Stockholm Syndrome

56: He Doesn't Like Me

56: He Doesn't Like Me

We stayed there, silent, for probably another half hour. Then, Luke leapt off the branch, grabbing onto it with his hands and dropping gently to the ground.

"Your turn." He teased.

"I can't do it like that. Not everyone is seven feet tall." I teased back. He laughed.

"I'm not seven feet."

"Close enough." I muttered, crawling down without a single ounce of grace to my movements. We were silent for some of the walk back but as we walked down the river, Luke spoke.

"You know what I like?" He asked.

"What?" I looked up at him.

"I've gone to that tree so many times." He paused, watching where he put his feet. When he continued speaking, he kept his eyes to the ground. I did too for the most part but every now and then they strayed the Luke's face. "So many times... alone. I was always alone when I went. And I thought I loved that. I thought being alone was the best way to be." He confessed. I understood because I knew what it was like to have that feeling. "I had no idea how wrong I was until this morning. Last night was the best night I've had in a long time. And a lot of that was because I was with someone. Because I was with you." He smiled at me and I didn't even fight the fact that I blushed. We reached the stepping stones. "You go first." He told me. When we were half way across a voice from behind us nearly made me slip.

"You, Mason, kid!" I heard Luke cuss under his breath and looked back to see an officer of some sort following us. I assumed that 'Mason' was an alias. He came to the edge of the river. "Come back." He ordered at a steady volume.

"In your dreams, Clark." Luke yelled back. "Go, quick." He said to me, his voice quiet.

"Who is he?" I whispered back.

"Let's just say I got caught once."

"So he's..."

"He doesn't like me." Luke finished. I nodded, jumping onto the other side of the water. While Luke finished crossing, I looked behind us to see the officer following us across the stones. "Run!" Luke commanded, his voice airy. We both took off at a dead sprint. He, of course, was faster, but I wasn't too far behind.

 We both ended up at the car at the same time when he stopped to snag the blanket we had left last night. We started the car and drove out of the parking lot before anyone caught up to us.

"I'll drive around town for a little bit to make sure to lose him in the traffic in case he followed us." Luke decided, not a hint of anxiety in his voice.

"You sound like you've got some experience in this." I chided.

"I've been going to that park since I was fourteen years old." Luke murmured.