She's Kinda Hot tho

Chapter 23:Sneaking In

LUKE'S POV:

I ducked out of the diner and hit the street at a run. The waitress was already so dang for ahead of me.

"Hey!" I called out to her. "Wait!"

She looked over her should and stopped instantly. "I hope you know you're too young for me." She giggled Sheila's giggle.

"Oh." I smiled dumbly. "I know that."

"Then why do you keep following me around?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"I -uh. You really look familiar." I said. "Don't think i'm creepy and don't take that the wrong way... but you look extraordinarily familiar."

A dark shadow seemed to come over her face. "You're wrong." She said, clenching her jaw. "You don't know me, you probably are mistaken." She added, turning around and walking away.

"I'm not wrong!" I yelled. She didn't turn around. She didn't stop. She didn't even look back. "Wait, please!" I called. "What's your name?"

I barely heard her say it. Thank God I was listening. "Eve." She replied and then she disappeared behind a building.

Eve. I thought slowly. I'm going to find you again, Eve. And when I do, you're going to answer some questions.

With that, I glanced up and read the street sign. I was a while away from where Jack had said Sheila had moved too, but i had legs for a reason.

I began walking in the sweltering heat towards down town. I considered hitch hiking a few times, but I'd seen enough movies to know that was a horrible idea.

By the time I was a block away from the address scrawled on the napkin, I stopped for a breather. It had taken me forever to get here. It would've been an hour drive in a car so on foot... I don't even want to talk about how out of shape I was.

I leaned into a light post, breathing heavily. The moon was blaring white light down onto the lively city. Yes. Moon. Yes, it's night. And no i don't want to talk about why it took me until night time to get here.

I glanced up at the building looming ahead. That's supposedly the apartment building Sheila and Gus were living in. I began walking again, holding my arms above me to air out the sweat. I'm a fat pig. I admitted silently. I need to start working out.

I walked into the lobby of the apartments, careful to make sure Gus wasn't around.

"Uhm yeah, hello." I said to the guy at the front desk who looked like he'd been making a living off of donuts and hatred for people. He blinked. "I'm looking for room.." I pulled out the napkin and un-crumpled it. "17D"

"It's on the 4th floor, take a left when you head up the stairs. 5th door. on the left." He said blandly.

"Thanks." I answered. But i didn't take the stairs, instead i headed back out onto the streets.

The side of the apartment building had fire escape stairwells zig-zagging all the way up. I counted four storied and began my climb. The ordinary person would've taken the stairs. But I'm not ordinary, and I didn't want American Gus shoving his patriotic shotgun up my ass.

So here's the truth, the climb was harder than the run. Not only was it physically exhausting, i was terrified of heights. Sheila you have no idea what i'd go through for you. I thought silently as I gripped onto another metal bar and swung up onto another unstable walkway.

Thinking about what the man said, this should be her room. I looked around inside and didn't see anything. It was really empty other than some boxes by the door. This is a bad idea. I turned around ready to head back when i heard noises coming from inside.

I whirled around and watched carefully as Gus was telling Sheila something, then he grabbed a jacket and headed out. I counted to 60 twice to make sure he wasn't coming back. Then I knocked on the window.

Sheila jumped and shrieked but then she recognized me in the window. She hastily ran and opened it, pulling me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around her, falling through the window and landing on top of her on the floor.

"Luke." She whispered into my neck. "I've missed you." Sheila stroked my hair.

"It's only been a day." I laughed softly, but knowing deep down it was hard for me too.

Then suddenly she whacked me in the head. "What the hell were you thinking? You could've gotten hurt!" She yelled.

"Ow!" I jerked away from her. "So what if I got hurt?" I laughed. "It'd be worth it."

Her gaze softened. "Dad just went to meet your mom for dinner and a movie, he'll be gone a while."

"I can stay?" I smiled, trying not to sound too excited.

"You can stay."