บท 26: Chapter Twenty-six
Chloe's P.O.V
Luke and I walked to theatre appreciation with my pink backpack slung over his shoulder. It was cute of him to offer to carry my backpack for me, knowing how much it bothered me. Perhaps if I didn't carry so many textbooks my backpack would be more manageable, but then again, I wouldn't have Luke carrying it for me. It made me nervous at first about him carrying it because I was worried about what other people would think. It only made us seem more like a couple, and I knew Luke wouldn't want that.
"I meant to text you the other day about when we should meet for writing our plays, but football practice got the better of me," Luke said as he shifted the backpack strap, glancing in my direction.
"You're fine," I reassured him. "I had band practice, so I didn't have time to think about it anyway."
Luke nodded and squinted his eyes, the sun's rays shining directly upon our faces. "How has band been?" he asked as he looked down at the pavement.
We walked under the shade of a nearby tree, relieving us of the sun's blinding light for a few moments.
"It's been pretty good, but I doubt I'll do it again next year," I said.
"Why is that? Don't you like being in band?"
"I love band, but I'm afraid that I won't have enough time for it next year. It's pretty time consuming, and it wastes time that I could be studying or hanging out with friends."
"I understand that. Your grades are your number one priority and if band gets in the way of that then I would quit too," Luke said as he looked in my eyes.
As soon as his green eyes penetrated mine, I felt myself blush. Darn it, Luke! Why can't we simply just have a normal conversation without you making me flustered? "Would you quit football if it got in the way of school?" I asked, forcing myself to tear my eyes from his.
"Probably not. I love football too much to quit."
I nodded, remembering that we still needed to set a day to write our plays for theatre appreciation. "So, where are we going to write our plays?"
"What about my dorm?" he asked.
H-his dorm? "Sure," I squeaked. I wondered what his dorm would be like. Maybe he wanted to have it at his dorm since we had our last study session at mine.
"You sound like that isn't a good idea," he laughed.
"No, it's a good idea. I'm cool with it," I tried to say as calmly as possible without my heart thumping a million beats per second.
"If you say so," he grinned to himself and looked up at the sky. "I really wish it would get darker soon. I really hate the sun in my eyes."
"I hate the sun in general," I grumbled.
"What are you, a vampire?"
"How did you know?" I joked, and he laughed. "What day and time do you think we should get together on?" I asked.
"I don't know, maybe another Sunday since that seems to be our least busy day?" he asked, sounding a little unsure of himself.
"How about in the morning?" I asked, shielding my face with my hand from the blistering sun.
"I can't do it in the morning. Coach Saban has us review our games every Sunday morning and we analyze what we did wrong and what we can improve on."
"Wow."
"What?" he smiled.
"I knew how much work and effort was put into the Bama football team, but I never realized that you guys had to review the footage."
"Chloe, pretty much every football team does that, including high schools," he laughed.
"Really? How come I never knew?"
"You aren't a football player," he pointed out.
"That makes sense," I laughed. "So what time should we meet on Sunday? Does two work for you?"
"That would be great," he said as we approached the building. He went ahead of me to hold the door open for me, which I thanked him for, and we went inside.
"I guess it's settled then," I said as we neared the front entrance to our classroom.
"I guess it is," Luke turned his head and gave me a warm smile.
As soon as my pulse quickened, I knew that it was game over. I liked Luke Armstrong and there was nothing I could do about it.
––––––––––
Today was the day Luke and I were going to work on our plays for our theatre appreciation class. It was almost two and I had accomplished nothing for the day except eat lunch, and that wasn't even an accomplishment.
I wanted to look nicer than usual when I went to Luke's dorm, but he might find it a little too strange that I "dressed up." Normally I wouldn't dress up except for days that I actually had extra time to spare, but I had no reason to dress up. I was just going over to his dorm. Besides, Luke knew what I looked like, and if it didn't bother him then it wouldn't bother him now.
