Bet Me

Chapter 16

“Do you want to talk about it?” Luke asks me. I shook my head no and sat up. Luke opened his mouth to say something but he quickly closed it. He gave me a strained smile and turned towards his suitcase and picked up his PJs. He walked into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. I moved to my side of the bed and sat, leaning against the headboard. I waited for Luke and he finally came out of the bathroom after 5 minutes. “Luke?” I said. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows. “Did James ever tell you about our bet?” I asked him. Luke furrowed his eyebrows together and shook his head.

“Oh,” I said. I pulled my legs up to my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs and started talking. “Back in January, me, James, and Beth, we worked together on a group project. One day, we were kind of flirting and I told him that I thought that boys and girls can’t be friends without one developing feelings for the other. He made a bet with me that me and him could be friends without all the extra,” Luke took a seat on the bed and faced me. He was looking at me intently. “So I agreed. The only thing is that he had already lost the bet because I’ve liked him since freshman year. He never stood a chance. And, after we begun hanging out and stuff, I began to like him even more. At times, it seems like he likes me back but then Carly comes back into the picture and I’m just so confused.”

Luke was listening to me silently and nodding. “And now, Carly said that James cares about me more than her but now, I’m in a bigger hole because of you.” Luke’s eyes got big but he did not say anything. “Hanging out with you is so much fun. It’s less drama, you make me smile, you make me laugh, and I just love being around you. But I still also like James. I mean, it’s hard for me to completely forget about him because I like him so much, but now, I like you too.” I confessed to him. 

Instead of saying something, Luke continued looking at me, thinking about what I had just told him. “Well, it seems like you’re in a pickle.” Luke finally says after several moments. I wanted to be upset about what he said but I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading on my face. “Luke, you’re stating the obvious.” I say, smiling at him. “I know. Well, since I like you, I would advise you to choose me but I understand where you’re coming from and if you think that being with James will make you happy, I will support your decision.” He says seriously. “I won’t be exactly happy but if you’re happy, then I’m happy.”

I take a few minutes to think about my reply. “I don’t know if I want to be with James anymore.” I say to him. It wasn’t necessarily the truth but I couldn’t bring myself to tell Luke how I really feel. “Oh.” He simply says. Before I could continue talking, there was a knock at our door. “Yes?” Luke calls out. The person opened the door and James looked into the room. “Oh, sorry. I thought you were only in here.” James says glancing at me. “What do you want?” Luke asks James. “Nevermind.” James murmured, closing the door.

“I think I should go talk to him.” I say to Luke. “Oh, okay.” Luke says. “Thanks for listening to me.” I say to Luke. “No problem.”  He says giving me a small hug. I get up from the bed and walk towards the door. “You’re sleeping in here tonight, right?” he asks me. “Umm, yeah. I guess.” I say to him. “Okay.” He says getting into the bed.

I walked out of the room and noticed that everyone had gone into their rooms. I walked across the hall and knocked on James’ door. “Come in!” I heard him yell. I opened the door and stepped inside. I saw James standing outside on his balcony. He was still wearing the same clothes he wore earlier. He saw me and frowned a little bit. “What do you want?” he asks me. “I just wanted to see you and talk.” I say to him, walking out onto the balcony. I stood next to him and faced him. He continued staring out into the backyard.