Chapter Forty-one

Chloe's P.O.V

"Kason, what are you doing here?" I asked with a puzzled expression.

"I just wanted to come hang out with you guys," he said, looking at Luke with daggers in his eyes before smiling sheepishly at me.

I understood that he had a problem with Luke, but did he seriously have to come all the way here to monitor us? It was childish.

Kason ran his fingers through his dark brown hair and leaned over the counter. "So how has it been?"

"Pretty good," I answered and looked at Luke.

Luke's jaw was locked, and it was the first time I ever saw him look peeved. Luke was never mad at anyone unless they did something extremely horrible or stupid to him. I guessed Kason did either of the two–or a mixture of both.

"What's the matter, Luke? Cat's got your tongue?" Kason smirked.

"I'm going to take a break," Luke said stiffly to me. He walked out of the concession stand and disappeared down the hallway, making me wonder where he went.

"Way to be a prick, Kason," I sneered, rolling my eyes. I didn't care that I was dating Kason, that was no way to act to Luke.

"What?" he asked, raising his eyebrows, his expression innocent.

"You can't just stroll on in here and expect Luke to just make way for you," I said and sipped my water. "He didn't do anything to you."

Kason rolled his eyes, his fingers swirling on the counter. "I just don't like it when he's with you."

"Why," I said flatly.

"Why do you insist on being friends with him?" he countered.

I opened my mouth and closed it, calculating what I should say next. Because I liked him…that's why I insisted on being friends with him. I sighed. There was no way I could tell Kason that. "We're just really good friends," I said as coolly as possible.

"That's about the same as me just saying that I simply don't like him," Kason said, studying my eyes.

He was right. I wasn't giving a complete, honest answer, but neither was he. "There's just history with Luke. We used to be best friends in fifth grade," I said, breaking eye contact with him to look elsewhere.

"And what made you stop being friends with him until now?"

I was silent. I didn't want to tell him about what actually happened. How Hailee told me that Luke called me Miss Piggy and that there was no possible way he could ever like someone as fat and ugly as me. That was really degrading. "You know how it is. When you get into middle school you lose touch with some people."

"And you just happen to pick right up where you left off during college?" Kason didn't seem to be buying any of it, even though what I said wasn't exactly wrong.

I didn't know what else to say other than, "Yeah…"

"Well isn't that interesting," he muttered to himself.

I could feel myself begin to blush. "If you have that much of a problem with it then–"

"Shh," he quieted me as if he knew what I was about to say next. "It's no big deal. I was just wondering."

"But you just–"

"I know what I said earlier, but if it means that much to you then I'm okay with it. I trust you," he smiled weakly.

Trust me with what?

Luke walked back down the hallway with his hands shoved into his pockets, his eyes briefly meeting mine before glancing away. He walked back into the concession stand without even acknowledging me, which hurt my feelings a little more than it should have.

The rest of the night went horribly. Luke refused to speak since Kason was nearby, who was chatting with me about anything and everything that came to his mind. It was extremely awkward standing there without saying a word, but it eventually got better when intermission came when people lined up to get their food and drinks. I didn't really have to deal with the haunting silence that filled the air at that time. All I had to do was focus on serving customers.

After intermission, we cleaned up the floors, threw out the extra food, cleaned out the machines and called it a day. Luke never spoke a word as we cleaned, Kason still at the counter smiling stupidly at me.

I hated the tension in the air, and I didn't know how to stop it.

"Bye Luke," I waved at him.

He smiled slightly and waved back. At least he smiled–slightly.

––––––––––

The next week went about as well as working at the concession stand with Kason. Luke barely spoke a word to me, and when he did, it was asking me about homework. We would walk to theatre appreciation in silence, and I couldn't help but feel like there was something extremely wrong. The Luke I knew would never stop talking to me, even when I stopped talking to him. I tried texting him several times a night, but he would always respond that he had homework or that he needed to sleep. I became more worried with each passing day, and nothing I tried seemed to be working.

When Kason picked me up for our second date, my mind was still elsewhere.

"Are you ready?" he asked with an adorable, dimpled grin.

I nodded, smiling weakly. This time we were both dressed more casual since we only planned on going to see a movie.

The movie we saw was pretty good. It was Thor: Ragnarök. We knew it came out on the third of November but decided to see it the day before we let out for Thanksgiving because of a few complications before then. Kason was great to sit next to in a theatre. He laughed at all of the right jokes and he'd turn and look at me to see if I understood them all. Kason was great when he wasn't thinking about Luke. Kason acted just like a good friend, which was a huge problem because I didn't necessarily want to see him as just a good friend.

