The Best Friend Equation

Chapter 10 - The Plotting

"So, what did Cam tell you?" Luke inquired casually. We were in his room, working on our English homework. Our character sketch on Lady Macbeth was due on Tuesday and we were almost done. The only difficulty I was having was to keep the word limit around 500 words. I had to cut down a lot of material.

Luke had coughed out the word 'nerd' like 47 times, as if I wasn't doing this for both of us.

"Something that you should have told me already," I said, absent-mindedly working on Luke's laptop. I leaned back on this desk chair, trying to figure out what I should delete from the conclusion.

"You seem really casual about it," said Luke, sitting cross-legged on the bed, rolling a tiny basketball in his hands, no bigger than his palm. The basketball came with a petite hoop attached to the wall next to his window, and it looked cute and all, but it was pretty tricky to score. I had tried and failed multiple times. "I mean, I thought you'd be more upset." He seemed to be warily waiting for the appropriate explosion of reaction on my part.

I looked up at him with a neutral expression. "I was when I actually found out about it. Mason told me at the party."

"What? He snitched on me?"

I shook my head. "Eventually, everyone was going to find out about it. He thought it would be better if I had a heads-up. Unlike you," I added stonily.

He let out a lungful of air and did not reply.

"So why did you confront him?" I asked, my eyes back on the computer screen.

"I don't know. I don't know what I was thinking."

"Riiight."

Luke chucked the ball, effortlessly making the basket. "But this happened before our deal, so I won't interfere now. I promise."

He got up to get the ball again. I glanced at him again, hesitating. I had thought about this, wondering how much I should tell him. But, like I had mentioned before, he was bound to find out sooner or later. "Great," I said, whirling his swivel chair around to see him. "Because he said he liked me."

"What?" The ball slipped out of his fingers.

"I know. Shocking, right?"

"It's not shocking that he likes you. I already told you that." His forehead furrowed, his expression troubled. "It's shocking that he had the guts to tell you." He grabbed the ball and pitched it again but his aim seemed to be off, because it bounced against the metal hoop. He did not seem to care, though. He appeared to be preoccupied with his thoughts. "Maybe I made that promise too soon," he said, mutely.

"Shut up. You cannot back out now. It's my decision."

Luke made a face. "Decision to do what, exactly?"

My heart seemed to be in my throat. I had no idea if this would backfire in my face. "Um. He also asked if I could be his girlfriend."

That made him freeze. "What did you say?" he said, staring at me.

I shrugged. "I said I'll think about it. But tomorrow... I think I'm going to say yes." I finished, slowly. I was so jittery, my knees were bouncing in anxiousness.

He didn't reply but turned and continued with his throws. After about an hour—or maybe it was just five seconds—I couldn't bear the silence. "What? Say something. You can't be mad, because you're the first person I'm telling this to."

"Are you sure about this?" He stopped, but was avoiding my eyes.

Not at all, I thought. With a dry mouth, I said quietly, "Yes."