CHAPTER THREE
Cupcake
With Luke wedged in between mine and Sasha’s two seater sofa and our moderately flimsy bookshelf, I took it upon myself to enjoy the view. He appeared somewhat stuck and instead of helping, I simply sat back and silently giggled.
"You know for someone who hates horror movies, you have a rather impressive collection!" he shouted, oblivious to my presence only feet away.
I quickly threw the bag of premade popcorn on the coffee table and situated myself at the end of the arm rest, looking down on him with amused eyes.
"Most of those are Dan's, he liked horrors," I said, reaching for the remote control to turn down the racket on the television. “He never did come back to collect them,” I added, neither here nor there with regards to my ex not collecting his DVD’s after our breakup roughly one year ago.
Luke snapped his head to the side and eyed me suspiciously, his shimmering blues meeting my boring browns in an apologetic plea.
"Why not get rid of them?" he cautiously asked, standing up from his lying down position to grab the unopened bag of popcorn. “You doing the honours or shall I?” he then questioned, gaze set firmly on our mid-movie snack.
“You can,” I smiled, rather enjoying his abruptness towards food. “And I dunno why I never binned them. Maybe my next boyfriend will enjoy horror movies?” I suggested, certainly not missing his unease towards my saying so. “You don’t like him, do you?”
“Who?”
“Dan,” I replied, sensing his immediate disgust.
Point proven.
“No, I don’t. He’s a wanker.”
His adopted tone was really rather brutal, if not completely shocking, and the fact that Luke rarely got angry was enough to have me wanting to change the subject matter altogether.
“But you and him were such good friends,” I laughed, hopeful that a joke would help lighten the mood.
Dan was in the year above us at University and was my boyfriend for a total of one year before life oh-so-kindly decided to get in the way. He was offered a job in Scotland shortly after he graduated and it was simply an opportunity he couldn't refuse. It all happened very suddenly, and although the possibility of joining him was never really brought up to begin with, I would’ve rejected the idea anyway. Leaving Luke was strictly a no-go area, and I wasn’t willing to just uproot my entire life to follow him blindly. I couldn’t transfer my course at such short notice, and even though I was used to the weather being miserable, I was hardly jumping at the prospect of moving to sunny Scotland. That, and the unhealthy cannabis habit he’d picked up was weighting heavy on my mind. Sure, smoking the odd spiff at Uni was hardly something to get worried over, but I didn’t like how reliant he had become on it. In fact, I had been toying with the idea of breaking things off between us for a while, but it seemed fate intervened before I got the chance.
We didn’t stay in touch afterwards which was probably a blessing in disguise. Our relationship wasn’t perfect by any means, but he was my first proper boyfriend, meaning getting over him was a struggle. Had it not been for the constant support provided by Luke and Sasha, I would’ve eaten my own bodyweight in chocolate and drowned in my own tears during the months that followed.
“I’m sorry. That was a dick thing to say,” he whispered, bringing me from my thoughts by carefully shoving his hand in mine. “You okay, cupcake?”
He took a seat next to me on the sofa, and flung a careless arm around my shoulders as a way of forcing me into a side hug. He then landed the softest of kisses on my forehead, possibly sensing my sudden decline in mood. I may have been over Dan, but it didn’t make what happened any easier.
“I’m fine. Boys are just stupid, remember?” I smiled, referring back to a fond memory I had of Luke and me, two days after my disaster of a seventeenth birthday party.
FLASHBACK
(Maya)
"Maya, please let me in or I’ll break your fucking door down!"
Luke's outraged voice sounded from the other side of my bedroom door, accompanied by his ever persistent knocking and desperate pleas. Ignoring him, I buried my face further into my pillow and quietly sobbed, more than feeling sorry for myself after the morning’s devastating discovery.
"Just go away. I want to be left alone," I cried, throwing each angry word though the door.
Humiliation crippled me from the inside and threatened to be my undoing if I didn’t sort myself out soon. I felt sick at just the thought, yet couldn’t seem to pull myself around.
It wasn’t until the hammering stopped and I heard Luke puff out a tired breath that I realised I didn’t actually want him to leave.
“I’m sorry,” I whimpered, slumping back down in defeat.
