Wicked Temptation / l.h ✔️

27

~Delilah's POV~

It wasn't until the end of the day that I got my notes back from Kailee, though it wasn't directly from her.

"Kailee wanted me to pass this along to you, since she knows that we hang out after school." Luke said as we walked down the hall, heading out to his car. He continued digging through his backpack and then pulled out the notes that I had lent to Kailee earlier, holding them out to me.

I looked up at him as I took the notes from him, our fingertips brushing ever so slightly. "Oh?" I said quietly, furrowing my brows a little. "And she doesn't mind it? That you have to stick around with me until my parents get home?" I asked, cocking my head to the side slightly. He raised his brows and shrugged his shoulders, his blue eyes scanning over my face. "I dunno." He admitted, not seeming to care about it very much. "But does it really matter if she minds it or not?" He added.

Although I probably should've expected an answer like that from him, I couldn't help but to frown deeply, a little bit taken aback by his response. "It does to me. I don't want her to be upset about us hanging out." I answered, causing him to hum and look away, slinging his backpack over his shoulder again after he had zipped it closed.

"Her feelings about you and I spending time together isn't something I care about, Delilah. I know she's one of your best friends and means something to you, but I barely know her. I don't have an obligation to catering to her feelings when she and I aren't in any kind of relationship." He said, giving me the harsh truth. I visibly cringed, swinging my backpack around to my side to shove my notes in. Once they were in I put my bag on normal again, chewing on my bottom lip as I contemplated his words. "You say you barely know her," I began, taking a hesitant glance over at him as I wondered whether or not I should say the words I could feel on the tip of my tongue. "And yet you feel comfortable enough to sleep with her?"

Luke's head whipped down to me and I quickly looked away, incredibly embarrassed by my question. It really wasn't any of my business and I knew it, just like I also knew that my question had not come from a place of curiosity. No, it had come from a place filled with jealousy, a place that I was realizing more and more often I didn't like at all.

"We haven't slept together, Lilah." He said, and I frowned slightly, furrowing my brows as I shot him an appalled glance. I couldn't fathom why not, because I was sure Kailee was nothing short of being absolutely eager to get him in bed. She was very comfortable with that sort of thing, and I honestly admired her self confidence. I knew I was far too reserved and self conscious to be able to do that. Kailee was beautiful, too, and so I couldn't really understand why Luke hadn't leaped at the chance to sleep with her. Most boys would, probably even some girls who knew her would. Even so, I wouldn't lie; I was relieved to hear that they hadn't gone that far.

Having seen the look on my face, Luke laughed and ran a hand through his hair, grinning in amusement as he led me out the school doors. "You seem surprised." He noted, his blue eyes shining down at me when I tilted my neck back to look up at him. "Well, I just kind of assumed you had...you guys are always all over each other." I explained, feeling my mood slowly beginning to slip into the pits again. "Like how you guys were at lunch." I added softly, unable to help it.

I bit my bottom lip and stared at the ground as we walked towards his car, a little bit embarrassed that I was still hung up on that. "Are you mad at me for that?" He asked, his eyes trained on the side of my face. I saw him dig into his pocket and pull out his keys, pressing a button on them to unlock his car doors. My heart raced faster, a heat in my neck that bloomed up into my face. "N-No. I don't have any reason to be mad." I said, but I was absolutely sure that he caught the way my voice shook.

He suddenly grabbed my wrist in his hold, stopping me from walking any further. I stopped, only because I had no choice, and then turned and looked up at him. The way he stared down at me made it pretty clear to me that he had, indeed, noticed the shakiness of my voice just moments ago. "Fine." He murmured anyway, making me blink in surprise at how easily he had accepted that answer. To be honest, I was almost sure that he was going to let it go, but I realized pretty quickly after that that wasn't the case. "Jealous, then. You were jealous." He corrected himself.

"Well..." I trailed off quietly, not seeing very much of a point in lying about it when he already knew the truth. "I just...Seeing you and her all over each other makes me feel—" I couldn't stand to look at him again, clearing my throat when I could feel my voice beginning to shake. "I don't like it." I admitted, chewing at my cheek.

We arrived at his car and I went to walk around to the passenger's side of the car, but he suddenly grabbed my wrist, stopping me. I looked up at him finally and saw he was eyeing me with a frown and a somewhat thoughtful look on his face. "I'm sorry." He said, making me smile weakly at him. "I don't know why I did that earlier, bubbles." He added. I believed him, too, because the look on his face was so genuine that I didn't think he could be being insincere. It seemed like he truly didn't understand his own actions. Neither did I.

"It's okay." I assured, shaking my head as I gently pulled my wrist out of his grip. He didn't look very assured. "Can we just go home?" I asked, and he hesitated, looking as if he wasn't sure if he should let this go. After a moment, though, he nodded and then let me walk to the passenger's side door, where I got into his car. He got in the car and we began an awkward drive to my house, wherein the silence between us was filled with uncomfortable tension.

When we pulled into my driveway and he parked, he left the engine running but didn't bother to unlock the doors. The child safety was on, preventing me from getting out yet. I looked over at him with a frown and found he was already looking at me. "Delilah, I..." He paused as he began to speak, the both of us quietly staring at one another until he spoke again. "I'm sorry for kissing Kailee like that in front of you. I knew it would make you jealous and that it would hurt you." He said, surprising me a little bit. I blinked at him and took a moment to process his words. "Then why'd you do it? I thought we were friends..." I responded quietly. He stared at me intently and I saw him clench his jaw. "I just... I don't know. It was in the moment, I guess." He muttered.

To be honest I wanted to be mad at him and his lack of an actual reason, but I just couldn't be. I always had been too nice, too forgiving, and it seemed like that hadn't changed.

"It's not a big deal. I—" I began to assure him when he suddenly grabbed my chin in his hand and pulled me so I was leaned over the console between our seats. My eyes bugged wide in surprise as I gazed up at him. "Stop that." Luke muttered. "Stop saying it's okay when I only did that to get a reaction out of you. It's not okay. It's not fair to you, the shit I do to you." He said. I felt my lips part as I stared into his pretty eyes. "I thought you said you didn't know why you did that." I responded, and he sighed deeply. "I do, but I don't. I don't know why I wanted to see how jealous you'd get, why I wanted to get any kind of reaction from you at all but I did..." He confessed.

Hope sparked in my chest. "D-Doesn't that mean that I must mean something to you, if you were searching for a reaction like that from me?" I asked him, searching his gaze as if all his secrets would be found there. He looked at me for a long time, completely silent. "No." He said. "You misunderstand. I don't like you the way you do me, but I also am attracted to you and I'm a very petty person. I didn't like that I couldn't have you the way I wanted and I just acted out of spite. I'm an idiot, bubbles. It was something I never should've done in the first place." He told me, dashing my hopes against the ground once more. Perhaps it was my own fault, really. I had allowed myself to be roped up into these feelings, into him.

I looked away, feeling my heart pounding as I pulled my face from his grip. I sniffled and could feel my eyes burning but I didn't cry. "You're cruel to me, Luke." I said softly.

He must've known that it was true, because he only stayed quiet.