Sheltered

Chapter 35

"Sav?" Olivia calls from behind her open book.

"Yeah, what's up?" she replies with a start.

"Don't be so tense." Oli chuckles. She climbs down from her bunk to sit on the floor with Savanna.
"Look, I'm glad you told me about Shawn.
I thought I should let you know that Griff is gonna talk to him."

Savanna lets out a frustrated breath.
"I don't think you understand. Tony is- he's a really bad guy." she stutters, trying to shut out the thought of Luke's scars.

"I know. We're taking care of it, Savanna." Olivia smiles impatiently.

"God, I never liked him..." Sav mutters, blinking back tears.

Why is this upsetting me? I barely know Lucas, and he's better now...

"You okay?" Olivia breaks Savanna away from her thoughts.

"Mhm. Just worried about Ian." she half-lies.

"I know." Olivia moves closer and wraps her arms around Sav.
"We're all worried. But I'm sure he's fine. Probably just lost connections with us."
Oli smiles.
"I need to go, don't forget you need to scout out that Steven kid at school."

"Right." Savanna grins as Olivia closes the door behind her.

Savanna reaches into her back pocket, pulling out a very small, worn flip phone.

After pressing a few buttons, she holds it up to her ear.
"Luke? Hey, are you free?"

"Hey, lovely." Lucas's deep voice rings through the little cellphone speaker.
"I can meet you for ice cream in thirty minutes, yeah?" Sav can hear his smile.

"That's perfect." she grins. "See you then."

"Cheers."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Luke!" Sav waves to him and he rises from his seat.
Familiar scents fill Savanna's senses as she walks further into the ice cream shop.

Bill gives her a small nod.

"Thanks for meeting me on such short notice."
Savanna thanks him, and wraps her gentle arms around him.

He briefly squeezes back after a moment, then pulls away.
"Any time, love." Luke replies, cheeks flushed.

"So, do you have everything?" Sav asks as they take a seat across from each other.

"Oh, um. Yeah. What about you?" Lucas glances at her, then down at the small round table.

"I have everything in a sack under my bed."
She replies just short of happily.

After a few moments, Luke speaks again.
"So maybe you could come to my place, we can get everything together." He smiles awkwardly.
"And we can plan more. Figure things out."

Savanna laughs quietly.
"If you wanna ask me out, you can just say it."
She smirks.

"No, it isn't like that. You're with Ian. I know."
Lucas runs his fingers through his loose, shaggy curls.

"Right. I'm starting to think-" Savanna purses her lips, staring at the table.
"Maybe Ian never saw me in that way. It sounds terrible, but the longer I'm away from him, the more I wonder if he really... loves me."
She lets out a forced laugh.

Startled by her sudden confession, Luke pulls his chair around next to Savanna.

"Do you love him?"

Sav turns her head to look into his eyes.
"I dunno. It all kinda seemed... just like fun to me." She covers her face. "Gosh, I sound like such a bad person."

"Not at all. Sometimes we misinterpret feelings." Lucas shrugs. "There was this girl a couple years back. I was still in Australia then."

Savanna gives him a warm smile, urging him to continue.

"Yeah, she was pretty cool. I didn't see her as anything more than a friend, but we got together because I liked they way she looks."

He laughs as if it was to mock his old self.
Savanna can't help but stare at his unusually pale eyes.

"We broke up a month later, and both of us were relieved. It wasn't because I wanted to use her, things like that just happen."
Luke shrugs again, and looks up at Sav.

"I guess you're right. Sometimes feelings weren't really there in the first place."
Savanna admits. "Or they die away."

She straightens her posture, sitting up in the uncomfortable wooden chair.
"But we still need to help Ian. He could be hurt. And I don't know... I care about him."
Savanna blushes, and takes a sip of Luke's water.

He grins, watching the way her bright hair seems to flicker like a flame in the sunlight.
"Let's get to my place, then. I can take you back her when we're through."

"Okay, do you have a car?"
Savanna beams.

Luke smiles, and walks toward the door.
Savanna quickly follows.

He takes a key from his pocket, and presses a button.

The headlights of a faded red Cadillac Elderado flashed as Luke walks up to open the door.

"You're kidding." Savanna giggles, staring at the small, old-looking car.

"My dad got it in the 70s, isn't it ace!"
Luke's face lights up as he throws his jacket onto the drivers seat.

Savanna walks with Lucas around to the passenger door, and he opens it.
"Take a seat."

"Thanks, Luke." Sav gleams, looking around at the car's interior.

Once he settles into the driver seat, Luke turns his key in the ignition.
"Ready?"