With my fists balled up, with anger, I say, "What the f*** Dad! You got her pregnant?! She is in f***ing high school! And she is my best friend!".
I look at my mom and her expression is the saddest face I ever saw her wearing. I feel a hand on my shoulder. It's warm and comforting. I look and see that the hand is Luke's. I smile and squeeze his hand that's on my shoulder.
My dad clears his throat and says, "Yes I did, and I don't regret it. Nor do I intend to apologize for cheating on your mother. I had an affair with Nikole and It's still going! Nikole and I love each other, and in the future, she is going to be your stepmother. So treat her right!".
I was shaking with anger. I've never felt so angry before in my life! I wanted to march over there and punch my father right in his face!
Once again, I felt Luke's warm hand, but this time, his hands surrounded mine. I looked at where our hands touched, then looked at him.
"Don't. He isn't worth it.", Luke said.
His voice and warm small hands calmed me. I nod my head and he lets go of my hand. My fists go back to normal. Even though his hands aren't there anymore, I could still feel the warmth and electricity that I felt when our hands touched.
Nikki walked toward me. She stopped in front of me and said, "Alex, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you that me and your father seeing each other, but I was afraid.". She looked down, trembling in fear and sadness.
"We will talk about this later Nikki.", I said with clear anger in my voice. I looked at my mother, then over to my father who stood in front of my mother. I could hear what they were saying.
"W-why would you cheat on me?", my mother said trying to keep her composure. A tear slides down her cheek. She wipes it away and looks him in the eye.
"The divorce papers will be here on Monday. I'll be staying at a hotel with Nikole until we can move into the apartment that I've rented for me and her. The moving truck will be here to pick my things up in two days at noon. Have my stuff in boxes my then." He walks away, grabs his coat and says, "Nikole.".
She shuddered at the call of her name.
"Y-yes?", she said as she turned around with fear in her voice.
"Come on. We're leaving.", my father said as he walked to the front door and opened it, waiting for Nikki to walk through it. She grabs her coat and walks through the door, looking at me with those pleading eyes of hers.
We stand there in silence for a few minutes. Thankfully, Luke breaks the tension by saying, "Well Alex, I should get going. It's late and I have to walk home.". My mother breaks out of her thoughts and looks at Luke.
"Are you sure?", she says, "You could just stay the night and let your parents know.".
"I don't want to trouble you, Kathy. Besides, I have no clothes here, so what would I wear for pajamas?", Luke says.
She thinks for a moment, then gets an idea. "I've got it!", she says, "Since Alex is bigger and taller than you, you can wear a shirt of his. It'll be like a gown on you!", my mother says with a huge smile on her face. I thought of how he would look when he walked into my room in just a big shirt and his boxers. How he would be blushing in embarrassment.
"Is that okay with you Alex? If I stay the night?", Luke said with excitement in his eyes and I smiled and said, "Yeah, it's okay.".
"Good!", my mom says, "I have news, boys! And it's good news!".
"What is it, mom?", I say.
"Well," she says, "I got a promotion! You are looking at the new supervisor Chef of Chicken and Soup!".
"That's great, mom!", I say.
"I know! And to celebrate,", she walks to the fridge and pulls out wine, "I'm going to have a glass of wine!". She walks to a cabinet and gets a wine glass out. She pours the red wine into the glass and starts to drink.
"Well mom,", I said, "while you celebrate, we will be in my room. G'night mom, love you.".
"Good night boys! See you in the morning!".
"Do you think that she will be okay?", Luke asks in a worried voice.
"I-I don't know.... but I think she will be... hopefully."
We walk upstairs and go into my room. "Wow! Your room is big! And so is your bed!", Luke says.
"Yeah, I guess it is."
"You can take a shower first. I'll show you how to work it.", I say.
We walk into my bathroom and I open the curtain to the shower.
"Okay, So here is how you work it. You turn the left knob for hot water, you turn the middle knob to turn it into a shower or a bath. If you want a bath, turn it left, if you want a shower turn it right. And the right knob is cold water. Do you understand how to work it?", I say.
I turn around and see that he has already taken off his shirt. He nods his head and I walk out of the bathroom and close the door behind me. I lean against the door and close my eyes. Breath, I tell myself, you have to breathe Alex. I walk away and go to my drawers to get a shirt for Luke.
"Alex!", I hear him scream.
"Are you okay? I'm coming!", I say as I run to the bathroom and open the door. When I open the door Luke falls onto me in his towel.
