Book of Luke (Book 2) (22 page)

“What about your grandmother?” Lilly said,
looking crushed. “She must hate me.”

“You know, she told me some stories last
night about when she was young. She understands, and she said
you’re too beautiful to stay mad at.” He shrugged a shoulder.
“She’s lived a good life, she doesn’t hold grudges, and I think
she’ll be okay.”

Lilly’s head fell.

“Honestly, I want to maybe try for medical
school,” Gino confided. “That’s why I didn’t want to move to
Hawaii.” His eyebrows gathered and he wrapped his arms around her.
“Will you move with me?”

She smiled, her spirits lifting; until her
eyes fell on Troy, who was watching them. After a hesitant glimpse,
her smile returned. “I’d
love
to move with you!”

Gino glanced at Troy, his face growing dour.
“That’s awesome,” he breathed, gripping her tight.

Then he picked her up, pinned her against
the locker, and their mouths locked.

Lilly Jacobson may not like backseats, but
she clearly doesn’t mind making out in a
public school
.

I looked at Troy. He forced a smile and
looked to Luke, who stopped feet from me. His blue eyes gripped me.
There was seriously nothing I wanted more than to kiss him.

“I need to get to class soon,” he told Troy.
“We need to drop by my locker, you’ll have to take something home
for me.”

“Sure,” Troy breathed, his eyes again glued
to Lilly.

Luke walked by slowly. His cologne was
heavy—it’s as if he
wanted
to drive me crazy.

As they walked away, he turned his head back
to look me over one more time. And maybe I imagined it, but I
thought I saw him wink.

~ ~ ~

As promised, Karma wasn’t at school; and I’m pretty
sure no one was happier about that than
me
.

I nervously walked into workshop, afraid
someone would bring up my outburst on Friday. To my relief, hardly
anyone even looked at me, and the people who did didn’t say
anything, to me or anyone else.

Luke’s eyes fixed on me the moment I walked
in, and he wasn’t trying to hide it. He wore blue jeans and a black
tank top, his hair was gelled back and he smelled so inviting.

Seriously, I wanted to make out with him
right there.

And other stuff.

I seated myself and he looked at me, his
eyes attentive, watching my every move. I pulled my notebook and a
pen out of my book bag. My eyes glided over to him.

Immediately, he looked away.

I looked down at my notebook, then at the
writing prompt on the board. His amorous gaze filled my peripheral
vision. Breathing heavy. Intent. Hot. Licking his lips.

I looked at him.

And he looked away.

I looked at the clock and giggled when I
felt his eyes on me again. Why was he toying with me? Why couldn’t
he just say what was on his mind?

I’ll admit, I fantasized about what was on
his mind. And I hoped I was right.

Tweezer handed our projects back as he took
attendance. They weren’t complete, of course, but checking for
progress counted as our midterm. I was kind of shocked that I got
such a high A on a first draft.

Luke got his, sat back down and pulled that
leather journal out of his bag. After a brief glance at me, he
opened it and started writing. From the looks of it he was almost
through it. He looked so focused—it was mind-bogglingly hot to see
a guy invest himself in his writing like that.

“What I would like,” Tweezer began when the
last person got their project, “is for each of you to present your
work. You can share any part you’d like. We will have one
presentation per day. During your presentation, I’d like you to
give us some insight to why you chose to write it, and where you
got your inspiration.”

“Adonia?” Tweezer continued.

My name made my heart gallop. “Huh?”

“I’d like you to be the first to present
your story.”

My eyes widened in sheer horror. “The story
that’s about my boyfriend?!” I blurted.

People chuckled.

Desperate, I looked to him for clemency.
“Can I
please
go another day? I’m not ready.”

He rubbed his chin, and, thankfully, his
eyes fell on Luke. “Mr. Pawlak?” Tweezer gestured toward the front
of the room.

Luke pushed his chair out, got up and cooly
strolled up front. Girls began to sigh. He turned toward us,
glanced at me, cleared his throat, and took a deep breath.

