Chloe's P.O.V
It was around seven o' clock and I had forgotten to eat dinner. I was finishing up studying for exams on my laptop when my phone started vibrating on my desk. Curious, I looked at my phone to see that I was getting a call from Kason.
I answered my phone and asked, "Hello?"
"Hey Chloe," Kason said, his voice slightly annoyed.
I wondered what was wrong with him. "Are you okay?" I asked, my voice filled with concern. Perhaps he was having a bad day.
"No," he said shortly.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I said, getting up from desk.
"No."
"Then how am I supposed to know what's wrong unless you don't tell me?" That was literally what two people in a relationship were supposed to do: communicate.
"Let me just say this: stay away from Luke," he said simply.
What the heck? "Stay away from Luke? Why?"
"Because I said so."
"Excuse me? Last time I checked you don't own me. Now tell me why I have to stay away from him," I raised my voice. Normally I didn't have an attitude like this, but I was not about to be Kason's dog on a leash. That was no way to speak to someone–anyone.
"Sorry, Chloe," I heard him sigh. "I just don't like him–at all."
"I still don't understand why you don't like him. He's a really good guy." And he was.
"He's just trying to take everything away from me."
Trying to take everything away from him? "Like what for example?"
"He just thinks he's superior to everyone else. He's arrogant, rude, conceited, and thinks that his position of wide receiver belongs to him and no one else. I bet his family probably pays Coach Saban to play him instead of me."
There were several things I knew about Luke Armstrong, and I knew he was definitely not arrogant, rude, conceited, or that his family paid Coach Saban off to play wide receiver. Luke was a standup guy. He was nice, respectful, humble, and talented. Kason sounded like he was a little jealous to me. "I don't think those are good enough reasons for me to stay away from him, Kason. He's my friend, and a good friend at that."
"Just promise me that you won't work at the concession stand with him tomorrow night," he said, worry filling his voice.
"I can't, Kason. I already signed up to do it, that makes me obligated to go. Besides, if I don't go it'll mess up my grade." And my grades were extremely important to me.
"I'm sure there will be other opportunities," he said.
He was really trying to push this 'stay away from Luke thing' hard. "Not after this one," I said as I walked around my room. I stared a picture of Miss Kitty curled up in my lap. I couldn't wait for Thanksgiving break, so I could go back home and see her–and of course the rest of my family.
Kason sighed again. "I just don't like that you two are friends."
"What is there not to like about our friendship?" I asked, genuinely confused. "I understand that you dislike him, even if your reasons are invalid, but that doesn't mean I should dislike him just because you do. We're friends and the fact that we're dating doesn't mean that will change." It didn't matter who I was dating or how much I liked the guy, there was no way it would ever overpower my friendship with Luke. Plain and simple. Besides, Kason wasn't even my boyfriend, not that it really mattered in this situation.
"Just…be careful," he said carefully.
"Okay," I responded. "Now I've got to get back to studying or else I will fail our exam next week."
He laughed. "As if. Chloe, you're literally the smartest person I know. You don't even need to study."
"There's a reason why I make good grades. It's because I study, something you should do more," I joked.
"Okay, okay I hear you. I guess I better let you go…" I could almost hear the smile in his voice. "Bye Chloe."
"Bye," I smiled and hung up my phone.
––––––––––
I stood in the concession stand with a white t-shirt tucked into black pants, as was the dress code for working at the concession stand. It was Friday night and I checked my phone to check the time.
It was almost six-thirty.
I bit my lip. Luke should've been here already. It wasn't like him to be late for something. We only had thirty minutes to get everything ready for the play tonight. After a couple more minutes I shrugged, thinking, Oh well…Guess it'll just be me tonight…
I turned around and started up the popcorn machine, letting it preheat to its appropriate temperature.
"Sorry I'm late," I heard a husky voice say.
I looked to see Luke in a tight white shirt and black pants. It was a good thing I had control of my mouth or else it would have been gaping open. It was frustrating how he could make something so simple look so good. "You better apologize," I nudged him playfully, quickly forgiving him.
He smiled one of his white, brilliant smiles that made my heart skip a beat.
