Chapter two
hundred and fifty-three:
Jen wandered out
of the bedroom. Becky, Christy and herself had taken over the king sized bed in
the hotel suite she shared with Luke. She found Luke sitting on the sofa,
eagerly leaning forward to watch a football game.
Jen smiled and
walked over to him, standing next to the spot where he was sitting.
He smiled up at
her. “Hey, everything, okay?”
“Yeah.” She moved toward him and sat on his
knee, wrapping his arms around his neck. She gently kissed his lips.
He smiled at her.
“I’m glad to see you’re feeling better.” He placed a hand on her lower back
gently.
“Want to watch
the game with me?” He asked, though he already knew the answer.
“Sorry,” She
laughed. “I told the girls I would make popcorn.”
“I’ll help.”
“Okay.” She
stood and he followed her to the kitchen and watched as she popped a bag into
the microwave and pressed buttons.
She leaned
against the counter. Luke placed his hand on her arm and gently kissed her
forehead.
Jen folded
herself into his arms, and he kissed her several more times on the top of her
head as he held her in his arms.
“Luke, I’m
sorry… that girl today… she… she just hit the wrong nerve.”
“I know, love.
It’s okay. You don’t have to apologize to me.” He smiled, holding her tightly
in his arms.
“Jesus Christ,
Jen.” Christy’s voice came behind them. “Are you burning the popcorn?”
“No,” Luke
replied.
“I just put it
in a minute or so ago.” Jen replied.
“It smells like it’s burning.” Christy replied.
Luke bent to
examine the bag of popcorn through the glass microwave door.
“I can smell it
too. It smells smokey, like something is burning.”
Becky replied, appearing next to Christy.
“I don’t know
what to tell you, girls.” Luke stood. “The popcorn is just starting to pop
now.” He turned to face Christy and Becky, and suddenly noticed how
smoke-filled the room had become.
“What’s going
on?” Jen asked in confusion.
The fire alarm
sounded loudly.
“The building is
on fire!” Luke shouted. “Get out, go!” He pushed the girls in front of him and
followed them to the stairwell.
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Isaac, Taylor
and Zac were squished into the backseat of the cab, as they crawled slowly
through traffic.
“What is going
on?”
“It’s weird that
there’s so much traffic this late at night.” Zac replied, trying to see out the
side window.
“There’s a fire,
up ahead.” Said the cab driver. “There are fire trucks
all over the street and it’s down to one lane.”
“Oh shit.” Isaac
shoved open the door with his shoulder and climbed out of the cab in the middle
of the street, causing horns to honk from behind him.
“What the hell?”
Isaac slammed
the door closed. He now could smell the pungent scent of smoke clouding the
air.
He could see the
flames licking the side of the tall brick building.
He broke into a
run, and disappeared into the crowd.
Zac, suddenly alarmed
by his brother’s behavior, also climbed out of the cab, running around the
front hood and following his brother.
Finally,