Cigarettes

Chapter 13

"Hey, Lay? Wanna go somewhere?" Luke asked during the commercial break. We were sat in front of the couch on the floor again, with two huge bowls of popcorn, each of us having one in our lap. I made him watch The Ellen Show with me because he didn't believe me when I told him Ellen's the funniest host ever.

I looked at him and he scratched the painful spot on his head that was swollen from all the plastic ornaments falling on our heads about an hour ago.

"Not unless you say it." I smiled widely.

"Say what?" Luke asked, bringing his hand down from his head and letting it fall into the bowl of popcorn again.

"Come on" I winked playfully. "Admit it! I was right! Ellen's the best, isn't she!" I wiggled my eyebrows in expectation and then laughed at myself because I realized I was acting dumb.

Luke stared at me and his face didn't have any expression. He really did do that a lot.

"I-" he started and looked at me again, his eyes scanning all over my face and examining its features. "Stop smiling like that! You're distracting!" he yelled and laughed, scratching the back of his head.

I looked at him and my smile disappeared, the awkwardness taking over me.

Luke shifted in his spot and came a bit closer, turning towards me and taking my hands in his.

"I told you not to do that." he said, looking at my hands and then my flushed cheeks. Oops, I must've tried to cool my cheeks off with my cold palms again.

"I didn't even realize I was doing it." I whispered, still looking at his hands holding mine. They were soft and warm, unlike mine. It felt good, the way he warmed my hands up when he was holding them.

Luke noticed I was staring at our hands and he quickly let them go, awkwardly squirming back to his spot. The atmosphere got awkward so I decided to bring up a new subject.

"You're very bossy, you know." I smiled, playing with a strand of hair and twirling it around my pointer finger.

"Girls used to love that." Luke laughed, the awkwardness instantly disappearing. "Back in the old times I'd get you all wrapped around my finger like you're doing with that strand of hair of yours." he then looked where my hand was and then back at me.

We stared at each other for a couple of seconds and then bursted out laughing.

"Back in the old times!" I yelled, still laughing. "You made it seem like you're 60 years old!" I laughed and Luke giggled.

"Oh my God!!" I pointed to his mouth. "That's so-"

"Shut up!"

"No! That was so-"

"Lay! Don't say it!"

"Your giggle is so adorable!!" I finally yelled, poking his bottom lip with my finger. "Do it again!"

Luke giggled again, although not intentionally.

"Oh my God!" I squealed loudly, seriously overwhelmed by the sound of his giggle.

"You're really rude. You can't call a guy adorable." Luke pouted and pretended to be angry at me. He rested his chin on his left palm and stared in front of himself, ignoring me. I noticed he was wearing the bracelet that he freaked out about in the morning.

"Okay fine, let's go somewhere." I sighed, trying to make him stop ignoring me.

"I know the place!" he quickly stood up and ran to put his shoes on.

__

"Your great escape was a fast food restaurant?" I asked Luke, looking at him with a poker face. We were standing outside McDonald's and debating wether or not we should go in; at least I was.