Happily

Chapter Ten: The Only Reason

A/N: I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while... I've been having some difficulty. Thank you for the votes and the comments. xx

(Stephanie Kings)

            “I don’t like him,” I stated bluntly, throwing a crumpled up One Direction photo against the wall.

            “Yeah, we don’t like him either,” Ashton agreed with me. “I mean, we did… then we didn’t.” He looked to Luke who had been staying silent the entire time for confirmation. Luke lost the gleam his face always carried. He looked tired. Sad. He had dark bags under his eyes and he always seemed to mentally absent with his eyes staring off into space. He’d smile occasionally at a joke Calum would tell but the smiles disappeared quickly. Luke was a good guy. Good but passive. And that was his problem.

            “He misses her, Steph,” Calum admitted to me. His eyes were fixed on Luke, his face filled with sympathy. “Like, really misses her.”

            Luke and Juliet dated for about eight months. They were apples grown from the same tree. So alike they could read each other’s minds and finish each other’s sentences. There was no mystery between them. Their love was no rollercoaster with ups and downs and sharp turns and corkscrews that made you dizzy. It just ran… straight.

            “Well,” I said to Luke. He snapped back into reality and looked at me. “What are you gonna do about it?”

            He shrugged.

            I sighed. “Are you going to take this lying down or are you going to fight for her?”

            “Is it even worth it? It seems like she doesn’t even want me back.”

            I didn’t respond, feeling the truth in his words. When Juliet dropped the bomb on me that she and Luke had parted ways, she didn’t seem bothered or sad. Instead, she looked confused. Sounded lost even.  It took a lot of fishing on my part until she finally confessed the reason for their break up: Harry. I understood her hesitation for she knew how I felt about him.

            Wounds are healed with time but time can’t remove the scars they leave behind, mom used to say.

            “Answer me this, Luke,” Calum’s tone was serious, “Do you want her back?”

            “Kind of,” he answered honestly.

            Calum took a second to think of a follow up question. I supposed there was a back up on his “question generator” when he looked to Michael for help. “Here’s my advice: at least try. Don’t take this lying down. Then, if you decide you don’t want her back, then just stop,” Michael pitched.

            “Are you guys friends?” I asked Luke. “You and Harry?”

            “No, he doesn’t like me,” Luke said. He licked his dry pink lips and let his tongue dance around his lip ring. “Not that I give a fuck,” Luke added.

            We all stayed quiet, not knowing what else to say. Then the lock on the door turned and in came Juliet. She stopped in her tracks once she saw our crowded living room. “Oh,” was all she said.

            “I invited them over,” I told her.

            “Yeah, that’s fine,” she said casually. She placed her key card and water bottle on the counter and joined us, forcing a smile on her face. I noticed her eyes were avoiding Luke while he was looking directly at her. “What’s going on?”