Chapter one hundred and seven:

Becky jumped out of the passenger seat of the rental car, and closed the door behind her.

She walked around the back of the car and met Zac as he was pressing the lock button and stuffing the keys in the front pocket of his jeans.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they walked. “So what movie is it you want to see again, babe?”

Becky smiled up at him. “There wasn’t really a movie I wanted to see. I just wanted us to go off by ourselves and let Jen and Luke be alone on their last day together before he leaves to go back to Tulsa.”
”Ahhh… so that’s the plan.” He stopped walking in the middle of the parking lot and faced her. “You’re pretty sneaky.”

“You bet your ass I am.” She laughed.
”Okay, how about I just say that you’re pretty?”
She stood on her toes and kissed his lips.

Zac grinned. “Okay, so then do you still want to see a movie, or do you want to do something else?”
”Is there a movie you want to see? We could go to that.” She suggested.

“Hmm… I don’t know. Why don’t we see what’s playing?”

“Okay.” She followed him into the theatre and stopped next to him as they peered up at the giant screen to see the list of movie titles and show times.
After a moment, Becky looked at him expectantly while he continued to squint at the screen.

Instead of replying right away, he looked at her, stuck out his tongue and crossed his eyes.

Becky burst out laughing, and looped her arms around his waist. “You’re a great big kid you, know that?”
”Yeah. I know.” He laughed. “Would you be surprised if I told you I’ve heard that a lot?”

“Nope.” She teased. “Have you picked a movie yet?”

He sighed heavily, and looked back up at the screen. “I don’t think I want to see any of these movies. And actually, think I have a better idea of what we could do today.”

“Yeah? And what’s that?”
”Well, we could stop at the store and rent a couple of movies, buy a bag of popcorn and just hang out, in an empty house, just you and me.”

Becky smiled. “That sounds great… but… we drove all the way here…”

“That’s okay. Ike is the one who pays for the gas in the car.”

Becky laughed out loud at that. “Okay.”

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Luke followed Jenna through the mall.
Zac and Becky had dropped them off at the mall, and neither Luke nor Jen had spoken a word to each other since.

“So, where to first?” Luke asked optimistically. “Clothing store?”

She pondered that option for a brief moment then said, “No, I don’t really feel like shopping for clothes today… And I don’t think we should spend our last day together while I try on clothes that Christy is just going to ridicule anyway.”

“Is that what this is all about, then?” He asked.
”What?” She asked in confusion.

“Because I’m leaving tomorrow. You’ve been acting kind of different lately.”

“What?” She demanded. “I have not been acting different lately!”

Luke sighed and pulled her aside, where they weren’t in the middle of the stream of shoppers parading through the mall. “I’m not trying to be confrontational here, Jen. I’m just trying to understand you, I’m just trying to help.” He paused. “But I can’t help you, if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”

“There’s nothing wrong!” She defended.

“Really? There’s honestly nothing wrong. You can look at me, directly in the eyes, and tell me that there’s nothing wrong.”

“There’s nothing wrong!” She repeated, raising her voice and attracting the attention of several shoppers.

Luke sighed. “Okay, fine. Let’s go to the food court then, it’s almost lunch time.”

She licked her lips slowly then said quietly. “I’m really not that hungry.”
”You didn’t eat breakfast this morning, you must be starving.” He urged and took her hand. “Look, it’ll be my treat. We’ll go to the food court, and you can order anything you want. Just please eat something. Humor me, and let me see you eat a full meal for once. Please.”

She jerked her hand from his. “I said I wasn’t hungry! I can’t believe you’re forcing me to eat!”

“I’m not trying to force you, I’m just asking you to. Please, I don’t want a fight on my last day here-“

“Well, you’ve got one!” She stormed off into the crowed of shoppers.

Luke sighed heavily.
He wasn’t about to chase her and cause a scene. He thought it would be best if he simply left her alone for a few hours in order to let her cool off and if he stopped at a flower shop on the way home.

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