FicWad

“I like your house.” Kelly said looking around the living room. Her eyes lit on several framed photos on a nearby shelf. She crossed the room to take a closer look. “Is this your mom?”
Luke followed her. “Yeah, that’s her.” His tone was flat.
Kelly met his eyes, “You miss her?”
He shrugged. “Sometimes I guess but we get along fine without her.” He walked over to the sofa and sat down. He didn’t want to talk about his mother or the fact that she hadn’t just walked out on her husband she had walked out on him and his brother. The hurt was still there and he preferred to ignore it.
Kelly walked over and sat down next to him. “Sorry.”
“For?”
“I can tell you don’t like to talk about your mom. I’m sorry I asked.”
Luke sighed, “It’s really no big deal. She calls every couple of months. Dad used to talk about her all the time. He’d say shit like I’m sure she’ll be home soon. After a couple of years he finally just stopped talking about her all together.”
“Does she live near here?”
“Last time I heard she’s somewhere in California. I didn’t talk to her Tom did.”
“So when do I get to meet your brother?”
Luke laughed, “Trust me you don’t wanna meet him.”
“Why not?”
“Tom is a fuck up. He can’t keep a job and he’s always high. Dad keeps threatening to throw him out but he never does.”
Kelly moved closer to Luke. She tried to think of something to talk about that was happier. “See my idea of skipping wasn’t so bad.”
“Yeah, well it’s not bad unless we get caught. Then you’ll think it was fucking bad.”
“No I won’t. I’m getting to spend time alone with you. I’m never gonna think that’s bad.”
Luke put his arm around her. “Look, I just don’t want you to get into trouble. Cause believe me if you do everyone will say it’s my fault. Next thing you know your mom will say you can’t see me.”
“She wouldn’t say that.” Kelly said leaning over and kissing his cheek.
Luke laughed, “Man, what color is the sky in your world?”
“You just worry too much.” She kissed him again this time on the lips. The kiss went on for several minutes until Luke pulled away.
“What’s wrong?” Kelly asked sounding hurt.
“Look I already told you. I don’t trust myself alone with you.” He smiled. “You’re too fucking tempting.”
Kelly smiled. “I’m tempting?’
“Fuck yeah, Sunshine.”
“So is that bad?” Kelly asked before she kissed his neck.
Luke leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “You know what you’re doing to me, don’t you?”
Kelly continued to kiss his neck. “Yeah” she said softly.
Luke suddenly grabbed her and kissed her hard. His hands caressed her back. Kelly moaned softly and he stopped.
“What?”
“It’s not right. I don’t want it to be like this for us.”
Kelly was confused, “You don’t want me?”
“Fuck yeah I want you.” He answered angrily. “I’m fucking sure you can feel how much I want you.” He looked down at her hand lying in his lap.
“Then what’s wrong?”
He tried to explain, “You’re not like any other girl I’ve been with. I didn’t think twice about having sex with them.”
Kelly had assumed he had had sex before but hearing him say it still hurt. “I still don’t understand.” She said looking down.
He put his fingers under her chin and raised her face to his, “You’re special to me. I don’t want anything to fuck up what we have.”
“And making love would fuck it up?”
“Sunshine, I didn’t know we’d be alone today. I’ve got no protection. I won’t chance having sex with you without it.” He looked deep into her eyes, “And I don’t really think you’re ready for it.”
In truth she wasn’t sure herself. As much as she loved Luke she still wasn’t sure she was ready to have sex. “But I thought you’d want to. I mean cause, well you know.” She took a breath and tried to explain, “I mean I figured you’d probably done it so I guess I just figured you’d think it should happen between us.”
Luke shook his head slowly, “I told you once. I’ll never do anything you don’t want me to do. You don’t want this to happen between us, at least not yet. It’s okay.”
Kelly smiled slightly, “How did you know?”
“I can tell. Don’t ever do anything you don’t want to just to make me happy.”
They sat quietly for several minutes. Kelly broke the silence.
“So what are we gonna do?”
