Skin Deep

Chapter 19

Amanda

            This is the first time Luke and I have studied at his house in a long time. Dianne has a meeting this evening and for some reason she didn’t want to leave us unsupervised.

            Walking up to Luke’s house was intimidating. It’s only a few streets over from mine, yet it looks like it’s from another planet. It’s three stories, for starters, plus a basement. The top level is just the attic- Luke’s room- but still, that’s three stories. Everything is bigger here, too. The kitchen, the TV, and the yard are all huge. There are three bedrooms apart from Luke’s upstairs suite and five bathrooms spread all over the house.

            Even more unlike Dianne’s house, this one is noisy. The McAllisters’ dog, Teddy, is very big and very loud. He’s some sort of German Shepard mix, I think. He’s a very good guard dog. If a leaf falls, he’s all over it with constant barking and whining. Luckily for me, Teddy spends most of his time in the giant back yard. Then there’s Johnny. He hasn’t yet learned what is an acceptable inside voice, and little Hannah never stops laughing. They are cute kids, though, and I don’t really mind the noise.

            When I first got here, both of Luke’s parents greeted me at the door with huge smiles. When I addressed them as ‘Mr. and Mrs. McAllister’, they told me to call them Ken and Cindy. I think I blushed when they said that because up until then I didn’t even know their first names.

            Instead of working at the table like we do at my house, Luke and I are currently in the study room on the second floor. I can’t believe they actually have a room set aside for studying. Luke says it doubles as the games room, which is a funny combination to me. There are two desks on one side of the room, each with its own computer, and a book shelf full of books that look like they haven’t been touched in years. The other side of the room has a ping pong table and a foosball table. There is no dust on either of these items, and I have a feeling that there are lots of study breaks taken in this room.

            We’ve been working for about an hour. I came this evening with the intent to completely catch up. I need to start having enough free time to get a job. I already tried to apply at some places, but Dianne wouldn’t let me until I was caught up in my school work. This is plenty of motivation for me; I’ve got some big bills to pay off and I’m seriously lacking the cash to do so.

            Suddenly Hannah appears at the door with a tray of chicken fingers. Her eyes are closed as she says, “You guys aren’t kissing, right?” I try to contain my laughter, I really do. But a muffled sound escapes me and I look around the room like I don’t know where the sound came from when Luke looks at me. It’s not like it’s funny to think that Luke and I would kiss, it’s just Hannah’s innocence. It’s adorable.

            Luke gets up and takes the tray from her. He kneels down beside her and whispers something in her ear. She immediately opens her eyes and giggles. “I put dipping sauce in bowls on the tray!” Then she skips away.

            “What did you tell her?” I ask and take a chicken finger.

            “Oh, nothing,” Luke smiles and grabs a chicken finger for himself. He takes a giant scoop of sauce out of the bowl and I smack him.

            “Dude! Got enough sauce there?” I try to sound cool but Luke just laughs. He says, “You’re so cute. ‘Dude.’ Ha!”

            I giggle, too. Luke just called me cute. Ah, I’m such a girl! I’m not usually like this, but eating chicken fingers with Luke is feeling like the greatest thing right now.