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Chapter Nineteen

"You've got to be kidding, right?"

"I'm not!"

Meredith burst into giggles, and I felt myself blushing in my chair. It was mid January by now, and I was dragged outside by Lyra almost everyday, who wanted to take me on her early morning runs. At first, I didn't want to, but when she told me about all the boys always catcalling her, I immediately agreed. I wasn't used to how cold it was, since California was usually a burning pain in the ass. Dad let me have some of his old clothes to run with Lyra, most of which were t-shirts of screamo bands that I didn't know of and pairs of sweatpants.

Praise the holy sweatpants, my friends.

I was telling Meredith about all my times outside, having not been for a long time. She was busy with her therapist and some sort of training with her parents, so this was the first time we were talking in a while. She found it amusing at how flabbergasted I was about being outside.

"That's really cute of you to be so excited like a child!" Meredith exclaimed, laughing.

I blushed at her comment, pulling the hood of my jacket over my head. "Stop being so mean and teasing me..!"

"No no no! I don't mean to be so rude!" She replied, still slightly amused and giggly. "It really is adorable, since you're so excited about something that most people usually do!" She cleared her throat after a while and added, "Well! It sounds like you had fun, so that's great!"

I sat up, saying, "How has your past few weeks been going?"

Meredith sighed heavily. "For one thing, it's confirmed Dexter will pay time for sexual assault when he turns 18, and he's in a restraining order. The school is keeping an eye on him to make sure he doesn't harass any other young ladies. I guess my dad went all out for this..." I could hear the small smile in her voice as she said, "But, Ryan's being nicer to me. This other bully named Linda is still a bit rude, but Ryan fends her off for me. I'm surprised they didn't team up to bully me before, and I guess that's a good thing."

"If Ryan messes around with you, tell me and I'll screw his face over," I joked.

Meredith giggled lightly at my lighthearted threat. "Wow~, I feel very safe because of you, Lukas."

My face flushed as I leaned over in my seat, putting my head in my hands as I stared at the screen. My heart pounding in my chest began to beat faster than before.

"Anything for you, Miss Meredith."

~~~

"Come on, Lukas! You're so slow!" Lyra exclaimed a few feet ahead of me.

I was heaving myself across the sidewalk, trying to catch my breath from running so much. Again, I was dragged by Lyra to run around the block during the weekend. Being an everyday occurrence, I didn't understand why I wasn't used to sprinting down the street like Usain Bolt and Lyra could. I was wearing a white shirt and grey sweatpants, a black Nike jacket around my hips. Lyra styled me, saying something about a group of girls that hung around Uncle Sam's cafe who might be attracted to me, so I ended up with a bandana tied around my head. It kept my hair out of my eyes, so I didn't mind.

Heaving, I said, "I'm.. trying.. my best!" I put my hands on my knees, trying to breathe evenly.

Lyra jogged up towards me, giving me a frown, unamused by my pity of an excuse. "For such an inactive person," she said, crossing her arms with a slight smile, "I'm surprised you're still toned from karate lessons with Dad that was, like, a year ago."

I tossed her a glare from where I was crouching, hissing out, "Shut up."

She laughed lightly at me. Putting her hands on my arm, she pulled and said, "Let's go! The group of girls might still be there if we hurry!"

"Don't pull me into a stupid social interaction," I replied, rolling my eyes as I reluctantly followed her, walking. She was significantly smaller than I was, and luckily, that forced her to walk as well. "Besides, there's no way a single one of those girls would be attracted to a skinny little skeleton like me."

"You and Uncle Sam look the same, and back then, Uncle Sam was a chick magnet!" Lyra exclaimed, looking back at me. "I mean, how do you think Miss Rebecca was so in love with him?"

"They're not even married!"

"Legally, that is. Those two don't need to be married to love each other."

"That doesn't matter right now," I sighed heavily. Looking at my twin sister, my lips thinned, and I said, "Just because I might look like Uncle Sam doesn't mean I have the same charm as him. Besides, I don't want any of those girls." Before Lyra could interrupt me, I continued on. "I don't care what they look like or how funny and attractive they are. I don't need any of them."

Lyra looked at me, her green eyes piercing into my blue ones at my comment. After a bit of silence, her cheeks puffed a little, and she asked, "Is it that girl Meredith that you're hung over with?"

"W-What?!"

I felt my face reddening when Lyra mentioned her, and she only started jumping around, laughing at my flustered reaction. "So it is!" Looping her arm through mine, she began leading us back to the direction of the house, ditching our usual route. "Never mind those girls or the run anymore; you have to spill to me that girl you're fantasizing about!"

"I-I do not fantasize about her!"

"Sure you don't!"