“Luke Shaw, I know you’re here,” Tiff suddenly cries out with authority, throwing her hands on her hips as she looks over my shoulder at the tent. “Get your ass out here and say hello before I drag you out of there myself.”
The words shock me, but not more so than the familiarity with which she’s addressing him. Do they know each other? I guess they are the same age, so it’s possible. Luke never mentioned it, and neither did Marcus, though it’s obvious he knew about their connection by the lack of confusion on his face.
Luke hesitantly pops his head out of the tent at the summons before he steps outside with a bright smile—brighter than I’ve ever seen it. “Are you kidding me?” He gasps. “Tiffany Valentine?Babe! What the fuck are you doing here?”
“It’s Hoffman now.” Tiffany beams, gesturing to Marcus just as Luke comes over and wraps his arms around her tightly, and they laugh excitedly together.
“I can’t believe you’re here!” Luke exclaims, holding her out at arm's length to give her an affectionate once-over. “Wait. You’re married tothisguy?”
“Hey!” Marcus scoffs, but Tiff just laughs.
“Ethan kept saying Tiff, but I didn’t realize he meantyou.”
“Surprise!”
“Um… How do you guys know each other?” I have to ask, thoroughly confused.
“We graduated in the same class,” Tiff explains, twisting her arm through Luke’s, leaning against him with all the familiarity of a close friend. “Four years of choir together, including the school plays and musicals. This kid was unstoppable. Everyone expected him to make it big, and he actually did it! Boy, what the hell are you doing back here from New York? I thought you were set to stay out there for life.”
I watch as Luke’s smile falters slightly, but almost as soon as I see it, he composes his face back to a mask of cool indifference.
“Oh, you know,” he says with a shrug. “Ran out of money. That place is way too expensive on an artist’s budget.”
Tiff nods in understanding, but I frown, wondering if Luke’s telling the truth or merely brushing it off with this as an excuse. From everything he’s told me so far, running out of money wasn’t an issue that came up. Still, I can tell Luke feels uncomfortable with the turn of the conversation, so I step in to change the subject before Tiff can keep asking questions.
“What time are the others getting here?” I ask. “Has anyone heard from them?”
“Not until closer to six or seven,” Marcus replies with a sigh. “They all had a late start getting the kids to Liz’s parents’ house. Something to do with missing shoes that could not be gone without, which turned into a whole tantrum.”
“Oh, I’ve been there,” Luke chimes in, nodding thoughtfully. “Wrong shoes throw off an entire outfit.”
“Yes, exactly!” Tiff exclaims while Marcus and I share a look of confusion. “You understand! I tried explaining it to Marcus the whole drive up here, but he didn’t get it. What is it with men?”
“Don’t even get me started.” Luke laughs, then rolls his eyes with a scoff. “Fuckingmen.”
“What are they good for again?”
“Oh, it’s the dick, honey.” Luke smirks, and Tiff gives an ‘mhm’in agreement.
I snort at the unexpected turn in this conversation, and Luke snaps his eyes to me with a devilish grin that makes my stomach flip. Holy fucking shit, if this man knew what he did to me with that smile, I’m sure it would mean the end of me.
“On that note,” Marcus interjects, chuckling nervously. He grabs my arm and backs away, pulling me with him. “We’re gonna go set up camp now.”
“We?” I scoff, arching a quizzical brow. “My camp’s already set up!”
“You don’t expect my amazingly beautiful wife to do hard manual labor with those lovely hands, do you?” Marcus smirks, giving Tiff a little wink as he drags me away. “Let’s prove to them that we’re more than just sexy playthings, shall we?”
Tiff laughs, and Luke snickers behind her as I groan in misery, but I don’t argue when Marcus hauls me toward his campsite.
While we unpack and set up his gear, they sit around the unlit fire pit back at our camp, catching up. I feel like I’ve drawnthe short stick having to do all this shit twice. It doesn’t help that my brain is currently distracted. I can’t stop glancing over at Luke, my mind replaying what happened between us earlier, wondering if there’s any significance to it. Did I imagine that look he gave me? Or was he feeling the same thing I was? I can’t have possibly made it up… Right? There was a genuine spark there. I’m almost positive.
I want to pull him aside and demand answers, but what happens if I’m wrong? What if I was seeing things, caught up in the moment, and he doesn’t feel the same way? He’ll get pissed, everything will change between us, and I won’t know how to handle it.
God damn it, why does this have to be so complicated?
At one point, Marcus moves in front of me and asks, “Are you good?” He follows my line of sight back toward Luke and Tiff across the way. “You seem a little out of it.”
I frown, shaking my head dismissively, and snap my attention back to my task. “I’m just a little groggy from that nap, is all.”
