Last Summer

8. Not a Date night.

The higher we go, the path gets more complicated. I can see a faint outline of mountains on my other side, so I guess we're somewhere near the top. It's hotter than usual but the slight breeze passing by every now and then helps. We've been climbing for more than 3 hours, taking one or two breaks in between, but the path seems never ending, taking  twists and turns every feet we move.

I'm a little behind everyone; don't blame me, blame my parents for never making me exercise. Even at school, PE is my worst nightmare. So it's gonna take me some time to catch up with others.

Unlike me, Saya was in the school track team, and was also a huge sports fan. From basketball ball to tennis, she played everything and that's why she's leading the group, along with Ivy.

Everyone here seems to be very fit, not surprising as they spend their time outdoors all year long.

"You're slow." During my self pep-talk session, I didn't notice Luka walking along side me. The group was pretty far away from us now.

"Uhmm.. Yeah." I reply not knowing what to do. Ever since the truth or dare game, I don't know what to do around him, so I do what I'm best at: Avoiding.

"Not the best sports fanatic." I add.

Luka doesn't reply but nods his head, and we continue walking with an awkward silence eloping us.

"Did I do something wrong?" Luka asks after a long silence.

"Uhh.. Uhhmm, What do you mean?" I ask as a doubt, when I know exactly what he meant.

"I think you know what I mean. You've been avoiding me this whole week, barely replying to my messages. You are only doing this to me.. So did I do something wrong, I don't remember doing anything and if I did please tell  me." He explains with his voice dropping at every word.

How do I explain to him that I have teeny tiny crush on him, and I need to stay away for that to go away!!!

I can't. So I go back to acting stupid.

"I have no idea, what you're talking about. I'm not avoiding you. I was just... busy." I say as I continue to walk.

"Ohh yeah? But you aren't busy when you hangout with any of the other guys." He retorts.

'What now, you're stalking me?' I think to myself.

"I'm not stalking you. There's a thing called snapchat. You're in everybody's pictures." Luka says.

Okay, I've been caught, now what?

Another pathetic excuse? Yes.

"It's just that I didn't want to disturb you since you were working and all."

"Really? You didn't get any better excuse."Luka says giving me a sad smile and walking off.

Without even thinking, I grab his hand to stop him, " Okay, how about this? There's this local exhibition that started last week, Let's go together? " I ask. I have no idea why I did that but I did.

"Leave it, you don't have force yourself or anything. It's not like care." He tells me with an annoying look.

'This piece of -'  fine. I'm not going to beg him or anything.

"I'm not forcing myself or anything, I really wanted to go with. But if you don't want to fine. And also please stop accusing me every single time." I say and start to walk off in front him.

For a few seconds, I don't hear anything but he quickly passes by me and joins the rest of the group within minutes.

Of course. Real mature.