My Obsession with Chloe Claire: BOOK ONE

Chapter Seventeen

Luke's P.O.V

"How do you think you did on the exam?" I asked Chloe as we walked to theatre appreciation.

"I think I did pretty well," she shrugged as she held her pink binder close to her chest. "How do you think you did?" she looked up to meet my eyes and asked.

I smiled, causing her eyes look away from mine quickly and stared at the ground. "Probably not as good as you." It was true. I probably didn't do as well as Chloe, but who could actually do as well as she could? She was the smartest girl I knew.

"Whatever," she snorted and looked back up at me with amusement in her eyes, her downturned lips curling. "You probably got a one-hundred on the exam."

It was my turn to snort. "Come on, you probably got a one-hundred on the exam. Don't try to say things that will make me feel better about myself," I continued to smile as I looked at her.

When her beautiful brown eyes met mine, my eyes widened, and my heart skipped a beat. I looked away nervously, feeling heat rise in my cheeks. I scratched my head and cursed at myself for being so moved by her easily. I mean, what kind of guy was I to just blush when she looked at me? I remembered back to when I dated other girls and I had never done the same thing with them. It was just Chloe. Always Chloe.

Chloe laughed and shook her head, her ponytail swishing back and forth. "Trust me, I'm not saying anything that would try and make you feel better about yourself. I'm just speaking the truth," she said.

I was confused by her words, wondering behind its meaning, but guessing that she meant well. I could probably spend all day wondering what its double meaning was only to get to nowhere. Girls didn't realize this, but to guys–most specifically me–girls are complicated creatures that speak in another language that we can't understand. When a girl said something, we wonder if that was what she actually meant or if she's hinting at something else. It knags us all day and throughout the night, wondering what the girl could have possibly meant. Except I wasn't going to let it get to me because I believed that she meant well.

Theatre appreciation went as expected, except that I was able to talk to Chloe beside me. It was even a surprise when she started to talk to me about Lysistrata, the play that we were covering at the moment. Apparently, she had already read it before, and even though I cared little about the subject, I was engrossed in every word that came out of her mouth, informing me a little bit about the play and what she liked and didn't like. I forgot half of the important details she told me, too focused on her exuberance.

Jess seemed a little irritated, most likely because she hated plays. She looked as though she wanted to join in on our conversation about Lysistrata but couldn't.

As soon as the clock struck five-forty, Dr. Cambridge released us from our lecture. As I packed my things, I couldn't help but notice that today Chloe wasn't packing her things in a rushed fashion in order to leave. She was more relaxed.

Before I processed what I was thinking, I blurted, "We should hang out sometime." My face flushed when she looked up in response. "If you want," I quickly added.

Chloe opened her mouth to respond but Jess interrupted, "What a coincidence! I wanted to hang out sometime, too!"

Huh? I turned to see Jess chewing her gum with her hip cocked out, her hands running through her long, dark hair. Her dark eyes fluttered at me.

I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion.

"I had been thinking about it for a while now, and I felt like the entire gang should hang out together–along with Chloe of course," Jess folded her arms and adjusted her light backpack, her eyes quickly darting from Chloe to me.

"Who's in the gang?" Chloe asked, and even though Jess couldn't tell, I noticed the way her mouth twitched when she said "gang" like it was some joke.

"Kason, Gunther, and Jacob," Jess said. "And anyone else you would like to add but these are my friends at school so far."

"I should invite Hailee then," Chloe nodded and looked over at me. "But if I invite her she'll invite Marshall and Heather, too."

"Just invite them all," Jess smiled with her blue gum stuck in her teeth. "The more the merrier!"

This wasn't what I originally wanted, but I would take any chance I could to get closer to Chloe.

"Okay, then what are we doing?" Chloe laughed slightly as other students whizzed by.

Jess shrugged and continued to chew her gum rapidly, reminding me of Coach Braxton when he chewed gum. "I don't know. Luke, do you have a plan?"

"I was thinking about going to Pyro's Fire Fresh Pizza after the game on Saturday," I admitted. "I've heard the pizza is really good." It would have been even better if it was just Chloe and me, but I was fine with everyone else coming. They were my friends after all.

"I love that idea," Chloe smiled.

"I'm pretty sure everyone will be happy with that idea," Jess said.

I nodded slightly and shoved my hands in my pockets. "I'll go ahead and text everyone about it."

"What time are we meeting up after the game?" Jess asked.

"The game starts at two and it'll end around six, so I'd say let's meet at Pyro's Fire Fresh Pizza at seven to give me some time to shower and clean up," I said as we started to head out the door.

"That sounds good," Chloe agreed. "I'll have to wash up too since I'll be in that hot, band uniform for four hours."

"That must suck," I said while holding the door open for Jess and Chloe as they walked out.

"Not as much as you having to play for at least two hours," she responded and shook her head. "I don't understand how you're able to exert that much energy for that length of time. I would be beat in the first five minutes," she laughed.

I laughed. "It just takes a lot of training. I didn't have the endurance to go that long at first but exercising for at least that amount of time really helped."

"Exercise? Don't cha mean, extra fries?" Chloe joked, and I couldn't help but laugh again.