Nothing // l.h

Chapter 22

I stood in the middle of the living room, staring back at my sister. I hadn't seen her in almost a year and here she was, completely out of the blue. Her shoulder length brown hair was about five inches longer, her big brown eyes still looked at me the same way, and she gave me her signature half smile. A smile that somehow knew how you were feeling and felt the same way.

"What's going on?" I muttered in the quiet room. My parents shared a glance, mentally deciding what to tell me. "Why is Julia here?"

"We decided to take your sister out of boarding school." My mom told me. "Julia was having some troubles there. Your father and I should've talked with you about it, but time just flew by." I wasn't mad that my parents failed to tell me that Julia was coming home, I was just shocked at how fast this happened. 

"It's fine, mom." I faked a smile. After what just happened with Calum, and now this, it was all a lot to process in one day. It was hard to be happy at a time like this. "I'm glad you're home, Julia." My sister got up from in between my parents and walked to hug me. She gathered me in a familiar embrace, hugging me tightly and letting go. 

"I'm glad to be home too. I can't wait to catch up." She smiled. 

"We've decided to re-enroll Julia into West Grove. She'll go to school with you again." My dad told me. I looked at a smiling Julia, who seemed excited to be going back to school. As I looked at her I wondered what happened to want her to come back home. The reason she left was because of people at home, and now she was back all of a sudden? I uttered that it was a great idea and how excited I was to have her back. My parents were so caught up in whatever was going on that the failed to realize I came home early. I gave one last half excited smile and went up to my room. I took my phone out of my back pocket and dialed Luke's number.

"Hello?" I heard Luke's voice after three rings. 

"Hey are you still at school?" I paced back and forth around my room, snapping my fingers. 

"Yea but I'll probably leave soon since you skipped out on me." I could hear that he was slightly annoyed with me, but I didn't really focus on that. "Why did you leave so quickly? You were here for about ten minutes." 

"I'm sorry about that. I know it must've been weird sitting with Ashton and Michael. I'll explain it to you." I took a deep sigh before continuing. "Can we meet at your house?"

"Sure. Is there something wrong with your house?" He questioned. I ignored his question, I told him I would see him in twenty minutes and hung up. I placed my phone back in my pocket and headed downstairs. I looked in the living room and saw my parents and my sister had left. When I walked outside into the warm weather and saw my dad's car was gone. I wasn't exactly sure where my parents took my sister, I assumed they had taken her to school to re-enroll her. Ignoring the fact that they didn't bother to tell me, I walked across the lawn to Luke's house. I walked up the stairs and sat down on a front porch swing.

Soon Luke's SUV pulled into the driveway, he got out and walked up the front porch steps. He gave me a kind smile and went to unlock the door. Without saying a word we both entered the unlit house and headed upstairs to his rec room. We both sat down on the couch and faced each other. 

"Now will you tell me why you left so suddenly?" He sat back into the couch, getting comfortable. 

I took a deep breath, getting ready to spill to Luke what has happened today. I told him about what Calum said and how I would have to ultimately choose between the two of them, something I didn't want to do at all. I then transitioned into the surprise I got when I arrived home. The expression on Luke's face went from angry to scared and pale within seconds. After I finished his mouth fomed an O shape, unsure of what to say or do.

"So are you going to tell your sister?" He spoke up after a long moment of silence. "About us?"

"What about us?" I wasn't exactly sure what Luke and I were. We had one date and sure there were feelings there, but we didn't do much about it. Luke bit his thumbnail, thinking about what he was going to say. 

"I mean," he paused, staring at the floor, "we are more than friends, right?" I shrugged and nodded. It sounded about right. "But we're not like a thing, right?"

"I like you a lot, Luke. I wouldn't mind if it was something more." I had never had this kind of conversation with anyone before. I wasn't sure what to say or what to do.

A smile came across his face. "Me too, Ellie." He said, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. "Is Julia going to be going to our school?" He changed the subject back quickly. I nodded, giving him a look that clearly showed how unexcited I was. 

"I don't want her to know, at least not yet. Apparently she had some troubles at her school. I wouldn't want her mad at me on her first days back home." I told him, crossing my legs. Luke nodded, agreeing with my thought. I looked out the window in the corner of the room, seeing my parents car pulling into our driveway. "Oh shit." I said, making Luke turn and look at what I was looking at. "I better go." 

"I'll walk you out." Luke said, his voice seeming deeper than usual. We walked down the stairs in silence, playfully bumping into each other. We stopped at the bottom of the staircase. Luke stood directly in front of me, blocking my path to the door. "Look, Ellie, I don't expect you to chose me over Calum. He's been your friend longer and means more to you."

I ran my fingers through my hair. "Luke I can't be friends with someone who won't accept who I like. As much as Calum does mean to me, he's kind of being an asshole right now." Luke stepped out of my way so I could make it to the door. Just before I reached for the door knob I felt him grab my hand, spinning me around to face him. His lips gently came into contact with mine, making my stomach do somersaults. Both of his hands moved to my back, pulling our bodies closer together. The kiss was soft, slow, and meaningful, making it suck even more when he pulled away. "Thank you for an awesome date last night." I spoke softly, seeing that we were still inches away from each other. 

"You're welcome." He smiled, brushing a stray piece of hair from my face. "Tell me how it goes, okay?" I agreed and he let me go.

I walked across the lawn and back home. I was greeted by the new scent of vanilla, assuming my mother had lit a candle somewhere in the house. I saw my mom was lying down on the couch and my dad was in his office. I went upstairs and entered the first room on the right, a room I hadn't been in in almost a year. The light purple wall color was covered with pictures and paintings still. The queen sized bed was still in its same place on the opposite wall from the door. On the bed sat Julia, looking through a design magazine. "Welcome home, Julia."

**

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

ok so that was a lil filler for ya and it's gunna get better and I have things planned !!

stay tuned fam

gwyn