“I wish we could spend time together, sweetie. I hope you’re not too disappointed.” She pouts, batting her eyelashes like a ten-year-old and not a woman in her forties.
“Nah, that’s okay, Mom. Really,” I say, hoping to wrap this up soon. I want to take a nap before the game tonight. We’re playing against the Enterprise Eagles, who’ve been ruthless this season, not losing a single game since November.
“You suuure?” she purrs, one octave away from full-on baby talk. My mom is ridiculous when she attempts to be nice and caring. It’s like it’s against her nature. Like a cat trying to swim. She just doesn’t have it in her, and it looks awkward and pathetic when she tries. To an outsider, she may pull it off, but I know better than anyone how she can easily turn, showing her true nature.
“Of course, Mom. You deserve to have some fun. You work so hard.” The words taste sour on my tongue, my jaw aching from smiling.
“You’re the best!” she squeals, throwing me her million-dollar smile. “Love ya, baby.” She purses her mouth and sends air kisses my way before she ends the call.
With a sigh, I collapse into the bed. As tension slowly leaves my body, I close my eyes, my heart beating in my ears. Thank God she isn’t coming out. “She’s going to Cabo,” I repeat quietly to myself. “Thank you, Matt,” I chuckle. “I owe you one.”I won’t have to go home.
There’s a tap on the door frame, Luke holding a plate with a ginormous sandwich tower in front of him.
“You good?” he frowns.
“Yeah, everything’s fine. I… I’m not going to my mom’s for All-Stars. She’s gonna be in Cabo.”
“Oh, yeah?” he enters the room and walks toward me. Placing his sandwich tower on my bedside table, he sits down on my bed, the mattress dipping from the weight of his body. The scent of his body wash wafts toward me, and I briefly close my eyes. “So… you don’t have plans that week?” I open my eyes to find Luke looking directly at me. Well, at my lips. He tilts his head, his brown eyes coasting up to mine as he scrunches his nose.
“Nope,” I shake my head, popping the P. Luke’s eyes remain fixated on mine and I feel like both looking away and leaning forward. He shifts on the bed, maneuvering to lie down next to me. When our arms brush together, I realize how close he is, the warmth from his body throwing me back to that night on the rooftop. He licks his bottom lip, his voice with an edge of drowsiness to it when he speaks.
“You could…”
“Yeah?”You could kiss me, Luke,my stupid mind infers.
“…come home with me,” he says softly, a smile in his eyes that catches my heart and threatens to run away with it. “To Lancaster,” he adds, leaning in, his lips so close to mine now that I can feel the phantom kiss from that night.
“What?” I mumble, my brain mush as I focus on Luke’s lips. Were they always this pink? Was there always a small birthmark at the right corner of his mouth?
“You could come home with me. During the All-Star Week,” he looks at me curiously. “Stay with me at my house.” He bumps my shoulder casually, but there’s nothing casual about the electric current running through my chest.
“You want me to come home with you?” I repeat in disbelief.
“Yeah. Why not?” He throws me his easy smile.
“But…” I search for the words. “What about your parents?”
“What about them?”
“Won’t they… I mean…” I would never invite anyone to come home with me. First of all, I don’t even know where home is and second, I wouldn’t want to subject anyone to my mom.
“They’d love to have you,” his eyes glow. “I already told them everything about you. Dude, yougottacome.” He grabs my shoulder, shaking it fondly. “Please,” he bats his eyelashes, and I can’t stop the laugh from tumbling from my lips. Before the words even leave my mouth, I find myself nodding stupidly.
“Sure. I’ll come!” As soon as I’ve spoken the words, Luke jumps up from the bed and starts bouncing up and down next to me.
“Yes! We’re gonna have so much fun, Mitchell!” He continues to jump up and down like a kid in an amusement park, excited about what comes next. “I gotta call my parents,” he grins at me broadly. Then a frown appears between his brows. “I forgot! They’re here tonight! We can tell them then.”We.He stops bouncing up and down, brushing a hand through his wavy hair. “Shit, I’m tired,” he groans. “But I gotta eat first.”
I’m laughing too, the last remnants from talking to my mom evaporating with every look, smile, and word from Luke. I shake my head at him.
“Go eat.” I reach for his ankle and pull him down and he lands halfway on top of me, his right elbow hitting me on the jaw. I wince mid-laugh, feeling Luke’s hot breath against my chin. The weight of his body on top of mine feels foreign, but still so very right. Like somewhere, someone measured out exactly what the perfect weight would be. For Luke on top of me. And they got it just right.
“Sorry,” Luke murmurs, his hand reaching for my chin, his fingers whispering against the exact spot where he hit me. I swallow. It’s like all the air has been sucked out of the room and there’s only the sensation of his skin against mine, the softpressure from his fingers as he brushes against me. “You okay?” The question is loaded, and I think we both realize it at the same time. However, our reaction is so very different as Luke leans in against me while I place my left hand on his chest and push him away.
If he’s hurt or confused, he doesn’t show it. His face is unreadable as he sits up, my hand still resting against his chest, his heart thumping beneath my fingers.I don’t know,I want to say.I don’t know if I’m okay.But I don’t say that. Because things are already complicated enough, and I have a lifetime of experience in willing myself to be okay. At least on the outside. So, I draw on that experience, forcing myself to put up a front, as I smile at Luke.
“Yeah, I’m good.”
Chapter Sixteen
