Breathe

Chapter 17

"If only our eyes saw souls instead of bodies how very different our ideals of beautiful would be." -Unknown

"What are you doing here?" Luke asks coldly. I want to tell him to stop being rude to his parents, but his tone makes me decide against it.

"Your mother and I wanted to surprise you and Jake tonight," his father says.

"How long have you been here?" Luke asks.

"A few hours," his mother answers. Should I leave them to talk this out? I feel awkward standing here in the middle of this...situation.

"And you didn't bother telling me this earlier?" Luke's angry, shit.

"I wasn't sure you'd be here tonight. I didn't see you here until now. I would've spoken to you earlier."

Luke doesn't reply, so Rosalie speaks up. "Who's this?", she says, gesturing to me.

"Vanessa...my girlfriend. Vanessa, these are my parents, Rosalie and Stefan," Luke says irritated.

"Oh! I wasn't aware you had a girlfriend," Rosalie gushes, "It's so nice to meet you."

"You would've known if you would've been around," he mutters. I don't think I've actually seen Luke lose his temper until now. I lace my fingers through his as an attempt to calm him.

"Luke, please, keep your voice down and listen," Stefan says.

"Don't 'Luke' me! You're never around anymore! We have more money than we know what to do with, why do you still work? You haven't told us anything about your jobs. How do you think I feel? I don't even know what you do for a living because you 'aren't allowed tell us'," Luke says using finger quotes with his free hand.

"You don't understand. I'm sorry we can't explain. We work to maintain and support our family." What kind of jobs could they have that they can't talk about them? It must be some sort of secret service occupation?

"No you don't! How are we even a family?" Luke's voice keeps getting louder.

"Because we work hard, for you! We make a great amount of money, and we love our jobs. You have access to practically anything you want because of us!" Stefan's voice has slightly risen, but nothing like Luke's. Clearly, he's not an irascible man.

"I don't care about your fucking money! I just want a family!" Luke's screaming, and a small crowd has gathered near the stairs. "It's been two months! Two fucking months! You're barely my parents. I'm not dealing with this shit right now," he says and removes his hand from mine. I frown.

"Luke! Watch your language!" Rosalie gasps, and Luke walks abruptly away from them and out the front door.

"I'm so sorry," I apologize and look back at the door.

"It's not your fault," Rosalie sighs and I rush after Luke. I think I can hear Rosalie starting to cry as I open the door and run after him.

He's standing on the sidewalk for the car to return from wherever that man originally parked it. His black Audi whips around a corner and is in front of him within a few seconds. I rush to catch up with him, momentarily worried he'll abandon me here, but I know deep down he wouldn't.

He opens the passenger door and waits until I'm at the car. I climb in and thank him quietly. He walks around to the driver side of the car and joins me inside. I'm scared to say anything that will upset him further, so we drive in silence. I need to go home because I have school tomorrow, but I feel like he really needs me tonight, so I don't say anything. I'll let him decide.

The road we're on looks familiar. Even though it's pitch-black outside, I'm almost positive this is the road to his house.

Luke unlocks the doors after we pull into the driveway. We walk through the front door and he heads upstairs. Instead of following him, I make a detour to the kitchen. I open multiple cupboards until I find the glasses and fill them with ice and water. An ice cube falls onto the floor and slides across the kitchen floor, but I can't seem to find it, so I leave it to melt.