Arlington Heights: Season Two

Chapter 6: Running From Luke

The next morning at the lake house everyone gathered in the dining room for breakfast. Roger sat at one head of the table with James to his left and Will to his right. Mandy sat next to James and Roman sat next to Will in attempt to avoid any of the others sitting next to them. To Roman's left was Sefa, Becky then Luke. To Mandy's right was Seth, Dean then Anna. Emily sat at the other head of the table. The room sat in an awkward silence. All that could be heard was the sound of silverware hitting their plates. Luke kept shooting Anna reassuring glances as she tried to avoid eye contact with her two former lovers at the other end of the table. Dean was getting a little weirded out by Will's casual smiles his way. Seth on the other hand was just annoyed with his father. Becky was obviously trying to avoid eye contact with anyone.

"So no one here is going to say a word?" Roger asked.

Emily gave Roger a disapproving look.

"Uh oh." Sefa said under his breath.

Roger just ignored her.

"So Will, how have you been feeling?" Roger asked.

Dean and Seth casually glanced in his direction.

"I've actually been doing a lot better. I think a lot of those hospital visits really showed me that some people care more than they let on." Will said.

Luke tried to hide his disappointment when he remembered seeing Anna and Will's interaction at the hospital that day.

"Well you have raised two fine boys over there, that is for sure." Roger said.

Becky looked to Dean and saw his face tighten up with irritation.

"Thank you Roger but unfortunately.. I don't think I can take credit for raising either of these boys. I may have raised Seth but he still has a lot of learning to do. Dean on the hand.. his mother is responsible for raising him to be such a well mannered young man." Will said and he looked directly at Dean.

Dean furrowed his eye brows in confusion, not sure where he got the idea that he was "well mannered."

"How is Elena these days?" Roger asked.

"She's actually doing really well." James inserted himself in the conversation.

Luke and Anna looked down the table at James.

"And how would you know how my sister is doing?" Luke asked.

Will tried to hide his curiosity.

"She and I went out for coffee a few weeks ago." James told him.

Dean gave James a threatening look.

"Well it's nice that you can stay in contact with someone." Anna commented.

Becky looked back down at her food uncomfortably.

Everyone got really quiet again. Mandy looked around and tried to think of something to say.

"This food is amazing." Mandy told Emily.

"Thank you sweetheart." Emily said.

Roman smiled across the table at Mandy, appreciating her attempt to lighten the mood. Suddenly, a car door could be heard outside. Everyone looked around, not knowing who else could be arriving. But on the plus side, whoever it was couldn't possibly make things even more awkward. Seth got up when there was a knock.

"If that's my wife I'm outta here." Will tried to joke.

Seth opened the door to find Nikki standing outside with her bags.

"Hey, you made it!" Seth said as he greeted her with a hug.

Becky watched with an ache in her heart when she realized Seth had clearly invited his ex to the lake house. Dean looked down in disappointment, hating that Becky couldn't catch a break.