The Invitation lh

Suspicious behavior

Ronan

We decided to go to the small diner that we used to frequent. I'm honestly surprised he even remembers this place.

We sat in a booth and the waitress walked over to us with a surprised look on her face. "Wow, I haven't seen you two around here in forever. Well that's not exactly true, I've seen you here a couple of times a little after y'all stopped showing up together." She says pointing to me.

It's true. We used to come here all the time but he stopped hanging out with me. I'd come up here hoping that he'd show up but I gave up soon after because he never did.

Luke looks at me sympathetically. I look down kind of embarrassed. I wish she wouldn't have said anything. Kind of makes me sound so pathetic.

I quickly change the subject by ordering what I used to. Burger with extra pickles and fries with a strawberry shake. I smile at her regardless and hand her the menu. Eyes still burning into my head.

Luke finally takes his eyes off of me to do the same.

She walks away, and Luke clears his throat.

"You still came after I left ?" He said looking at me. I look anywhere but his face. "Yea, for a while. I thought that maybe one day you'd show up but you never did so I gave up." I say clearing my throat awkwardly.

He looks at the table shamefully. I know he's sorry. This was supposed to be a good day and he's guilt ridden at all the time he lost. Which to an extent she should be but at the same time, I just wanna forget about it all together.

I don't wanna think about how he left me, or how his friends SAed me, or how he couldn't protect me, I don't wanna think about that because it's painful.

I excuse myself, Luke barely looks up from the table. I go into the bathroom and lock the door. I step in front of the mirror and grip the sides of the sink before sighing at my reflection.

I've never looked happier but at the same time I look dead inside, truth be told I feel it too.

I wonder if it'll ever get better or get easier with time but it's already been a year and I'm still stuck in this endless cycle. I still have nightmares about what took place that night.

Everything being sucked out of me, leaving me a dead carcass of a person on the ground.

I need to take my mind off of things. I look at the shining piece of silver in my hands, the sharp blade looking rusty from old remnants of dna. I shake my head, a single tear sliding down my cheek, before putting it back into my bag. I look at my reflection once again.

I wipe the tear away and sigh. I've started trying to control myself. But sometimes it gets hard.

I head back to the booth and see Luke sitting there with his head in his hands. I sit down and he looks up, a flash of relief fills his eyes when he sees it's me.

"I thought you left." He says quietly. I furrow my brows. "Why would I do that ?" I ask.

"Because I left you alone and hurt you." He replied. I felt my heart shatter.

I got up from my seat and sit next to him. I hug him like I'll never see him again. "I just got you back." I said softly.

...

After the very eventful and depressing lunch at the diner, we decided to try and lift the mood by watching one of our favorite movies.

Mean Girls obviously.

"That's so fetch." Luke says in a high pitched girl voice. I give him a disgusted look. "Stop trying to make fetch happen." We give each other dirty looks before bursting out laughing.

In the middle of the party scene when Cady is outside walking along side Janice and Damian's car, I feel Luke's eyes on me.

I glance over but his gaze doesn't falter. We stare at each other for what seems like an eternity while the movie plays in the back.

He starts leaning in and my heart starts racing... is he about to kiss me ?

*Ding*

We break eye contact and I awkwardly look away while he checks his phone.

"Oh sorry, it's my Mum. She's telling me it's time to come home for dinner." He says rather quickly. And gets up to leave.

"Oh tell Liz I say hi-" I try to say, but the door shut before I could finish saying anything.

That was weird.

...

The next day at school, I barely saw Luke the whole day. I'm currently sat at the lunch table with Mikey and Calum. They're once again, you guessed it, bickering over something.

"Bro don't even go there." Mikey says very seriously.

"Oh I'm going there." Calum replies equally as serious.

"What are you too going on about ?" I ask confused. What aren't they arguing about though lol.

"This monster over here is saying that bass is better than guitar." Mikey says pointing at Calum dramatically.

"It is." Calum says not budging from the subject.

They go back to arguing before turning to me. "Well Ronan, who's side are you on ?" Mickey asks. "Uh duh she's on mine." Calum replies in an obvious tone.

I nervously laugh before I finally spot Luke across the lunchroom. Thank god. "Uh I gotta go, I'll be back."

"Whatever, she was totally gonna say mine." I hear Mikey say as I'm walking away.

As I near closer to Luke I can hear him on the phone, he doesn't know I'm behind him.

"I need more time alright ?!?" He says annoyed. "I've got this. I just need a little bit more time." He says.

I furrow my eyebrows. More time ? Is he okay ?

"No she doesn't suspect a thing, why would she ?" What the hell is he talking about ? "Yea alright, I'll talk to you later." He says finally before ending the call.

He turns around and sees me standing there. His face gets a little red when he sees it's me. "Uh what are you doing here ?" He says, voice cracking a bit at the end, almost like he's nervous about something.

"I needed to be saved from Mikey and Calum's bickering. I can go if you want ?" I say nonchalantly.

"What are did you hear ?" He asks almost worried. "Uh nothing why ? Are you okay ?" I ask. Again pretending like I didn't hear any of that.

His face holds a relieved look as he sighs and laughs. "Oh nothing just my mum again. But hey I gotta go, I'll catch up with you later." He says before walking off.

Interesting conversation to have with your "mother", Lucas. I know that if I spoke to my mother that way I simply would not be alive to tell the tale.