“Oh my God, you and Luke totally kissed, didn’t you?” I rolled my eyes as I looked at Kendra through my laptop screen. I hadn’t even finished my story about the events that transpired on the fourth. Hell, I hadn’t even gotten to the part where we went to the beach. I was still describing how cramped the car was. None the less, I felt my cheeks heat up in a blush.
“We may have.” I said coyly, looking at the camera briefly. Kendra let out a loud squeal, and I was glad I wasn’t in the room with her. Her squeals could break eardrums.
“I knew it! Oh my God, I have to call Wyatt and tell him he owes me thirty bucks. Damn, I’m good.” She rambled for a moment before grabbing her phone and dialing Wyatt’s number. I furrowed my brows at her.
“You made a bet on it?” I asked incredulously. Kendra waved me off nonchalantly.
“Wyatt said it would take you at least until August to let it happen. I said by the end of next week.” She explained. I let her words process in my brain, ignoring her as she shouted at Wyatt over the phone, telling him she’s never wrong and that he’d better get his ass to the bank because he owed her money. After she hung up, she turned back to me, a grin on her face. “My little Dae-bird is growing up! Tell me—was it a good kiss?” She asked.
“I’m not little. Just because you’re a year older—never mind.” I grumbled. “And I think it was good? I don’t know. I’ve never kissed anyone before.” I felt myself blush again.
“So are you gonna date him?” She asked. I shrugged, letting out a sigh.
“I don’t know, Kendra. Maybe. But what if my dad decides that without mom here, he doesn’t want to stay? I mean, he’s got a good job and all, but still.” I ran my hands through my hair in frustration.
“So what if he does? There’s internet for a reason. You’re doing it again, Dae. This is like when Mark Peterson liked you back in 6th grade.” Her voice took on a sort of scolding tone, and I felt myself begin to get a bit defensive.
“How is this like Mark? I didn’t even like him.” I defended. Kendra fixed me with a look that said ‘you’re lying and I know it’.
“Yes, you did. You just made every excuse in the book to make yourself believe you didn’t like him.” I shook my head.
“This is not like Mark Peterson. Alright, I really don’t want to talk about this right now.” I said. Kendra began to protest as the door to my bedroom creaked open. “Kendra, I have to go, alright? I love you and we can talk some other time.” I said before closing the laptop and turning to see who was entering the room.
“Who’s Mark Peterson?” Luke was standing in the doorway, looking really confused—and faintly hurt. I shrugged.
“A boy who had a crush on me in 6th grade.” I explained. Luke seemed relieved at that. I drummed my fingers against my desk and lifted my eyebrows at him. “So, what’s up?” I asked. Luke scratched the back of his head awkwardly before letting his arm fall to his side.
“Mum wants me to go to the store and pick up some food for the party on Saturday, but I really don’t know what to buy. So I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?” I nodded in response to his question, pushing myself up from my desk chair. After grabbing my sunglasses from the top of the dresser, I followed Luke out into the hallway and down the stairs.
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“I don’t think Smarties are quite what Liz was asking you to get, Luke.” I said, pulling the three bags of candy from the cart and putting it back on the shelf. Luke pouted at me.
“But I like them.” He protested. I rolled my eyes, feeling my lips tilt up in a small smile. I sighed dramatically and put one of the bags back into the cart.
“Well I guess I’ll have to send your birthday present back, because clearly you want these Smarties more.” I said. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Luke move faster in my life. The bag of candy was out of the cart and on to the shelf so fast that the entire thing shook slightly. My eyes widened in surprise as I looked at Luke. He blushed slightly, scratching the back of his neck, before grabbing the bar on the cart and pushing it forward.
“So what do we need to get?” He asked, looking around at the shelves. I shrugged.
“Well, there’ll be like twenty people there, because Liz said that some family are coming in. Plus Ashton’s family, like Lauren and Harry. Then there’ll be Taryn and Megan and the boys. Plus your brothers. Taryn’s bringing her little sister, and Megan said that her parents and brother want to come.” I said, more to myself than to him. “How well do you think pizza would go over? But not like frozen pizzas—homemade ones?” I asked, this time directing the question towards Luke. He smiled.
“Pizza would go over very well.” He said. I nodded.
“Alrighty, then. Let’s go get pizza stuff.”
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“You’ve got pizza sauce on your eyebrow.” I sighed and wiped my face with a towel as Lauren giggled at my flustered state. I had spent the last hour and a half preparing and cooking four different types of pizza, all of which were now going to go out on the table that I had set up earlier. Liz promised she’d help me set up the backyard for the party, but she had to go run an errand, and hadn’t come back yet. So, here I was, putting the finishing touches on everything. Of course, now that I was done, Liz decided to show up again.
“Ah, there you are! I need your help.” She said as soon as her eyes landed on me. I nodded and followed her out through the garage. The driveway was packed with cars, as the party was now in full swing. I could hear the music and laughter from here. Everyone had showed up, which was good. Ashton and Luke were extremely excited about the cake, which Liz and I had spent a good twenty minutes explaining to the bakery we got it from. It was circular, and on top of it there was a mini drumset with an electric guitar leaning up against it. The drumset had the five tallies on it, and on the side of the round cake, in large block lettering were the words ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHTON AND LUKE’.