“I had a pretty lonely childhood. My mom and
sister were almost never around, and honestly my dad wasn’t around
much, either. So I would sometimes ramble, write on anything I
could find. Most of it sucked,” he said, and people started
laughing.

“Anyway,” he continued. “I was shopping in
Switzerland and I found this nifty little book,” he said, holding
it up. “And I thought I’d copy whatever I still had around into it,
kind of edit it so it
doesn’t
suck, and add new content for
my project.”

He bit his lip and looked through the
journal. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m no William Blake or
Samuel Coleridge, so try not to laugh too much,” he added, his eyes
skimming the chuckling classroom.

He ran his hand through his hair and licked
his lips, briefly glimpsing at me.

“I met her in a bookstore,

I didn’t know just what to say;

I thought maybe she’d noticed me,

but with every glance she looked away.

So incredibly beautiful,

I couldn’t stop looking her way;

and I knew then and there

that I’d marry her someday.

They say you know she’s the one

based on how she makes you feel.

I feel joyful and complete,

this feeling is unreal.

She’s become my world,

everything that I hold dear;

She’s given every piece of her

and losing it’s my greatest fear.

Getting lost that day was

the best thing to happen to me;

‘Cause I walked into that bookstore

and the rest was history.”

More girls sighed—present company
included.

And he wrote it for
me
.

Luke cleared his throat and closed the
book.

Jake raised his hand and popped a bubble
noisily.

“Jake?” Tweezer called.

“Who’d you write it for?”

The whole class turned to look at him like
he’s stupid. Probably because he is.

Luke shook his head. “I feel sorry for
you.”

He’d managed to take my breath away, and he
does that so often. I was blinking back tears.

“Oh my God!” Jenna gushed, fanning herself
with her notebook. “Look up ‘Casanova’ in the dictionary and
you’ll, like, see a picture of this guy!” She looked over at her
clique, and they nodded in agreement. “Seriously, I should start
going to bookstores!”

Actually, I could’ve used a trip to the
bookstore myself. I thought, if he still doesn’t talk to me after
this, some books will surely cheer me up.

For a while, anyway.

Tweezer gestured for Luke to sit, and he
fell into his chair beside me. He leaned back, put a foot up on the
edge of the desk and crossed his arms. His other leg pressed
against mine—it felt quite intentional.

Our eyes locked for a moment. Then he went
back to writing in his book. And honestly, I probably wanted to
read
that
book more than any other.

Because the sneak peek was freakin’
awesome
.

~ ~ ~

He was still absorbed in his writing when the bell
rang, so I packed my things slowly and, with a heavy heart, headed
for the door. He’d only looked up once through the rest of class,
and that was to check his email. Of course Tweezer told him to put
his phone away.

Overall the class wasn't a
total
disappointment—he
did
say he’s going to marry me,
“someday.”

Lilly was engrossed in her thoughts during
archaeology. I mean
really
engrossed.

Did she realize she was chewing the head off
her flamingo?

“What’s wrong?” I whispered as the teacher
wrapped up lecture.

She shrugged. “Nothing.”

“Happy about Gino?” I asked, though I sensed
that’s not what her mind was on.

She ran her fingers through her hair. “You
know it. And I’m moving to British Columbia with you.”

I grinned. “And Luke.”

She crinkled her nose. “And Luke,” she
confirmed.

“And Troy…”

Our eyes met. Hers were hesitant.

Of course she was saved by the bell.

“It’s just that my favorite bikini won’t be
getting the sun it deserves,” she whined as we stepped into the
hall.

“They have swimming pools there,” I noted,
heading for my locker.

“I guess you’re right,” she said, biting a
half pink, half white fingernail.

“And there will be hot guys there,” I
teased, referring to the ones we hang around.

The number of hunks we’ve adopted over the
past six months have increased considerably. I mean not that Lilly
can’t get any guy she wants, but I never expected
hunks
to
be found in our school, or even our town.

She sighed wistfully. “I know.”

I stopped at my locker and glimpsed at her
before I opened it. She looked up dreamily, like living in a
fantasy.

“I’m glad you got Gino back,” I said,
turning the combination lock. “He’s a great guy.”

