He Was P(L)uke

20

"Uh excuse me." Luke interrupted. Calum and I were basically cuddling in front of him. Calum snuggled his nose into my hair and cooed sweet nothings in my ear. I hated that. I felt super weird, but it was his plan. "Excuse me."

"What?" Calum asked sternly, backing away quickly and turning to Luke. Luke smiled at me, and then began speaking.

"Can any of you guys take me home? I just called my parents, they're out for the night." Calum huffed and turned back to me. "Please, guys-"

"I cannot take you, pal." He shrugged again. "Can you take him, love?" He asked me. He had called me love. He was crossing the border. I pushed his arms away from me, and he whispered 'You're ruining the plan.' To which I just nodded. I sat up and talked to Luke directly.

"I can take you."

"Thank you. Just tell me when you're ready to leave." He added. I nodded, and watched him leave. Calum sighed as I watched intensely at Luke, with his worn out crutches and dirty shoes.

"You still love him, don't you?" He asked. I nodded, hiding my face on my hands. They smelled like the pizza Stacy had brought. Yuck.

"Calum?" I asked. He hummed in response. "Do you think Luke is the father?"

"We all have found enough proof to realize that those kids are not his."

"I'm scared, though." I said frustrated, entwining my hands to my hair. "I'm so scared."

"He told you that he loved you."

"He seems to have forgotten about it." I whispered back. He placed a hand on my lower back and did circles with his palm.

"We're alright though."

-/-

"What's the worst thing I can say? Things are better if I stay!" Ashton and I jammed loudly. We were driving to Luke's house. Luke sat behind us, holding on dearly to his crutches. His house was farther from my house and even more to Ashton's, but I just really wanted to be the humble person that I am, and decided to take him with us. The front lights of the car began flickering, which made me jump in fear as Ashton kept singing with a smile. I turned scared to look outside the window, and darkness hugged the whole road in its hands. And after some minutes, weird sounds began leaving the motor of the car. Ashton ignored it, but me and Luke were quite worried about it. Four sounds later, and about two face-palms from me, the car stopped. The lights turned off, and the car radio began making weird sounds.

"I told you." I groaned, slamming my hands on the armrests of the seat.

"You never said anything." Ashton argued back, unlocking his seatbelt, and leaving quickly. He yelled he was going to take care of the car, and that we shouldn't do anything since he is 'old enough to handle a car breaking down'.  And well, the obviously expected silence surrounded the car. I turned to look at Luke, and caught him staring at me. He looked away as soon as he saw me looking at him.

"Stop ignoring me, Luke." I said breaking the seemingly never-ending silence.

"I'm not ignoring you." He retorted back, looking out the window.

"Yes you are." I voiced. "You can't ignore me forever." He hesitated before speaking again.

"I can. I am. I will."

"Oh how freaking mature, you idiot." He placed his hand on my shoulder, making me shiver. His soft fingers brushed my hair away. And I turned back to him, and met once again those blue eyes. Shining blue eyes, that could bring any blind person to see again. My breath hitched and I gulped loudly.

"I'm not ignoring you, right. But you're getting on my nerves." That was it. He was playing with me. How the heck did his mood change from cupcake, with tight hugs and 'I love you Charlie' to 'you get on my nerves' and let's ignore you for a day? I groaned frustrated before opening the door. Luke did the same, closing the door forcefully.

"You're so annoying." He spoke. "You're so fucking rude and annoying."

"Say it don't spit!" I argued. "We both know you're the annoying pal here."

"Is everything fine-"

"Shut up." Luke interrupted Ashton.

"No, kids if you-"

"Shut up, Ashton." I responded.

"But-"

"Shut up!" Luke and I yelled turning to him. I looked back at Luke and he kept blabbering nonsenses. After awhile of 'you smell like a shrimp!', 'babies form more coherent sentences than you' and, 'I had a lobster as a kid, and even though he was an animal, he didn't pooped as much of the shit you're talking about', he said it all.

"Nobody will ever forget all the times you puked." I looked at him dead in the eye, tears already daring to spill.

"And I hope you don't forget all those mother damn times because you were the one who caused them." His brows furrowed, and he seemed to ignore my comment as blue and red lights made their way into our eye-line. The typical police siren obnoxiously yelling 'emergency' into our ears. Oh hell. The police. I hated those guys. Not just all the killings and unwanted fights. They did nothing well. They pulled up behind our car, two fat guys coming out of it. Colonel Jensen and his friend Smith.

"Is everything alright here?" Smith asked. Luke turned to face them and nodded, and it was then when I saw tears in his eyes. It wasn't the first time, but it was weird of him, the popular kid who plays in the football team, to cry. He turned again to me, and spoke.

"You never told me you loved me back."

-/-

"Thanks a lot for the ride, colonel Jensen." Ashton said, elbowing me on the stomach. He whispered 'Say thank you, you stubborn creature.' I smiled falsely, elbowing him back and saying 'You say that one more time, and I swear I'm going to blame this all on you'.

"Thank you." I finally said. Luke turned to me, his eyes watered up completely.

"You can say thank you but you cannot say I love you back?" He sobbed. I shook my head. I wanted to say it. I really really wanted to. But I felt like he was using me. On my sophomore days, there was this boy named Parker who had claimed he liked me and even cried into my face. I never gave a response back, but Calum told me it was just a bet. So I kind of got into my mind that sometimes boys think we are games.

"Are you Charlie Judd?" Smith asked turning around. I nodded with a small smile. "Your parents are going nuts, dear. They have been calling us 24/7 asking if we've seen you."

"Dude." I breathed. "Thanks." He nodded turning around. Luke shook his head with his eyes forced on mine. I looked away before turning back to looking at the road. I yawned at least four times in that two minutes, and I thought of cheese covered pizza. That was the last thing I ate. My stomach began churning, almost following the curves of the road. Ashton began speaking with Smith and Jensen, and they even asked me some questions, but I couldn't answer. This feeling began when I was three.

Have you ever felt something that brings to you memories? Well that was my whole life before my eyes. Those things reminded me all of one thing. The one and only fucking thing I ever did: puking. I felt the pizza rising up my throat, almost scratching it dry. Until it reached my mouth and I covered it quickly. I can bet you something, I always try to swallow my vomit. But it never works. I quickly grabbed both Luke's arm and Ashton's, both guys turning to me with wide eyes. And you guessed it.

I threw up.

"Nanny McPhee, Nanny McPhee!" Luke yelled incoherently.