Chapter Eleven

Luke's P.O.V

I got out of the booth, glancing over at Chloe, who looked rather unhappy for some reason, but I shouldn't be surprised. She looked unhappy around me most of the time, which pained me more than anyone could imagine. I wanted to make her smile, but sometimes I wondered if that was even possible.

After our coffee break, everyone finished up their homework and we parted ways. Thanks to Chloe, I found a reason not to procrastinate on homework for the first time.

I walked back to my dorm, one hand in my pocket with my backpack slung over my shoulder. I wished I brought up the halftime show, which I thoroughly enjoyed. My favorite part was when they played "You Can't Hurry Love" by Phil Collins. I stayed a little longer outside the locker rooms just to hear the halftime show, and earned a good yelling from our offensive coordinator, but it was all worth it.

I opened the door to find Jacob sitting on the couch playing on the Xbox, who didn't even bother looking in my direction. He was probably too focused on the game to pay attention to anything else.

I went inside of my room and set down my backpack near my desk. I looked around the room to make sure everything was just the way I left it: clean and neat. I hated having a messy bedroom–or anything for that matter.

"Oh fuck!" I heard Jacob cry out. I knew from his cry that he just died in a Call of Duty game, which happened frequently.

I sighed and crawled into my small bed, propping my head against my arm, which laid flat on my pillow. I stared up at the ceiling at posters of famous Alabama football players, and smiled thinking about what Chloe said to me earlier.

"Congratulations on making a touchdown Saturday night. You were really impressive," she had said.

I grinned and rested my hand on my abdomen, pleased with myself. I couldn't believe that she complimented me. I would do anything in order to make it happen again, although it was a little odd that she even complimented me. Chloe was confusing as hell. One moment, there were glimmers of hope that we could be friends again, and then the next, she acted like she hated me. She was a little frustrating, especially since I didn't know what I did wrong in the first place.

I remembered back to sixth grade, wondering what went wrong. It was something I did every so often. I looked back on the memories together and nothing seemed to add up. We were perfectly fine–until we weren't. I racked my brain trying to come up with ways I could've offended her, but there was nothing. Literally nothing.

Just stop it, Luke. Chloe doesn't want to be friends with you and you just have to accept that. Except that I couldn't accept it. It was like this stupid game with myself over the past six years, guessing what happened to our friendship. I tried forgetting her. I tried acting like not being her friend was okay, but when I thought about her laughter, her beautiful brown eyes, and her weird sense of humor, it brought me back to square one. I even prayed to God, hoping He would somehow make me stop whatever it was that made me feel this way about her. Since she didn't like me, I tried staying away from her, taking glances from afar. I told myself that I could like other girls, even date other girls, but I always went back to square one. And I hated it.

Why don't you find out why she hates you? My subconscious asked me.

A part of me feared the reaction it would cause, but the other part left me wondering if it could work. Whatever it was, we could bounce back from.

My heart thumped nervously, but a smile was plastered on my face. I took my phone out and stared at Chloe's phone number. I sighed. I desperately wanted to text her, but I would have to wait. We weren't friends… yet.

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I finished my last reps of bench pressing, got up and shook my entire body to loosen up the tight muscles. I was covered in sweat from my workout since we didn't have football practice.

"Hey, Luke, finishing up your workout?"

I turned to see Kason smiling, a towel and water bottle in hand.

"Actually, I just started thirty minutes ago," I smiled back, wiping my face with my towel and took a swig of my cold water. "I have about an hour and a half before I'm finished."

Kason's eyes lit up. "Perfect! We can work out together then."

I nodded, and we made our way to the treadmills stationed on the upper level of the university's gym.

"Our study group was pretty fun the other day," Kason said as we started up our treadmills. "I didn't realize how smart you are."

I twisted my head at him and laughed uneasily. "Yeah?" I asked, a little confused whether I should be offended or not.

Kason laughed, shaking his head, as we started jogging. "But Chloe, she is one smart cookie. She literally helped me with everything while you were helping Hailee out. It was kinda like having a double study date."

"A what?" I started to choke, causing me to stop the treadmill.

"A double study date. You with Hailee, Chloe with me of course," he stated the obvious.

I drank some water to help clear my throat while tilting my head as I looked at Kason. He couldn't be serious... "What, do you like Chloe or something?" I tried to say as casually as possible as I got back on the treadmill.

Kason looked at me sheepishly. "I mean, yeah I like her."

I felt a pang inside of my chest as soon as he spoke the words. I suspected that he could have liked her, but to hear the words was entirely different. My heart felt heavier and I started to feel lightheaded. All I knew was to increase the speed of the treadmill to keep up with the pace of my heart.

"I know it hasn't been that long, but there is just something about her that draws me in. Maybe I'm just attracted to girls that are smarter than me–which we both know isn't that hard to accomplish," he chuckled to himself.

I increased the speed again, feeling as if I wasn't going fast enough.

