Not the Only One (Book 1 in the Four of Us Trilogy)

Twenty-Eight

Luke

I really need to be asleep considering I have to be up in six hours for school...but all I have thought about since I drug myself away from the school parking lot this afternoon was Brooke. I mean, Jesus. That was a hell of a first kiss. I never expected to have a kiss that good in my life, let alone for the first time. To describe the feeling in the pit of my stomach as butterflies seemed like an extreme understatement.

But I as I lay here and stare at the ceiling, still shivering from the cold shower I took an hour ago, the nagging part of my brain that's used to being humiliated is trying to take over.

This is all a big joke, Salazar. You know that, right? A girl like Brooke Kane would never actually like you. Hell, her and Miles are probably conspiring to make fools of both you and Rachel.

I stopped my inner monologue there. There was no way Miles' feelings for Rachel were an act. I'd had beginning theater arts with him freshman year; he was a terrible actor. I'd seen the way he looked at her—it was nauseatingly adorable, and as much as it pains me to say it, I liked them together. She really seemed to make him think about not being a total douchebag. And since she'd been dating him, she'd been more out of her shell than I'd seen her since elementary school.

My phone dinged from my nightstand and I looked over in surprise. Who the hell was texting me this late? I reached over and snagged it.

hey Luke

It was Brooke. My heart sped up.

Hey Brooke...you're still awake too, huh?

yeah...can't really sleep for thinking about what we did this afternoon

Do you regret it?

The three dots appeared, then disappeared, then appeared again, making my heart beat out of rhythm as I waited for her response. Finally, my phone beeped again.

hell no, are you crazy? I've been thinking about how much I wanna do it again!

I blushed, even though I was in my room alone.

Oh...well, me too, actually.

well, then, let's make it happen. not tonight, obviously...but soon

It's a date. Listen, Brooke, I have to ask you something.

kay, what is it?

Why do you like me?

Again with the fucking three dots.

why do i like you? jeez, how am i supposed to answer that?

I don't know...like I said earlier... it's so hard to believe that someone like you would actually like me.

well you can believe it buddy bc it's true

Haha..come on Brooke. Do this for me, please.

all right all right...i like you because you're different. you're smart. you're funny. you don't care what other people think. not to mention you're sexy as hell.

Aw, shucks. But I do have one more question. Why did you ignore me all those years?

now that, i don't have an answer to. not a good one anyway. Rachel always tried to tell me how cool you were, but i guess i just didn't want to give you a chance bc that's not what the 'cool kids' were doing... and there's no excuse for that honestly. and there's no excuse for the way people (miles) treated you, but Luke, you have to admit, you didn't make it easy for people to approach you.

I sighed. I knew she was right, but I'd held onto so much animosity for so long, it was hard to let go of it. When I didn't answer, she texted me again.

i'm sorry Luke... i shouldn't have said that.

No no...you're absolutely right.

I am?

Yeah.

I yawned... I was finally getting sleepy.

I'm going to go to sleep now... I have a Calculus quiz in the morning. Goodnight, Brooke...and thank you.

for what?

For giving me a chance.

you know what, Luke? I could say the same to you. Goodnight.

Rachel

I have been tossing and turning since I laid down at 10:00, and I have yet to even doze off. I cannot stop thinking about how Miles' father behaved at the baseball game today. Someone needed to tell him off...but who? Obviously Miles couldn't, because he'd get clobbered. But someone needs to put that man in his place.

Seeing Miles treated that way made me sick to my stomach. And I knew if Miles and I continued seeing each other, I'd have to meet him at some point. And that terrified me. I didn't want to be anywhere near him; I didn't want Miles to be anywhere near him either.

So something had to give. Maybe my presence would change his dad's behavior...Miles said that when his mom was alive, his dad never hit him. Maybe a female presence would make a difference.

I flopped over onto my stomach, one arm hanging off the side of the bed and the other tucked under my pillow.

As I lay there, I knew in my heart that I would continue seeing Miles.

There wasn't anything else in the world I'd rather do.