Betting on You

26

t w e n t y s i x

"So.. what did you talk about today?"

I shrugged my shoulders as I tugged on the seatbelt, fastening it over myself before letting out a sigh through my nose, "Usual stuff, I guess."

Dad gave me an odd glance before he started the car, pulling out of his parking space and exiting the lot. He never really was the one to drop me or pick me up from my appointments with Dr. Shay, but my mother was preoccupied and had tasked him with this job.

"Where's mom today?" I asked as the silence lingered a little too long to be comfortable, glancing to see him dressed in a dress shirt and nice pants. I frowned at his attire, "Are you going somewhere?"

"We are going somewhere," he hums softly, making a left and merging onto the main road in the direction of our house, "We have dinner over at the Hemmings house tonight, remember?"

I clenched my jaw and turned towards the window casually, my brows furrowing, "Uh, no. I don't remember."

"It's in the family calendar."

"No one but you uses the family calendar, dad," I groan, slumping in my seat, "Do I have to go to this dinner tonight? I'm not feeling so well."

He can see through my act without even looking at me, "You're fine, Madeline, we both know it," he gave me a quick glance as he made a right turn, "Did you and Luke break up or something?"

My cheeks turned bright red and I turned towards him, "Luke and I are not dating!" I defended, "You and mom need to get off of that stupid bandwagon."

"Hey! Not stupid!" He chuckles, brushing a hand across the growing stubble on his chin, "Luke is a respectful young gentleman, and the only boy I'll ever approve for you."

"And he's the son of you and mom's best friends," I rolled my eyes, knowing his antics, "For the last time, Luke and I are just friends."

Again, it felt odd lying to him and saying that we were only friends. For the past four years, we hadn't been but were good at being on our best behavior for our parents when we had dinners or barbeques together. Right now though, if he knew what Luke and I had been doing behind closed doors...

I cleared my throat as my father let out another chuckle, "Hm. Harmony will be happy to hear that, then."

Again, my eyes went wide as I stared at him, "Dad!"

"Contrary to popular belief, I'm not oblivious, Madeline," he gives me a knowing look, one that makes me think he's referring to what Luke and I have been up too, but I force myself to think that he is just talking about Harmony, "And speaking of, I expect the two of you to be on your best behaviors tonight. Especially with Ben and Jack coming in."

At the names of Luke's two older brothers, and they mention that they were coming in for dinner tonight, I frowned. Luke never mentioned that they were coming in, nor did he mention this dinner that we were having, but then again, we hadn't spoken in almost a week.

"I didn't know Ben and Jack were in town," I shrug casually, "When did they get in?"

Both of Luke's brothers were off at different universities, off doing their own thing and living their own lives. Ben, the eldest of the three, was older than Luke by four years, Jack being the middle child and older by three. They came around often for summer family barbeques between our two families, and I got on with them quite well seeing as we would bond over making fun of Luke. Like the rest of our families, neither brother was aware of Luke and I no longer being friends.... at least, that's what I'd assumed for the past four years. Yet, seeing as Luke had told Michael, Calum, and Ashton about us, I had no doubt that the brothers might've been pretending they didn't know we hated each other.