Liz led me to her car. She peeked around to make sure nobody else was out here before opening up the trunk. I let out a puff of air as my gaze landed on the guitar in the back. It was a brand new electric guitar, all black. And it was gorgeous.
“Oh my gosh, Liz. He’s going to freak out.” I breathed, looking over at her. She grinned.
“I hope so. He’s been wanting one for a while now. Says they can’t be a real rock band without electric guitars.” She chuckled. I smiled. That was definitely something Luke would say.
“So, what do you need my help with, then?” I asked, genuinely confused. She opened her mouth to reply, but a voice cut her off.
“Mum!” Luke’s yell was followed by the sound of a closing door. Liz turned to me.
“Keep him busy so I can get it in the house.” She whispered quickly. I nodded, turning and walking around the side of the car.
“Hey, Luke!” I said, a little too brightly. He frowned in confusion.
“Um, hi? Is my mum back there?” I shrugged. “Yeah, she’s busy unloading the trunk. What can I do for you?” Luke tried to peek around the edge of the car, but I moved into his path.
“Well, I’ll just help her really—“
“Nope!” I practically yelled, pressing my hands to Luke’s chest and pushing him back a few steps. Luke reached up and grabbed my wrists gently, still looking confused.
“Daeyna, what’s going on?” He asked slowly. I shook my head.
“Nothing, Luke. It’s just that I don’t want you fretting over helping your mom during your birthday party. Now, what did you come out here for?” I explained. Luke didn’t fall for it. He pried my hands from his chest and began to push past me. So, I improvised. “I have a surprise for you.” I blurted. Luke stopped and turned to look at me. I smirked and backed up, towards the door to the house.
“What is it?” He asked, no longer paying attention to his mom, who I could see slowly picking up the guitar through the windshield of the car.
“I guess you’ll have to catch me to find out.” I said, spinning around and dashing for the door. I made it to the top of the stairs before Luke caught me.
“Caught you. What’s the surprise?” Luke asked, smirking as if he was proud that he’d caught up to me. I heard a door close downstairs and knew Liz had successfully gotten the guitar into the house. Of course, I didn’t really have a surprise for Luke. I’d only said that because I knew he couldn’t resist. Now I was in a bit of a dilemma.
Suddenly, I found myself thinking back to what Kendra had said a few days ago when we talked on Skype. Was I just making excuses to convince myself dating Luke was a bad thing? He’d actually tried to bring up the kiss from the fourth a few times in the days following, but I always changed the subject. He stopped trying after that. And he’d sort of become a bit awkward around me. Even though it was obvious that he still liked me, he was hesitant. And it was probably because I just brushed off the kiss. Or, rather, he thought I had merely brushed it off like it was nothing. Actually, I had thought a lot about it.
“Daeyna?” Luke brought me out of my thoughts when he spoke. I blinked a few times and looked at him. His eyebrows were pulled together in concern as he looked at me, but I wasn’t thinking about that. Kendra’s words were replaying over again and again in my head. You just made every excuse in the book to make yourself believe you didn’t like him. “Daeyna, are you alright? You’re—“
I kissed him.
It took him a moment, but Luke kissed me back.
“Surprise?” I said after pulling away from him. Luke chuckled, his lips tilting up in a small smile. Before he could say anything back, I scurried down a few stairs. “Come on, then! You’ve got presents to open and cake to eat!”
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“So I know those presents seem lame, but I do have an explanation for them.” I said, looking between Ashton and Luke, who both had stuffed animals on their laps. Luke had a penguin (I figured the one he already has could use a friend), and I’d found this white dog that I thought Ashton would like. I looked around at everyone sitting around. They were all giving me expectant looks.
“I’m sure it’s shocking to hear, but I’m not actually from Australia.” I started, receiving a collective chuckle from my small audience. “And if I’m being honest, I didn’t get the best start when I first got here, either.” During my pause, I glanced at Luke, who had turned his face to his lap and was fiddling with the penguin. I knew he was still beating himself up over what he’d done. “However, it’s gotten a lot better. And that’s because of all of you guys. Now for the explanation. Back home, I have two best friends: Wyatt and Kendra. We met when I was in what you guys would call Year 6 and they were in Year 7. I had them over for my birthday, and it was still fairly early in our friendship, so both showed up with stuffed animals as if we were seven and still wanted them as presents. I still haven’t let them forget it.” I paused for a moment as the group chuckled again.
“Anyways, I guess what I’m getting at here is that it’s still early in my friendship with you guys, too, but I’m hoping that by keeping with the stuffed animal tradition, we all end up as close as I am with my friends back home.” A chorus of ‘aww’s from the moms, Megan and Taryn and Lauren followed the conclusion of my little speech. I could have sworn I even saw Liz wipe away a tear.
“Well if that’s the reason why you got these, I hardly think it’s a lame gift.” Ashton said, setting the dog down in the grass beside him and standing up. “Now I think we need to have a big group hug.”
And so we had a big group hug, with me and the boys in the middle.
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Yee! I finally posted the chapter! Sorry it took so long to get up. Work is kicking my booty!
Anyways, I really hope you all liked it! If you like the story, talk about it! Share it with your friends! Post it on your neighbor's door! Or maybe don't do that.
As always, comments make my day 1000X better! Love reading them! Have a wonderful evening, guys!
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Bully // l.h. // Book 1 of Bully Series
Fanfiction(I'm editing this. Slowly, but it's being edited)
