Forgotten Memories

Chapter 2: The Switch

-Aria-

Waiting for Luke to show up took forever. I waited about two hours, just sitting in the bookstore. I mean, I had books to read, but still. By the time he showed up, I'd read about 3 books.

"Well, well," I muttered. "Look who decided to show up." I walked out the bookstore with Luke trailing behind. He was silent.

"What's wrong?"

He looks up. "Huh? Oh!" He nods tightly. "Um, yeah. Sure."

I frown. "Did you even hear what I said, Gonzalez?"

He frowns, then starts crossing the street. "Mm-hm." Once he's on the other side, he pauses and waits for me. "And, may I ask, what's with the 'Gonzalez' thing?"

I arrive to the other side and start walking beside him, to the cab. "Well, I'm upset."

"Well, I don't know why. I mean, you did that last time you were mysteriously upset too."

I stop in my tracks. "Last time?"

He freezes and his eyes immediately sadden. "Oh. Yeah."

He gets in the cab and the cabbie starts the engine.

He pulls his phone out and I settle beside him. After a moment, his face contorts angrily and he types furiously.

He's hiding something, I know it.

And I plan to figure out.

••••••••••

-Luke-

I blink rapidly to hide the tears welling in my eyes. She's been silently watching me throughout the whole cab ride. I just don't know why.

I look down at my phone. I've been arguing with Rue and Gabe for the past 5 minutes.

"Are you okay?" Aria says, breaking the silence. I turn to her briefly. "Yeah," I say slowly. "Why?"

"Because," she leans over and touches my face, "of this."

She wipes a tear away and I fail to suppress a groan. So much for trying.

Since when did I become such a softie?

I nod. "I'm fine." She rolls her eyes. "Mm-hm."

After a moment, we arrive at Rue's apartment. The engine dies and I finish typing.

...to help him.

Done.

Send.

"See you later," I murmur, but she leans over and wraps her arms around my neck, then kisses my cheek. She knocked my phone out of my hand in the process, but I ignored it. Shocked, I hug her back. "You better be here tomorrow. You have no idea how boring it is watching Rue try to impress me with her cooking."

Laughing, she releases me and runs up to the door. As the cab driver starts the engine, she turns and waves.

The cab pulls out as my eyes start to blur.

••••••••••

-Aria-

I thought a hug would help him, but it didn't. As he drove off, I stuffed his phone in my back pocket, so I'm pretty sure that didn't help either. Ha. I'll return it tomorrow. I shuffle into the house and Rue runs up to greet me.

"Hey!" she shrieks. "How'd it go?"

"Fine," I mumble, and march up to my room, straight to my desk. I sit and unlock his phone. I immediately see over 30 messages on his group chat on Facebook. Dang, people.