faking it l.r.h

0.7

Adelaide

Friends are temporary, no matter how many times I told myself in first grade that me and that girl from the playground would be friends forever. She then put glitter glue in my hair and told the class I had lice. As deep and emotional I would get into this, I won't since I could go on forever.

I run downstairs seeing that my mom had let the 'friend' at the door in. It was in fact not my friend. I scold my mom, her and Liz probably conspired against us. They still see each other all the time, they have book club at the Hemmings residence every Thursday. I probably see Liz almost every day.

Luke's hands are in his pockets and a small smile breaks out on his face as he watches me descend from the stairs. Stop looking at me like that god dammit.

For a mere second in my heart, it's like when we were friends and he'd ask me if I was busy and we'd go down to get some pizza. A longing feeling knots in my chest as I reminisce. My mom smiles at me, leaving back to the kitchen to finish dinner.

I know that if Michael comes downstairs he'll overreact and make Luke run far away from here, and that's the opposite of what I want right now.

"What are you doing here?" I ask and let my hands fall to my sides.

"What? I can't visit my friend?" He cracks and I cringe. Friend, that's such an empty word. He seems to have noticed because his hands are limp at his sides now, and his sandy brown brows slightly frown. I almost thought I heard him whisper a sorry but I must've imagined it.

"It's changed in here." He asks, looking around my house. He's so obviously trying to change the subject that I want to pull my hair out.

"What are you doing here?" I repeat, to which he replies again.

"I got home and I saw your car and I wanted to see if you wanted to get something to eat?" I keep a still expression, my lips fighting to not smile. "We could go to Petez?" He suggests, his face filling with hope and I know then, I can't refuse. His lips curl into a smile as he waits for my answer.

"You know I can't refuse Petez," I say and feel my stomach erupt in butterflies or maybe that's hunger.

"That's why I suggested it." He says. I look at the top of the stairs—somehow expecting for Michael to burst through and stop me— before leaving Luke there to walk to the kitchen.

"Hey, I'm gonna go to dinner with a friend... Is that okay?" I try out the word quietly, a small smile from her and I already know she planned it. I know I went against what I said and called him a friend but she'd ask too many questions if I said anything else. I don't want her to get her hopes up, I know her book club will just eat this up.

"That's fine, I'll just have dinner with Michael." She says, stirring whatever she's making. I scrunch my nose up, making it noticeable that I'm uncomfortable.

"That's weird," I mumble and she rolls her eyes, shooing me off with her hand. I walk back to Luke and find him looking at the pictures on the walls. He pulls his gaze away from the frames and watches as I slip on my shoes.

"Ready?" I ask, pulling him out of his thoughts.

He closes the front door behind him as I stand at the bottom of the steps leading up to my house.

"We'll take my car." He mumbles, taking his keys out of his jeans pockets. I now notice that he's wearing a black leather jacket, that ever so nicely fits him. It does get colder at night and I regret not bringing a sweater or at least changing my shirt. We walk past my car and to his driveway, a nice truck parked in the place where his mom's suburban once was.

She's probably still at work grading papers or waiting for the last kid to get picked up.

My mind wanders as we drive to the pizzeria. Would his girlfriend mind if we go out to dinner? It's not like it's a date, I mean if she got angry all he has to say is, she's gay.

We sit at the booth that's always empty, the one with the checkered table and red sparkly seats. He looks at the menu like he hasn't already memorized it, probably trying to fill the empty silence. This place has been here since I was young, it's where my dad used to take me when he would visit.

"So, what are you in the mood for?" I ask, going along with this whole act. He puts the menu down, seeming to finally come back to earth.

"What we always get." It sounds like we never stopped talking like we never grew apart or fell into our own cliques.

"Sounds good to me." I smile, sliding the menu over to the edge of the table. He gets up and goes to the front to order, taking out his wallet and paying for it. He comes back and I feel guilty for letting him pay, I don't want to owe him anything.

"Addie, let me have this moment." He says playfully and it feels like he read my mind. I always hated not paying for my food, but he always insisted on paying for me. I don't wanna seem like some charity.

"So," He changes the subject, saving me from my thoughts.

"How are you and Grace?" He asks. I hoped he'd forgotten all about today but unfortunately, he did not. I nod my head, swallowing my protests. When the pizza comes I swear I'd never been so happy to stuff my face and not be able to stumble on my words and embarrass myself.

I hate how awkward this is, I bet he doesn't feel this way, Luke has grown so confident I bet he doesn't think this is awkward at all. In fact, I bet he's sitting over there thinking about his perfect girlfriend. I swear elevator music plays in that boy's pretty little head.

"So, tell me about your girlfriend?" I ask, my mouth full of pizza. He smiles, his cheeks tinting pink. God, I wish he'd react like that when he thought of me.

"Are you sure? I don't wanna bore you." He says but I know that he just doesn't wanna gloat. He puts his slice of pizza down on his paper plate and rubs his greasy fingers together.

Honestly, I'd much rather stick my hand in a blender but some evil part of me wants to compare myself to her.

He cleans his fingers off and pulls out his phone to show me a flawless picture of them. And I'm right, her skin is clear and her hair is perfect, her eyes are a beautiful green color and she has a nice tan that makes her look like she's glowing. Wow, I hate myself.

She's smiling at the camera as he kisses her cheek, not even aware of how lucky she is.

"You can never bore me." I lie, my cheeks warming up. His smile grows bigger as he put his phone back in his lap. I know he thinks that I'm opening up but I feel like it's the opposite.

"And you? Tell me about Grace." He says with a chuckle, my palms sweating.

"Well," I start, my stomach churning. "She's got beautiful blue eyes." I glance into his eyes, catching the glimmer in his eye as he listens intently. "The best smile," I add, his lips curling into a smile. "And the best laugh," I remember the angelic sound of his squeaky laugh, butterflies erupting in my stomach.

"And...the best body." My eyes trail down to his chest, the material of his shirt stretching to fit his broad shoulders. My eyes flicker up to meet his eyes again, my cheeks burning hot. His eyes tell me he wasn't paying attention to me and didn't notice my stare.

"That's... nice." He licks his lips, playing with the black ring on the left side of his mouth. I finish off my pizza, wiping my greasy fingers on a napkin.

I hear him chuckle for some reason. "What?" I ask worriedly.

"You just have some sauce on your cheek." His chuckle quickly turns into a giggle, my cheeks heating up in embarrassment. I grab the napkin and wipe my mouth. "Better?" I ask.

"Here...let me get it." His long arm stretches across the table, my heart stopping. His thumb glides across my cheek, cleaning the pizza sauce that was there, retracting his arm and bringing his thumb to his lips. He sucks on his finger and I squeeze my thighs together. He smirks, probably unaware of what he just did. Or maybe he does, maybe he did that on purpose? Or maybe it's just my mind playing tricks on me.