I put on an oversized t-shirt and gray yoga pants, brushed my hair, put on my makeup, sprayed a little bit of my floral perfume and called it a day. I might dress lazily but at least I could put on makeup and smell good.
I emptied everything out of my bookbag except my theatre textbooks and my laptop. I put on my backpack, headed out of my dorm room and straight to Luke's dorm.
I looked at my phone to doublecheck myself on which dorm he was in and which room. It didn't take long before I was at his dorm and went inside.
The guy at the front counter checked my college I.D. and then I was able to pass through and go to the elevators. Luckily, no one else got in the elevator with me so I had it all to myself. I pushed the correct floor button and was swiftly taken to my destination.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, I stepped off and walked toward Luke's dorm room while biting my lip. This was the first time I was going to Luke's dorm–alone I might add–and the thought of it brought butterflies to my stomach. Stop, Chloe, just focus. You're just going to help him with his play since he claims that he's no good at writing, that's all.
I stood outside of his door and took in a deep breath. Relax, Chloe. It's just Luke. Your friend. Once I found the courage, I knocked on his dorm door.
Who opened the door surprised me more than it should have. It was none other than Jacob Prick Sykes.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, jutting out his chin while staring at me with judgement in his cold eyes.
I wanted to roll my eyes or say something smart, but I knew that if I did I would regret it. There was no need to get into a fight with Jacob. "Luke needed help writing his play," I raised my eyebrows, clutching the strap of my book bag tightly.
"Oh yeah, I think he might have mentioned that earlier. Come in," he said and opened the door wide.
"Thanks," I said as I walked into the room, immediately overwhelmed by the amount of crimson and white in the room. Tons of football paraphernalia were cluttered in the dorm, but it only made it seem more cozy. It made me smile to see such enthusiasm for our team.
"You're welcome to watch tv or play on the Xbox if you want," Jacob said as he grabbed his car keys and wallet off the table in the small kitchen area. "I've got to go somewhere so I guess I'll leave you two," he said with a mischievous grin on his face.
I squinted my eyes at him in distrust. What was the chilling grin for?
Jacob then left the dorm, leaving me alone.
Where is Luke? I thought to myself. He is supposed to be in his dorm by now. I shrugged, helped myself to the tv remote and plopped myself on the couch. As tempting as it was to play the Xbox, I knew that as soon as I began playing Luke would come strolling in the dorm looking at me if I were crazy.
I heard a door open.
That must be Luke.
I immediately sat up from the couch.
"Hey Jacob, where did you put my‒" I heard Luke say as I looked over to see Luke walking towards me out of what I assumed was his bedroom but what I saw made my heart pound a million times a minute and made my face turn scarlet.
There he was, in nothing but a towel hanging off his lower body, showing off his chiseled abs with a small towel drying off his hair.
My eyes widened in shock as we both just stopped what we were doing and stared directly in each other's eyes.
Then I heard his towel drop.
"Holy shit!" he cried as I began screaming, shielding my eyes.
I immediately ran to the couch, using a pillow as a shield to protect my eyes. Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!
"I could have sworn I had more time," I heard him cry out as I heard his panicked footsteps leave the area.
I hugged the crimson pillow to my face tightly, and my breathing hitched. I almost felt like having a panic attack. I felt disoriented, my breathing was labored, and my mind couldn't get Luke's perfect image out of my head. I swear I didn't see anything below his waist, but what I did see was bad enough–not that Luke looked bad because that was far from it. The way his towel clung onto his hips in that moment…the way the water dripped from his muscular, toned body…Oh crap, Chloe. Stop thinking about him like that! Stop it right now!
"You can look now," I heard him say. "I'm dressed now."
I slowly peeked above my pillow and relaxed to see him dressed in a white Bama shirt and gray shorts. I lowered the pillow down into my lap and stared at Luke. My face burned like a horrible sunburn.
Luke scratched his head and laughed nervously, his face beet red. "Sorry about that, Chloe. I'm…well…I'm mortified about what happened…I can't tell you how embarrassed I feel right now. I thought that I had enough time to take a shower before you came here…" he trailed off.
