A Touch of Luke

12

"Hello lovelies," Arlo smirked down at me and the girls as he stood at the end of the table we were sitting at in the cafeteria.

"Arlo," Remy scrunched up her face is disgust which he easily ignored.

"Marie Ana," by using my middle name, he was taunting me because he knew that was what my parents called me. I kept a straight face on, doing my best to not let anything he says get under my skin. "You look gorgeous today."

Luke, who was sitting beside me, tensed for a moment, keeping his eyes locked on the table.

"What do you want, Arlo?" Jamie sighed, not wanting to waste more time talking to him.

He cleared his throat, "Party tonight, you kids coming?"

I gave him a tired look, "You came over to torment us with your presence just to invite us to a party?"

Arlo let out a deep laugh, "Come on, Marie Ana, don't act like we're not friends."

I shot him an utterly fake smile, "We aren't friends, Gerty." The best way to get him to stop with using my middle name is to use his nickname from middle school.

Arlo wasn't the most liked kid in middle school. People found out his middle name was Gertrude so they started calling him Gerty which he hated more than anything. He was also a bit of a weird kid who annoyed everyone and took way too long to realize that people didn't want him around.

That all changed when he went through puberty and got more attractive, built up a solid four pack, and joined the football team. He was still just as much of an annoying asshole though.

Arlo scowled at me, the smirk finally being wiped off his face.

Luke let out a small chuckle beside me causing me to grin in satisfaction.

"We should go to the party, babe," Todd spoke, leaning closer to Jamie. I didn't fail to notice the frown that Mario quickly tried to hide.

"You guys want to go?" Remy asked.

Jamie shrugged, "I'm going to have to pick up Todd when he ends up drinking too much so I'm in. Mario, Mar, Luke? What do you guys say?"

Mario and I shared a look.

Macy was staying at Jamie's tonight, sleeping over with her little sister. Monty was also sleeping over at a friend's since someone was having a birthday party so really, I had the night off.

"I think you should go, Mar," Mario said to me, basically reading my mind.

I shrugged, "I guess I can come. Luke?" I turned to look at him.

"If you're game, I'm game, love."

"Great," Arlo grumbled. "I regret it already, Marie." Clearly, someone was pissed off I brought the traumatic nickname back.

Points for Marie.

So, like planned, that night we headed to the party.

I inhaled deeply as we walked in, "Here goes nothing."

"You're not excited?" Mario asked me as he glanced around to spot some familiar faces.

I shrugged, rubbing my arm. "How much fun could a high school party really be when you're stuck with a bunch of assholes? Floy and Arlo are enough. Now we're stuck with everyone."

Mario frowned, "Just try to a have good time alright. You're stressing about something all the time so just lay loose and have a good night without having anyone to be responsible for."

I rolled my eyes. There is always someone to be responsible for and tonight, it would my drunk friends. But instead of saying anything and killing Mario's buzz, I didn't say anything at all.

"Marie!" I locked eyes with Luke who was standing with some boys who were on the football team. He pushed past them and walked over to me, surprising me when he engulfed me in a hug.

"Woah," I mumbled into his chest, caught off guard but hugging him back. "Someone's happy to see me?"

Luke toothily grinned as he pulled away from me, "Always, love."

"Look who showed up," My neck snapped over to see the lovely Floy. "I wasn't really sure this was your scene, Marie."

I shot her a fake smile, "Well I knew it was yours because you love being around people who are drunk enough to sleep with you, cuzzo."

Floy narrowed her eyes to slits, forcing the most insincere smile she could muster. Then she brushed me off and turned her attention to Luke. "Lukey," she spoke in a high pitched tone. "You made it. I'm so glad you could be here tonight."

Luke forced a small smile, avoiding her gaze. "We're just going to go now. Great seeing you, Fiona."

"It's Floy!" She whined out like a little child as Luke took my hand in his and led me away from her.

I laughed, "Someone can't take a hint."

Luke rolled his eyes, leaning against the counter. "Nope but I will keep telling her the same thing if I have to as long as it gets me away from her. Really is weird you guys are related."

I exhaled through my nose, "And somehow Floy is nothing compared to my grandparents and aunts."

Luke frowned, still holding onto my hand. He traced circles on the back of my hand with his thumb which made me feel giddy inside. "I'm sorry. It's rough having a family like that. I never got along with my grandfather either."

I shrugged softly, smiling a little. "It's fine. Celestino skin is thicker than it may seem."

Luke chuckled, "So, do you want a drink?"

With my father and his alcoholic tendencies, drinking was something I steered clear of. I knew I wasn't my father but he also used to say he wanted to be nothing like his father and now he might be worse.

After seeing what alcohol did to my father and the man he became because of it, the last thing I wanted to do was take a sip of any alcohol.

I shook my head firmly, "No, I don't drink but you can help yourself."

"I don't drink either," he told me.

My eyebrows pulled together, "Really?"

He shrugged, "Yeah... after I left that life behind, drinking just reminded me of the person I used to be. I don't want to be that anymore."

I smiled in awe because Luke really was something precious. At the same time, I tried to ignore the guilt I felt, knowing there was still so much I wasn't telling him while he continued to trust me enough to share things with me.

Moments later, Mario sulked into the kitchen with his head hanging low. "This blows. You were right, how much fun could a high school party really be? I'll tell you. Not fun at all. Nada. No es divertido."

Though I hated seeing Mario upset, it was all too funny because he was acting like a little child who didn't get cookies before dinner. I laughed, "Qué pasó, hermano?"

He looked at me for a long moment, pouting out his bottom lip. "I hate Todd. f*****g Todd."

Luke started laughing, "Oh man, someone is really jealous."

Mario rolled his eyes but didn't bother being in-denial any longer. "He's so dense. He's literally an i***t, a literal clueless i***t who seems lost all the time. But nope, Jamie is going to dance around with him all night so my night officially blows."

Luke placed a hand on Mario's shoulder in a reassuring manner, "It's always hard winning over the girl, man." He glanced at me for a brief second before he patted Mario's back. "It'll be okay."

"Will it?" Mario scoffed, his good mood vanished completely. "I might as well go home and watch the f*****g Titanic or something."

"Never seen you this toughed up, bro," I frowned, rubbing his back in a comforting manner. As funny as it was that he was acting so childish, I knew he was really hurt because he had been crushing on Jamie since middle school.

Not something I am allowed to ever speak a word of.

Twin/sibling code beats girl code. Sometimes.

"Come on, losers," I hadn't realized I was still holding Luke's hand but I ignored it as I took Mario's hand in my other hand and pulled him and Luke out of the kitchen with me.

"Are you taking me to get ice cream because I could use some right now," Mario grumbled in a sulky tone.

"No," I laughed. "We're going to dance because we're here so we might as well." I was yelling over the music as I held onto both their hands and started jumping up and down once we made it to the middle of the living room that had been turned into the dance floor.

Mario groaned loudly but started jumping around with me, looking like an i***t and soon after, i managed to get Luke to loosen up and also move around.

The rest of the night, we just danced and jumped and sang on the top of our lungs as if nobody else was around.