Imagination || L.H.

Chapter 10

I clock into work the next day, but I might as well be a thousand miles away. When the playlist we spent so long on pours out of the speakers I barely register it and almost forget to smile at my friends letting go to the familiar music. 

Cassidy catches my eye and mouths, "You okay?" 

I force myself to smile and nod. 

I can't tell her what's bothering me, because even I don't know what it is. Maybe it has something to do with the way I left things with Calum last night or maybe it's that some of the things he said were true and maybe I don't want them to be.

The bells attached to the door to signal the entrance of a customer jingle, but the noise hardly processes in my mind. I continue to blend the mango pineapple smoothie a woman in her early thirties dressed in gym clothes ordered. 

A warm presence suddenly appears, causing me to jump, my hand knocking the lid of the blender off. Mango chunks go flying, splattering all over the walls, counter tops and people. 

I curse under my breath, wiping the bits of fruit from my face. 

Glancing up at the source of my surprise, I quickly take a step back. "What are you doing here?"

Luke frowns, swiping up a piece of mango that landed on his shoulder and licking it off the tip of his finger. 

"I can't visit a friend at work?" The edge of his mouth twitches up into a small smile.

I feel like punching a hole through the nearest wall. Why does everything have to be so confusing all the time? I can't fall for someone ever again, can't get this close to Luke while he's in a self-destructive place, when I can't read him at all. So why do I keep thinking about him? Why did I go off on Calum when he told me what I already know?

Unsure of what else to say, I ask, "How's your head?" 

I work on remaking the smoothie I exploded, a little comfort in the familiar process. Finally, something I can rely on to be the same and not confusing.

Lynn tosses Luke a fiery glare that sends him reaching for one of the damp rags on the counter, starting the time-consuming task of wiping the mess of fruit down. 

Cassie gives me a curious look, jerking her head in Luke's direction. It's an unspoken thing that my friends never come see me at work unless it's urgent. The last time someone stopped by to say hi to me was... 

I shake my head to clear it, steering myself away from the dark path it took me forever to escape from. I don't need another reminder about him.

"Good, I just wish I didn't have stitches holding it together."

I feel his blue eyes on me but I don't look away from the blender. 

Jenny, a new employee Lynn hired during the week that I was gone, taps her professionally done nails against the counter top in a bored manner. She whips around to yell at me for taking so long, but freezes, her gaze locked on Luke. Her eyes rake him up and down greedily, drinking every little detail with interest. 

"Kat," she says conversationally, her voice sugary sweet in a way that I know is faked. "Who's your handsome friend?"

"This is Luke," I say, sticking a straw in the smoothie. The cups are paper as are the straws, not plastic, per Lynn's wishes. "Luke, this is Jenny. She's new." 

My tone is cryptic and to the point, signaling that I don't want to be stuck watching a lengthy flirtation attempt for hours. I press the smoothie into Jenny's hands, noticing the subtle glare she shoots my way.

"Hey," Luke says, cleaning up the last of the failed smoothie. 

He flips the rag onto his shoulder, lazily leaning back against the counter. I still want to scream at him what the hell he thinks he's doing, but it would only scare off customers and make Lynn mad at me. 

"Are you off before lunch?" he asks casually. "Wanna stop by the cafe on the pier?"

I debate it in my head. I am off before lunch, and the little cafe on the pier sounds fantastic right about now, but then again, Calum had a point last night. Luke's overwhelmed enough without adding me to the list. 

I don't know why the words leave my mouth and am helpless to stop them. "Sure. I get off at 11:45. Come back then?"

He gives me a pout. "You want me to leave?"

"Yes," I say with a small laugh. "Luke, I need to work and I can't if you hover over my shoulder the entire time."

He sighs, starting to back up, lifting his hands in surrender. "Fine, fine, I'm leaving. Are you happy, Katherine?"

"Very," I smirk, leaning against the counter.

He walks backwards the entire way to the door, bumping into just about everything on his way. Lynn tries to glare at him but abandons the effort when he knocks over a table and bangs his head on the underside of the furniture as he attempts to set it back the way it was.

"Goodbye, Luke," I laugh, waving goodbye to him. 

He lets the door shut behind him, saluting me as he heads down the sidewalk.

By now, everyone's staring at me. I find that I don't even care, returning to my work a slight smile on my face.

Cassidy sidles up next to me, passing me the ingredients for a young woman's smoothie, her blonde hair falling out of her sloppy ponytail in thin strands. 

"What was that all about?" she asks me. "I didn't know you and Luke were a thing. Have anything else you want to tell me, Fuller?" 

Cass wiggles her eyebrows suggestively and I smack her arm playfully.

"No. And for your information, Luke and I are not a thing. He wanted to ask me if I wanted to get lunch with him after work."

My friend arches her eyebrow in disbelief. "It sure looks like you're together. The fact that he came all the way here to ask you a simple question that he could just have texted you... Well, it says a lot." 

Cassidy meets my gaze with a dead serious expression that leaves no room for laughter. "Kat, I think he likes you. And I think you like him."