I covered my eyes with my palms and subjected myself to yet more tears, courtesy of Jake-fucking-Richardson; number one dickhead as far as I was concerned. Two days ago, at my seventeenth birthday party, I lost my virginity to him. Afterwards, instead of falling madly in love like I so badly wanted, I found out the act was played out as a twisted dare whereby he received fifty quid for his efforts.
“Maya, let me in.”
I was startled yet again by Luke’s pleading tone next to my window. The idiot climbed up my drain pipe in a last minute attempt to gain access to my bedroom and I couldn’t help but laugh at his optimistic face and cheesy grin; both finishing factors in my sudden bout of giggles.
“You’re all sorts of crazy, Lucas Anderson!” I chastised, pulling him over the threshold by the sleeve of his school blazer.
He was even wearing a backpack, which was really rather impressive considering the climb he’d just undergone.
"You’re not wrong there,” he smirked, dusting himself off. “I got you a present, do you wanna see it?"
“No, I don’t want any presents. I just want to go back to Saturday night and undo everything!” I sobbed, pathetically.
Seeing me in such a state of distress seemed to only anger him further, and caused him to pull my body flush against his in a desperate attempt to hug. He refused to give in to my childish demands and whilst rejecting my desires to get back into bed, allowed for his backpack to fall to the floor. He pulled away just long enough to dig out whatever it was he wanted to give me.
“Jake Richardson is a tosser who doesn’t deserve your precious tears,” he angrily growled, still fishing around in his bag.
I seated myself down at the edge of my bed and watched as his face contorted in deep concentration, masked by his flushed cheeks and adorable left cheek dimple. He was still wearing his reading glasses, no doubt after an intense revision session. They slipped down the bridge of his nose slightly, though he didn’t stop to readjust them. It was upon seeing this that I noticed his eyes had adopted a rather bluish, greyish colouring; something which only happened when he was annoyed.
“Here, I hope I didn’t squash it,” he smiled, presenting me with a square box, labelled ‘Lola’s Cupcakes’.
Before I had the chance to open it, Luke positioned himself next to me and using his thumbs, wiped away my fallen tears.
“No more crying, ok?” he whispered, signalling towards the box still situated in my hands.
I nodded my head, and pealed open the lid, revealing a single, purple cupcake with the words ‘BOYS ARE STUPID’ iced on top. Instantly smiling at the thoughtful gesture, I tilted my head to the side and noticed straight away his amused grin.
“You’re a boy and you’re not stupid,” I told him, carefully laying the cupcake away from me.
I almost sent his glasses flying across the room as I hugged him, but I didn’t care one bit. I needed his touch like I needed my next breath and nothing was going to stop me.
Not even his ability to see!
“I feel so sick, Luke. I gave him my virginity and it’s something I can never get back,” I whispered, failing miserably at keeping the no-more-tears at bay.
“I know Maya and I broke his fucking nose for it. He won’t bother you again, I’ll make sure of it,” he soothed, caressing my hair in a comforting motion.
I jerked away from our embrace and stared at him, wide-eyed.
“You broke his nose?” I squealed, not quite managing the task of hiding my unforgiving amusement.
Now that was something I wish I could’ve seen.
Luke offered me a proud smile and nodded his head, once again, removing all moisture from my eyes using his thumbs.
“Yeah, he cried like a little bitch afterwards, too,” he smirked, drawing a giggle from my chapped lips.
He soon joined in and before I knew it, I was flat on my back, gasping for air as images of Jake wailing in pain flooded my mind.
“Oh Luke, I do love you,” I admitted, sobering up enough to voice out my sincere gratitude.
He halted his own laughter and laid down next to me, brushing his arm along my side as he went about doing so.
“I love you too, cupcake.”
Yet another giggle escaped my lips; this one sounding more strained as I attempted to gain full composure.
“Cupcake?” I questioned, twisting myself around to face him. “Is that my new nickname?” I asked, pushing the frames of his glasses back up his nose and offering the tip a quick ‘bop’ with my forefinger.
“Yeah,” he confirmed. “Do you like it?” he then asked, simultaneously scrunching up his face in utter disgust when discovering his glasses were still firmly attached.
He quickly reached up and practically snatched them away.
