"So you and Luke huh?" Ed questioned nonchalantly following a solid half an hour of driving. We had exchanged casual conversation so far, but I knew that a comment about Luke was never going to be far away when Ed was involved.
"What about it?" I replied, attempting to appear disinterested in the topic of conversation.
"Don't give me that. I want the details," he requested, a grin gracing his face.
"I decided that it wasn't right leaving without talking to him first, okay?"
"It wasn't just talking from where I was sat," he mumbled almost incoherently. I rolled my eyes, having already anticipated Ed's child like antics. "Wasn't it just this morning that you were adamant talking to him was off the cards?"
"Aren't you supposed to be doing cartwheels by this point or something?"
"Oh don't get me wrong, I'm all for it, but I just wanted to know what changed?"
"I don't know," I replied honestly. "I just- I needed to know that we weren't leaving on bad terms. I never stopped caring about him, so I didn't want him thinking any different. It also hit me like a tonne of bricks that I might not be seeing him for a while to say the least, so I couldn't walk away from him like that. He didn't deserve it."
"I'm glad you saw sense, though you maybe could have timed it a bit better, instead of going all movie style on us," he laughed quietly.
"I didn't think it through okay? I just knew what I needed to do. I wasn't going to give myself anymore time to go back on my word, so I just did it."
"You talk things through?"
"Kind of, I mean we've still got a lot to talk through once all of this is over, but for the time being I really couldn't give a shit. We can't waste any more time dwelling on it. It's not important to me anymore. I know how Luke feels and that's all I should care about," I said rather bluntly.
"He really is a good guy Adelaide, I mean that," Ed commented.
"I know," I smiled. "But at the same time, the space was good between us. I feel like we needed some time apart to just try and understand what was going on."
"I can understand that," Ed said with a small nod of his head. "You really are all that he's had recently Adelaide." I tilted my head toward him, catching his features morphing into a much more serious demeanour. "Since he left his father, he's had no family, he had to start again. I mean I hadn't heard from him for four years until we spoke in New York. Hell, I thought the guy was dead for first few months after he'd left, we all did. But we'd underestimated him. Everyone had."
"They still do," I added, not lifting my gaze from my palms.
"Which is why you shouldn't worry about him tonight, he knows what he's doing-"
"He's not the only one. Legrenzi for sure has a plan."
"Yeah and his involves you being the only one in the house, with no protection. For once we're one step ahead of him, so Luke having a plan can actually count for something this time round. I also gathered that Luke told you to prepare for the worst right? That's what got you so upset?"
"I'm just worried about him, and him talking about moving on without him, if anything was to happen just tipped me over the edge. I can't cope with all of this like he can."
"You don't have to hide how you feel Adelaide. Everyone is on edge, they've just been taught not to show it, especially Luke, but even he's finding this hard to say the least. When was the last time you saw a guy like that cry?" Ed paused for a minute, but didn't expect a response. "When he's with you it's a different story completely. Why else would have left so quickly earlier? He didn't want any more time to process the fact that you were leaving and clearly weren't in the best state. Knowing him, he's gone and busied himself with work. You're all he has to focus on, so seeing you like that, well it breaks him. You've spent this whole time getting agitated over the fact that he felt the need to be responsible for you, because you took it as a possession thing-"
