and then you left // cth

chapter 4: unique

luke

Just then, Mrs. Patterson flits back into the room. She grabs an apron from a closet and ties it around her waist with a double knot, all while eyeing Alexis and me out of the corner of her liquid eyes.

"Well, I sure hope you kids found something to talk about while I was gone." She says to us as she opens a cupboard and begins searching for something.

"You could say that," I say and wink at Alexis. Her face turns to stone and something shifts in her eyes. She turns away.

I wonder what I did.

Just then, my phone starts blaring blink-182, a sign that someone's calling. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Alexis flinch at the loud, sudden sound and she meets my eye and then quickly looks away. She then goes back to staring into space just as quickly.

She's definitely unique, to say the least.

I pull my phone out of my pocket and see the name of one of my best friends flashing across the screen, along with his picture. I press the green circle to accept the call and place my phone against my ear, as I watch Alexis bite her painted nails with curiosity. She looks worried.

"Hey Ash," I say simply. He usually only calls if he has important something to say because he prefers talking in real life. Something about making real connections with people, or some bullshit like that.

"Dude, where the hell are you?" He sounds agitated, but I couldn't be more clueless as to what about.

"I'm next door. Why?" I ask, and rack my brain for any clues as to why he's so mad. Somewhere in the background, I hear someone strumming a bass but it still takes a few seconds for the lightbulb to go off.

"Oh my God, Luke, did you seriously forget band practice? We've been trying to call you for an hour!" He yells. Ashton only yells when he's got other things going on, he must be fighting with his girlfriend-of-the-week, whatever her name is.

"Shit, I totally forgot," I glance at Mrs. Patterson as the curse word accidentally falls from my lips. I always make an effort not to swear around her. "I'll be there in a sec," I tell him and hang up before he really starts yelling. Alexis and her grandmother are both looking at me expectantly, but Alexis looks away every few seconds. I think eye contact must make her uncomfortable or something.

"I forgot about band practice," I say, and scoot my chair back. It makes an obnoxious screeching sound and I see Alexis jump out of the corner of my eye. I stand up and pat my pockets, a habit I have to make sure I have everything. "Thank you for the cookies. They were delicious." I say and walk around the counter to give Mrs. Patterson a quick hug.

"You're in a band?" Alexis asks me. I nod, but I'm almost shocked that she spoke without first being spoken to. "I guess so. We only started a few months ago, and we're not very good. We post covers on YouTube though."

"Cool," she says. She seems to have warmed up to me a lot more than when I first came over here. Maybe she's just one of those people you have to get to know before they come out of their shell. I used to be like that, and I still am sometimes. But I've found that hiding myself doesn't help anything, especially not in the long run.

"It was nice meeting you, Alexis. See you around." I tell her and start walking toward the front door to let myself out. My friend Michael plays guitar in the band, and he's usually late to practice. There's usually a lot of yelling directed at him when this happens, and I don't want the tables to turn against me.

"Hey, Luke?" Mrs. Patterson calls. I turn around but continue to walk backward as I near the door. "Maybe sometime you could bring Alexis along to your band practice,"

. . .

thank you so much for reading! i don't really like the chapters from luke's perspective, but i think they're necessary for the storyline.