WHERE THE GAME CHANGES
Luke drove Kota’s car in silence, and it was a couple of miles before I realized we had even moved. I was so dazed out, sure that we should have stayed behind, or gone with one of the others. I wanted to obey Kota, and yet was in shock over what was going on.
When I came out of my thoughts a little, I watched Luke driving. The afternoon sun was giving his blond hair an almost halo-like glow. “Luke,” I said quietly, looking over at him.
He turned his head slightly, locks of his blond hair falling in front of his light brown eyes. He’d gotten rid of the jacket, wearing only the T-shirt he’d worn to school with the jeans and white shoes. He had a strange look in his eyes, tired but something else, too: worry, anxiety maybe.
I wasn’t the only one worried about what was to come. Things were changing.
North had mentioned Luke didn’t adjust well to change.
Plus, Luke seemed different to me now. Maybe something had transformed the way I thought of him after yesterday, especially after finding those clothes in his closet.
I wanted to talk about him, but couldn’t figure out a way to begin.
“Isn’t there some other way we could help them?” I asked instead, determined to figure out how to talk about him later. “I feel like we should do something.”
Luke raised an eyebrow and then refocused on the road. “You’re the one who grounded me,” he said, his voice a little scratchy.
My breath caught in my throat and I choked as I spoke. “Wh—what?”
“Didn’t you tell Kota that if I was the one who did the masks, you were grounding me?” he asked. “Now we have to go sit in time out.”
I sat back in the seat and looked ahead at the road, my eyes drawn to the yellow and white lines and yet not paying attention to them. He’d confessed to Kota about the masks. It was a relief, knowing it hadn’t been Volto. But at the same time, I was disappointed. Had he been that upset with North? What about the rest of us? Wouldn’t he know we’d be worried, too? It didn’t seem like him at all.
I swallowed my urge to scold him. I needed to get on his good side and find out what was troubling him. I realized now that might be why Kota had insisted we were to stay together. Maybe getting to the bottom of this was just as important as everything else going on.
“You scared me,” I said quietly.
“Sorry,” he said. He smiled lazily and pushed his foot on the gas, going over the speed limit. “Don’t be scared. Try to forget about it. Let’s get to the diner. Maybe if it isn’t too busy, we can get in another good nap in the office.”
Was that it? Something still didn’t feel right about him being so dismissive. I wasn’t really up to working at the diner now that I was so distracted and anxious, but if North and the others were gone, we were the only ones left to take over.
When we finally got to the diner, Luke parked and we left our bags in the car. The sun was warm, but a slight breeze was setting in and there was a bite to the air. I stuffed my hands into the pockets of my light jacket.
Luke stood in front of the car, his hands in his pockets, too. “Man,” he said. “It’s a bit early for this sort of weather. I guess after Halloween, it does start to get a little cold.”
“Are you still really tired?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Got a nap in after lunch. I can make it.”
I gazed at the diner. There were only a handful of cars in the lot, and I had to guess that some of those were employees’. “Do we need to go in?”
Luke tilted his head as he focused on me, his blond locks sliding across his forehead before he swiped them back with his fingers. “Not in the mood?”
This was my chance. I could confess anything to him, but I needed to find the right place. I couldn’t talk to him at the diner where there would be customers or Uncle around. “If they don’t need us,” I said carefully, “maybe we can go get some food and just relax? Being grounded doesn’t mean we have to go work at the diner, right?”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “Maybe…”
“Are you really in the mood to wait tables?” I asked, knowing I was pushing him a little. “We just need to stick together, right? What if we went in and told Uncle to call us if it gets too busy? We can stay close by.”
Luke looked over at the diner and then at me. His lips slowly shifted up in the corners, as he pulled his phone from his pocket. “I could just call. No need to go in.”
I waved a hand at him, trying to be encouraging, hoping Uncle would be honest. I wouldn’t want Uncle to tell us it was fine if he really needed the help. “Make sure he knows that North isn’t going to make it.” Then I paused. “And…Maybe…”
He stopped pressing buttons and looked up at me. “Yeah? Something else?”
I sighed. “Make sure your Uncle knows I’m with you, and we’re going out together?”
Luke cocked an eyebrow, lowering the phone a bit as he gazed at me. “He needs to know?”
I shoved my hands deep into my pockets, stretching the material. “I was talking to North in the office yesterday, and he got after me to leave North alone and hang out with you.” As I said it, I realized too late that it sounded like I was being forced to spend time with him. I didn’t want him to think that, so I smiled and rushed to say, “Only he didn’t realize I was actually there to see if you wanted to go out. I’d asked North…you know when I called?”
“When you called…” He trailed off and then brought his phone back up look at it, but didn’t push any more buttons. “Did he give you a hard time?”
The heat of a blush trailed over my cheeks, despite the chilly air. “Your Uncle was adamant that I focus on you, and not be so friendly with North. I had to convince him that I wasn’t interested in North as anything other than a friend. And that I wanted to…to go out with you.”
His eyes lifted, meeting mine. In the sun, the dark brown turned lighter, amber mixed in. Some of his blond hair whipped around the sides of his face, framing his jawline. Out of all the guys, I’d always thought he was the most model-like with his features, lean and yet beautiful.
He stepped toward me, lowering the phone to his side, and stopped just short of stepping on my toes.
I stilled.
He tilted his head to look at me and simply stared down at me for a moment while I wondered what he was going to do next.
“I’m going to call Uncle,” he said quietly, his smooth, rich voice low and almost hard to hear. “But do we have to stay on this street?”
I didn’t want to go too far in case Uncle did need us, or perhaps Kota or the others came back. “Where do you want to go?”
“My house,” he said. “Will you come with me?”
I considered if I should suggest Nathan’s house.
I nodded enthusiastically. Maybe it was wrong to leave, but perhaps he’d feel more comfortable talking at his own house, maybe in his room. “Will we be able to get back if we need to?”
“Probably,” he said, and then stepped back and dialed the phone. He held the phone to his face and talked to Uncle. As he spoke, he walked away, facing the diner, his back to me. I could hear his voice, but not the conversation.
My body began to shake with anxious energy. I was still very concerned about the others, but we hadn’t heard from them and I assumed that meant nothing was terribly wrong. I hoped I was making the right decision to get Luke alone and away from the diner.
If I could help Luke, wouldn’t that help the team?