Chapter two
hundred and seventy-five:
Luke stood at
the door to the room he was sharing with Jen.
He drew in a
deep breath, and ran his hand through his hair.
Realizing that
his palms were sweaty, he quickly wiped his hands on his jeans.
He nervously
knocked on the door, but didn’t wait for an answer.
Before he could even second guess himself, he slowly pushing the door open.
“Jen?”
“Yeah.” She came out of the bathroom, with her
hairbrush still in hand.
“You, uh… want
to talk?” He asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed, still wiping his
sweaty palms on his jeans.
“Do you not want
to talk?” She asked somewhat defensively.
“No!” He sighed.
“That’s not what I meant to say.”
She paused, and
laid her brush down on the desk next to her laptop. “I know.” She walked over
to the bed and sat next to him. “I hate fighting with you.”
“I hate fighting
too.” He replied, reaching out and gently brushing her hair back from her face.
“But it still
doesn’t make the problem go away!” She stood up and paced to the window.
“I know that,”
He replied.
“And I’m crazy
about you, Luke, but I… I can’t be with someone who
won’t touch me.” She added, avoiding his gaze.
“Jen!” He stood up and walked to her. He placed
a hand on both of her shoulders. “It’s not that I don’t want to touch you, I
do! It’s just that… I’m worried that if we go too far, I won’t be able to stop.
And I don’t want to rush into something that we might regret. Sex is a huge
step and… you can’t really go back from there.”
“Luke… we’ve
talked about this before. I want to! I’m ready to do this.”
“I know.” He
swallowed hard. “But I don’t know if I am.”
Jen looked at
him finally, and blinked several times. “Then we’re in different places in this
relationship.”
Luke was silent
for a moment. He wasn’t sure what to say. Jen was right.
“I think…” She
said softly. “I think you should go.”
“Jen!” He cried desperately. “Wait, we can talk
through this!”
“I think I’m
done talking.” She replied, he could hear the tears
choking her speech.
He watched her
walk back into the bathroom and stood frozen as she closed the door and locked
it behind her.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Becky climbed out of the pool with a laugh.
Zac floated past her on his back, and she playfully splashed him
by kicking her feet from the pool ledge.
“Hey!” Zac laughed.
“I’m going to run in and grab a towel, okay? Want anything from
inside?”
“Yeah, a coke.”
“Sure, Zac.” She stood and made her
way into the kitchen, where she grabbed two clean towels from the laundry room
and a can of coke from the fridge.
She was reaching down a straw when she heard Luke come into the
kitchen.
She turned to see him as he lowered his duffle bag from his
shoulder.
“Luke?” She asked in confusion. “What’s going on?”
“I’m on my way back to
“What?! Why?” She demanded in
disbelief.
“Jen and I broke up.”
“What?”
“Yeah… we… uh, we’re done.” He sighed. “I’ve called a cab and I’m
on my way to the airport.”
“Let me talk to her-“
“It’s okay,” He crossed the room and hugged her loosely. “You’ve
done enough, okay?”
“Luke, you can still stay-“
“No, it’s best if I go home.” He offered a weak smile.
“What do I tell Zac?”
“I’ll call him later, okay?”
A horn honked outside and Luke lifted his duffle bag. “I’ve got to
go.”
He shrugged, and left the kitchen.
Becky stood awestruck, not entirely understanding what had
happened.
Zac came into the kitchen, “Hey, Becca-“ He
stopped. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Luke’s gone.” She swallowed with difficulty.