"Are you okay Luke, what's wrong?", I say in worry.
"T-there's a s-s-spider in the t-t-tub.", he says as he points to the tub in fear.
"It's going to be okay. I'll go kill it.". I get up and kill the spider. I turn around and see Luke standing up at the doorframe.
"D-did you kill it?", he asks
"Yeah, I killed it.", I say
"Thanks.", he says.
I nod my head and am about to close the door when I feel his hand on my back.
"Thanks for being my friend Alex. It means a lot to me.".
I smile and say, "Your welcome. And you mean a lot to me too.". My eyes go wide and I turn around and say, "I-I meant that it means a lot to me too.".
He chuckles and says, "Yeah okay. I'll meet you in your room and uh....do you have a shirt I can borrow?".
"Yeah, I do." I realize that I still have the shirt that I had picked out for him in my hand. I give it to him and close the door. I go to my room and sit on my bed. Several minutes later, I hear the door open and he walks into my room. And god does he look cute in big shirts. He looks better than I imagined he would. He's blushing and holding the shirt down so I can't see his light blue short boxers that match the big light green shirt I gave him.
"W-What is it? Do I look stupid?", he says
I notice that I've been staring at him for a couple of minutes and I say, "S-sorry for staring... it's just that you look cute in big shirts.".
My eyes go wide as I realize what I had just said. Omg, I think to myself, what the h*** did I just say!
I look at Luke and see that he is blushing furiously. "I-um-I mean -uh... I'm sorry!", I say as I try to compose myself and stop blushing.
"Do you mean it?", Luke says as he's also blushing.
"Do I mean what?".
"Did you mean what you said? Do you think I'm cute?"
"Yeah, I do."
It's silent for a few minutes then Luke starts to chatter his teeth. I look at him and say, "Are you cold?".
He nods his head and says, "Y-yeah, I-I am."
"You can come lay in my bed while I shower."
He walks over and crawls in bed. He gets under the covers and smiles and says, "Thanks Alex!". I nod my head and get up to take a shower.
After I'm done with the shower, I get dressed in the bathroom. I go to my room and see Luke still in my bed, cuddled under the covers. I walk over to him and say, "Scoot over Luke.".
He opens his eyes and says, "Hm? What did you say? Sorry, I fell asleep.".
I shake my head and say, "There's nothing to be sorry about. Now just scoot over so I can get in the bed too.".
He nods his head and scoots over. I crawl into my bed and he is still shivering. "Are you still cold? If you want, you can come here and I can warm you up with my body heat?". He nods and scoots I've to me.
"Mmmm.", Luke says.
"What is it?", I ask.
"Your really warm and why aren't you wearing a shirt?", Luke says.
"Thank you and I never wear shirts to bed. They feel uncomfortable to me.".
I feel Luke's hand against my chest. "Just like me.", Luke says with a smile, "Except instead of it being a shirt, it's pants.".
I chuckle and say, "Yeah.".
We sit up in my bed and I ask Luke, "Do you wanna play truth or dare?".
Luke says, "Sure.".
"Alright,", I say, "truth or dare?".
He thinks for a moment and then says, "Truth.".
"What do you think about me when you first met me?".
"Well, I think your nice, caring, handsome, a good friend, and much more, but most of all, you seem familiar to me. Like I've known you my whole life. Your so familiar to me, you remind me of my best friend that I fell in love with, in 6th grade. I had to move away, and I didn't get to tell him how I felt, or that I had to move away. And I regret it...so much.".
I think about my friend that suddenly disappeared in 6th grade. He was my childhood best friend and the first person to steal my heart. He was the one who knew me better than anyone. Wait... could it be that... Luke...is... Lu? I start to remember Lu's unforgettable green eyes. Then I think about Luke's green eyes too. It must be a coincidence. Or maybe not...
I wake up and see that Luke is not in my bed or the room. On my nightstand is a note and the shirt I let him use last night folded up neatly. I pick the note up and read it. It said:
Dear Alex,
Thank you for lending me your shirt. I promised my parents that I would eat breakfast with them so I woke up early and walked home. See you at school!
Love,
Luke
I smile and get dressed for school. I eat breakfast and go to school. The school was the usual except for Nikki who didn't show up today. School ends and I walk home
I do my homework, eat dinner than shower and go to bed. I fall asleep hoping that Nikki is okay. Please be okay, I think to myself.
