“At least when you get home you might be able to see Cassie again.” I say the words to fill the silence, but even I don’t understand why I had to saythatof all things. I don’t want to know if he and Cassie will meet up again when they get home. The selfish part of me hopes he never sees her again.
Luke laughs stiffly, but again, he doesn’t say anything else.
“What?” I ask, because I’m too curious for my own good.
“I don’t think I’ll be seeing that girl again.”
“Why not?” I try to hide my enthusiasm, but I’m not sure if I pull it off.
“She’s...” He pauses, and I can tell he’s got a million different words running through his head right now. Just how off was I about their relationship? “Not my type.”
That’s all the information he gives me.
“I thought you guys worked things out?”
He cocks an eyebrow, clearly just as confused as I am. “Worked things out?”
I sigh, a little frustrated. “You said she broke things off because she found out we were sharing a bed. But then she showed up here again and kept wanting to hang out with you, so I just thought...” I thought you two were making out while I was cooking pancakes.
Luke stares at me. “No,” he says with a laugh. “I mean, yes, that’s why things ended originally, but it wouldn’t have worked out anyway.”
I blink, looking down to mask the many thoughts running through my head.
“Why not?” It feels like I’m asking too much now. There is a line that Luke and I have when it comes to our dating lives, and that line is that we don’t ask for specifics. We always accept what the other person is willing to share. We never ask for details. But I need these details now, even if it means toeing past that line in our friendship.
Luke’s quiet. It’s just the two of us. Any other tourists that were here have gone off to a different section or left completely. The only sound is the low rush of water shooting out of the ground.
“I know how it should feel when you love someone, and Cassie wasn’t it,” Luke finally says, his eyes boring into mine. I look away, the attention too intense.
My mind practically explodes, wondering, wanting to ask him so many questions. But the thought of rejection is there in the back of my mind, and every time I think to say something, it grows until I’m rendered mute.
I want to ask him why he knows what it feels like to love someone. I want to ask if that person is me, and if it’s the type of love he’d be willing to risk our friendship over.
But I’m not given that chance.
A large group of teenagers come up the boardwalk, their voices breaking through the white noise of the water. My eyes dart to them.
“Want to keep exploring?” Luke says, his tone shifting away from serious. His arm lingers outward, like he wants to reach out to me. I step forward, and his hand comes to my back to guide me back toward the car but then falls away.
My body wants to go to him and take that hand in mine, but I keep my arms glued to my side, having no idea what anythingmeans anymore.
Chapter 35
Luke
In an unfortunate string of events, I’m starting to think Cassie is right.
Did Harper have it in her head that Cassie and I were back together? All I was trying to do was give her a safe place to sleep overnight. If it were up to me, I would have never gone out with Cassie in the first place.
Harper is jealous. Whether she’s willing to admit it or not, Harper is more than just curious about what happened between Cassie and me. She wants to know the details andwhythings broke off.
I’ve tried to be vague, to allude to my feelings—but again, not bold enough.
I’m aware of how Cassie said I needed to be obvious, but how much more obvious do I need to be?
We’re back in the car, driving around until we find something cool to explore in our limited time left before departure. We normally talk so easily, but there’s something thick in the air between us.
“Oh! Let’s go there!” Harper says, pointing to a lighthouseon the top of a hill.
