Chapter Twenty-two

Luke's P.O.V

Theatre appreciation was uninteresting as usual. It would have been more painful that Dr. Cambridge was going over our last section before the exam, except that Chloe made it more interesting. It was actually entertaining to see how into theatre she was. She sat upright, slightly leaning forward with her eyes wide with intent as she scribbled her notes neatly in her notebook. I remembered back to fifth grade when I would see her reading constantly when she thought no one was paying attention to her. Except that I did. I always did.

"Don't forget that next time we meet will be the review, and then the time after that is the exam," Dr. Cambridge smiled, showing her brightly painted lips.

It was then that I realized that I didn't pay any attention to the lecture whatsoever. My notebook page was completely blank, and there was undoubtedly a red mark on my cheek where my fist had been pressed up against it. I was too busy admiring Chloe to pay attention to anything else. In my defense, she looked radiant with her navy-blue top complimenting her pale skin and honey colored curls that sparkled in the sunlight.

Chloe glanced in my direction as we packed our things to leave, and I became acutely aware of myself. I decided now was the best time to ask Jess about the study group. "Hey Jess, Chloe and I were making a study group for the theatre exam and wondered if you wanted to be a part of it," I said as I slung my backpack on my shoulder and shoved my free hand in my front pocket.

Jess looked up at me, blew a bubble with her mint blue gum, and popped it with her teeth. "Sure," she smiled, her gum showing between her teeth. "When did you guys plan on meeting?"

I looked over to Chloe, who seemed alarmed that the attention was shifted to her. She smiled nervously and said, "We actually haven't decided yet. Maybe since we are all together right now we can?" She finished putting her pink notebook in her pink backpack and zipped it up.

"Okay," Jess nodded, looking Chloe up and down. "I didn't notice it before, but I like your outfit today," she said, her dark eyes filled with scrutiny.

"Thanks," Chloe smiled warmly, her uncomfortableness slowly fading away. "I like your hair. It's very long."

"Thanks," Jess smiled, now playing with her dark hair. "I actually planned on cutting it to my shoulders, but now that you say you like how long it is, I kinda don't want to cut it anymore," she said and turned to look at me. "Do you like my hair, Luke?"

I was caught off guard. "Hm?"

"Do you like my hair, Luke?" she repeated with a sly grin on her face, her fingers running through strands of her long, dark hair.

I didn't know how I was supposed to respond to that. Her hair was just hair to me. There was nothing significant about it.

"We should probably get back to discussing when we should meet," Chloe cleared her throat.

Never have I been so thankful to get out of a situation in my life. Chloe was my saving grace in that moment. "I don't know about you, Jess, but Chloe and I have somewhere to be on Saturday night and won't be finished until late, so we can't do our study group then."

Chloe nodded. "I can't do it at all this week since I'm so busy, but I can do it Sunday."

Jess shrugged as we a started to head toward the door. "I'm good for Sunday, unless you have time for another study session beforehand," she said as she looked at me in my eyes. The look almost seemed desperate in some way.

"I think Sunday will be good," I swallowed, unsure about what to do about the look Jess gave me. We walked through the double doors, outside of the building and stood on the pavement near a bench with a tree looming over it.

"Alrighty then, Sunday it is," Chloe smiled as she adjusted her backpack strap uncomfortably. It didn't take a scholar to know that it pained her once again. What was I going to do? Let Chloe be in pain when I could easily offer her help?

"Where should we meet?" Jess asked as she pulled out her phone.

"I can call the library and see if they can reserve us a room like they did last time," I said while glancing at Chloe, who was obviously uncomfortable.

"Last time?" Jess asked, the wind catching her hair.

"Kason, Chloe, Hailee, and I had reserved a room before to study for our chemistry exam," I explained.

"Ah," Jess nodded and looked back at her phone. "I guess you can just text me about when and where. I need to go meet up Kason." She looked back up again with a look that read she was sorry as she backed away from us.

"No problem," I smiled reassuringly, causing her to smile back and tuck a loose strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Okay then, see you guys later," she waved.

"See you, Jess," I said, and she turned and walked away.

"I guess that means I should go, too," Chloe said softly. I couldn't help but notice her wince as she did it.

"At least let me carry your backpack for you," I offered. It was almost like a repeat of before class.

Chloe laughed. "What are you? My designated backpack carrier?"

"I can be," I smirked.

"You know that you don't have to carry it for me. I am perfectly capable of doing it myself," she said clearly, color rushing to her cheeks.

"I know, but is there even a point in arguing with me about it?" I asked as I held out my hand to her. "I know that it's hurting you."

Chloe folded her arms and looked at me with humor in her eyes. "Is there even a point in arguing with you?" She seemed to be asking that question more to herself than asking me.

"No so hand it over," I grinned while continuing to hold out my hand.

