Still Into You

Four

 {Sandra}

My thoughts were interrupted with a loud knock on the door.

As expected, Jess was there. "Are you ready?" She asks me with a huge smile on her face.

I sigh, then reply, "Ready as I'll ever be."

And then she drove me off to who knows where.

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The entire drive I was silent. I couldn't stop thinking about the possibility that Luke can be 20 minutes away from me. It was annoying.

Apparently, Jess has noticed my uneasiness, and asked, "Hey, you look in deep. Are you okay?"

Should I tell her? "Uhm, yeah..." Was the only response my mouth could say.

"Sandra, we've been the best of friends since birth. I know when you're lying. Plus, you're a really bad liar." She says.

Ugh. Jess knows me too well.

I sighed. "Fine. Calum texted me." I finally admit.

"And?"

"That means he's in the country."

"And?"

"Luke."

Jess hits the break accidentally, making the both if us jump on our seats.

She turns to me, and looks straight into my eyes. "Fuck that Luke shit. I'm taking you out tonight to have fun, not to overthink about that jerk."

Okay? Then have fun I shall.

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After what seemed like forever, Jess parked in front of some place with a huge neon sign that read Red Box.

Judging from the musical design, I'm guessing that it was a karaoke place.

Well, that's weird. I swear Jess told me a month ago that she seriously loathes karaoke. Why is she taking me here, then?

"The girls picked the place. I was completely against it, but you were coming, so I didn't want to argue with them." She tells me, as if reading my thoughts. "Shall we go in?" I nod, and we enter.

The place smelled faintly of cigarettes and alcohol, but I don't mind. I smoke and drink myself occasionally.

A woman behind something that looks like a reception area greeted Jess. "Jess! Hi! What are you doing here tonight? Don't you have school tomorrow?"

"Hi Cristie! Something's up at our school tomorrow. We're free tonight. What room are they in?"

"2100." Cristie says.

"Thanks!" And Jess lead me to the room farthest down the corridor, which looks like the biggest room of all.

There were a lot of people. Jess really made sure that everyone that missed me was there.

They walked up to one by one and hugged me and greeted me, and when I couldn't take it in anymore, I excused myself by saying that I need to smoke a stick.

I do this when I get really stressed of something, like having a few dozen people coming right at you one after the other.

So I went outside, brought out one, and lit it up. Even though I did this a bazillion times before, it felt like the first time over and over again. I guess like in school, my body's still adjusting to my old habits that I've decided to revive.

I sat on a bench nearby, and finished almost three sticks.

My phone vibrates, and I see that Calum has a missed call and an awful lot of texts. His latest text was: "Whoa, are you in Red Box? I see you."

Okay. Shit.

I reply: "Yeah. Where are you? You see me, I don't see you."

He replied almost instantly: "I'll walk up to you right now."

No words can describe how nervous I was when I read that.

I waited for a few minutes, and sure enough, there were footsteps behind me.

"Sandra?" A familiar voice said.

I turned around and saw Calum standing there. "H-hi?" I nervously greet. I looked around and behind him, and saw that the other guys were nowhere to be found.

He sat beside me, and hugged me tight. "I missed you and your annoyingness and everything."

See, before I even met Luke, Calum was my best friend. He's like a boy version of Jess.

"I missed you too, Cal." I admit.

He breaks the hug, and asks me, "So, how's life?"

"I think you know the answer to that." I say.

He stifles a laugh. "No, seriously."

And so I tell.

When I was done feeding him with unnecessary stuff I went through, I told him about Luke. Everything I felt, and what I'm currently feeling right now.

"You still love him, don't you?" He asks me.

I sigh. "Y-yeah... Do you think this feeling flows both ways?"

Calum looked at me straight in my eyes, his stare burning into me. "He may still love you. He probably does. He probably doesn't know what he wants. He probably still thinks about you all the time."

I was shocked. "Really? Is that—"

He cuts me off. "But that isn't what matters. What matters is what he's doing about it, and what he's doing about it is nothing. And if he's doing nothing, you most certainly shouldn't do anything. You need someone who goes out of their way to make it obvious that they want you in their life."

Did that sappy love shit really came out of Calum's mouth?

"Wow." Was all I could manage.

He chuckles. "That's what I thought you'd say."

I actually laugh. "Why are you talking about him like that? He's your best friend too, you know."

"Yeah, but you came first." He tells me.