"Alright, everyone! Please give Penny here all of your attention while she talks to you about these two search and rescue dogs here. Maybe she'll even let you pet them at the end when she's done." I announced, smiling at the blond woman to my right before allowing her to take control and begin her presentation.
As soon as she began to speak, I pulled a few of the counselors aside to help with setting up the craft for the day. We would be making bookmarks with the photos we'd taken of each child with their group's dog. So, we needed to sort the photos, because the small images hadn't come back in the order I sent them out in. We would also need to get the foam bookmarks and make sure there were enough for each group. Once that was done, we just waited until Penny's presentation was over with.
The craft went well. With the exception of one temper tantrum from a girl in the green group who didn't get the blue bookmark she wanted, everything went smoothly. Well, at least it all went smoothly until a certain little blond girl got herself scratched pretty badly by a cat—and wouldn't stop bleeding. At first, I thought the injury might be deeper than I had originally thought. But when five minutes rolled around and she was still bleeding as badly as she had been when she started, I decided it wasn't normal.
So I called Luke. It was Michael who picked up the phone.
"Hello?" He asked, seeming confused. I hadn't changed my number since I'd moved, so he should have known who I was. Of course, there was another explanation why he wouldn't know it was me, but I really didnt have time to be thinking that right now.
"Michael, you need to put Luke on the phone." I instructed crisply as soon as he spoke.
"Daeyna? Oh wow I haven't heard from you in a while. But Luke's a bit busy—you know—recording and all." He said slowly. I knew instantly that he was lying. Luke probably just didn't want to talk to me right now. I growled in frustration.
"Dammit, Michael, put him on the phone! I don't care if he's having tea with the queen of England. This is fucking important." I snapped. Michael sucked in a breath, and I heard the phone shuffling a bit before Luke's voice sounded over the speaker.
"What do you want, Daeyna?" He sighed, almost seeming resigned. I didn't even let him finish the sentence before I interrupted.
"You need to get here now. Zoe got a scratch, and I didn't think it was bad, but I guess I was wrong, and it's been five minutes and—" I hadn't realized that I was going into panic mode until Luke cut me off.
"Woah, Dae, slow down and take a breath." He seemed a lot more alert now, and I did as he said, taking a deep breath. "Good. Now, what's happened to Zoe?"
"She got scratched. And it won't stop bleeding. It's been too long for it to still be bleeding like this." I explained, my voice shaking slightly.
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Luke arrived less than ten minutes later. Zoe's cut hadn't stopped bleeding, but it definitely had slowed since I spoke on the phone with him. She was no longer crying, having been brought to my office and promptly sat on by October. I actually felt a sense of irony at that, remembering the time I brought Molly back to Luke's house and she had liked him better. The Hemmings family was on its way to stealing another of my rescues.
"Please call me and let me know what happens." I requested when he returned to grab Zoe's belongings. He gave me an odd look.
"Why?" He asked. I paused for a moment that I really didn't have a solid reason to give him. Somehow, I didn't believe that 'because I care about you and your family' would go over too well. Actually, I knew it wouldn't go over well. In fact, it'd probably start a fight or something.
"Nevermind, sorry. Hope she is alright, and you can just shoot me an email if she's not going to come back. I'll give you a full refund for the camp." I corrected myself, giving him an empty smile. He frowned for a moment before nodding curtly and exiting the office.
I let out a sigh as I watched him retreat, feeling my mood deflate more than it already had. I didn't want to admit it to myself, but I missed him. There was a time when, if something happened to a family member and I couldn't be at the hospital with him, he'd call as soon as he knew anything and tell me what's going on. Luckily, in the time we were together, nothing that drastic happened, but I knew he would have.
I sank down into my chair, and moments later was joined by October. Looking at her brought back thoughts of what had happened earlier when Michael picked up the phone. He hadn't known who I was. Which meant my name wasn't saved in the phone. Luke's phone. He'd deleted my number. I don't know why it upset me as much as it did. We hadn't spoken in over five years; he had every reason to remove my number from his contacts list. But as I pulled out my phone and scrolled through the list of names and numbers saved there, I realized why it hurt like it did.
I hadn't deleted him. Hell, I hadn't even removed the stupid little monkey emoji he had insisted on putting at the end of his name. Through the course of five years and two new phones, I had kept him in my contacts, hoping that one day he might pick up the phone and call me. He hadn't, and clearly he didn't think about me as much as I thought about him. I could tell myself I moved on. I could convince myself that the two boyfriends I had during college—first David then Collin—were proof that I was over Luke Hemmings completely. Nobody even knew I had dated him unless they were fans from the very beginning who were there when we bantered on Twitter and walked around in public holding hands. And even then, barely anyone recognized me. I bet if I told any of my co-workers I had dated Luke Hemmings from the band 5 Seconds of Summer, they'd laugh and tell me I was funny.
But even saying that would be a lie. I hadn't dated Luke Hemmings from 5 Seconds of Summer. I dated Luke, personal-bully-turned-best-friend. I dated Luke, pizza-saving, makeup-supplying dork. It was Luke Hemmings, member of famous band 5 Seconds of Summer that ruined our relationship. And it was that Luke that I had seen today, though just plain Luke made a brief appearance over the phone. However, it was because of the new Luke, the famous band member, that I did what I did next.
Finally, after five years, I deleted his number.
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Well, this was definitely supposed to be out last Sunday, but life got in the way! But It's here now, so that's good, right?
Anyways, I hope your weeks are going well! I've started my new classes for the semester and have decided that I'm definitely a Grade A math geek. But my friends tell me it's cute, so whatever. Apparently I'm cute when I'm excited about math. Who knew?
As always, I absolutely love getting feedback. It makes my days 110% better! Comments and votes bring me smiles and inspiration to write more, so get to it! Love you all to bits and I'll see you next time!
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Forgiven // l.h. // Book 2 in Bully Series
Fanfiction"We're like the stupidest people ever." "Yeah, we kinda are."
