Chapter
ninety-three:
Luke and Jenna
were walking along the trails behind the house.
The girls had
been given permission to be with either Luke or the bodyguard at all times, and
Jen took that as a chance to be alone with her boyfriend at last.
She followed him
through a particularly narrow part of the trail, taking his hand.
“So, if you
don’t mind me asking…” Luke began, stepping around a tree. “Why do you girls
have a body guard again?”
“Just general
security purposes. There was some vandalism at the house—some windows
broken—and the guys thought it would be best if there was extra help in case
the vandals came back…”
Jenna felt badly
lying to Luke. But it wasn’t a total lie; at least she was telling him a
partial version of what had happened.
She couldn’t very well tell him the whole truth, because he would have a fit,
and it would probably just ruin the little time they had together.
They stopped
along the bank of the lake, where someone had fashioned a crude bench out of
two rocks and a rotting log.
“Wow, look at
that.” Jenna smiled eager to change the subject. “It’s such a beautiful view.”
Luke smiled,
looking solely at her, and not the lake. “Yeah, it really is.” He gently
brushed a curtain of her hair back over her shoulder and bent slightly to kiss
her lips.
Jen was utterly
elated. She felt happier at that moment than she had in weeks: even months.
His arms circled
her waist slowly, pulling her closer.
At last when the
kiss broke, he smiled down at her lovingly, resting his forehead gently against
hers.
Jen returned his
smile, and closed her eyes. At that moment, she could only think about him and
how much she wanted to be with him. It felt so confusing to know that at that
precise moment, twenty-four hours prior, she felt the complete opposite. She
wanted out of the relationship more than anything else in the world, and now
she could think of nothing other than being with him.
Luke pulled her
closer. “Let’s go out!”
“What? Where?” Jenna laughed.
“Somewhere. Anywhere.” He
replied, finally letting her go. “Let’s go out to dinner. Let’s go to the
movies. Let’s go out and be a normal couple, and forget that we have been apart
so much. Let’s just go out and be together.”
Jenna smiled. “I
would love that.”
“Okay, let’s
go!” He took her hand.
“Wait, maybe we
should tell Jimmy.”
“Who?” He asked in confusion.
“The body guard.
He’s kind of anal about that stuff.”
“No.” He pulled
her arm playfully. “Let’s run away together and never look back.”
Jen laughed.
“You’re absurd!” She paused. “But you’re adorable, so I’ll forgive you. Let’s
go.”
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Zac noisily
banged his way into the kitchen, where Becky was standing by herself at the
kitchen island looking through a magazine.
“Becca!” He grinned widely, wrapping his arms
around her in an all-too-tight embrace.
“Hi.” She
giggled. “I made peanut butter cookies…”
He released her
and grabbed a cookie from the plate next to her. “Mmm…
my favorite!” He mumbled after stuffing most of the cookie into his mouth all
at once.
Becky laughed.
“I thought my chocolate chip cookies were your favorite.”
“Becca, my
favorite is anything you make.”
“Aww…” She laughed. “You’re so corny!”
“Yeah,” He
chuckled. “But you love me anyway, right?”
She giggled. “Maybe…”
He grinned and
wrapped his arms around her again, pulling her close and nuzzling her neck.
Becky shrieked
with giggles and playfully pushed him away.
“You love me,
just admit it.” He tickled her playfully. With his free hand, he slid the
magazine over in front of himself.
“Are you
planning our wedding already?” He grinned.
“Maybe.” She teased, wrapping her arms around his
waist and pressing her cheek against his shoulder. “Does that scare you?”
He laughed, but
looked up at her just to be sure she was kidding.
“Christy asked
for my help. She wants to gather some ideas for the wedding. She said she wants
to do something really traditional but not tacky. So she asked if I would help
her pick out bridesmaids dresses… When she went upstairs I just kept flipping
through the magazine because I had nothing better to do.”
“Oh… okay.
You’re not one of those girls who start planning their wedding at like twelve?”
“Nope. I’m completely one hundred percent
normal in every way.”
He grinned.
“Good.”
“Although…” She
continued, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I do have this unhealthy
obsession with the band Hanson…”
Zac laughed. “Don’t
we all?”