Play No More (Player Next Door sequel) ✓

19 | Everyone Knows

Chapter 19: Everyone Knows

Strong arms wrapped themselves around me from behind. His hair tickled the cape of my neck as he bent his head to kiss my cheek.

I slowly raised my hand to touch his hair.

"Playing hard to get?" he whispered in my ear.

My skin tingled under his touch, like there was a magnetic circuit underneath. He has that effect on me every day.

"Playing hard to forget."

Did that come out of my mouth? Why did it sound like a bad movie soundbite?

He chuckled and I could feel the deep and soft vibrations of his laughter. I'm glad Luke's amused by my cringey moments. It makes me feel comfortable with myself around him.

Luke's tolerance for most people's nonsense is practically at zero. But he seemed to have infinite patience for mine.

"Oh woah," Cearra said as she sprinted round the corner and bumped into us, "I had NO idea Luke Dawson was here."

"I tend to hang out with my girlfriend," Luke answered sarcastically.

"Right. But if you hung out together more at school, it wouldn't have taken weeks before the entire student body caught on," Cearra answered, "With all respect."

"What do you mean?" I asked, though I felt the familiar dread sink in my stomach.

Was my anonymity disappearing?

"It means the whole fricking school knows," she exclaimed.

Maybe I should clean my ears and ask her to repeat herself.

"Hmm?"

The door to the computer lab opened behind us and Joe stepped out. He wore a knitted sweater vest and held a calculator in his hand. He looked from me, to Luke and Cearra.

"Millie, do you still want to work on math?"

We had been working together in the computer lab and he'd been waiting for me to come back inside. There was a silence as Luke and Cearra registered the situation. I think they sometimes forget that a large portion of students actually study.

Luke recognized him, "You're suspender boy."

Joe's expression turned to bewilderment, "How did you know I'm wearing suspenders?"

The suspenders were hidden under his sweater vest today. Joe even double checked.

"Millie talks about you. You're one of those math geeks."

"Mathletes," I corrected, giving Luke a nudge to be polite, "He means mathletes."

Joe nodded, "You're Luke Dawson, the best basketball player in our school. You run... really fast."

"Thanks."

"Anyway, Millie, you may want to take the day off today," Cearra suggested, getting back to what she was saying before, "Go to the nurse's office and get a sick note."

"But she's not sick," Joe said.

"Joe," Cearra told him, not wanting to burst his academic bubble, "You seem like a nice guy-"

"Millie! Luke!" Jake called out, hurrying towards us. 

He appeared from around the same corner Cearra just came in. I was surprised to see him, but he was looking surprised in general.

I guess we were a weird group, standing, conspiring outside the computer lab. Luke and Cearra have never come here.

"This school is weird," Jake said, "They're talking about the two of you like it's breaking news. They're acting like there aren't a billion more serious issues to tackle."