Darn you and your smile.
"So, what do we do first?" he asked, putting his hands on his hips.
"Well I've already got the popcorn machine preheating which is good," I said as my eyes swept across the back wall of the concession stand, "and we need to get the hotdog machine running so I guess there's that."
"I'll get the hotdog machine running," Luke offered and began tinkering with the hotdog machine. "I hope I don't break this thing," he laughed as he adjusted the knobs.
"You won't–hopefully," I added with a smile.
We placed each of the hotdogs on the roller mechanisms with a heat lamp underneath and let the hotdogs roll until they were fully cooked and warm. After we did that I added oil to the popcorn machine, waited thirty seconds, and then added popcorn kernels and salt to the machine.
"You really seem to know what you're doing," Luke said as he watched me work the popcorn machine.
"Honestly I looked up how to do it online," I smiled.
"Wow," he shook his head.
"Wow what?"
"Wow you're so dorky," he laughed, his green eyes twinkling with amusement.
I laughed with him. "I can't help it. I had to come prepared because I knew if I didn't we would both be stuck not knowing how to work the machine."
"How true," he smiled, and all of the sudden his expression changed.
I didn't know what it was, but I couldn't help but feel like it was important. "What's with the change of face?" I asked while analyzing him.
"It's nothing," he waved it off like it wasn't important.
The popcorn began popping in the background.
"No, really, what is it?" I asked, squinting my eyes. "Does it happen to include Kason?" I asked, feeling as though it probably had something to do with him.
His eyes immediately looked into mine, his eyes slightly widening. "What did you hear from Kason?"
"Does it really matter what I heard from Kason?" I cocked my head.
"Yes," he said softly, looking down at the floor then back up again at me.
I knew what this was about, and it didn't matter to me. "Luke I know what it is, and I really don't care."
"W-what?" he stuttered, straightening up his back in alarm.
"Yeah I really don't care that Kason told me to stay away from you. We're friends Luke," I smiled as best as I could.
His expression went from worried, to sad, then to confused. "He told you to what?"
I sighed. I guessed it was really none of his business but at the same time it was. It was about him. "Kason told me that he didn't like you yesterday and that he wanted me to stay away from you." I laughed. "It's kinda funny when you think about it."
"And that was all he told you? That he didn't like me?" he asked me carefully.
"Yeah…" Maybe I shouldn't have told Luke that. I should've kept it to myself.
He smiled slightly. "I'm glad you didn't listen to him."
"Why would I? He doesn't own me," I rolled my eyes and watched the kernels pop into popcorn.
"That's what I said–" he began but immediately quieted and folded his arms. Curiosity washed over his face. "So, we're good?"
"Of course, we're good. We're cool," I smiled and the image of Jess kissing him popped into my mind–except that wasn't cool.
He sighed of relief, a beautiful smile on his natural lips. "I don't really know how to explain this without sounding weird but–"
"Hello," a woman with glasses smiled as she approached with a little girl with pigtails held onto her hand. "Can I have a large popcorn, a water, and a small Mt. Dew?" she asked.
I assumed that one of her relatives was in tonight's play. She must've been extremely proud–along with hungry and thirsty.
"I'll get that for you, ma'am," Luke said cheerily and scooped a large bag of popcorn.
I went ahead and got the drinks out for her and placed them on the counter. "That'll be exactly five dollars," I smiled, glancing down at the little girl only to see her watching Luke with eyes. She totally thought he was cute–but who didn't?
"He's cute," she tried to whisper, but unintentionally said it louder than she meant.
Children weren't exactly the best at whispering. I knew that from experience.
Her mother handed me five dollars exactly and in return I gave her the drinks and laughed.
"What, Chloe?" Luke grinned from ear to ear. "Do you not think I'm cute?" he tried to say argumentatively as he handed the woman her large popcorn.
The little girl's face turned as red as a tomato, which was something I could relate to.
"No I think you're cute," I laughed and then realized what I just said. Did really just say that? Oh no. OH NO. Quick, say something before–
"See Mommy? She agrees," the little girl said with a toothless smile.
Her mom laughed. "Thank you two for everything," she smiled, giving us a light nod. "We may be back during intermission for more popcorn."