I felt sorry for the guy. I knew if I was in his position I would feel the exact same way–probably worse. I touched my cheek, hoping my hand could somehow cool it down to a normal temperature. "I-it's okay," I stammered, finding difficulty in articulating my sentences properly. "If it makes you feel any better…" My heart was beating furiously in my chest and I couldn't make it stop. I had a hard time saying the right words. "I didn't…see anything…" I felt embarrassed just by saying those words.
"Oh thank Jesus," Luke put his hand to his face and sighed of relief. "I didn't know what I'd do if you did."
I laughed nervously. "I don't know what I'd do either…"
There was an awkward silence.
"Welp. Let's just forget about it and let's get down to business," I said and unzipped my backpack, pulling out the textbooks and laptop and setting them down on his coffee table.
"That would be great," Luke smiled meekly and went back inside of his room. He soon came out with his laptop in hand, sat his laptop on the coffee table and sat in the floor next to me.
I instantly smelled mahogany teakwood, and I sighed. It was literally the best scent in the entire world. It was masculine and not overpowering. It was a candle scent that every girl should smell at least once in their life.
"I think I'm going to use the bathroom," I said as I got up from the floor while letting my computer load. Curse my stupid, nervous bladder!
"The bathroom is down the–well, you already know where it's located since we have the same dorm room layout."
I quickly used the bathroom, washed my hands, and walked back into the living room to find Luke staring at my laptop screen. I wondered what he could possibly be looking at, but the sudden realization hit me like a ton of bricks.
He was looking at my story. The story. The one I had been working on for months and couldn't get past page thirty-three.
"Um…what are you doing?" I asked as I carefully sat back down in the floor.
"I was looking at your play," Luke said innocently. "Or at least I thought it was your play until I looked at the format…Was I not supposed to see it?" He genuinely looked sorry and confused at the same time.
I felt like the world was crashing down on me. Not only did we have an almost catastrophe, Luke–of all people–got to see a side of me that I let no one see. It was humiliating. I didn't want anyone to read it, and my stupid self forgot to close the word document. "No, you weren't supposed to see it. No one was," I admitted. Never has my face been this red for such a long period of time in my life–scratch that, the only time it was ever this red was when I had to run a mile for gym.
"So, you're secretly a writer, huh?" Luke smiled.
"Please don't tell anyone about this," I pleaded, clasping my hands together while looking him in his eyes.
"Don't worry, I won't," he smiled warmly. "I just hope you won't tell anyone what happened before that," he said and looked away from me, his cheeks returning to a beet red color.
"Don't worry, I won't," I smiled warmly back at him.
Luke sighed of relief and nodded. "I guess we both got to see something we weren't supposed to see," he joked.
I couldn't help but laugh because it was too true.
"If it's any consolation I really liked what I read of your story," he said as he pulled up a word document on his laptop. "Your main character is hilarious."
"Thanks," I said. "I thought she might be, but I guess it feels better that at least I'm not the only one who thinks so."
"Morgan kind of reminds me of you," he said as he titled his word document.
"I guess she does. I didn't realize I was creating a character that resembled me, but not really. We have similar traits, but she's still completely different."
Luke nodded. "What do you plan on doing with your play?" he asked, hunching over to type on his laptop.
It was kind of funny that I kept having to look up at him when I was addressing him. "I was thinking that I could write about a girl who gets cheated on with her best friend."
"Ooh, I like the sound of that," he chuckled. "Not that I actually support the guy who did those things, but it sounds pretty dramatic."
"What do you plan on doing?"
"I thought about a guy who plays football and gets injured during the championship game."
"Of course, you would do something like that," I giggled, playfully elbowing him. Go figure. A football player writing a play about a football player.
"What? I at least need to write something that I know about," Luke said defensively.
"That's true. It is easier that way," I nodded. "Personally, I like to challenge myself to do different things."
"Of course you do," he smiled, gently elbowing. "That's what I like about you."
And that was when my heart skipped a beat.
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