Nothing // l.h

Chapter 18

"This show is stupid, Ellie." Michael groaned as we watched the opening credits for Gossip Girl. "I don't understand it. Like what the fuck is up with Serena?" I shushed him and he groaned once more. "Why are we watching this?" My parents had just left for some fancy dinner with some people they knew. They told me I could invite Michael over for the night if I wanted. I called him up as soon as I could to tell him to bring a pizza with him.

"Because you're at my house." I reminded him, watching his facial expression drop. 

"That's not how it works. I'm the guest, I should pick what we watch." He rolled his eyes. Michael propped his feet up on the coffee table, instantly getting a look from me. He put his feet back down on the carpet.

"When I'm at your house we do what you want." I reminded him that this went both ways.

"So hey," he quickly changes the subject, "how did it go with Luke the other day?"

I was silent for a moment, thinking if I should tell Michael exactly what happened. "Uh," I bit my lip in thought, "it was good. It turned out fine."

"You know I want more details than that. I have to look out for you. I need to know that he's not a complete asshole that will hurt you."  Michael was so kind to me that it almost wasn't fair.

"I told him the truth." I finally said. He didn't have a reaction for a while, probably thinking about what the truth actually was. "About my sister. He was sorry about it. He basically told me what you've told me all along. Then we made out for half an hour."

"You never fail to amuse me, Ellie Sterling."

"Don't worry, my audition for SNL is next week." I joked and got up from the couch. I walked into the kitchen to grab us a bag of chips when the doorbell rang. I tried to get to the door first, but Michael insisted on answering it.

"Ellie your boyfriend is here!" He yelled. I pulled Michael aside and explained to him how Luke wasn't my boyfriend. I wasn't exactly sure what Luke was to me. "I think I'll go." Michael said, looking at both me and Luke. He gave Luke a pat on the back on his way out and mumbled something incoherent to him.

"I'm sorry about Michael." I smiled and watched him walk into my house. "He likes to joke around."

"It's fine." Luke stopped and looked around, seeming like he was searching for something specific. "No parents?"

"Not for a couple hours. Why?" I stood next to him. He smelled oddly like vanilla. He was dressed in black skinny jeans a blue flannel button down that was bigger than him.

"Just wondering. Hey I brought you something." He handed me a book. It was The Odyssey. "It's my brothers but he's done with it." I smiled as I opened the book and flipped through the pages. "Figured that would keep you occupied for a while."

"You make me feel awful because you give me these books to read. I mean I don't get you anything." I pouted.

"It's fine." He continued to talk while he walked around the entire downstairs part of my house, with me following closely behind. "I like seeing your reaction when I give it to you."

"Luke can you please commit to a place? We can't keep walking around my house." I grabbed him by the arm, making him stop.

"You're absolutely correct. I know the perfect place to go." He smirked and walked up the stairs. I followed him into my room. It was weird that he knew exactly where to go. "So I was right. I was afraid I would pick the wrong door. You know, it was easy figuring out which one was yours."

"What are we doing in my room?" I questioned and sat down on my bed. I watched him take a book off the shelf, look at it and put it back, repeating the process.

"You have so many books. How do you have so much time to read it all?" He looked at me, amazed by my collection.

"I don't know." I shrugged. "It's just fun to read." Luke came and sat down next to me, taking the book out of my hands. "You get a whole new world to look at."

"You're really great, Ellie." Luke smiled and shook his head, like he couldn't believe his own words. "I'm glad you didn't run away to the next state after I kissed you for the first time. Then I would be missing out." Luke was a lot different then I could have ever imagined. He was a completely different person when he seemed to care about something.

"Thanks, Luke. That's nice of you to say." I smiled half heartedly. I wasn't sure what to say in situations like these. I had never had a boy really tell me that he liked me or tell me things he liked about me. It was weird to hear.

"That made you uncomfortable, didn't it?"

"It's not your fault." I sat back against the pillows on my bed. "I've never had someone say anything like that to me. It's all very new." I placed my hands in my lap, letting Luke put his arm around my shoulder.

"You are really great though." He said again but in a softer tone. "Cooler than any other girl at our school. Especially the ones who try to suck up to me so they can sleep with me."

"Wow, that sounds awful." I said sarcastically. I knew that girls loved Luke, and all this time I thought he liked the attention he got. "I've never even had a boyfriend, much less guys falling at my feet." I admitted.

"You've never had a boyfriend?" He asked. I could tell that he was genuinely confused by the strange look he gave me. "You never dated Chase?"

"God no." I cringed at the thought of me ever liking Chase. "Did he tell you I did?"

"He kind of told me some other things between you and him." I didn't have to linger on what he could have possibly said about me. "But it's not like I believed him."

"I guess that's what matters." I looked down at the holes in my jeans. "You want to watch TV?" I changed the subject. He nodded and handed me the remote, which was at the end of his feet. I watched the TV light up and Friends appeared on the screen. I rested my head back against the pillows and got comfortable.

** 

I rubbed my eyes and squinted to look at the clock. I cursed once I saw how late it was. My parents had to be home by now. "Luke, wake up." I nudged a half asleep Luke. "It's one in the morning. We fell asleep." He tugged on my arm, wanting me to lay back down. "No you have to leave. What if my parents come in here in the morning? Then what?" 

"Ellie come on." He mumbled, still half asleep. I took matters into my own hands and tried to drag him out of bed, luckily he didn't put up much of a fight. "I don't have to climb out the window do I?"

"Get your shoes and lets go." I led him out into the dark hallway. It looked like my parents had gone to bed, so we would just have to be quiet going down the stairs. I led Luke down the stairs and into the entry way and turned on the porch light. "See you tomorrow." 

"Yea, I'll see you tomorrow." He kissed me real quick. It was a soft kiss, not much like how we had done it before, I liked it. He hugged his shoes closer to his chest. "Goodnight." 

**

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

this was kinda a filler with important parts but I liked it a lot and I felt v good about it so comment and vote :)

gwyn