“I don’t hate it,” I admitted, taking hold of his glasses and positioning them over my own eyes. “I don’t know why you hate wearing these. I think they make you look cute,” I stated, fully sitting up and turning my body. “Do I suit them?” I asked, holding my pose as Luke seemingly weighed up his response.
“Yeah, you suit them. They make you look smart for once.”
I scoffed at his remark and threw my pillow at his head, utterly outraged by his backhanded compliment.
“You’re supposed to be making me feel better!” I scolded, removing his glasses and returning them to him.
He gracefully accepted and proceeded to shove them in his bag; out of sight, out of mind.
“That’s what the cupcake is for,” he defended, stretching up to retrieve the opened box. “Hmm, delicious!” he moaned, offering me a cheeky wink to go with it.
“Give me a bite, then!” I demanded, plonking myself next to him and taking a chunk.
I made sure I got an even ratio of sponge to icing, “Hmm, do you know what? This cupcake is more satisfying than what sex with Jake was,” I laughed, causing poor Luke to choke on his mouthful.
“Bloody hell Maya, that’s hilarious,” he complimented, resuming his laying down position once all coughing had stopped. “You know, in my mind, you don’t lose your virginity unless you orgasm,” he added, locking his gaze onto mine. “So technically, you’re still a virgin,” he concluded, nicking a bit of purple icing and smearing it on his tongue.
Telling Luke everything, I may have mentioned how Jake failed to give me the big O and to say he was outright mortified for me would’ve been an understatement.
“Some man he was,” he concluded, still holding onto some of that anger.
That’s Luke for you; always looking out for my best interests.
Orgasms included!
A soft squeeze of the hand was all it took to bring me back to reality; the ice blue in Luke’s concerned eyes gently reminding me of my surroundings.
"I lost you for a moment there. Everything okay?”
He slowly repositioned his head closer to mine and searched my expression for any tell-tale signs of distress.
“I’m fine,” I insisted, keen to ease his mind slightly. “Just remembering how I came to get that nickname,” I added, nudging his shoulder with my own.
“Cupcake? You like that one, don’t you?” he asked, blessing me with that cheesy grin of his.
He knew it was a personal favourite of mine. Having had many fun adventures with Luke throughout the years, it went without saying I had accumulated lots of nicknames along the way. Some sweet, some not so much.
“You know I do,” I admitted, throwing myself into the space between his neck and shoulder; something I liked to call the Luke cave.
It was warm, safe and never failed to bless me with his signature smell of vanilla and lavender; a familiarity that had grown to comfort me in more ways than one. We often snuggled like this, finding the act relaxing and nice in a totally platonic way. It was difficult for others to accept our close friendship for what it was and had more often than not caused problems for us in the past. Dan and I used to fight about Luke a lot and I think to some extent; it was the reason behind my many years of bullying at school. Girls would flock to Luke like a fly on shit and seeing as his top priority was always me, I wasn’t well liked. The occasional mean comment and mediocre threats were often dished out, though nothing could’ve prepared me for the entire school getting together to humiliate me in what I thought was a special milestone in my life. Luke flipped absolute shit when he found out what Jake had done and did more than just break his nose. He managed to get everyone’s names that were involved and made sure they paid for their actions some way or another. How? I didn’t know, but just knowing he did something was reassurance enough. It was the moment I realised we were a team and as long as I had him, I’d never want or need anything else.
“Excuse me? Did you even ask to enter the cave?” he jokingly enquired, pulling me further towards his body and lying back on the sofa.
I giggled my reply, in no way trying to defend my actions.
“No. May I enter the cave?” I asked, pressing my face against his stubble-induced neck.
“I suppose so,” he moaned, secretly enjoying our back and forth.
Big softie!
“Where’s Sasha tonight? Not joining us?” he then asked, settling further into his comfy position.
“Nah, she’s doing some night class at the gym. Zumba, I think,” I replied, unmuting the TV and snuggling closer to my best friend.
Sometimes, especially when cuddled up to Luke, I really couldn’t think of anything worse than dancing around in my own sweat induced bodily fluids. Sasha had always been the most active among us and whilst Luke occasionally worked out, I did not!
“Just me and you, then,” he stated, kissing my forehead. “Perfect.”