One Day at a Time

Longest. Night. Ever. I sat in the living room across from Luke for the remaining hour that I was there. Being that I’m not Jenn, I didn’t want to be rude and just leave. And also because Joe was my ride home, and he seemed to be enjoying Luke’s company even though he tried to not be too excited about having him there for my sake.

“Ready to leave yet?” Maddy leaned over and asked.

“You have no idea,” I sighed. Veronica overheard us and sat next to me on the arm of the couch.

“Hello there,” she greeted me. “Bored already?”

For Veronica’s sake, I didn’t want to say that I would have rather hung my self with in the bathroom with my hair than be in the same room as Luke.

“Just a little tired. I had a long day today,” I spoke honestly, leaving out the details that included Luke.

“Mind if I ask you something?” Veronica stood up from the arm of the couch.

“Sure.”

She grabbed onto my wrist and led me into the kitchen. Maddy wasn’t far behind, and I took a spot next to the fridge and leaned against the counter.

“So, what’s up?” I asked.

“What’s with you and Luke? He’s been staring at you pretty much the whole night and following you into the kitchen when you leave to get something to drink. What’s going on between you two?” Veronica crossed her arms. I tilted my head in confusion and laughed to myself. “What’s so funny?”

“What? Sorry,” I muffled more laughter. “It’s just the fact that you think there’s something going on between me and Luke. I’ll be completely honest with you; there’s absolutely nothing going on. There’s not even the slightest bit of feeling for him inside of me.”

“It’s true,” Maddy agreed.

“Maddy, you barely know Alexa. What makes you think you know about what she feels?” She sneered. “There must’ve been something, because I’ve know Luke for a very long time and he has never looked at a girl the way I saw him looking at you tonight.”

My mind sort of drifted away from what Veronica was saying to me. The thought of Luke still having any type of feelings for me was weird. Him looking at me in such a way as Veronica had said made me think. Our relationship wasn’t the greatest, but we always made up at the end of the day. The first day he brought me to meet his parents; I remember them hating me as soon as I walked through the front door. Throughout the time we had spent visiting his parents, I told him it would probably be better if we weren’t together. And, when he dropped me off at home that night, he wouldn’t leave until he saw a genuine smile on my face. That’s when I knew everything might be okay. Well, at least until I started getting e-mails.

“What’s this about?” I asked as I met up with Luke for my lunch break between classes. For the current semester, I had an hour between my classes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Luke would meet me at the little coffee shop across the street from campus for lunch. Being the gentleman that he was back then, he would always pay for me, too. No money ever came from my pocket.

“What’s what?” He asked, finding my question irrelevant as he tore off a small piece of bread from his sandwich.

“What do you mean ‘what’s what’?” I sat down across from him. “What the hell are these about?” I held up the single page that had three short e-mails on it. I was already peeved about it being Monday and that I wasn’t able to see him all weekend. His stupidity wasn’t making it any better.

“I just think it’s time you leave me alone,” he replied, sounding conceited.

“I need to leave you alone?”

“Yeah,” he said with ease. “You didn’t read the e-mail? You are suffocating me. It’s annoying. I need my space, you know.”

“Whoa, hold on a second. Um, so, you’re breaking up with me?”

“Well, yeah,” his tone seemed like he was telling a joke, but snobby at the same time. “I can’t be held down like this; by this kind of commitment. You understand that, don’t you, babe?”

He snatched the paper from me and crumpled it into a ball before throwing it in his half full soup bowl. His hands reached across the table to hold mine, but I pulled back.

“Ah, come on. Don’t be like that.”

“You’re such a jerk,” I said and stood up from the table.

“Babe, seriously?”

I turned around before walking out.

“I am not your babe. Don’t ever think that because this is over for good. I don’t wanna hear from you at all.”

“You’re taking this way out of proportion here,” he stood up from his seat. I crossed my arms, waiting for a rational response besides ‘you’re taking this way out of proportion’.

“Oh, I am, huh?” I pursed my lips together while I reached for the glass of water on the table and threw it in his face. “That’s taking it out of proportion.” With that, I turned around and left the coffee shop; more anger than I had ever felt before. There was no way that things would get better that night. That’s when he sent his apology e-mail, and I responded by saying we were through.

“Um, Alexa?” Maddy waved her hand in front of my face, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Sorry,” I said.

“Well, what do you have to say about that?” Veronica asked.

“Look,” I began, wanting to be completely honest, but not too harsh about what I was going to say. “I know you have a thing for Luke and all, but stay away from him. He’s no good; at all.”

“How would you know that?” Her face wasn’t as tense as it was when she was grilling me with her questions.

Before I could answer, Joe poked his head into the kitchen before he walked in completely.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt, but are you ready to go?” He addressed me. I nodded my head and smiled to the girls as I left. They didn’t come to say goodbye to me while I was in the living room, but I continued my goodbyes to the rest of the family.

“It was lovely to see you again,” Denise said as she hugged me.

“It’s good to see you’re not unconscious,” Paul joked. I smiled and hugged him as well.

Luke was waiting for me as Joe was putting on his jacket.

“Great to see you,” he smiled. “No hug goodbye?”

“I think you know the answer to that.”

Joe came just in time, before Luke could say anything else.

“Goodnight,” I waved to everyone as I left with Joe to his car.

“Awkward night,” he said as we both got into the car.

“Tell me about it.”

I hoped that I would never run into Luke like this ever again. I can manage having physical scars, but the emotional scars are the ones that never go away. At one point, I really did love him.