I doubted she and her daughter could finish that large popcorn, but what did I know. I smiled weakly and waved as they walked into the movie theater.
Luke then turned to me, his expression confused yet curious. "So, what were you saying earlier?"
Now it was my turn to be as red as a tomato. "Nothing," I squeaked.
His lips curled into an amused smile. "I know what you said, Chloe."
"Look, I only said that because–"
"Can I have two hotdogs please?" a guy asked with who I assumed was his girlfriend at his side.
"Sure," Luke smiled and got out two hotdogs with tongs and put them between buns.
"That'll be three dollars," I smiled.
The guy handed me a five and I dealt him his change while Luke handed the hotdogs over to the guy's girlfriend.
I opened my mouth, but quickly shut it once I looked at the growing line of people. It would be a while before Luke and I got to talk again, and I prayed that Luke would just forget about the whole thing.
Luke and I were busy taking and filling orders for the next fifteen minutes until showtime. It was surprising at the amount of people that showed up for the play. There must've been a pretty large cast or that a lot of students were assigned to go see at least one play and they procrastinated until now–or it could be a mixture of both.
It died down once the play began, which I was thankful for.
I pulled out a dollar from my pocket and placed it in the cash register. "I'm getting a water," I said and walked over to the cooler. I opened up the cooler and grabbed a bottle of water. Unlucky for me, as soon as I opened the water bottle, I dropped it, splashing water all across the floor.
"Dang it," I muttered. Now I have to clean that up.
"Chloe be careful–"
As soon as I took one step, I slipped and expected to land right on my sorry butt but instead I landed right into Luke's arms.
"Oh crap," I said, looking up to see Luke's face only inches from mine. I could feel my cheeks heat up.
It was annoying how good-looking he actually was–especially up close. His tanned skin was clear of acne and his pores were nowhere to be seen. His green eyes managed to be even more beautiful up close, being able to see small flecks of gray in his iris. His caramel hair was swept back flawlessly, and let's not even get started on his jawline. That thing could probably cut anyone who touched it.
"Are you okay?" he asked with a small smile. And you might as well add his perfect lips to the list above.
"Totally," I said, knowing that this looked as ridiculous as it felt. I could only imagine what that would look like in a movie. Cheesy and stupid.
I stood myself upright and looked down at the floor, refusing to look up at Luke's face. This was going to be a long, hard night wasn't it?
Luke scratched his head and leaned against the wall. "So, about what I was saying earlier… I don't really know how to explain this without sounding weird, but I thought you should know about the whole Jess thing."
Oh great. Something I didn't want to hear.
"Anyway…well…I know that you saw her kiss me at the Halloween party," he said slowly.
I glanced up to meet his eyes to see that he was nervous…but why? "Yeah I did," I replied quietly, remembering that night.
"That kiss didn't mean anything," he said while staring into my eyes.
It was weird how relieved I felt after he said that, but at the same time why would I care?
"Jess was well…she was doing it to…" he stopped himself. There was something else he wasn't telling me, but I wasn't about to press him for answers. "Well let's just say she was being stupid, and as for other time you saw her kiss me…that was also a mistake."
My heart skipped a beat. The kisses meant nothing to him. "So, Jess was just kissing you out of nowhere?" I asked with a hopeful smile.
He smiled back. "Yeah. You don't have to worry about her doing that anymore. I told her to stop doing that."
Jeez, sounds like Jessica had it bad. I laughed. "And why would I care?" I asked, genuinely curious as to why I should care. I mean, I did care, but did he want me to care?
His face flushed as he scratched his head again–a nervous habit he probably picked up. "I just thought you would want to know–considering that you didn't approach me afterwards…" His face twisted with confusion. "Now why didn't you approach me afterwards?"
He had me there. "I just thought it would be awkward to come talk to you after that. You seemed a little preoccupied and I didn't want you to feel burdened with me," I said as honestly as I could.
"That's what I thought…" he nodded.
"Hey Chloe," I heard a familiar voice ask.
I looked to see it was Kason with a big, dimpled grin on his face.
What was he doing here?