"So…what did you think about the movie?" he asked as he grabbed a fistful of popcorn and shoved it into his mouth.

"I really like it," I smiled as we left the theater, taking a sip from my drink, which was Dr. Pepper, my favorite.

"Good," he smiled as he chewed and grabbed my hand.

I jumped a little at the contact, but eventually relaxed, reminding myself that this was what couples did. Except that it didn't feel right–none of it did. I wondered if that was normal for two people that were dating. Did they ever feel like jerking away their hand?

We continued to walk down the strip, taking in the night air until we reached his car. We threw our trash away in a nearby trashcan.

"Are you ready to head back?" he asked.

I nodded and got into his car. "Thank you for taking me to the movie. It was really fun," I said as he drove back to the dorms.

"It was really nothing," he smiled.

Kason was being extremely nice, but I felt like no matter how nice he was my heart wouldn't change for him. Even sitting in the car with Kason I was still thinking about Luke. I wondered what was so wrong with him that he wouldn't even talk to me. He was never like that. As much as I hated to admit it, I've always been the one to push him away–never the other way around.

"What's wrong, Chloe?" Kason asked as he pulled into the dorm parking lot.

I wanted to answer, but I knew it would probably just make him mad. At the same time, I didn't need to put this thing on any longer than I should've. "Kason…I don't think I can do this anymore," I said quietly as I looked out the front of the car, feeling myself cringe at what he would do next.

"What?" he asked, worry filling his voice. "What do you mean you can't do this anymore?"

"Kason–"

"Before you say anything else, this might change your mind," he said, leaned over and kissed me.

It was then that I realized how much I liked Luke. It wasn't just that he was good-looking, it was everything about him. I liked the way he would look at me when I smiled, the way he always laughed with me even when everyone else wouldn't, the way he was there for me when no one else wasn't, the way he made me feel… I knew right then and there that I would never get over Luke Armstrong. I didn't care that I was his ugly, fat friend as long as I was still his friend.

"Kason," I said softly as soon as our lips parted.

"Mm?" he asked, slowly opening his eyes.

"I can't do this anymore–the whole dating thing," I said with my heart pounding in my chest.

Kason scrunched his eyebrows and his eyes saddened. "It's Luke isn't it." He guessed it perfectly. It was Luke.

I didn't respond, thinking that what I would say would only make it worse.

He sat back in his seat, his eyes now filled with irritation and disappointment. "What is it about him that I don't have? If you are going after him because of his popularity and looks then I think you are a very shallow person Chloe."

My heart went out to him. It wasn't what it was about Luke that Kason didn't have, it was about how I felt about him, and I just didn't feel that way about Kason. "It isn't fair to be with someone when you still like another, even when you know you can't have them. It would be cruel for me to lead you on like this."

"But I can try harder," Kason said, beginning to sound desperate.

It actually really hurt me to reject Kason like this. I knew deep down he was a nice guy, even though sometimes it didn't come out that way. "Kason, I like Luke and there is nothing you can do to change that."

"But…" he stopped, staring at the steering wheel. "But we were doing so well."

No, we weren't. I still liked Luke the entire time. "I'm sorry that this is how it has to be, Kason, I really am," I said and unbuckled my seatbelt. "We can still be friends though, right?" I knew I was asking for a little too much, but I did like Kason as a friend. He made me laugh sometimes.

"What makes you think I would want to be friends with you after you and Armstrong get together?" he looked up at me dejectedly.

Fair enough. "Who says that we're getting together? I don't even know if he likes me or not," I sighed. It probably wasn't a smart idea to discuss that with Kason, but he was the one who brought it up, not me.

He licked his lips before saying, "He doesn't. He likes Hailee. He told me."

There was a sudden pang in my heart as soon as I heard the words. It wasn't like I was expecting Luke to like me, but I never really thought of him liking Hailee like that, but what did I know? I was sure Hailee would be happy to hear the news once I told her. And yet…none of this changed the way I felt about Luke. "That still doesn't change the way I feel about him, Kason," I said.

"Well it should," Kason said, obviously hurt. "You should be with someone who likes you, not waiting around for something that will never happen."

In that moment he reminded me of Hailee, which I hated. Just like her, he was telling me I should move on. "I don't care if he likes me or not. All that matters to me is that we are still friends. I don't want to lose him again."

"Fine! See what I care!" Kason gritted his teeth. "Don't come crawling back to me when you realize it'll never happen!"

I opened his car door and got out, surprised that I wasn't at all offended. "I won't," I smiled and shut the car door.