Stonebrook High School

Chapter 16

"Hey," she smirked, eyeing his sunglasses. "It's dark. What d'ya need those things for?"

Lukas took off his sunglasses and folded them, hanging them on his shirt. "I just have trouble seeing in the car, so I have these prescription glasses which also happen to be sunglasses." He shrugged.

"Oh," she grinned, repressing the want to giggle. "I thought you were trying to be a little extra, if you know what I mean. Like, impressing me or something."

His face turned into a surprised expression and he gawked at her. "Wh-What, no, I wasn't- no-"

Jess let herself go, laughing at his sudden change in mood. (Not in a rude way, of course.) "You really are a dork. Come on, let's get going before I wake up the entire neighborhood."

She opened the passenger door and slipped into the car before the rain could hit her, closing the car door behind her. She lowered her head to get a better look at the blonde's face. "Sit down. You're getting wet."

He blinked for a while before consciously realizing he was still standing in the warm rain. "Oh, yeah. Um, sorry." He stepped into the car and shut the door. Wiping the raindrops off his sunglasses, he brushed off some water on his jacket and turned the car on. "You'll like my house, it's really cozy. Plus we have a fireplace if you'd like to light it."

"I'd like that, thank you." Although it's warmer than the Nether, the girl thought. She pulled her seatbelt over her and they drove out of the parking lot. "So where is your house?"

Lukas turned the corner and accelerated slightly. "It's not too far from your place actually, just a couple miles from here. It's near Emerald Park."

"Oh, Emerald! I remember going there a lot when I was with my uncle during school instead. Jay and I would climb a lot of trees and try to... try to..."

Her face fell and Lukas glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah. Sorry. It's just... It's been three years and I still haven't gotten over him."

He opened his mouth to say something but only silence came out. Then he took a deep breath. "I'm so sorry."

She shook her head and smiled. "It's fine. Maybe it was fate that he left."

"I think things could've been different had I been there." Jess looked up at the male with tired eyes. He continued talking, eyes on the road. "I should've canceled my appointment with my friend."

"Shut up, Lukas." The stated male widened his eyes, a little shocked that she just straight-up called him out like that. "Sorry, I know that sounded kind of rude but it wasn't your fault. Maybe he needed to leave so something else could be set in motion. Now that I've said that, let's not talk about this anymore. It's only six— I'd rather be skinny dipping instead of crying in a car."

He tried hard to not imagine that last part. Very hard. Somehow he managed.

"Anyway, how is your family like? Are they cool?" She gave him a warm smile and held her hands together, resting them on her lap.

Lukas nodded and stopped at a traffic light. "They're very kind. I really look up to them. Everything they do is always out of their heart and I just want to be that type of person."

"They sound like nice people. My side of the family contains boisterous people. I'm sure you can tell just from Jay and me," she joked. "My dad is crazy and always plays his Italian music super loudly and my mom-"

"Wait," said the cyan-eyed boy as he accelerated again, "you're Italian?"

"Yeah. I'm half Italian and Caucasian. I make ze perfect spaghetti," she imitated, bursting into laughter not long after. Lukas tried not to laugh a lot since he was driving and his glasses were slipping off his nose.