One Day at a Time

The dinner was amazing because I was actually sitting upright for the whole meal. When we were done eating, Veronica and Maddy had blown out the candle on the large strawberry, banana, and chocolate cake. And it was delicious, if I do say so myself. It wasn’t until after dessert that things got a little…out of hand.

The door bell rang twice while we were all sitting down in the living room, laughing and having a good time. I was sitting in the corner of the big couch they had, holding my cup of Sprite. Maddy and I had been talking about where she had decided to go to school when Joe jumped up with excitement and sprinted to the door.

“He made it!” Joe exclaimed.

I laughed at his enthusiasm until the door opened to reveal the one person I did not want to see again.

“Luke!” Veronica jumped from her spot on the couch and ran over into Luke’s arms; my ex-boyfriend: pre-Erik.

Maddy didn’t get up from her spot next to me and leaned over to whisper in my ear.

“That’s Luke. Joe and him have been best friends since, probably forever,” she pointed back and forth between Luke and Joe. “So, don’t be surprised if he completely ignores you for the rest of the night. They haven’t seen each other in a few years.”

I sat; frozen. I wasn’t even able to nod my head to what Maddy was saying to me. The only thing I could do was say, “Oh.”

“By the way,” she whispered again. “Luke is a complete d-bag. Don’t even bother trying to get to know him. Veronica is the only one who likes him, and that’s because she has a huge crush on him.”

As much as I wished I had asked to invite Jenn along with me, I was glad she hadn’t come. Knowing Jenn, we would have had to bail her out of jail for trying to kill him. She absolutely hated Luke to a degree that even I hadn’t felt towards him. Sure I hated him, but Jenn loathed him.

Before Joe could bring him over to “meet” me, I took hold of Maddy’s arm and dragged her into the kitchen; out of sight from the living room. I sat down on one of the breakfast bar chairs. Maddy looked at me confused before taking the seat next to me.

“I have a feeling that you already know how much of a douche Luke is.”

“Ex-boyfriend,” I said, cursing the day that I fell for him.

He wasn’t at all a bad looking guy. His strawberry blonde hair was kept short and pushed up in the front, he had hazel eyes, toned, but skinny body, and the biggest ego you could imagine. But sometimes he was absolutely irresistible.

“Ooo, ex-boyfriend,” Maddy repeated. “Ouch.”

I nodded my head, covered my face with my hands, and closed my eyes, hoping that this would be over when I opened my eyes again. But when I opened my eyes again and uncovered my face, I saw Joe walk into the kitchen with Luke following behind him. Great.

“What are you two doing in here?” Joe asked looking from me to Maddy, and back to me.

“Girl talk,” Maddy answered quickly. Joe seemed to buy it, thankfully. He turned to see if Luke was still behind him and turned back to Maddy and I to introduce him to me.

“Uh, anyway, this is Luke. Luke, Alexa.”

Being the idiot that Luke was, he extended his hand to shake mine. I slowly placed my hand in his and he held on tightly.

“Pleasure to meet you, Alex,” he said with a devilish look in his eye.

“It’s Alexa. There’s an ‘A’ at the end,” I replied with sarcasm. He winked before letting go of my hand.

Maddy looked over to me and then behind Joe and Luke, where Veronica was standing.

“Luke, Denise and Paul want to talk with you,” she said, her eye lashes fluttering.

He nodded his head and looked back to me with a grin plastered on his face before leaving the kitchen. I scoffed at the thought of him even being in my presence. Joe scrunched his eyebrows together as he watched Luke leave and looked back over to me, his eyebrows still scrunched.

“What was that about?” He asked with a load of curiosity behind his question.

I couldn’t exactly say something bad about his best friend, but Luke was a complete…asshole. Joe continued to stare into my eyes, trying to pull the answer from my thoughts. Veronica had already disappeared back into the living room, as did Maddy. Alone with Joe; this could be bad.

“Uh, it’s nothing,” I answered weakly.

“Doesn’t seem like nothing. Lots of tension; very awkward.”

Those eyes; it was like he was staring into my soul. And with that thought, I started to give in.

“I hope its not awkward when I tell you.”

He crossed his heart and then held up two fingers, like a boy scout.

“I promise I won’t think it’s awkward,” he said.

“Um,” I hesitated. “Luke is my ex-boyfriend.”

“Wow,” he sat in the chair across from me. “That must be extremely awkward for you, huh?”

“Joe!”

“I’m kidding; I’m kidding. But, I mean, what are the odds my best friend is your ex-boyfriend? And then, what are the odds I would invite you over the same night that we invited him over? Want to leave? I could make him leave, too.”

“No, you don’t have to do that. We’re adults; I’m sure we can sit in the same room with each other. I just hope there’s enough room for us to sit down since his huge ego takes up so much space.”

I didn’t laugh at my corny joke, but Joe snickered to himself. He stood up from the chair. I did the same and followed behind him back into the living room and back to my original corner over the couch. Maddy was in the same spot, too, and it made me feel better that I wasn’t sitting near Luke.

Through the rest of the night, Luke continued to look over towards me. It was making me uncomfortable until I decided to excuse myself into the kitchen to get some more soda. He followed me a minute later. I was searching the freezer for ice when I heard him behind me.

“I bet you’re getting some Sprite, right?” He asked. “That was always your favorite.”

I closed the freezer and looked over to the counter to find an open bottle of Pepsi. I poured it into my cup and placed the bottle back in its place. As I turned around to face him, I took a sip of the Pepsi and gave him a look with intense attitude.

“Ah, there’s that look I’ve seen so many times before; for two years. I always loved it,” he walked up to me and ran his hand over my cheek. I flinched. “Scared?”

“No,” I said and pushed him away. “Annoyed.”

He grabbed my arm as I began walking away and turned me around. I shook his grip off.

“Don’t wanna get back with me?”

I shook my head and started walking towards the living room. I stopped and turned around. He stood next to the fridge with a disappointed look on his face, but still had that look of the jerk that he was.

“There’s no way in hell that I would get back with you.”