Nobody's Listening

N I N E T E E N

Luke glanced over at me while driving and frowned. “Hey, what’s wrong? Are you upset that we didn’t hang out with the others?”

I sniffled. James is gone. I need to start focusing on my relationship with Luke. Just forget about James. He’s one hundred percent nothing to me anymore. I wiped the remaining tears away and composed myself. “No, I just get really emotional about goodbyes, you know?”

I looked over at him and he nodded. “I hope we never have to say goodbye,” he whispered softly.

My eyes began to water again. “Hush, just thinking about it makes me want to cry.”

He chuckled. “Sorry, sorry.” He pulled into his driveway and we sat there a few moments. “Did we ever clean out your van?”

“Uh… not really. My mom said that she was going to pick it up Saturday and take it to a vehicle cleaning service, and she said it’d be back in time for me to drive to school tomorrow.”

Luke nodded and got out of the car. I followed him into the house. “Well, that’s good.” He slipped off his jacket and put it on a hook near the door. I did the same. “Ma, we’re home!” he yelled.

A rather small and chunky blonde walked out of the kitchen, holding a towel that she draped over her shoulder. The similarities between her and Luke were extraordinary. They had the same color hair that looked about the same texture, and their eyes were both a piercing light blue. The crooked smile was mirrored on her face as she hugged Luke. As soon as they pulled away, she gathered me into a hug too. “You must be Desirae Plunkett, I’ve heard so many lovely things about you, dear.”

“Oh, thank you, Mrs. Reynolds.” We pulled apart so she could get a good look at me. “You have a lovely home,” I said, my face heating up from being examined like this.

“Why, thank you, Desirae.” She turned to Luke. “You, young man, need to start on your homework. And your coach called, he said that it was fine that you miss tomorrow’s practice for work as long as you promise to exercise a little to keep limber.”

He bent down and kissed his mom on the cheek. “Thanks, Ma, I’ll make sure to do that.”

She patted his cheek and took the towel off her shoulder. “I’m going to get back to work.”

“It’s really nice meeting you, Mrs. Reynolds,” I piped up.

Mrs. Reynolds smiled. “It’s lovely meeting you too, Desirae.” She turned and went back into the kitchen.

I followed Luke into the back of his house to his bedroom. It was extremely messy. “Sorry for the mess,” he said, blushing. He kicked some sport shorts under the bed. “I think my mom approves of you, by the way.”

“Really?” I responded enthusiastically.

He straightened up from throwing more stuff under the bed and walked over to me. “Mhmm.” He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. It was slow and sweet, but soon grew heated. He picked me up around the waist and set me down on the bed. He broke the kiss and smiled. “Will you… bemygirlfriend?”

I giggled and pulled him down onto the bed with me. “What was that?” I climbed on top of him and tickled his ribs.

“Stop, stop, I’m ticklish!” He laughed as he tried to scramble away from me, grappling at the sheets in vain. “Will you be my girlfriend?” he yelled more clearly.

I stopped and rolled off of him. “Sure, as long as you promise to be my boyfriend.”

He grinned and gave me a kiss on the nose. “If I must.” He jumped off the bed and held a hand out to me. “C’mon, I gotta do my AP Government homework.”



Almost an hour later, Luke stood up and stretched, his fingers only inches from the ceiling. “I’m tired of doing homework,” he whined. Once he had finished with his AP Government homework, he had moved on to his Pre-Calculus homework. He was lazy when it came to math, it seemed.

I closed Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin and looked up at Luke from the floor. “Well, what do you want to do?”

He tapped his chin, thinking. “Well, how about we go down into the basement? I’m in the mood to play some guitar.”

“You play guitar?” I got up and followed him out of his room, down the hall, and through a door. He led me blindly down the stairs until he got to a light switch. Light flooded the room, showing a few couches and many guitars along the walls.

“Yep,” he replied cheerfully. “I started taking lessons when I was eight, and when I turned fourteen I had to stop because they were interfering with football and soccer. But I still play whenever I get the time.” He crossed the room and picked up a guitar. “This is a Yamaha FG 180. It’s supposed to be the same type Elliott Smith used. Do you know his music?”

I nodded. “I love the early version of ‘Miss Misery’, but that’s all I’ve ever really listened from him.”

He smiled and sat down on one of the couches. “Sit, I’ll play you some.” I sat down and he strummed a chord. “I’ll warn you, though, I’m a horrible singer.”

He began to play, his fingers moving swiftly over the guitar when needed. After about thirty seconds in, he began to sing. “Your hand on his arm, haystack charm around your neck. Strung out and thin, calling some friend, trying to cash some check. He’s acting dumb, that’s what you’ve come to expect. Needle in the hay…” He didn’t sound horrible. His voice was deep and rich. He sounded almost as good as James.

Oh God, James. I hope he’ll do okay. I’m gonna miss him so much… but I have Luke. I’ll be fine. Luke is my boyfriend. He’s my boyfriend…. I smiled and continued to listen to him sing and play.

“He’s wearing your clothes, head down to toes, a reaction to you. You say you know what he did, but you idiot kid, you don’t have a clue. Sometimes they just get caught in the eye, you’re pulling him through. Needle in the hay...” He finished the song up and looked up. “I don’t feel like finishing it, but did you like it?”

I walked over to him and pressed my lips to his for a moment. “You’re great. Can you teach me?”

He nodded. “Pick up that Gibson over there, the one that’s sitting next to the red electric guitar covered in stickers.”

I grabbed the Gibson and sat next to Luke. “I have no idea how to hold this.”

He stood up and put his own guitar down to help with mine. “Put your hand here… and the other one here.” He placed each hand in place and then fixed my fingers on the neck. “Now, strum once with your thumb.” I tried it out. “Great, you’re a natural,” he said, smiling. "Just you wait… by the time James comes back, you can play guitar for him when he plays piano for you!"

I smiled demurely. "I highly doubt I'll be good enough by then."

But I sure as hell can't wait for James to come back….