********************************************
It's been a week since that day and we have had a routine. After school, we would walk to my house RNA's work on the project while my mom cooked dinner. After dinner, it would be around 7:00 pm and Luke would walk home. Yesterday was the same thing except we pulled an all-nighter for the project and it was two o'clock in the morning when we finished the project so Luke slept over.
This morning I wake up to Luke asleep with his head on my chest. I smile and get out of the bed, careful not to wake up Luke.
"Come one and get your clothes on Luke. We have to go so we aren't late for school. I still have to get you home so you can change.", I say as I shake his awake. He wakes up and says, "Alright I'm coming.".. I chuckle and get dressed in my black Misfits shirt that's tight enough to see the outlines of my abs a little. I see him look at me and bite his lip and then turn away again. I slip on new socks and the shoes I wore yesterday back on. "Come on. Let's go down there and eat, then we can go to your house so you can get changed.", I say. He nods his head and we walk to the bathroom with his clothes from yesterday.
We walk out of the room and down the stairs. We can hear my mother rustling around in the kitchen. We get to the bottom of the stairs and turn right into the kitchen.
"Hey, boys! Good morning!", my mom says.
She has her back to us and is cooking breakfast on the stove. We sit down in the stools and my mom brings our breakfast to us. "Here ya go, boys! Eat up!", my mom says with a smile on her face. We start eating.
After a few minutes, I then look at my watch and say, "Come on Luke. We still have to go to your place so you can change.".
"You can come here anytime Luke. You are always welcome.", my mom says.
"Thank you, Kathy.", Luke says.
We grab our book bags and say bye to my mother. We walk out of the house and I get out my car keys. "You have a car?", Luke says in surprise.
"Yea I do. And it's a Chevy.", I say proudly.
Luke giggles and we get in. Luke buckled up and immediately rolls down the windows. He reminds me of a little kid.
I start the car and say, "Where is your house?".
"It's 1537 Pernberry drive", he says. I nod my head and back out of the driveway and drive to his house.
A few minutes later we arrive at his house. I see women walking out of the house. We pull into the driveway and I turn the car off. Luke unbuckles his seat belt and gets out of the car. "Moms!", he says. "Good morning Luke!", the two women say in unison. They see me standing next to my car and his tall blond-haired mom says, "Who is this?". His brown-haired mom squints at me.
She squints her eyes and says, "Wait a minute. You look familiar."
His brown-haired mom looks at me and comes toward me. Once she is a foot away from me I can see her more clearly. She has brown hair and blue eyes to match. She has light freckles on her nose like Luke. Her skin is Caucasian and she looks about 5 feet. The blond-haired woman walks toward us and stands right next to the brown-haired woman. She has blond hair that has light brown highlights. Her eyes are amber with a hint of hazel. I look at Luke and he smiles, I smile back too.
Luke breaks the silence by saying, "Moms, this is my friend Alex. I spent the night at his house. He was kind enough to drive me here to get clothes so we can go to school.". The blond-haired woman holds her hand out and says, "I'm Lucy Ralston, Luke's mom. Nice to meet you, Alex.". I shake her hand and say, "Nice to meet you too Mrs. Ralston.". She shakes her head and says, "Please, call me Lucy.". The brown-haired woman says, "I'm Brittney Allen Ralston, it's nice to meet you. I'm Luke's other mom. Call me Brittney.". We shake hands and Luke walks toward us.
"Hey mom,", Luke asks Lucy, "what do you mean he looks familiar? I just met him about a week ago.". Lucy turns and looks at him.
"You didn't notice?", she says
"Notice what?"
"He looks like Alex. Your childhood friend.".
She looks at me and squints. "Wait,", Brittney Says, "what's your last name?". Everybody's head turns to me. "My last name is Cortez. Why?". Lucy and Brittney gasp. They look at each other, then me, then Luke.
"I-I d-didn't think about your l-last name when I met you.", Luke said with wide eyes, "You have the same last name as Allycat.".
Brittney looks at me straight in the eyes and said, "Your Alexander Cortez right? So that means that your Alex from six years ago.". My eyes widen and I'm filled with relief. Luke covers his mouth and muffled a sob. "A-Allycat?", he mutters. I nod and ask, "Ladybug?". He runs to me and I open my arms. He jumps into my arms and hugs me tight while wrapping his arms around my neck and legs around my waist. I bury my head in the crook of his neck and hug him tightly.
"I finally found you.", I whisper to him while still in the crook of his neck, "Please don't leave again.". My voice cracks a little at that last sentence. "I won't.", he whispers back.
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