Heartbroken

Chapter 16:

I stared at him blankly, no emotion on my face, just blinking at him in surprise. It took almost a minute for me to register what he said, and when I did I let out a surprised and shocked expression.

DID HE JUST... I thought. DID HE REALLY SAY...? OH, DAMN!

In order to get my head straight, I had to recap on what happened in the last five minutes. What if it was all a dream? Most I could remember was slapping Luke, then not a second later I was pulling him in for a kiss. And then, I WAS kissing him! And I enjoyed it, and Luke never pulled away, when he did when Clarissa kissed him. What did it mean?

I turned to Carmen and she was looking from me to Luke to me. She was surprised and shocked at my courage to kiss him, and even more astonished that Luke hadn't pulled away.

Then I looked at Clarissa and she was enraged, absolutely disgusted by the fact that Luke had allowed me to kiss him when the plan was to get Luke to refuse to allow me and leave me longing to. But either way, I was.

Clarissa stormed out of the room, her eyes in a fiery at the scene they had just witnessed. Carmen looked at me and laughed at how Clarissa was acting. When I turned to see if Clarissa had gone into the hallway, I saw a face overlooking what was happening. It was Alyssa, and by the look of joy and excitement I could tell that she had also seen me kiss Luke. She wore a large smile on her dark face, and her eyes were wide and bright.

I held in a laugh at how she looked, spying on us. Then I realized she missed class just to see the final scene. I gave her a look and mouthed, "You're supposed to be in class!"

She held up one of her fake passes she signed herself and mouthed back, "I'm excused!" Then, she went back to her position and watched us.

I rolled my eyes with a smile, and saw that Luke was watching me. I turned to him and smiled shyly, blushing more and more by the second.

"Happy Birthday Miranda," Luke said, as he planted a kiss on my cheek and, quickly, left the classroom. I was left standing there, smiling at the thought that he had kissed my cheek and got all warm inside. Carmen came up to me, smiling yet cringing at the display of our strange affection towards each other.

"So," Carmen said, looking closely at me. "How do you feel?" She said, slowly and choosing her words carefully. I didn't hesitate to answer.

"Like flying," I said with a dreamy sigh.

"Miranda!" Carmen said, so loud and sudden I jumped. "You're supposed to be OVER Luke, not IN LOVE with Luke!"

"I'm not in love with him," I said, shaking my head slowly. She rolled her eyes.

"Sure you aren't, lover girl!" Carmen said in a teasing way.

"I am not!" I countered.

"Are to!"

"Am not!"

"Are TO!"

"Are NOT!!!" We continued for a few minutes before we dropped the subject.

After lunch, after we had explained what happened between Luke and me to Maria and we all squealed in excitement, I was heading to class when I bumped into someone. My books fell and dropped to the floor.

"Hey," I said. "Can you watch where your going? I'm kinda walking to class here?" I said in my annoyed manner. As I reached down to lick up my books, a hand reached down to help me.

"Sorry," Luke said. "I didn't mean to."

As I got up, I was transfixed in Luke's gaze, but realized what was happening and turned away. As I walked away to get to class, Luke spoke.

"Hey," Luke said. "Miranda..." I turned his way and he looked lost for words.

"I was wondering..." My heart was bursting to hear what he was going to say. What if he was going to ask...? No, it's impossible.

"Are you ready for the play?" My heart sank.

"Ummm," I said. "Not really..." I turned around to leave when he spoke again.

"Will you go to Prom to me?" Luke blurted. I stopped dead in my tracks. Have my ears deceived me? Was he really asking me...? But it couldn't be true... could it?

My heart was hammered in my chest and my heartbeat was speeding up to the point I could only here it's speed and my heart pumping.

"Luke," I said slowly. "Did you just...?" Luke nodded.

"I want you to go to Prom with me." He said.

"But," I said. "You already asked Clarissa!"

"I dumped her," he said without hesitation. "I'm not going with her anymore. She was going with someone else..." This, I didn't have to be told to know.

"I..." I didn't know what to say. Go to prom with Luke? Why, it would be wonderful! But, he did ask Clarissa didn't he? After all, he decided to ask her, not ME.

"You chose Clarissa," I said, fighting to keep my temper. "Not me. How do I know you really want to go with me? What if you just feel bad that I don't have a date or you're desperate for one?"

"Miranda," Luke said. "It's not like that..."

"I know perfectly well how it is Luke, thank you very much." I said calmly. Tears were forming in my eyes. "Now, if you'll excuse me..." I began to walk away but Luke grabbed my arm and kept me from walking away.

"Don't touch me!" I said, as I shook Luke's hand off of my arm. I looked up at him and saw the hurt in his eyes.

"How do I know?" I said softly. "How do I know you're asking me? How do I know you're still not with Clarissa?"

"Miranda," Luke said. "I..." He reached his hand to me but I turned away.

"I can't," I said. "I can't go to Prom with you Luke..."

"Why not?" Luke demanded. I turned back to him.

"Because I can wait, and if you really like me, you'll have the patience to wait too." With that, I left him, leaving a speechless Luke behind.