Yours, truly

Chapter 12.

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Haley

Luke was surprisingly quiet today. Usually, with me, he was always joking around and being so flirty that my face burned from blushing. I was always smiling when I was with him, but today he's barely said a word.

I was working on the painting project. Rae called me an hour ago and told me she couldn't come today. Her voice was rough and she seemed upset.

"Rae, are you okay?" I whispered into the phone as Dylan ate his chicken nuggets while watching a Marvel movie. "You know you can always talk to me right?"

Then she started crying. She couldn't get her words out.
Their small fight exploded when Luke left. They were both shouting and screaming, thrashing their hands around like crazy and eventually, Rae stormed off tears in her eyes holding her arms across her chest and picking her nails.

Right then I felt compelled to tell Austin what happened with Natalie on Friday, what she said to Rae.
I've never seen Austin so angry I've never seen him angry at all. His fingers dug into his hands and he sighed closing his eyes.

Of course, that's why Rae was suddenly wearing different clothes and didn't seem herself. Natalie's comment had gotten to her and now she was insecure, I could see it so clearly.

I dipped my brush into the green paint focusing on the bush I was painting and glancing at Luke. He held a blank look on his face as he kicked his soccer ball against the wall. He seemed silently angry as he kicked it harder every time.

I flinched as he kicked it again dropping the brush in my hand.

Should I ask him if he's okay? Usually, people don't like being asked that question or they lie about the answer. I know I did sometimes.

It's worth a shot.

"Are you okay?" I asked. He didn't look at me only focusing on the ball at his feet.

"Fine," he said blankly kicking it again. I flinched.

I hated everyone being in a bad mood. Austin was angry, Rae was upset and Luke was as quiet as ever.
Our date on Saturday was amazing. I'd never done anything like that before and I enjoyed every minute of it.

I appreciated it so much that he told me about his accident.
Of course, I hadn't been told the whole story. I wasn't clueless, I knew there was more to it but I wasn't going to push.

Even I had secrets I would never want someone like Luke to find out or to judge me for. He didn't seem like the person who would.

His hoodie was in my room right now, folded neatly on top of my dresser.

"Are you excited for your game?" I asked trying to get something out of him.

I decided not to paint more clouds today and move on to the plants because the sky was rather grey.

Luke didn't answer. He just kept kicking the ball against the wall, over and over again, I flinched.

As I was let in, Sean was just leaving with Amelia to go to the movies. She said she was going to see Frozen 2 in the most adorable way as she slipped out the door in her little blue dress.