She licked her lips. “He’s going to be a
handsome doctor.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I know where you’ll get
your
check-ups.”

She giggled. “He can practice on me in med
school!”

“Maybe just not using a scalpel,” I added. I
peeked over at her and giggled.

“Ew!” She crossed her arms and looked around
the hall. Traffic had died down, as it was time for fourth period.
“Where’s Lukasz?”

I sighed. “Did you see his book?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Uh, no…”

“
Journal
,” I said. “I guess you can
call it a journal.”

“Oh,” she said. “That leather thing?”

I nodded. “That leather thing.”

“Yeah, he’s been scribbling stuff in it for
class, he says, trying to remember things from the old days. Or
something like that.”

“He read a poem about meeting me in the
bookstore,” I said, my heart fluttering. “Right there in class. He
didn’t care what anyone had to say, he shared it freely. It made me
melt.” My gaze fell to my feet. “Then class was over, and he kept
writing.”

When I looked up, Lilly chewed her gum,
unimpressed. “Lukasz doesn’t care much what other people think, so
I’m not surprised. He’s more of a leader. I guess you have to be,
if you want to be an Olympian,” she said, with a roll of the
eyes.

Just thinking about him made my heart ache,
and it ached more that he still wasn’t talking to me.

“Hey, baby,” Gino wrapped an arm around
Lilly. “I’m here to escort you to class.”

She coiled her arms around his neck and
grinned. “You’re such a gentleman!”

“Oh, yeah?” Gino asked, his eyes locking
with mine. “Am I also charming and sweet?”

She pulled his head down. “One of the most
charming and sweetest guys I know.”

“
One
of?”

She giggled and kissed him.

~ ~ ~

Since I didn’t have anyone to kiss, I went to the
mall. And because school wasn’t officially out yet, the place was
pretty dead, aside from college girls, grandmas, and spendy
housewives. Seriously, there were easily ten women for every guy in
the place!

Upon entering the bookstore, I was greeted
by the tall, nerdy clerk who I swear
lives
there. Honestly,
sometimes I wonder if his work hours are even legal!

“Hey,” he said, grinning as I strolled by.
“We got some new books in.” He pointed to the Young Adult section
in back.

“Awesome! Thanks.” I walked past him and he
fell into his rotating chair behind the counter. It seemed
ninety-five percent of his job consisted of reading, so I guess his
work schedule isn’t
that
bad.

I wondered how many bookstores there are in
Prince George, because I like my fix.

There were no giggly girls, as they were
still in school, so I was relieved. I could at least read in peace
and quiet.

I skimmed the shelves to see what was new.
To my absolute delight, there were several new arrivals with some
really promising guys on the covers—although none of them were
quite as hot as the guy I dated.

And how many girls can actually say
that?

I sighed and sat myself on the base of a
shelf in the back of the store. I’d picked up a book titled
Chase Her
into Tomorrow
; though from the look of the
super sexy Olympic medal-winning runner on the cover, I had the
feeling the chase wouldn’t be too long.

I read for a while, and found that I really
enjoyed the book. The only thing that bugged me was the
protagonist's name—Anita Bath. And curiously, the hot guy on the
cover’s name was Mayo Berger. I’m not sure even his
hotness
makes up for that…

Needless to say, I was intrigued.

As I debated the plausibility of this
book—in which an Olympic runner could not bring himself to outrun
this girl who doesn’t even like
gym class
—something caught
my eye.

I peeked over my book at a guy strolling
through the tiny aisles. He wore blue jeans and a black tank top
under a crisp leather jacket. His hair was blond, his look was
suave, his eyes were sexy. When they brushed mine, I looked
away.

I fixed my eyes to page fifty-three. I
couldn’t keep them off of him for too long, though, so after a
moment, I looked back up curiously.

His lips formed a crooked smile as his eyes
brushed mine again.

To my surprise, he stopped in the dating
aisle. Those amazing frosty blue eyes locked with mine as he
reached for a book. Then he looked away, lifted it up and buried
his face in it: