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Chapter 19: Everyone Knows

Strong arms wrapped themselves around me from behind. His hair tickled the cape of my neck as he bent his head to kiss my cheek.

I slowly raised my hand to touch his hair.

"Playing hard to get?" he whispered in my ear.

My skin tingled under his touch, like there was a magnetic circuit underneath. He has that effect on me every day.

"Playing hard to forget."

Did that come out of my mouth? Why did it sound like a bad movie soundbite?

He chuckled and I could feel the deep and soft vibrations of his laughter. I'm glad Luke's amused by my cringey moments. It makes me feel comfortable with myself around him.

Luke's tolerance for most people's nonsense is practically at zero. But he seemed to have infinite patience for mine.

"Oh woah," Cearra said as she sprinted round the corner and bumped into us, "I had NO idea Luke Dawson was here."

"I tend to hang out with my girlfriend," Luke answered sarcastically.

"Right. But if you hung out together more at school, it wouldn't have taken weeks before the entire student body caught on," Cearra answered, "With all respect."

"What do you mean?" I asked, though I felt the familiar dread sink in my stomach.

Was my anonymity disappearing?

"It means the whole fricking school knows," she exclaimed.

Maybe I should clean my ears and ask her to repeat herself.

"Hmm?"

The door to the computer lab opened behind us and Joe stepped out. He wore a knitted sweater vest and held a calculator in his hand. He looked from me, to Luke and Cearra.

"Millie, do you still want to work on math?"

We had been working together in the computer lab and he'd been waiting for me to come back inside. There was a silence as Luke and Cearra registered the situation. I think they sometimes forget that a large portion of students actually study.

Luke recognized him, "You're suspender boy."

Joe's expression turned to bewilderment, "How did you know I'm wearing suspenders?"

The suspenders were hidden under his sweater vest today. Joe even double checked.

"Millie talks about you. You're one of those math geeks."

"Mathletes," I corrected, giving Luke a nudge to be polite, "He means mathletes."

Joe nodded, "You're Luke Dawson, the best basketball player in our school. You run... really fast."

"Thanks."

"Anyway, Millie, you may want to take the day off today," Cearra suggested, getting back to what she was saying before, "Go to the nurse's office and get a sick note."

"But she's not sick," Joe said.

"Joe," Cearra told him, not wanting to burst his academic bubble, "You seem like a nice guy-"

"Millie! Luke!" Jake called out, hurrying towards us. 

He appeared from around the same corner Cearra just came in. I was surprised to see him, but he was looking surprised in general.

I guess we were a weird group, standing, conspiring outside the computer lab. Luke and Cearra have never come here.

"This school is weird," Jake said, "They're talking about the two of you like it's breaking news. They're acting like there aren't a billion more serious issues to tackle."

"Hmm?" I repeated.

I'm so eloquent with words in moments like this.

"What are they saying?" Luke asked.

Yeah, maybe I'll let Luke handle this.

"Maybe we should rewind for Millie's benefit," Cearra mentioned, noticing my lost expression. "You and Luke kept your relationship pretty low key. You don't have any classes in common, he's at basketball most times and you eat lunch with me..."

OK, I can follow up to this point.

"There were rumors that Luke's been seeing someone, but there are always rumors about that. People thought he was dating Bianca up until now. Then your name came up, but most people don't know who you are. They thought it was Millie Turnstead."

"Who?"

"She's a freshman. There were rumors that Luke slept with her a few months ago," Cearra said and gave Luke a suspicious look, "Apparently he declared it in the middle of the hallway."

I blushed. I remembered that.

"But then you guys went public at Luke's basketball game," Cearra concluded excitedly, "The whole basketball team saw so now everyone knows."

I'm getting more and more convinced that the basketball team gossips more than any other group I know.

"Knows what?" Joe asked, playing with his calculator. He really wanted to get back to math.

"That Luke and Millie are dating."

Joe gasped.

"OK, fine. Now everyone knows," Cearra corrected herself.

"Millie, you're dating Luke?" Joe stared at me earnestly, "But he's..."

"Fast?" Luke supplied.

I elbowed Luke again. He was teasing Joe.

But then I thought about it. Maybe Luke just didn't want to hear someone say why we were incompatible.

"Does Kaden know?" Joe asked me.

Sensitive subject.

"Who?" Jake asked, having listened to Cearra's story with intrigue.

"Millie's ex-boyfriend and another one of us geeks," Joe answered, referencing how Luke had identified them, "And who are you?"

"Luke's half-brother."

"Seems full sized to me."

**

Between Cearra and Jake, I now understood why today was so unusual. Luke didn't seem too surprised or worried.

"People were always going to find out, Minnie," he told me, after the others had left. We were standing away from the main hallways and I was looking blatantly scared, "We were never sneaking around."

"I guess I felt like everyone already knew and this was it," I admitted, feeling his familiar hands gently rub my arms, "I thought I could enjoy all the good side of us dating, and forget about what anyone else was thinking."

I know I'm insecure, but tell me who isn't?

The loudest people, saying "I'm confident", are ones I believe even less. At least during high school, when we're forced to compare ourselves against everyone.

"How can Roger be murdered and that be just the beginning?" I asked, "All of this trauma has happened before everyone knew about us."

"Roger's the cat, right?" Luke checked.

I didn't answer.  We held a funeral in Roger's honor and Luke still can't fully remember that.

"We'll find Roger's killer," Luke said, "That kind of sh*t doesn't go unpunished."

"I came over to your place yesterday," I said, "I wanted to see you and speak to you."

"Now you have me," he answered and smiled. A smile that was contagious and disarming and he knew it, "What did you want to ask?"

I see how he gets away with everything.

I thought about it. And again, I don't have a good reputation of phrasing this well...

"About going to college and the jakehouse."

There was a pause.

Luke said, "Did you just say the jake house?"

"Hmm?"

"Millie," Luke repeated, tilting his head, "did you call my lakehouse the jake house?"

"Is that somewhere you're going to this weekend?"

"Are you diverting the question here?"

"Are you going to college next year?"

Luke smirked, "You're trying to make us rhyme."

I gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He knew me and we knew how to switch gears to taking things lightly. 

Our whole relationship began by us teasing each other. Him seeing me pack an iron for a trip in the woods or me seeing him check himself out one too many times.

My mistake for calling the lakehouse the jake house...

And his mistake for not telling me about that or about college...

"OK," he decided we should talk in a quiet place. He opened the lab door and looked inside for the first time, "Hey, we have a computer lab."

He looked surprised. Did he think it was a supply closet?

Three people were inside, typing away on the computers. They looked up and were surprised to see Preston Oakes' basketball star at the door.

"Get out," Luke told them.

"What? Luke don't tell them to..." I started to argue, but then I saw them all sign off, grab their bags and walk out.

Luke strolled into the room, chucking his jacket over a chair. He folded his arms across his broad chest and said, "Who knew we had a computer lab?"

The door shut after the last person left, looking especially grumpy after being forced to stop playing Counter-Strike.

Luke sat in a chair, swinging casually as he leaned back. "So my mom says thank you. For that pink mug."

I awkwardly sat down in a chair next to him. "Uh, you're welcome."

"She also told me you came by yesterday," he added, looking much more relaxed than me, "And that she told you about my college situation."

"Yeah," I nodded, staring at the gray carpet, "You got into college. I didn't know, it's so early in the year."

"D1 basketball has early admissions," he answered, "I got a letter of intent from the University of Kentucky."

Kentucky. My first thought wasn't KFC.  But I am hungry.

I knew Luke was carefully watching my reaction. Maybe he expected me to melt into the floor at the thought of him moving state, but all I could think of was congratulations.

"Congratulations!  Isn't that a really good school for basketball?" I asked.

Now that we were inches from a computer, I was very tempted to sign on and google Kentucky basketball. I don't really know anything about this sport, and yet it was suddenly becoming such an important part of my life right now.

"It is," he nodded, "It's my dad's dream school."

"Congratulations," I repeated, "That's incredible news."

I wanted to ask him what his dream school was.

"Thank you, Minnie," he smiled, "I'm glad you're proud of me."

"I am," I stretched my foot to touch his, "You deserve this. It's amazing news!"

"It is," he nodded, "If I sign that letter, it's binding. I commit myself to that school and I don't get to consider anything else."

"Do you want to consider something else?"

He shrugged, "I don't know. It's a big decision."

I had a question. And it wasn't why didn't you tell me.

"Why don't you seem happy?" I asked him.

Luke's smile is well-known. I've thought of it as captivating before, because even just a cheeky smile of his, can make people want to join in on the secret.

Luke has a lot of eyes on him. He knows that. People are innately curious about him, they want to talk about him – whether good or bad. This school has an unhealthy infatuation with him.

I know that, because I'm living in the shadow of it.

"I don't know," he answered, "There are some things I need to figure out. But look, it's something we can talk about later. I don't want you to feel alone. I want to make sure you don't feel afraid of anything here. Ignore what others say. Jealousy is a widespread flaw in all of us."

Luke kissed me on the lips before he opened the computer lab door. He waited for me to walk through it. I wish we had the luxury of time to spend all afternoon together, but the reality is that our schedules rarely overlap. And the bell had rung.

"What about the lake house?" I called out.

He shrugged, "I had other things on my mind."

I shrugged back. Fine. 

"Did you want to come?" he asked me, pausing in the hallway, "I didn't think you and nature were a natural mix."

He didn't have to remind me of our trip in the woods this summer. 

"I have SAT subject exams this weekend anyway," I answered.

"We can go after. It's on Saturday right? We can get to the lake house on Saturday and spend the rest of the weekend there. It's not far."

"OK," I smiled, "Thanks."

"Just one thing," Luke added, "Promise me you won't pack honey."

**

One hour later

"Psst," Cearra whispered, "Take my advice and get a sick note."

"How bad can this be?" I whispered back, sitting in class.

"Luke is sitting at the top of this school.  He's untouchable.  Of course he's going to tell you to ignore it.  He doesn't know what it's like for the rest of us."

Maybe she's right.  Maybe this was about to get a whole lot worse.

A/N: You voted for the Kentucky Wildcats!  

Everyone who voted on my Instagram poll... thank you!  And your decision was reflected in the story.  I'll post another poll so you can keep giving input into the story! My instagram is @NatalieInACorner

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