Hanging With The Boys

19.

"DO YOU WANT to head over to the grocery store to pick up some snacks before we go to your house?" I ask Luke as we get into my car after school.

"Yeah that sounds good. And we could stop at The Bean too for drinks." He suggests.

"Good idea." I agree and then pull out of the parking lot.

"Are you okay with Becca sitting with us at lunch?" Luke asks as we drive, shocking me with the question.

"Totally." I nod despite the uneasy feeling in my stomach.

"Okay cause you seemed kind of irritated by it at lunch."

"Not really. I mean, I guess it's just weird seeing you so close with another girl." I shrug.

I thought I was hiding my feelings, but I guess Luke can read me too well.

"Does that bother you? That I'm getting close with another girl?" He questions me.

"No. Not at all. I'm so happy for you, Luke. And it's totally different. I'm your best friend and she's well your girlfriend. I guess it's just different having another girl there other than Kenzie."

"Is this about your past? Because you've had so many issues with girls in the past."

I nod in agreement, knowing that he's pretty much hit the issue on the nose.           

"Don't worry. Becca is different. You'll warm up to having her around." Luke assures me.

"You're probably right. I'm just overexaggerating, I guess. But there was one thing that was kind of weird. After lunch, she was asking me questions about our friendship. Like if there was something going on between us or if there ever was something in the past. I obviously assured her that there wasn't, never has been and never will be." I inform him, laughing at how ridiculous it all sounds thinking back to it.

"Do you think she's jealous?"

"I highly doubt that. What would she actually have to be jealous about? She's probably just curious like Evan was when we first started going out." I shrug.

My irritation towards Becca melts away as my previous statement causes me to realize that she has nothing to be jealous about and I have nothing to be irritated about. She's just trying to fit in as Luke's girlfriend, it's not like she's trying to replace me as his best friend or kick me out of the friend group.

"Right." Luke says, letting out a sigh.

"Everything okay?" I ask worriedly.

"Yeah. Just releasing the carbon dioxide from my body." He says, and I laugh.

In my peripheral vision I can see him looking at me and smiling which makes me slightly nervous, but he quickly turns away to look straight ahead and my nervousness disappears.

"So. You and Becca are happy together then?"

"Of course." He nods.

"Well, if you're happy, I'm happy." I say, using the same line he said to me when I started dating Forrest.

When we get to the grocery store, we pick up a variety of snacks; trail mix, pretzels and many other bagged goods. Then we quickly head over to The Bean to get our drinks.

"Hey, can I get a medium vanilla latte." Luke orders. It's his usual drink. "What do you want Henley?" he asks me. "I'll probably get the same but iced." I say. "Ooh, switching it up, I see." He smiles. "Okay, so we'll also take a medium iced vanilla latte." Luke tells the barista and then pays.

"Luke, you didn't have to pay." I say. "It's no big deal." He shrugs and I can't help but laugh. "What?" he asks, a huge grin spreading across his face. "That's literally your signature line." I say, laughing. "What? I don't say it that often." He says, still smiling. "Yes, you do." I nod, smirking at him.

We collect our drinks and then drive to Luke's house so we can get to work. "My mom's home early." Luke notes when we pull into his driveway, noticing the silver SUV. "Cool. I get to meet her." I smile, hopping out of the car as soon as I park. We grab our drinks and snacks and head inside.

"Hey mom." Luke calls out when we get inside. "Hello." She says, coming from the kitchen to the foyer where she sees me. "Hi!" she says happily. "You must be Henley." She grins, giving me a hug. Luke excuses himself to go to the washroom, leaving me along with his mom.

"I've heard so much about you. You must be the girl that caused Luke to learn how to work a stove." She chuckles. I'm not sure what she's talking about so I'm grateful when she starts to explain.

"He came home from school on Tuesday and stole the chicken breast I was thawing for dinner and got to work making chicken noodle soup. I guess he didn't want me to notice that more chicken breast had gone missing because Wednesday he bought the canned stuff." She laughs and the idea of Luke taking the time to make me chicken noodle soup when I was sick makes me smile. "He told me that it was just leftover from what you made." I laugh

"He must really care about you." She smiles.

"We both care about each other. I'm so grateful to have him as a friend." I say smilingly.

"Wait. You aren't his girlfriend?" she says, her smile fading a bit.

"No. We're just best friends. Becca is his girlfriend." I say, blushing slightly at the idea.

"That's too bad." She says, her smile fully gone. "He mentioned that he was dating someone but I figured it was you since he never really mentions anyone else."

Luke returns and we head up to his room to get started on the project. "Nice jean jacket." I say, noticing it slung over his desk chair. "Thanks. It's too small for me, so I'm giving it away." He says, taking a seat on his bed as he starts to pull out his laptop, notebook and biology textbook. "Do you mind if I take it?" I ask. I've wanted a jean jacket for awhile, but they're always too pricy or not my style. "Sure, but what are you gonna do with it?" he asks. "Just wear it. It will be oversized on me, so it'll be cute." I say. "Sounds good." Luke agrees.

We start our work on the assignment, talking as we research.

"I don't know if you heard my conversation with your mom when you were in the bathroom, but she thought we were dating." I laugh.

"Really? What did you say?" he laughs.

"I told her that we're just best friends and she seemed disappointed to hear it. You should introduce her to Becca, maybe that will cheer her up to know that you're dating a nice girl."

"I don't know if I'm there yet with her but I'll keep it in mind."

"Okay, cool. But speaking of dating, are you free this weekend? I was thinking me, you, Forrest, and Becca could go on a double date."

"Sure. Sounds fun. I'll be sure to mention it to her."

We agree to plan out the details later but for now we get back to work. We finish at around 6 o'clock and I leave to head back home, telling Luke that I'll see him tomorrow and that I'm looking forward to the potential double date this weekend.