"She seems a little closed off right now, but I'm sure with a little time I can break down her walls," he continued.

There was just something about him liking her that pissed me off. As if I wasn't going fast enough already, I increased the speed yet again.

Kason turned his head and cocked his eyebrow. "Dude, aren't you going fast enough? Like damn I said you were built like a fucking beast, but you didn't have to do this. I couldn't even last five minutes with the setting you're on."

I continued to push myself further, feeling my legs start to burn.

"Enough about me," Kason said as he peeked over at what setting I was on. "Don't you like Hailee?" he suddenly asked.

I couldn't help but laugh at his words. I wasn't meaning to insult Hailee in any way, but it made no sense where Kason got the idea from. I decreased my speed at a reasonable rate, so I wouldn't trip over myself with laughter. "No, what gave you that idea?" I huffed out, a smile curling on my lips.

Kason threw his hands up in the air and shrugged. "I don't know, man. I just thought since the first day of Chemistry that you two were into each other, and during the study date you two were awfully close."

Really? "Nah, we're just friends," I said quickly, scrunching my eyebrows in confusion. Did I really give off the impression that I liked Hailee? If so, she didn't seem to notice. I mean, we were just friends and would always be. The more I thought about it, the more confused I became. But I didn't act like I liked Hailee that way. It seemed impossible. I just hoped that someone else didn't think I liked her.

"Oh, well I guess I was wrong," he laughed. "Then if you're not interested in Hailee, who are you interested in?"

Chloe Claire. "No one…" I tried steadying my breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth, I had to remind myself.

"Bullshit," Kason said, starting to run out of breath. "Everyone is always interested in someone, whether they want to admit it or not."

I couldn't help but smile. "I'm being serious. I'm not interested in anyone," I blatantly lied.

"Whatever man," Kason shook his head. "You're probably just too afraid to admit that you like that person. Trust me, whoever she is, she can't say no to a guy like you. You literally have everything."

Except that I didn't have everything, and there was a hundred percent chance that she wouldn't accept me. "I don't have everything," I huffed out.

"Ahah! So you do admit that you like someone," Kason grinned, pointing at me accusingly.

"That doesn't mean anything. I'm just stating that I don't have everything," I said, hoping he wouldn't see through me.

"Okay then, but on a more serious note, what do you think I should do about Chloe? I kinda want to ask her out, but I know it's too soon. Do you have any advice?" he asked.

The timer beeped, and it was time for me to stop running and move on to something else. I thought it was a little crazy that Kason was asking for advice for a girl that I was actually interested in, but it wasn't like I could decline. I could only say that I didn't know how, although, he wouldn't believe it anyway. Bu the truth was, if I knew, I would have tried it already.

"Time for elliptical?" Kason asked, stopping his treadmill.

I nodded, ignoring his past question and hoping he wouldn't notice.

"I guess we could just get together again for a study group." Kason said and pulled out his phone. "We do have an upcoming exam and I know we–or should I just say me–need to study for that."

I said nothing as we made our way to the ellipticals. One part of me wanted him to stop talking about it, and the other part of me wanted him to create another study group so that I could potentially get closer to Chloe–potentially.

My phone buzzed, so I took it out from my gym bag and I looked down.

Kason: Hey guys I was just thinking with Luke that we should make another study group for the Chem test this week

Well great, he brought me into it…

Hailee: That sounds like a great idea! I'm sure Chloe won't say no

I wouldn't blame Chloe if she didn't want to be a part of it. She probably preferred studying alone. It took several minutes before Chloe replied:

Chloe: It would probably help more to study in a group

Kason: Good! Is it okay if we do it tomorrow after chemistry?

I looked over at Kason to see him pulling his balled-up fist downward in one swift motion while exclaiming, "Score!" He turned towards me with a stupid, dimpled grin on his face. "I was a little unsure if she would say yes or not."

I was a little surprised myself, but I wasn't going to tell him that. My phone vibrated again, and I looked down.

Chloe: I actually have a class right after that. What about at 6:00 at the library again?

Hailee: I'm free then! How about we get a study room to ourselves?

Kason: That would be even better, saying yes to both questions.

Hailee: Who is going to get the study room reserved then?

It only made sense that I should reserve the study room. The arts building was closer to the library more than any other building Hailee or Kason could possibly be in.

Me: I can after I'm finished working out.

Hailee: You're working out?

Me: lol yeah

Hailee: Gross

I couldn't help but laugh at her response. Hailee could be funny sometimes, and I was somewhat surprised that she didn't like working out since she was so tiny. I could probably snap her in half–not that I intended to.

Kason: We're working out together

Hailee: Good for you

"Good for you? Really?" Kason laughed, shoulders heaving. "Damn, Hailee. She doesn't have to diss me like that."

I grinned. Maybe Hailee didn't mean it the way Kason thought, but a part of me begged to differ.