Chloe shook her head as she reluctantly took it off her back and handed it over to me. Once again, it felt like a bag of bricks. But at least it was a bag of bricks that I could carry.

I slung it over my shoulder as we started to walk toward her dorm.

"What do you plan on doing once you get back into your dorm?" I asked as we walked together. I had to remind myself to slow down my pace in order to match with hers. She did have short legs after all.

"Probably eat and study," she exhaled as she looked around campus. She looked up to meet my eyes and smiled, causing me to smile. "What do you plan on doing?"

"Eat and sleep," I admitted. "Do you want eat together at the caf?" I blurted out. Dammit, Luke! What did I say about saying things out of the blue! To stop it!

"Eat at the caf?" Chloe contemplated, a small smile growing on her downturned lips. "Sure."

If there was no one around I'd break down in a happy dance, but smiling was good enough for now. My heart skipped a beat, and I wondered how much I could get away with. I didn't even know where this was going, but to me it only seemed to be going up. Nothing excited me more than hanging out with her and getting to know her for the second time.

We walked to the caf talking about what we planned on eating. I noticed several people staring at us as we went inside, and I knew it was because I was carrying two backpacks–especially since one of them was pink, but I didn't care.

We went inside the cafeteria and picked out a table for two next to large, glass windows that gave us a view of our beautiful campus. I sat our backpacks on the floor leaning against the window and wandered away from our table to get food.

I didn't really know what I was in the mood for. A part of me wanted burgers, fries, and ice cream while the other part hungered for fried chicken, potatoes and green beans. Instead of choosing between them all, I decided why not get them all. I piled two plates full of food and for my drink I got lemon water. When I came back to our table Chloe sat there with her plate of sushi, and a glass of what I assumed was some coke product.

"I see that you have sushi," I said as I set my plates on the table, carefully sat down in the chair and scooted closer to the table.

"And I see that you have enough food to feed the U.S. Army," she laughed as she took her chopsticks in hand. "So I guess not only are you a pizza hog, but just a food hog in general. Is there something you're not telling me, Luke," she raised her eyebrows at me quizzically. She leaned in and whispered, "Do you secretly have other people inside of you wanting to eat, too?"

I raised my hands in defeat as I took a bite out of my fried chicken. "Guilty as charged," I said between bites. "Damn this fried chicken sure is good."

Chloe smiled as she awkwardly tried to take a bite of the sushi but epically failed. "Darn this sushi. I can't eat it without shoving the whole thing in my mouth."

"Then just shove it in your mouth," I said as I sipped my lemon water.

"You swear you won't laugh at me? I'm a really messy eater if you couldn't tell from the pizza place," she said with big eyes.

"I swear," I replied, watching her intently.

She proceeded to put the whole sushi roll in her mouth. Her cheeks were filled to the brim and she couldn't even close her mouth. I swore she looked like a chipmunk. I couldn't help but snort as she attempted to chew.

"You swore you wouldn't laugh," she complained with a giggle stuck in her throat, her voice muffled from her mouth full of food.

"I know I did, but come on, Chloe. You look like a goddamn chipmunk," I said and burst into laughter.

Chloe covered her mouth and chewed, all the while giggling. "I hope I don't choke because of you," she said as she swallowed.

We continued to laugh loudly, causing a scene in the cafeteria. Everyone looked at us with looks of disdain, but I let it slide off my shoulders. They were probably just jealous they weren't having as great of a time as we were–that or they were just irritated that they had too much to do from their classes.

"I guess on a more serious note, how has life been for you since we were ten?" I asked as we continued to eat.

"Life has treated me fairly well. I am here after all," Chloe joked as she popped another sushi roll in her mouth.

I chuckled. "How are your brothers, Felix and Elijah? Still allergic to peanuts I imagine?" I asked, remembering back to Valentine's Day in the fifth grade when she joked about giving her brothers a card with nuts.

"Yes," she swallowed and drank from her cup. "Do you still have Crimson?"

I heart swelled at the thought of Crimson, my childhood pet. He was the best dog a kid could ask for, watching over my sisters and me when we were playing outside, playing a good ol' game of tag, and howling to the radio. "No actually. He passed away in ninth grade," I said as I took a bite of green beans.

"I'm sorry. If I had known I wouldn't have said anything," she said softly.

"No it's fine. How's Miss Kitty?" I asked, hoping to change the subject.

That brought a warm smile to her face.

"She's just a lazy, fat potato," she sighed. "I really miss her. I wish I could bring her here with me."

"I know what you mean," I said, and we continued to talk about our family for the next thirty minutes. It felt oddly normal and comfortable sitting in the cafeteria with Chloe, like we did this sort of thing all the time. I didn't know how she felt about it all, but I knew with every encounter the more enamored I was by her.