and we don't want to be late." Luke sings, opening the door for me as I step out. His sarcasm will be the death of me.

*********

Yay! Chapter 3! I'm so happy to see how many reads I got, and how consistent the number of views have been. It seems like you guys haven't given up on my book just yet. Thank you!!!

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