Hoodwinked | Calum Hood AU

17.

"A few hours at that party and you won't even notice I'm not there," Joss says through the phone. "You'll be too busy with Luke."

I sigh, scanning my reflection in the mirror. Luke picked out the shortest black dress hanging in my closet. I do like the lace sleeves and the high neckline, and it's probably the most beautiful piece of clothing I own. Dad bought it for me about six months ago, joking that I wasn't allowed to wear it until I was 21.

Still, it's so short and seems so over the top for one of Ashton's party, but it it's all part of Luke's plan. Apparently.

"I told you, I'm not sleeping with Luke tonight."

"Why not?"

"Why do you care so much?" I ask and pick up my shoes from the floor. "You don't even sound sick by the way."

"You didn't sound sick when you cancelled on me either."

"So this is pay back?" I laugh bitterly,  not even shocked that Joss would be so childish. This is the exact reason I can't wait for high school to end.

"Look," she says in that voice that means she is going to ignore my remark. "Whatever you and Luke do is your business, but don't come crying to me when he sleeps with another girl. This is Luke we're talking about."

Something inside of me snaps, "You know what, Joss? You're right. It is Luke. And whether you like it or not, Luke respects me and if I say that I'm not ready to have sex, that's okay with him. He'd never pressure me into something I don't want to do. It's a pity you don't feel the same."

And then I hang up, throwing my phone down on the bed next to me. The screen is still glowing so I can see the time and I know that Luke will be here any moment, ready to drag me to this party no matter how angry I am.

I crouch down onto the floor and reach underneath my bed to grab another shoebox. When I open the top, I see a half full bottle of vodka and a glass. I unscrew the lid and pour some of the clear liquid into the glass, all of my actions rushed incase Dad decides to barge into my room.

The vodka burns my throat but a few minutes later, I feel slightly calmer. Slightly.

Joss has always been bossy and a little forceful, but she never used to try and pressure me into anything I didn't want to do. I mean, not really. She'd make me come along to watch stupid movies with her, and she did say that if I didn't tell Calum I like him, then she would.

Those things never really bothered me though. Not like this does.

"Ruby!" Dad calls out, and I almost drop the empty glass of vodka. "Luke's here."

I can't help but smile, knowing how much Luke hates using the front door when my Dad was home. "Coming!"

We hadn't told Dad about the party, of course. Some parents might be completely cool with hundreds of unsupervised teens drinking in a parent-free, countless empty-bedroomed house but my dad? No way.

A few months back, before Summer, I'd been honest about one party. Before I could leave the house he made me sit through an hour long PowerPoint presentation on the statistics of date rape, alcohol poisoning and car crashes involving drunk driving.

So now I use the usual story: we're going to the movies and afterwards, Luke's dropping me off at Joss's house. For some reason, Dad always believes us. Yeah, sometimes he gives Luke a hard time, just to tease him, but I know deep down he trusts Luke. More than he trusts Joss, actually.

Dad doesn't know Joss's family that well but he once used the phrase "more money than sense" when talking about her parents. I think he thinks Joss and Mikayla's parents give them too much freedom and privacy, and not enough boundaries. I was starting to think he was right.

When I get downstairs - with my red coat over the top of the black dress to fool my dad - Luke's by the front door, standing so straight and still, as if one sudden movement might have Dad throw him out of the house.

Dad and Alfie are on the lounge watching Star Wars and after the usual 'safe driving' speech Luke and I are out of the front door and into the car.

I tell Luke he can drive since he knows the way better than I do, choosing to leave out the fact that I've already downed half a glass of straight vodka.

"Joss isn't coming," I say, purely as an open to start venting about her. "She's sick, apparently, and then we got into this huge argument."

"What about?"

"You," I answer immediately. I guess this is why people really did date their best friends sometimes. It's easy for me to talk to Luke about this sort of stuff. "She keeps asking when we're going to sleep together, and not just casually asking. She asks so forcefully and then doesn't listen to anything I say."

Looking mildly uncomfortable, Luke asks, "What did you tell her? When she asked?"

"I told her I'm not ready." Luke nods quietly, his face relaxing a little. "I know sex isn't a big deal to you but it is to me. I don't want my first time to be with someone I'll regret."

There's a frown, and then another understanding nod from Luke. "And you'd regret it if it was with me."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know."

The conversation falls and we sit in this weird silence for a few minutes. The houses around us are slowly getting bigger as we get closer to Ashton's suburb. 

"You still haven't told me your grand plan for tonight."

A small smile weaves its way across Luke's lips, "You'll see." 

There's already parked cars lining most of Ashton's street so we end up parking a fair walk away. We walk in silence until Ashton's house becomes in close view, then Luke takes my hand and instead of it feeling comforting or nice, it feels like we're both putting on a costume.

"Don't worry about Joss," he says. "She's just wired differently to you. And honestly, I wouldn't want your first time to be with me either, Ruby. You deserve someone better."

I don't really know what to say to that so I just nod. He tugs on my hand, forcing me to stop walking up the long driveway to Ashton's house. Between the music from inside and the large group of people crowding the front lawn, there's so much noise that we don't have to worry about anyone overhearing our conversation.

"I know things have been a bit different between us, since we started this whole fake relationship thing," Luke's staring at me with his blue eyes, the lights from Ashton's house reflecting against them. "But I want you to remember that I'm always your best friend, and I've always got your back. Okay?"

"Okay."

He smiles, "Now let's go get you a Calum."