The Player Next Door ✓

28 | Reputation

Chapter 28: Reputation

"Morning!" I greeted my mother and sister at breakfast.

They were eating chopped strawberries and bananas over a thick layer of creamy yogurt. I added some cinnamon to my bowl.

"You slept early last night," my mother said, "When I came home I saw your lights were out."

Flora scoffed, "She's a grandma."

"Actually, I wasn't asleep. I was out," I said, remembering my mini adventure with Luke.

I expected mum to be annoyed for not telling her where I went. Instead, she laughed, "Who would take you out? Batman?"

"No. Luke Dawson."

....

....

They stared at me.

....

....

And then they split their sides laughing. I should have stuck with Batman.

"Either you've become a comedian or you're crazy. Go on Millie. Have some breakfast and get to school."

**

I stopped off at the Coffee Bean on my way. I finally had my car back, though it smelt of Flora's perfume. And coffee was my next step, where I inject personality into my body.

I am nothing without it.

Flora says I know nothing about relationships. But I've been in a committed, monogamous relationship with coffee for the last three years.

Anyway, enough procaffeination (#punning) 

I arrived at school and parked in my usual spot under a tree. A very unpopular spot, but I never get grief over it. I walked into school with my coffee in hand and made a beeline for my locker.

I was humming to myself as I ruffled through the textbooks in search of my calculus one. I placed my cup on the surface. Julia was nowhere to be seen so I definitely didn't expect any greetings this morning.

"Hey."

I jumped and knocked my coffee cup over. 

"Luke!" I yelled out, as the cup fell.

He reached over my shoulder and grabbed it before it spilled all over my books.

Luke's reflexes were insane.

"Thank you," I said, surprised that nothing had been ruined. 

I took the cup out of his hands and our fingers brushed as he let go.

His arm was still over my shoulder, and he slowly pulled away. I took a deep breath and turned around to find myself inches away from his flawless face. He stepped back, and I pretended like I didn't feel the shivers race through me. I slipped my book into my backpack, zipping it up.

"You think I'm embarrassed by you, don't you?" he muttered, his arm leaning against my metal locker.

I noticed the worn, blue leather bracelet around his wrist. His bicep flexed.

"You think I'm afraid to show people that we know each other," he continued, watching my discomfort with a small smirk.

He knew being this close to me was making me feel all kinds of feels.  And he was talking about how I called him out for purposefully ignoring me in the hallway.

"I don't care either way." I lied.

He smirked, not believing me for a second. "Is that right?"

"Yeah. You care what people say, Luke. You have a reputation to protect."

"And what do you have?"

"Nothing," I answered truthfully, "So I have nothing to lose."

He nodded at my words. His dark eyebrows furrowed in thought. Dark and brooding... the classic combination for a mysterious guy. Then he backed off.

He stopped leaning against my locker and stepped into the middle of the foot traffic. Students immediately got out of his way or slowed down to watch what Luke Dawson was doing. He was purposefully attracting attention.

"I enjoyed you last night."

A girl behind me dropped her books. Someone else audibly gasped. People all but stopped and stared.

"What?" I gasped.  He just announced to the school that we had sex.

And coming from his mouth...

My heart dropped from my chest to my stomach.

His soft, pink lips curled into a knowing smile. "A little less foreplay next time or I won't be able to last as long."

TMI even for a lie. He's insane.

"Forget the therapy clinic. You need to see a psychiatrist," I said.

My face turned beetroot red from blushing. I wanted to murder him. I was so embarrassed. What was he doing? 

He teased me, "Who's embarrassed of who now?"

That mother fu....

He walked away, knowing that he won. "Dare me again, Minnie."

OK. He proved his point. He likes to play games, but I already knew that.  And he doesn't give a f*ck about his reputation. Why does that make him hotter?  

I ran away from my locker before the rumors enveloped me. I expected to be notorious by lunch time. Sleeping with Luke Dawson.... the story definitely made its rounds.  It even reached our Comp Gov teacher. 

Everyone was talking about Luke's sexual declaration and he didn't avoid it. He didn't deny it. And the best part was, that no one knew it was me.  

Fortunately, no one knew my name.  I really was invisible.  He had called me Minnie, so everyone thought that the girl he'd been talking to was an innocent freshman named Minnie Turnstead.  She received the brunt of the gossip.

She was confused, poor thing.

So was I. My feelings were a tangled mess of spaghetti.

**

School could not have ended sooner.  I made my getaway in my beat up car and drove home as quickly as possible.  I wanted to hide. 

Luke and I arrived to our homes within a few minutes of each other. We got out of our cars at the same time. Our houses were opposite each other and, now that he knew who I was, he paid attention.

"You put on a real show today, asshole," I called out from across the street.

Today consisted of me being terrified that I would be identified as the junior Luke banged.  Everywhere I went, people were talking about it.

He slammed his door shut and shot me his charming smirk, "I was proving a point."

"Well you failed at making me less annoyed with you."

"You enjoyed it."

"I did not. You lied and said we had sex in front of the whole school!"

The grandma from the house next door was crossing the street. She looked horrified. I apologized.

"Then tell me this, Millie Ripley," Luke answered smoothly. "If you didn't like it, why didn't you deny it?"

A/N:  This was a fun one to write.  Please consider a vote if you had fun with it too