The Story In His Picture

Chapter 6

Song- Candles by Daughter

…/…

Luke opens the door. Henry and I jump away from each other out of shock. “Uhm, Hey, Jace says food is ready,” Luke says as he looks between us.

“Uh, yeah,” I say feeling absolutely awkward. I walk out of my room to the dining where everyone is already seated. I join them and we all dig in. The spaghetti tasted nice no doubt, almost everyone thanked Jace and called Elle, lucky.

After eating, we all decide to play Truth or Dare before everyone would head home. Jay goes to get a bottle from the kitchen. Different people spin the bottle and so far, people have had to do horrible dares and told their deepest darkest secrets.

Luckily for me, the bottle hadn’t stopped in my direction. I guess I spoke too soon. The bottle just stopped in my direction and Natasha is the one asking me the question.

 For some reason, I felt a little bit uncomfortable as we haven’t exactly seen eye-to-eye since the get-together began.

“Truth or Dare,” Natasha asks. I pick Truth because I know picking Dare when it’s Natasha is dangerous for me. I look at her and she smiles sinisterly.

“Did you and Henry kiss upstairs”. I look at everyone’s expressions including Chris’. Chris had this curious look on his face, not in the way I would’ve wanted it though. He looked happily curious rather than dejected curious.

I look at Natasha in disbelief before I say no. She had completely wasted her truth. The rest of the night consisted of couples making out due to dares and other related stuff.

The bottle stopped spinning and faced my direction for the second time this night. Henry was the one asking me this time. “Truth or Dare Gen”

I look at everyone again feeling the tension before I say Truth. They all groan and I just laugh. Someone messed up the whole game and picked Dare when he was supposed to pick Truth. We were playing two truths and a dare just like in the movie. I vowed to never play Truth or Dare again after seeing that movie but here we are.

“Are you and Darian a thing?” Henry says. “What!?” Darian and I say simultaneously. “What? You two always get cuddly and y’all act like you’re trying to hide something” Henry draws out in defense. I hit my palm on my forehead and shake my head. Darian just laughs. Henry had wasted his truth.

After playing for five minutes more, Jace decides it’s getting late and everyone prepares to leave. “Hey, we should take a picture,” I suggest and they all agree.

I go to my room to get my camera and we all take pictures. For some reason, Natasha was not around for any and I was grateful for that.

When I was done taking the pictures, they all start filing out and I yell “Bye” from inside the house. I decide to go to my room when Darian drags me outside and whispers “Be polite” into my ears. I just laugh and follow him.

Outside, I hug everyone and say bye. I look to the corner to see Luke and Tami making out, I just smile to myself and head up to my room.

…/…

Luke barges into my room and I immediately say “What was that all about?”. “What was what all about?” He says trying to hide everything and defend himself. “I saw you guys Luke so start spilling”

“Okay, I will, only if you tell me what’s going on between you and Henry”. I shake my head before I tell him nothing is going on. “If something was, I would’ve told you,” I say that on purpose to make him feel guilty and sure enough there was remorse written all over his face. “So yeah, spill!”

“Okay fine, I’ll tell you. So, I’ve liked Tami since last year actually. I didn’t tell anyone because she was with George and it’d seem stupid. When we went out on Tuesday, I told her I had feelings for her and she said she liked me too so we’re a thing but then we’re not because I haven’t asked her out yet. I wanted to but Tami is not a fan of loud romantic gestures so I basically don’t know how to ask her and I don’t want it to plain. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier”. He says all this in kind of a rush but I listen intently.

“It’s cool, just always remember that it’s me and you against the world,” I reassure him. “Plus, you can always take her to the school garden on Monday, pluck a flower and ask her. Just make sure it’s subtle in a romantic way,” I add. “When did you get so smart?”

I laughed. The rest of the night consisted of Luke and I talking about a lot of things. Then, watching reruns of Friends into the night. It had been a while since we’d pulled off an all-nighter so it was cool.

“Hey, are we still going to the field tomorrow?” Luke asks from his upside-down state. “Yeah, definitely,” I say.

An idea pops into my mind and I try to think about what would happen if I did say it aloud. As my mind was weighing the pros and cons, my mouth blurted out, “You should tell Tami to come too”.

I mentally facepalm myself. Luke grins and says he’d ask her. We eat leftover pasta and fall asleep around eight in the morning.

I wake up to find Luke still sleeping around 1 pm. Then, I go to my room and lay down on the bed again. I drift off into dreamland again just to be woken up like 5 minutes later. I feel the sun’s heat on my face and I groan. I open my eyes halfway and I see Luke.

“Draw the curtains, would you?” I ask him. I don’t raise my head from the bed till I hear someone giggle. I look around and I see Tami seated on my couch. “What are you doing here? Isn’t it like 9 am?”. She laughs again and tells me it’s 2 pm.

I get up to perform the procedures required to make one’s body clean. After giving much thought to what I’d wear, I settle for a semi baggy hoodie and shorts.

I grab my camera and head downstairs. Tami is seated on the couch, texting someone. “Where’s Luke?” I ask. She looks up from her phone and says he went to get the car.

“So, for how long have you and Luke been best friends?”. I take it as she’s trying to start a conversation and I dive in headfirst. Later, Luke calls telling us to come outside.

We both step out and move to the right side of the car since Luke was already in the driver’s seat. “Oh yeah, Gen” I stop in my tracks and face her then she further says “Your brothers went out and they told me to tell you that the key is in the usual spot.

“Oh, okay then,” I say

Now, for someone who thinks way too much for her own good, I must admit that I didn’t see this one coming at all. I had foreseen every possibility except this.

Who was going to sit in the front seat with Luke?