We sat in silence for a long time. Long enough for me to stop feeling sorry for myself about Alex, and my dad with his new family, and my mom off in Italy or who knows where.
“So, that’s why you don’t date Marines?” Luke asked, turning his head in my direction.
I looked to my right and scanned his face. How does this guy, who I’ve only had a few encounters with, already know my little secret? It took him, what? Maybe twenty minutes to put it all together?
“Who told you I don’t date Marines?”
“I know things, Doc.”
I laughed and turned away.
“I’m right, aren’t I?” he asked again, raising his eyebrow. His eyes looked so different out here. Maybe it was the darkness of the night or the fact that we were having a conversation that wasn’t entirely awful, but they looked strangely comforting.
“Why do you care?” I asked sharply. I cringed immediately when the words left my mouth. “Wait, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for that to come out bitchy.” Did I just apologize?
“I don’t care. I was just wondering.”
And here we go again, back to our normal encounters.
“Well, thanks for not caring,” I retaliated.
“It just makes sense, that’s all.” My forehead wrinkled. “Just why you don’t date Marines. You were obviously hurt by one.”
Probably not in the way he was thinking, so I sighed, “It was my brother.”
He nodded his head and looked up at the stars. It gave me a good angle to stare at. His jaw was so straight and defined, just like his nose. He barely had any scruff on his face, like he had shaved right before he came over. I watched as his chest rose and fell so softly, as if he was relaxed out here with me and no one else.
We didn’t say anything else for a few minutes. We both just sat there in silence, evening out our breathing and staring at the twinkling lights above our heads.
When he stood quickly, I jumped in my chair. I glanced up at him towering over me and stared right into those green sea-glass eyes.
“Saying sorry doesn’t really make it any better.” He was right. It doesn’t.
He was still staring down at me when his voice hesitated. “But I am sorry that it happened to you.”
I kept my face cool, calm, and collected but on the inside, I was burning up with nerves. The moment was tense and full of emotion that neither one of us wanted to show. He swallowed and licked his lips, looking down at mine and then back up to my eyes. For a second, I thought he was going to kiss me. That’s how intense and electric the air was around us, but then he gestured towards the door.
“I have a redhead in there calling my name for the night, so I’ll leave you be with your ‘no Marines’ rule.”
Then he walked away and shut the door behind him, leaving me feeling utterly jumbled and angry. He acted like the moment we’d just shared wasn’t completely out of the ordinary, and like it was entirely inconsequential. I’d thought he was going to kiss me, and holy shit…I was going to let him.
The next couple of weeks were increasingly annoying but also interesting, especially when I would run into Luke. The first run-in with him was shortly after our encounter on my deck. It was mid-morning, and he was outside, washing his Camaro. He was blaring music from its speakers, and I was trying to sleep. I know, most people don’t sleep during the day, but I did. I had to, or else I wouldn’t be able to function at work.
Finally, after hearing enough of the song, “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” by Bad Company, I shot up out of bed and stomped all the way to my front door. I swung it open and stormed out onto my porch, glaring in the direction of Luke. He didn’t have a shirt on and his muscles worked swiftly with each movement of the big, yellow sponge.
“Turn your music down!” I yelled, crossing my arms over my tank top.
Luke swiveled around mid-scrub and stared at me. His mouth formed into a thin line at the same time that he rose one eyebrow. I gulped as my eyes trailed down his toned stomach, and then I shook my head angrily at my lack of discipline.
“Seriously, turn that shit down!” I yelled again.
But this time, Luke smiled. My heart flip-flopped at the sight of it. He slowly turned around and walked over to his car, opening the driver’s side door. I thought, thank God, he’s turning it down, but then his long body leaned inside and he turned his head toward me. He was barely visible from the soapy water on the windshield, but I could still see the devil-like grin form on his face. Instead of turning the music down, he blared it even louder. Naturally, this made me even more angry.
I stomped my way down the steps, bare feet scraping against the cool sidewalk and stalked over to him. He slipped out of his car in a leisurely fashion and grinned. The second he took a step to the left, I jolted around his body and dove head-first into the driver’s side, slamming my fingers on the buttons to silence the ear-splitting music.
Luke snickered at me, but I was totally high off beating him at his stupid little game. Unfortunately, that high ended abruptly, because as soon as I exited his car, a blast of cold water struck me head-on. The water was freezing on my barely-clothed skin. I let out an awful scream, and Luke laughed his ass off.
I stood there, frozen in my spot. I couldn’t believe he’d just sprayed me with water. I could not believe it. My eyes glanced over to the blue bucket filled with soapy water, and I felt myself inching closer to it, but as soon as I stepped over to grab it, Luke slid in front of me.