My Good Boy

Chapter Twenty Five

I stared at my reflection in the mirror, slowly twisting my, now a pastel pink, hair around my index finger.I had already re-dyed my hair twice before in the three months I had been away from Maryland, each time aiming for a lighter color.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Luke whispered through the phone, whether it be the late time of night or because of the news I just broke, I'm not sure.

 "I mean what I said," I sighed. "We still have no idea how long we'll be here, and it's already been 3 months. I just- I don't know what to do anymore."

"Me neither," He admitted, I could tell he was getting frustrated by the tone of his voice.

"I'm sorry, I had everything planned out for your birthday and, well, I'm not there."

"Hey, it's okay-"

"No, it's not!" I cut him off, wishing he would stop being so understanding. "I just want to come home, alright? I just want to be with you."

"Me too, babe, but that's something I need to talk to you about." He paused, seeming to debate internally. "I need to tell you something."

"What is it?" I ask, leaning against my door frame as I continued to press the phone up to my ear.

"I- um, I think..."

"What do you think, Luke?"

"I think we should take a break." He mumbled, my heart seeming to stop at his words.

"W-Why?" I stutter after a moment of silence.

"I just, as much as I want to be with you, I also know that you being away isn't helping the situation. My birthday is tomorrow and I don't want to make things any worse than they already are. Unless you can get here, I don't know how much longer I can be with you without being with you. I'm so sorry, Andy, I really am." He sniffled, choking back a sob.

"I-I understand. Um, I guess I'll go ahead and say happy birthday, since you obviously won't want me to call. And Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you." I whisper, ending the call as he confirmed one of my worst fears.

I didn't know how long I had sat in my room, but by the time I finally broke out of my haze my previously bright room had one source of light, that being a small lamp on my bedside table. I finally found what had broken me out of my reverie as my mom knocked on the door once again, slowly peering around the door before rushing into the room at the sight of my bloodshot eyes.

"What happened?" She wondered aloud, wrapping her arms around my shoulders as she brought my head to rest in the crevice of her neck.

"Luke wants to take a break, he said he couldn't be with me if he wasn't with me." I sobbed, though no tears escaped from my dry eyes.

"Well, I guess is as good a time as any." She sighed, but I could sense the smile appearing on her face. "Remember the ticket you asked me to get?"

I nodded, not trusting my voice at this time.

"And remember how I couldn't get it for next week?"

I nodded again, wondering where she was going with it.

"I got you one that leaves tomorrow morning, you'll make it to the party you spent so much time on." She smiled, grabbing my arms and pulling me up to jump around the room.

"I don't know if he wants me there." I frown, sitting back on my bed.

"Oh honey, he does. Amanda called me today, Luke was telling her how much of a mistake he made. So we came up with a plan, and bada bing, bada boom, the young lovers will be together once again." She smiled, doing her signature 'jazz hands' dance move.