Promise

Chapter 19

I sighed and knocked on the door. Mrs.Haven's opened the door. She smiled. She was wearing a red skin-tight dress with black heels. "Oh, great. You're here! Jason, honey, lets go!" She called. Luke's dad soon appeared. He smiled at me and I smiled back. "Take care of them, okay?" He said. "Yes sir," I nodded.

Them?

"Yeah, and make sure Luke doesn't do anything stupid," Mrs. Havens said. I slightly chuckled, "okay."

"Okay, great. I think Vanessa is drawing in the kitchen and Luke is in his room. You can sleep with Vanessa; her bed is quite big."

I nodded.

After a few seconds of explaining some rules, they said goodbye and left.

I sighed not wanting to see Luke.

I looked at the time; 6:25

I sighed and went to the kitchen. There was Vanessa. My eyes widened. The last time I had seen her was when she was only four, and she was very tiny. Now, she's obviously bigger.

She was wearing her hair into two pig tails. She looked up from her paper. She looked at me and immediately smiled, "hi!"

I smiled back, "Hey."

She stood up from her chair and hugged me. "I'm so excited to meet you. Luke said you're really pretty. He wasn't lying."

I blushed.

"Thank you, but you're the prettiest," I told her. She smiled wider, "Thank you."

"So, do you want to draw with me?" She asked. "I thought you'd never ask," I said.

She jumped in excitement and grabbed me by my wrist, taking me to the table where she had been drawing. She gave me a piece of paper as I sat down next to her. She had a bunch of pencils that were perfectly sharpened and there was markers, pens, colored pencils, crayons. She had a whole collection. Not going to lie, it got me excited.

I looked at all the colors. She had them all organized.

"You're really organized," I told her. "Yeah. My mom said I had OCD. I still don't really know what it means," she responded.

I nodded. It was just cool how and eight-year-old was so organized. When I was 8, I had two pairs of shoes in my mom's room; 3 in the restroom and 1 in the freaking attic. My clothes were everywhere as well.

"Let's draw a fruit," Vanessa said. "Sounds good," I told her.

"What's your favorite fruit?" She asked. I smiled...

• flashback to 7th grade •

Luke and I sat on the swings together. I sighed, "I wish Kelsey was here."

"You have me," he said. I smiled, looking at him. It was comfortably quiet. "You know what fruit I'm in the mood for?" He said.

I sighed thinking of what fruit I wanted to eat at that moment.

"Pineapple," we both said in unison. We laughed.

"Pineapple is my favorite fruit," we both said at the same time, again. We laughed hysterically. "That's so crazy," I said.

"Pineapple is good though," he said. I nodded, agreeing.

• end of flashback •

I looked at Vanessa. "Pineapple," I said.

"Oh, that's Luke's favorite fruit."

I smiled, "I know."

We both started drawing. "What's your favorite fruit?" I asked her. "Apples. I love apples."

I smiled, "apples are really good."

She nodded. It was quiet as we continued drawing. "Are you dating my brother?" Vanessa said out of nowhere. I looked at her. She was looking at me attentively. I laughed awkwardly, "why do you ask that?"

"Because he talks about you, and when I ask him to describe you; the first word he says is Beautiful. And mom calls you his girlfriend. Like, earlier today, she said, 'Vanessa, I need you to behave for Luke's girlfriend, okay?' And he once said he loved you, but he whispered it and I acted like I didn't hear it. Oh! And whenever I ask or talk about you; he smiles the biggest smile in the world," she explained.

I felt my face heat up.

"No, We're just friends." I told her. Although I wasn't even sure if we were even friends.

She looked disappointed. "But...why not?"

I sighed, "Because things are just-I don't know-It shard to exp-"

"Do you not like him?" She frowned. I didn't really know what to say. She was only eight. I didn't think it was appropriate to tell her that I saw an almost naked girl come out of her brother's hotel room. I didn't think it was right to tell her that her brother was a fuck-boy.

"It's not that, Nessa. It's just-things don't work sometimes, you know?" I said. "Just say it. He's with a lot of girls. I know. I've seen him. But, he stopped! He used to bring them all the time. Now, he's always only talking about you," Vanessa said.

I smiled at her, "You're a good sister."

"Thank you. But...can you at least give him a chance?" She asked. I smiled at her...

I've already given him many chances.

"I don't think so."

She frowned. "But, he always brings lame girls. Mom said that that's not okay. That's why she likes you. Because she said something about when Luke was in seventh grade and you were friends. She said you're a good kid, and that you're responsible. I don't really get what they say sometimes, but you are cool. I thought you were Like the other girls, but you're the only one that has drawn with me!"

I sighed.

"Look, Nessa. He's going to find someone better. Someone way cooler than me, k? He's going to love that person way more thank he thinks. and that's the person that he will call 'the one' " I said. Saying those words hurt me so much. I could feel the pin in every inch of my body.

"Luke said that you're 'the one' " she told me.

I chuckled awkwardly. I took a deep breath, "let's just get back to drawing, mkay?"

She still looked disappointed, "okay."

After awhile, she seemed to forget the whole Luke+Me thing. "My dad taught me how to draw and apple, you see?"

She showed me her drawing. "Wow, that's amazing," I told her. "Yeah. My dad went to art school. He really likes drawing. He's an architect. What about your dad?" She asked.

I like how kids move on from a conversation quickly. Like how Vanessa stopped talking about Luke and me. But, kids are also curious, and it's not bad! Until it come to this point.

"Umm..." I felt a knot in my throat, "actually, my dad is...Umm..." I struggled to breath. "He's...uhh...dead."

I was expecting her to look at me with that face that said 'oh gosh. What do I say'.

But, instead, she threw her arms around me. She didn't say anything. Maybe this was another good thing about kids...or at least this kid.