You Might Be The One (A Fan Fiction) - Luke Hemmings

Chapter 16• Fallout and Secrets

Leyla's POV

I stood there, alone on the soccer field, the white gown feeling heavy and ridiculous. The sounds of the sports fest, which had been a muffled backdrop, now seemed to roar back to life, assaulting my senses. He can't be just friends with you right now. The words echoed in my mind. The kiss, the wedding booth, the fight—it all felt like a movie, and I was just a bad actor.

I looked at the ground, my eyes fixed on a patch of trampled grass. I felt a tear slide down my cheek, then another. It wasn't because of sadness or pain; it was the pure, overwhelming shock of it all. I had no idea. How could I have been so blind? All the moments with Luke, all the lingering looks and late-night calls, they suddenly took on a new meaning. They weren't just friendly gestures; they were him trying to tell me something, and I had been too oblivious to see it.

A shadow fell over me. I looked up and saw JJ. She didn't say anything; she just held out a bottle of water. I took it, my hands shaking.

"I saw what happened," she said softly, her eyes full of a sympathy that made me want to cry even more. "You two... you have to talk."

I shook my head, unable to find my voice. "I don't know what to say."

"I'm going back to the booth," she said. "Faith's about to have a meltdown. You should go, too."

She walked away, and I was alone again, the bottle of water in my hand. I stared at it for a moment, then chugged it down, the cool liquid a shock to my system. I felt a sudden clarity. I couldn't just stand here. I had to go back to the booth, face the music, and figure out what to do.

As I approached the booth, I saw Faith pacing back and forth, gesturing wildly to Jovi. They both looked up as I got closer.

"Where were you? What happened?" Faith asked, her voice an octave higher than usual. "You just ran off with Luke, and then you came back, and now you look like you're about to cry. Spill."

I shook my head, avoiding their gazes. "It's a long story."

"Then we have time," Jovi said, her voice gentle. "The booth is dead right now."

I sighed, sitting down on a plastic chair. "Luke... he told me he loves me."

Faith's eyes went wide. She clapped her hands together in excitement. "Oh my gosh! I knew it! I knew it! He loves you! This is so romantic!"

Jovi rolled her eyes. "Faith, this isn't romantic. It's a disaster. Leyla, what did you say?"

"I didn't say anything," I mumbled. "He just... he got mad at me for kissing Robin, and then he confessed, and then he just left. He said he can't be friends with me."

"Ugh, men," Faith said. "He just needs time to get over it."

"No," Jovi said. "He needs to get over himself." She looked at me. "What are you going to do?"

I didn't have an answer. All I could think about was Luke's face, his hurt eyes, and the finality in his voice. I also thought about what my sister had been keeping from me. All the pieces of my life, which I thought were perfectly in place, had just been scattered like puzzle pieces.

Just then, my phone buzzed in my pocket. It was a text from JJ. "We need to talk about what Jasmine said."

My phone buzzed again. Another text from JJ. "Come meet me by the bleachers, now." The urgency in her tone was a sharp contrast to the chaotic energy of the sports fest. I excused myself from the booth, leaving a flustered Faith and a quiet Jovi. I needed to talk to my sister. I needed to know what Jasmine had been trying to say. All the pieces of my life, which I thought were perfectly in place, had just been scattered like puzzle pieces.

I found JJ sitting on the bottom row of the bleachers, her shoulders hunched. She looked tired, a stark contrast to her usual bubbly self. I sat down next to her. The silence stretched between us, filled with the distant sounds of cheering and the low hum of the crowd.

"Jasmine told me what happened," I said, cutting to the chase. "She was about to tell me something at church, but you stopped her. What is going on?"

JJ took a deep breath. She didn't look at me. "It's a long story."

"Then we have time," I said, my voice as steady as I could make it. "Jasmine's face went hard. It felt like she was telling me something serious. And now Luke is telling me that he loves me and that he can't be my friend anymore. I feel like my whole life is a lie, and I want to know why."

JJ finally looked at me, her eyes filled with a sad pity that made my stomach lurch. "You had a car accident when you were ten. It was a really bad one. You were in a coma for three weeks."

I stared at her, my mind reeling. "A car accident? I don't remember any car accident."

"That's because you don't," she said, a tear rolling down her cheek. "When you woke up, you had amnesia. The doctors said it was temporary, that your memory would come back. But it never did. You remembered us, your parents, your life, but you forgot everything from that day until you woke up. They called it 'selective amnesia.'"

My brain was trying to process her words, but it was like trying to catch water with my hands. "What does that have to do with Jasmine and Luke?"

"Everything," JJ whispered. "Luke was in the car with you. You were best friends. You met him at a summer camp when you were nine, and you were inseparable. Jasmine was there too. You were all three musketeers. You were even wearing matching bracelets. But when you woke up, you had no memory of him."

My mind raced back to the day at church, the way Jasmine's face had changed when she looked at me. It wasn't pity. It was a heartbroken sympathy for the person she used to be. The person I used to be.

"And Luke?" I asked, my voice barely audible.

"He never stopped trying," she said, her voice choked with emotion. "He came to the hospital every day. He sat by your bed, even when you were in a coma. He tried to get you to remember, but you just looked at him like he was a stranger. He's been trying to get you to remember ever since."

The truth, when it came, hit me like a tidal wave. All the times I had seen him looking at me, the way his eyes would linger on my face, the small gestures he made. It wasn't a new crush; it was him trying to reconnect with a part of me that I had lost. And all this time, I had just been living my life, completely oblivious to his pain.

The "something" he said I gave away wasn't just my first kiss. It was a memory. It was our history. And I had no idea. All this time, I thought he was just another boy who was obsessed with me, but he was so much more. He was my past, and now, he was gone.