“Can’t forget you,” he said, starting up the truck again. “Let’s do this.” He smiled, squeezing my thigh.
Luke walked into his grandma’s room and I stood in the entryway. He gently kissed her on the cheek and spoke loudly to her. “Hi Gram! You look beautiful today, how are you feeling?”
“Oh. Oh. Hi Michael! You let your hair grow out!” She giggled.
“No grandma it’s me Luke! I must look like dad today, huh?” He grinned at her and handed her the bouquet of flowers. “I got these for you! And hey, I have someone I’d like you to meet!” He glanced over at me and motioned for me to come in. I stood by Luke’s side and his grandmother looked me up and down. “This is my girlfriend Sutton.” He said.
“Hi Cindy; it’s so nice to meet you.” A big smile came across her face and she put my hand in hers. Her hands were wrinkled. She had short white hair.
“The pleasure is mine, Sutton. Nice job Luke; she’s a gem.” She winked at him. “It’s so nice of you both to come visit me today. Are you hungry; it’s almost lunch time here? We’re having turkey dinner. It’s delicious! Oh and it’s a beautiful day out; we could go for a walk after lunch! What do you think, Jenny?” Cindy looked over at me and my heart started beating fast. Luke must’ve noticed my nerves because he chimed right in.
“Okay grandma! That sounds great; why don’t we go find a seat in the cafeteria?” He carefully helped her stand up out of the chair and wrapped his arm around hers for the journey to get some lunch.
We got to the cafeteria and ate some mediocre turkey dinner. Cindy let us in on all the gossip of the home. For someone with memory issues, she remembered an awful lot about her peers. I knew that Michelle was rude, Danny didn’t cut his nails and Elizabeth and Walter were hooking up.
When we finished up lunch, we went out back where there was a beautiful courtyard. The birds were chirping and the sun was shining and as I looked over at Luke, he radiated happiness. Everytime he looked at Cindy, I could see the love in his eyes. There was something about him that was just so genuine and unique. After a little while, he caught me gazing at him and looked over at me with the same look in his eyes. My heart beat fast, like it was about to jump out of my chest and a feeling of warmth came over me. Luke loved his grandma, Cindy. Luke loved me.
Chapter 5:
I sat on the counter at the Pizza Shack counting the money from the cash register. That had kind of become my thing. As I counted, Luke wiped tables and stacked chairs. Music blasted through the speakers and he serenaded me. A knock on the pull down door startled us. Luke lifted it up and there stood the ice cream guy.
“Luke, dude. I figured you’d still be here. Hi Sutton.” He gave me a wave.
“Mikey!” Luke yelled back. “What’s up?”
“Fire tonight in the woods. By the bridge. You and your lady in?”
Luke licked his lips and looked over at me. “Maybe dude. I’m not sure what we’re up to tonight.”
“Hope to see you there!” He dapped Luke up and Luke pulled the door down again.
I finished counting the stack I had in front of me and looked over at Luke. “All set, everything adds up!” I said cheerfully.
“Awesome.” Luke high fived me.
“So are we going to that fire in the woods?” I asked matter of fact.
“I don’t know.” Luke rubbed the back of his neck with his palm. “I don’t go out often but when I do I just kind of chill there and watch everyone else get drunk. I usually end up babysitting people too, since I don’t really drink. Do you want to go?” He asked looking over at me.
“I’ve actually never been to a party,” I replied.
Luke’s eyes got wide. “Never?”
“Never.” I replied. “They normally make me anxious and I don’t drink so it’s just not my scene.”
Luke nodded. “I get that completely. Hey it’s throwback night at the drive-in if you want to check that out.”
“Let’s go to that fire.”
“Why?” Luke gave me a confused look. “You just said parties make you anxious.”
“Because it’s something I think I should experience with you,” I replied.
Luke’s confused look turned to a grin. “Okay baby, but we really don’t have to.”
“I know,” I said, kissing him gently.
We followed the route to get to the bridge. Once we got there, we crossed it. I immediately heard the lull of music in the distance. Luke held my hand and guided me. He was still wearing his Pizza Shack uniform, including the hat, backwards. I had on my light cut off shorts and his Nike sweatshirt.
We dodged a few tree branches and the music got louder. I could smell the fire burning and as the trees opened up, the orange embers were in front of me. There were long logs placed around the fire and a ground of about twelve people were sitting on them, surrounding it. There were also lots of people standing around nearby.
“Is that the ghost of Luke Mellows?” Mikey yelled. Luke laughed, still holding my hand leading me past the fire.
There was a plastic table with two kegs on it. Luke took a solo cup and started filling it. He set it on the table and then started filling another one. “Oh Luke, I
