Chapter one hundred and four:

Jenna woke slowly, to the pounding in her head of an early morning hang over.
She groaned tiredly and turned over in bed.

“There’s a bottle of aspirin on the table, if you want.” Luke’s voice came from somewhere in the room.

Jenna sat up, reached for the bottle and downed two pills quickly without any water.
She groaned and leaned back against the wall next to her bed.

Luke was sitting in the rocking chair in the far corner of the room.

Becky’s bed was unmade, and Jen was quick to assume that Luke had slept there, as Becky hadn’t spent a single night in the room.

Luke sighed and put his book aside. “We need to talk.”

“We do? About last night?” She assumed.

“Do you remember last night?”

“Bits and pieces. Did I make an ass out of myself?”

“No… not too badly.” Luke stood and crossed the room in a few short strides, and sat down on the edge of her bed. “But we need to talk about other things.”

Jen sighed and dropped her head into her hands. “Ugh, I don’t like the sound of that.”
”No, it’s okay.” He forced a smile. “It’s not that bad… I don’t think it is.” He gently pushed her dark hair back so he could see her face.

“Are you okay?” He asked gently. “I mean, you’re… you’re eating properly and everything, right?”

Jenna sighed heavily, closing her eyes tightly. A lecture first thing in the morning with a hangover was not something she wasn’t looking forward to.

“Luke…”

“Because you know that’s stupid right? The whole starving to be skinny thing. And it’s completely unnecessary. I care about you no matter what you look like. I don’t care how fat or skinny you are… and I’m not…” He sighed. “I’m not insinuating that you’re fat, or you’re ugly or anything, because you’re not…  you’re… you’re the most beautiful girl in the world to me…”

Jenna wrapped her arms around him, and rested her cheek on his shoulder.

Luke looped his arms around her and held onto her tightly.

“Luke, don’t worry about me, okay? Everything is fine.” She assured, ignoring the knot in her stomach. The part of her that felt terrible about lying to Luke.

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Becky had been awake before anyone else, as she usually was.

She busied herself by helping Taylor clean up the kitchen. She was putting a stack of plastic cups into a garbage bag.

“Thanks for helping me out,” Taylor smiled at her, holding open the black bag. “You don’t have to, but its great that you offered. I’ve got to get all this shit picked up before big brother Ike gets home and pitches a fit.”

Becky laughed. “No problem, I really don’t mind. I’d like to cook breakfast, but the counter is full of…” She paused and picked up an empty bottle of Coke which someone had used to fashion a crude bong. “Stuff.” She dropped it into the bag.

“I know. It got a little out of hand last night.” Taylor chuckled. “It was a good time, though. You should have come down.”

“I’m not much of a partier.” Becky smiled. “Not much of a drinker either.” She dropped a handful of bottles into the recycling bin.

“That’s okay. It was still pretty alright.” Taylor swept an arm load of garbage off the counter and directly into the plastic bag he was holding.

“Did you meet any girls?” Becky asked. “I don’t mean to pry, I’m just curious.”

“That’s alright… no, I didn’t…. I mean, I did meet some girls, but no one worth… knowing. No one I liked.” He sighed.

“Not one you liked as much as Jen?” Becky blurted out.

Taylor rolled his eyes. He hated that in a house full of people, his life was an open book.

“No… I guess not.”

“You still like her.”

“I try not to… I just can’t help it.”

“I know.” Becky patted his shoulder. “It’s not easy. But the feelings will fade. You’ll move on. You just need to find someone new.”

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