Starring role | l.h

Chapter XVII

Samantha Stewart

"Ugh, is it 'ditch-school-to-bug-your-neighbor' day today? Cause I don't know if I can handle anymore of you, Hemmings." I stated once I caught sight of him sitting on our front steps when I came out of the house.

"What took you so long?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I took a shower you asshole." He scoffed.

"I did too but you don't see me coming out after a whole hour." I rolled my eyes.

"I was in a 15-hour flight, what do you expect?" He froze in his spot and it suddenly dawned on me how stupid I was for saying that out loud.

"You were in a what?" He asked in disbelief before standing up and walking over to me.

"Forget it." I dismissed and started going down the steps to get my suitcase out back. He decided to follow me like a lost puppy and continued on bugging me with his stupid questions once again.

"So you're telling me that you were halfway across the world and didn't even bother to text?"

Holy shit.

"Oh my god, my phone." I breathed out and darted back inside the house to grab my wallet and keys.

I found Luke waiting on the front door, still fazed from his newly gained information about my two-week getaway trip. I headed for the silver Buick in the driveway and opened the door of the driver's seat. He followed closely behind me and stopped me from entering the vehicle.

"Where the hell are you going?" I shrugged off his hand that was grasping my forearm and pressed my lips together before speaking.

"I'm getting a new phone Luke. In case you haven't noticed, I didn't have one when I came back nor when I left." His eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

"You already told me that last night." I blinked.

"I told you I didn't have my phone?" He nodded slowly. "Really? What else did I tell you?" He thought about it for a bit and slowly formed his lips into a smirk, something that I found very unsettling.

"You told me a lot of things, actually." I groaned.

"And apparently, we're done having this conversation. Now move along so I can go." He continued to block my way from the driver's seat making me grunt once more.

"Do you even know how to drive?" I looked at him incredulously.

"How old am I to you? Twelve?- Of course I can drive! Get out of the way before I hit your face with this car door." He let out a chuckle and moved slightly away from the door but not enough for me to fully open it.

"I'm coming with you Stewart, whether you like it or not." I looked up at him and soon gave in.

"Fine, just get in already." It wasn't a long drive to the mall but the whole ride was very awkward since I wasn't used to hanging out with Luke alone.

"So when are you going to call Becky? Or the boys? Or your boyfriend?" He asked all of a sudden once we got out of the car after being silent for the rest of the trip.

"I don't know. Maybe when I actually have a phone then I'll start thinking about it." He gave me a scowl and slammed the car door closed. "Can you try and not break the car please?" I asked with a groan.

"Can you try and not be so sarcastic all the time please?" He mimicked with a face.

"Sarcasm runs in my veins. Deal with it or stay out of it." I moved past him, intentionally bumping my shoulders with his and entered the mall with a strut.