Nothing // l.h

Chapter 9

"Pass me another slice." I nudged Michael on the shoulder. He reached across the coffee table and handed me another slice of pepperoni pizza. "I'm so full." I complained as I shoved another slice into my mouth. 

"So that's all Luke did was take you to the bookstore?" I had already told Michael what we did but for some reason he kept on asking. I guess he thought that we did something else, something in secret, and I wouldn't tell him. I was leaving out the fact that Luke was failing a class. I figured since he didn't want to tell me about it that I shouldn't tell Michael. "So when are you going to tell Calum and Ashton about your trip down the yellow brick road with the tin man?"

"I'm never telling them." I said with no hesitation at all. Michael finished sipping his soda and looked at me in shock. "It's just that they would think different of me. I'm a little afraid to tell Ashton because I am more than likely sure he likes me a lot, Calum would just judge me and give me one worded answers for the rest of my life. I can tell you these things because I've known you longer and you accept me. Plus more than half of the time I'm under your influence." 

"I don't think you were under any influence except your own when you agreed." He pointed out. He was right, it was my own doing. But it's not like I had a miserable time. "Oh shit." Michael cursed as he looked down at his phone. "I have to go. My mom said she wants me to help her hang up the things she bought at the auction." He wiped his greasy hands on his jeans and got up from his spot on the couch. "I'll see you later?" I nodded, watching him leave. Now I was left with a little less than half a pizza and my best friend nowhere to be found. My parents didn't come home from work until six and it was only five. 

Deciding that I had nothing better to do I went up to my room. I opened the door to the sweet smell of lavender that my room always smelled like. Without any other thought I went over to the small bookshelf next to my bed. I scanned over every shelf until I came to a book that shocked me when I realized I hadn't read it yet. I remember buying To Kill A Mockingbird but I put off reading it because I had to finish my others. I took the book off of the shelf and sat down at my desk, pulling my feet up on the chair and crossing my legs. I opened the book and flattened it to just the way I liked it and started reading.

Halfway through the first chapter I kept thinking how much the lack of light was bothering me. I opened the blinds and looked across and saw Luke standing in the rec room strumming his guitar. I tried to shut the blinds without him seeing me but I had no such luck. He looked up and smirked at me while nodding his head to the beat of the music. I felt like I couldn't do anything except just stand there. I had to force myself to sit back down and focus on my book. 

I looked up for a split second and found that Luke was gone. I let out a sigh of relief knowing that he wasn't there anymore. I looked down at the book for a moment before I heard the doorbell ring. I knew exactly who that was so I took my time in answering the door.

"Oh great!" Luke greeted. "You're home." 

"Luke I saw you like two hours ago." I sighed, regretting opening the door in the first place. "What do you want?" I leaned up against the door frame, preventing him from coming in.

"What book are you reading?" He asked, putting his hands behind his back and rocking back and forth on his heels. Was he five? "Saw you reading and got curious."

"To Kill A Mockingbird." I told him. He looked shocked, like it came as a surprise that I was reading something other than The Great Gatsby. "Is that the only reason you came over here?" I figured he had to have some ulterior motive, after all it was Luke Hemmings. "I don't like you, remember?"

"Are you sure that didn't change for you in any way?" He wondered. Why would it ever change? I felt like I needed to tell him why I hated him so he would quit bugging me. I nodded my head and I saw his smirk turn into a slight frown. He needed to get over the fact that not everyone likes him. "I actually wanted to know if you had any sort of fun today."

"I had fun." I saw a sparkle appear in his eyes. What I said next made that sparkle disappear. "I had fun looking at books." A soft mumble left his mouth as he looked anywhere but my eyes. 

"So are you done standing at my door and wasting my time?" Frankly, I didn't care what Luke thought of me. I never sought to impress him so why did he think I planned on it? When was he going to get the hint?

"I guess I am." He pressed his lips together and turned to walk away.

"Wait Luke." I called after him. "What song was that? The one you were playing upstairs?" I liked it and it was something I've never heard before.

"It's the song I wrote." He said nonchalantly, turning back around and facing me. I knew he liked music and played guitar but I didn't know he wrote songs. My mouth formed an O at the thought of what lyrics he would write to go along with the music. "Maybe I'll play it for you sometime. You know, that is if you can stomach another day with just the two of us." He smirked. I didn't say anything but I just stood there and watched him go back to his house. 

I walked back upstairs after grabbing my book bag from the kitchen. When I got to my room I threw my bag on the ground and went back to my desk. Before I even touched my book, something caught my eye. I looked across and saw a piece of paper taped to Luke's window. I looked at the words that were scribbled on it with black Sharpie, but no Luke. 

If you want to hear my song, meet me at the bookstore on Sunday at four. As much as I hated Luke and didn't want to go, a part of me couldn't help wondering. So many questions swam through my head at once. Shaking the thought out of my head for a while, I shut the blinds and went back downstairs to watch some mindless TV.

**

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

this was a filler that I don't like too much oh well the next one will be better and longer. 

gwyn