Never Meant To Be (h.s)

27. Whispers

Luke walked into the room, unexpectedly, unannounced. I knew Freya must have let him in but he had cancelled our plans just hours before. I stopped mid-laugh and stared at him, sitting up straighter.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

Luke opened his mouth to answer but stopped. He seemed to look at me closely, then glanced at the phone in my hand, then back at my face. I tried to straighten my expression. Somehow, I imagined I'd ended up looking a little guilty. Though, there was no reason to feel that. I'd only been talking to Harry.

"What are you doing?" He asked, walking closer to me. I held up my phone as explanation. His frown only deepened.

"What?" I demanded.

Luke sat down across me. "Nothing. Are you texting someone?"

"Yeah. Harry."

I thought not telling him would make it seem like I had something to hide. That was not the case. Also, I didn't need any black mark on the clean record of conversations I'd kept up with Harry over the past few days.

Somehow, my temporary lapse in judgement had proved a good thing. I was back to my previous ease and I talked more often with Harry, even if they were texts that would only be replied to at odd hours. There was a constant flow of conversation between us and it was filled with a comfort that seemed new, but natural.

It might all have been a mere figment of my imagination. But, since they meant I had something to look forward to - something that made me, if nothing else, happy - I didn't shove the idea aside as meaningless.

"What are you talking to about?" Both his expression and tone of voice was casual enough, but I couldn't help but feel he was just holding back any additional interest he might have.

"Nothing much," I said. "Harry was just, um, telling me a Knock Knock joke." My lips twitched as I spoke. The joke had been a stupid one, but the kind that was endearing enough in its dumbness that it left you in fits. If Luke hadn't walked in, I imagined I'd still be laughing.

"A knock knock joke?" Lucas asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. Harry's something of an expert on those." A strangled laugh escaped my lips, leaving Luke with an expression of worry.

He shifted closer to me, his arm outstretched as if to help me in some way. "You okay, Sophie?"

"Perfect," I said. "I thought you said you weren't going to come?"

"Yeah." He rubbed the side of his neck. "But my plans got cancelled and a friend was coming here, so I got a ride."

I smiled. "That's good."

"Yeah." It took me a moment too long to comprehend the distraction on his face. I'd absent-mindedly placed my phone over the covers but the next moment Luke had snatched it away.

"Luke!" I cried, momentarily frozen in shock at what he'd just done. I was left staring at the lean frame that was running out of my room, my phone in his hands.

I unfroze, my feet catching up to the predicament several seconds before my brain did. I reached the living room to find Luke perched on the corner of one of the couches. He was grinning as he did something on the device. But I could bet this wouldn't play well for me.

I approached him swiftly, snatching my phone out of his hand as he let out a groan of protest. I jogged away and locked myself inside my room. I figured I'd need the privacy while I worked out how much damage control I had to do.

I lay down on my bed before analysing the screen. Luke had been talking to Harry and his last message had already received a reply. Following my spree of laughing emoticons, Luke had begun his conversation, pretending to be me.