Summer Love

Chapter 6

A final, held note came from Luke's mouth, and with a last strum of his guitar, the song ended. I was frozen, gaping at him in shock. Upon seeing my expression, Luke gave a nervousness laugh and a small smile before looking down to his feet.

"You.... You're so good," I breathed, and I meant every word. He had a voice like an angel, I could listen to it all day. And damn, was he good at playing that guitar. His long, nimble fingers slid over the strings effortlessly, leaving me awestruck. Not to mention the way his eyes scrunched shut when he was hitting a high note, reminding me very much of myself. And listening to him sing made him all the more attractive.

Luke gave another nervous chuckle, and looked back up at me. "You really think I'm good?" he asked me, his eyes not leaving mine. I nodded slowly, still gaping at him. "Really good," I reassured him.

Then Luke gave me a real grin, showing all of the confidence he had lacked just a few seconds ago. "Thanks," he said, finally accepting my compliment. "Why did it take you so long to believe me?" I asked him curiously. "Well, you see, where I go to school, it's not really 'cool' to sing and play guitar and all that," he replied, emphasising the word 'cool'. "People always tell me that I suck, so when someone like you tells me I'm good, I find it a little hard to believe."

I shook my head in disgust at what he just said. "How could people tell you that you suck!" I cried, going off into a rant. "Especially after hearing that!! They must be mental!"

Luke just laughed at me and shook his head, looking at the floor. "I'm serious!" I said, turning on him without meaning to. "You are so damn good!!"

Then, realising that I had just turned on him, I calmed down, my cheeks going red in embarrassment. "I-I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to... I just wanted to get my point across... I'm sorry..." I stuttered, slowly calming down. Luke chuckled lightly, before he looked back up at me and gave me a small smile.

"Don't apologise. What you said meant a lot to me, and I'm grateful for it," Luke said to me quietly, looking back at the floor, a pink tinge starting to creep up onto his cheeks, while mine continued to move through the shades of red. "It... It did?" I asked, confused. Luke looked back up at me and nodded slowly. "It did, Kirsten, and like I said, I'm grateful," he replied quietly.

Then something totally unexpected happened. Luke got up of his bed, walked over to me, and pulled me into a tight hug. Shocked at first, I soon started to hug him back.

When we pulled away, Luke's hands remained on my shoulders. "I'm just so grateful that someone other than my family believes in me," he said, then he dropped his hands and looked down, his cheeks turning bright red, his hand jumping to the back of his neck.

"Uhhhh... Do you wanna go to the park?"

*******

"Mum! We're going to the park!" Luke yelled to Liz before he opened the front door.

"Do you have your phone with you in case of an emergency?" Liz yelled back.

"Yes mum!" Luke said with a groan, stopping in the middle of walking out the door.

"Ok then! Have fun, see you later!" Liz yelled, and Luke walked out of the front door sighing, me following behind.

The first half of our walk was spent in silence, the both of us looking anywhere but each other, me pretending to be interested in the clouds, even though there were none.

"Hey, um.. Kirsten?" Luke suddenly piped up.

"Yeah?" I said, looking at him to find him already looking at me.

"What do you want to do when you grow up?" he asked, a curious look on his face.

I looked down. To be honest, I have thought about this question a gazillion times. And I have an answer too, but I didn't say it, to embarrassed to share. "I dunno," I mumbled instead, looking at the floor. Then I looked at Luke. "What about you?"

"I dunno," he sighed, looking away. "I've thought about it, and I think I wanna be in a band, but the chances of that happening aren't high," he said, looking back at me.

"What, are you kidding? With a voice like yours, you could make it anywhere," I said to him, my confidence building. Seeing we had reached the park, I said, "Race you to the swings!" and took off.

"Aww, no fair!" Luke called out after me, and chased behind me.

I reached the swings first, sitting on the big one, leaving Luke the little baby one with the chain across the front. I grinned innocently at him from my position on the swing as he came running up to me, slightly panting. He playfully glared at me, and then went over to the little swing, and proceeded to try and squish his butt into it.

I laughed at his attempt, being the good friend that I am, and he glared at me some more, until he finally decided to just sit on top of it, and not in it. I started to swing my legs back and forth, pushing myself higher into the air, a huge grin on my face. Luke laughed at my childishness, and began to rock himself gently back and forth, not daring to go higher because of the risk of falling off.

I swung for about ten minutes, then finally getting sick of it, I slowed myself down until I was rocking gently like Luke. Luke then piped up with a question that made me stop completely.

"Kirsten, what do you really want to be when you grow up? I know you have an answer," he stated matter of factly.

I shuffled my feet a bit and looked down before answering him.

"I want to sing. Like you."

*******

Whew! Long chapter!

I hope you guys enjoy the story, I will update soooooonn!!!

Thanx!

-K