Nobody's Listening

S I X

I don't know how long we talked, or what exactly we talked about. But eventually, Cyd, Mesh, and James came to look for us. They found Luke and I sitting at the counter with half-eaten slices of pie and empty cups of coffee.

"Homeward bound, friends?" Mesh asked as he edged toward us. All three of them had red, sweaty faces. Cyd and Mesh looked almost inseparable. I suddenly felt very alone, but I pushed those feelings away.

"Uh, yeah, we all good to go, Dezza?" Luke asked.

I nodded and slid off the stool. "Yup, all ready." I started to fish out some money from my pockets, but Luke grabbed my wrist.

"I'll pay," he promised, his blue eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiled. His smile was sweet and crooked, one side pulled up farther than the other. He smacked a ten on the counter and we followed the other three outside to the jeep.

Suddenly, his breath was on my neck and in my ear. "I had a great time," Luke whispered, pulling my hair gently away from my face.

I blushed. "You know, I had a great time too."

He gave me another one of his crooked smiles. "How about again on Saturday? I have work on Friday."

"Sure!" I responded a little enthusiastically.

He blushed as he opened the jeep door for me. "Great."

"Great," I repeated before slipping into the jeep and sliding in next to James. "So, how was skating?" I asked.

"Only fell ten times." James smiled, his smile evenly spread across his face. He leaned over to the right and lifted up the side of his shirt, showing a long scrape going up his pale, boney left side. "I was going around a curve really fast and I flew over the border and skidded to a stop. It was pretty epic."

Cyd laughed from the front and turned to look at me, her eyes frenzied. "You missed a great time, Dez. Real crazy. You would've enjoyed it." She patted my knee.

I looked over at Luke and grinned. "I think I did pretty okay anyways, Cyd."

Luke took my hand and laced his fingers in mine. He gave me one squeeze and then let go. That crooked grin was back on his face. I could see his features well, even in the dark.

"So," Mesh said, breaking me out of my thoughts, "who am I dropping off first?"

"You can drop me off first," James said. "It's only about three blocks from Dezza's house. On Wild Hollow." He pointed out his house to Mesh and got out as soon as the jeep rolled to a stop. "Bye, guys." I caught his eye as he turned to bid us farewell and saw the deep fear in his eyes. He held my gaze for a few more seconds and then slammed the door shut and ran up to his house.

"Shit. Dude could've been more respectful of my baby," Mesh said, stroking the dashboard. "Who's getting out next?"

"Uh… you can drop me and Luke off and I can take him home," I replied. Mesh and Cyd smiled at me funnily and Luke grinned shyly. I blushed. "Er, you know. So it's just easier… and doesn't waste any more of your time and fuel," I said lamely.

Mesh laughed a long, grating chuckle that rang in my burning ears until he pulled up at my house.

"Bye, children," Cyd sang from the passenger's seat.

I waved as I got out on Luke's side. "See you. Use protection," I joked.

"You too, babe," Mesh retorted as he floored it out of there.

I turned back to Luke, my face burning. "Uh, I don't think my mom is home yet. Do you wanna come in?"

"Sure."

I led the way into my dark home. "My mom's an emergency room nurse, so she's rarely home." I flicked on the lights and kicked off my shoes. "Follow me," I ordered. I walked upstairs to my room and turned on the lights. "This is my room," I said with a flowery gesture.

Luke walked in cautiously, making sure to check out almost everything. I was glad that my room was still considerably clean after the last time I'd tidied up. I flopped down on the bed and watched at Luke ambled around. At last he came to my nightstand, with my picture of my family turned down. He picked it up and smiled. "Is this your family?"

I got up and walked around, looking over his shoulder at the picture I didn't need to look at. "Yeah," I whispered.

"Freshman year?"

"Summer before sophomore year," I corrected him. "I was fifteen."

He nodded. "So your mom is a nurse. What does your dad do?"

My breath caught in my throat. I tore the picture frame away from him and placed it carefully in a drawer. "He's dead," I murmured hoarsely.

Luke sputtered. "Oh God, Dezza, I had no idea…. I'm so sorry."

"He died a month after it was taken." I shrugged, trying to swallow down the tears. "Heart attack."

Luke pulled me into an embrace, his face pressed into my hair. "I'm sorry. Don't cry." He pulled away a little and wiped at a tear that had formed on my cheek with his thumb. "You know, you even look gorgeous when you're crying." He gave me his crooked smile again. His fingers tangled in my hair and he leaned forward to give me the sweetest kiss I'd ever had.

Somehow, the kisses turned rougher and we made it to my bed. We sat down and Luke cupped my cheek with his hand, chewing on my lip. I could get used to this.

"Desirae Plunkett!" I heard a bark from my doorway. I pulled away automatically and found my mom in her Disney scrubs, a frown of disapproval on her face. "I come home extra late on a school night for once, and I find you with some boy I have never seen before?"

Luke jumped up and held out his hand. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Plunkett. I'm Luke Reynolds. Now I know where your daughter gets her beautiful looks from." He smiled sweetly.

My mom narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but took his hand anyway. It was true; I looked almost exactly like my mom, except my hair was straight (not curly and frizzy), and my eyes were brown (not blue). "Nice to meet you, Luke." She took her hand away from his and put both of her hands on her hips. "So, Desirae? Explain yourself?"

"Uh. Well. Er. Mom, it's really not what it looks like," I stuttered.

"It's my fault, ma'am," Luke spoke up. "I asked her about her father, and…"

I drew my finger across my throat frantically, but he had already said it. The dreaded word 'father'. Dreama Plunkett turned white. "Oh. All right, then." She turned to me. "Have you eaten?"

"Yeah," I muttered.

She huffed. "Well, do whatever homework you have. After you drop off Mr. Reynolds at his house." She turned on her heel and left my room, leaving behind an uncomfortable silence.

Luke was the first to break the silence. "Geez, Dezza. I'm sorry. I didn't know…"

"It's fine," I said. "C'mon, let me take you home."

The ride was a little quiet until we neared Luke's house. "So why did your mom get weird when I talked about your dad?"

I sighed. "My mom… she feels responsible for my dad having that heart attack. Since she's a nurse and whatnot, she thought that there should've been signs, and that it's her fault that he died." I pulled into Luke's driveway. "He didn't have any signs. Wasn't overweight. Didn't eat unhealthy. It was just in his family's history." I shrugged. "Some days, she likes to talk about it, and we have a good crying fest. But most days, she won't even let me talk about it." I looked over at Luke. "Well, thanks for the good time, I suppose," I said flatly.

He frowned. "I'm really sorry about that. But I had a really great time." He took my hand and forced me to look him in the eyes. "I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Right," I agreed. His eyes in this light looked like James' gray irises. I instantly felt bad about kissing Luke. He leaned forward for a kiss, but I turned my face at the very last second and he kissed my cheek. He gave me a sad smile and got out of the Whale.

The drive home was blurry from my tears: Both from the death of my father, the silence of my mother, and my betrayal to James.