utah || hemmings au {sequel to camp || hemmings au}

thirty-three

Luke had been acting strange lately. It had only been a couple of weeks since we made love and it seemed that things had been different since then. It started with the phone calls. While we were together, Luke would receive a phone call and excuse himself. A few minutes later, he would return, but he would be on edge for the rest of the day. Then came when he didn't even want to be seen at my house. I thought at first that maybe it was my parents, but Luke promised me that it wasn't. He would drop me off and then explain how he had to leave immediately. It was almost as if he didn't want to be seen anywhere near there. Graduation was soon and I had enough to worry about, and now that Luke was acting so weird I was stressed out even more.

I was currently standing outside of the kitchen, as that was where Luke was on the phone. We were in his room watching television when he got a call and came downstairs to talk. I was tired of all the secrecy, and it wasn't just the past two weeks, it had been our whole relationship. I just wanted Luke to tell me what the hell was going on.

"No, don't you dare tell her about us!" Luke snapped into the phone. "Okay, I'll tell her." Now I was even more confused than before. I wasn't sure if Luke was talking about me or someone else, and at this point I wasn't sure if I even wanted to know. "Hey, back off, I said I'll tell her! Bye!"

I decided to make my move and I appeared in the kitchen doorway just as Luke hung up the phone and turned around. When he caught sight of me, his face was a mixture of confusion and what seemed to be anger.

"Caroline," He spoke, "Did you hear that?"

"Who was that, Luke?" I just wanted him to tell me the truth, that's all I was asking for. I wasn't going to deal with him blowing it off like he had in the past.

"You were eavesdropping, weren't you?" Luke squinted his eyes at me.

"I think that's pretty clear," I scoffed. "Are you going to tell me who was on the phone?"

"It was no one," Luke sighed. He walked past me and headed for the stairs.

"Oh, it was no one? Just like it's been 'no one- for the past two weeks? Let me guess, it's no big deal either." Luke was really starting to annoy me with the way he thought nothing was important. He still hadn't told me what had been going on between him and Kyle and I felt like I should know. It may have been none of my business, but he was my brother. "Are you cheating on me?"

Luke stopped at the edge of the stairs and turned to look at me, a solemn expression on his face. "We are not discussing this."

"Is that a yes?" I crossed my arms over my chest. I didn't know what to believe anymore. I wanted to believe that Luke had changed, but maybe I was wrong. I was so oblivious to everything that was going on lately and I just wanted answers.

Luke stared at me blankly. "You want to know the truth?" I nodded. He ran his hands over his face and let out a big breath. I had this voice in my head telling me that he was about to confess, and tell me some small story that was actually nothing, and that I was overreacting, but just like many other times I was wrong.

He laughed. Not just any laugh, a devious laugh. I was completely baffled, and my eyebrows knitted together.

"You know, I honestly didn't think you would last this long." Luke chuckled and took a few steps toward me. "I thought you would figure it all out, but you're so much of a pushover that there's no telling how much longer this could have gone on."

I unfolded my arms and blinked a few times. "Luke, what are you talking about?"

He rolled his eyes and placed a finger to his temple. "Use your head for once in your goddamn life. You think I love you? You think I care about you at all? You actually think I've changed for you? Caroline, sweetie, you really are dumb. You think you're the only girl I've been seeing, don't you?"