Luke smiled, “I could show you some of my drawings, I guess.”
“I’d like that.” Kelly said smiling.
He stood, “Come on, Sunshine.” He took her hand and let her to his bedroom. She was surprised it looked so bare. There was the bed, a bedside table with a lamp and a desk. He laughed, “Looks like a barren wasteland, don’t it?”
“Well sorta.”
“I spend most of my time downstairs in the family room. That’s were the video games and shit is.” He went to the desk and pulled open the top drawer. “Have a seat.”
Kelly sat down on the bed and watched him. He took out a sketchbook then walked over to sit down next to her. “You can look through this if you want.”
She took the sketchbook from him and began to slowly turn the pages. “These are so good. When she got to the third drawing she stopped. “When did you draw this?”
Luke looked uncomfortable. “Awhile back.”
Kelly continued to stare at the drawing. “I remember the day I wore this sweater. I only wore it once, it was Kara’s and she got really pissed at me about wearing it” She turned to look into his eyes, “I was dating Mike then.”
“Yeah, you were.”
“You drew a picture of me back then?”
“I’ve been drawing pictures of you since the first time I saw you.” He said softly.
Kelly looked back down at the drawing. “But you said you hated me then.”
“I hated that you were with Mike. I couldn’t understand why you would be with such a douche.”
She turned the page but her mind was still on the drawing of herself. “Why didn’t you ever talk to me?”
He laughed, “Yeah, right. I was gonna talk to the girlfriend of the quarterback. Shit, I didn’t think you’d have talked to me back then anyway.”
“I would have.” She said meaning the words.
“I know that now.” He couldn’t resist kissing her. She looked so innocent, so beautiful, so tempting. As the kiss deepened the sketchbook fell to the floor. Neither of them noticed. Soon they had fallen back onto the bed. The kiss ended when the doorbell rang.
Luke shot up. “Who the fuck is that?”
Kelly sat up and straightened her clothing, She watched Luke walk out of the room. Briefly she wondered if she should follow him. When she heard the voice that spoke to Luke she got up quickly and walked towards the living room.
“Where is she?” Gerard said
Luke took a step back from the door so that Gerard could enter. He spotted Kelly standing in the hallway door. “Come on, let’s go.” He said in a controlled tone.
“How did you find me?” Kelly asked
“The school called. Someone ratted you two out as soon as you left the school. I called Kara and found out where Luke lived.”
“Does Mom know?” Kelly asked walking towards Gerard.
“Yeah, she knows. She wanted to come over here but I talked her into letting me come.”
“Shit” Kelly muttered.
“It’s my fault. I talked her into skipping.” Luke said suddenly.
Gerard shot him a look, “Bad move.”
Luke squared his shoulders and met his stare.
“He’s lying. It was my idea to skip.”
Luke shook his head. “Don’t”
Gerard looked over at Kelly, “Look, I don’t give a shit who’s idea it was right now. I need to get you home before your mother does ballistic.” He looked back at Luke; “We’ll talk about this later.”
Luke nodded.
Kelly followed Gerard to the car. She gave Luke a shaky smile before they drove off.
“What were you thinking?” Gerard asked trying to control his temper.
“I guess I wasn’t,” She admitted. “What are you gonna tell mom?”
“You mean am I gonna tell her you came out of Luke’s bedroom?”
Kelly looked down at her hands, “He was showing me some of his drawings.”
“Kell, come on. I could tell I intruded something. Man, I thought you were smarter than this.”
She looked over at him. “I’m not but Luke is. It was my idea to skip, not his.” She paused then added, “And nothing happened.”
Gerard wanted to believe her, “Look you gotta understand why I’m concerned. Skipping school and going to his house to be alone.”
“It was my idea.” She said again. “Don’t be mad at Luke.”
They drove in silence the remainder of the way to the house. Monica was standing on the porch when they drove up. “Shit” Kelly said under her breath.
“You were at Luke’s?” Monica asked as the neared the porch.
Kelly nodded.
“You skipped school and went to his house?”
Once more Kelly simply nodded.
Monica looked at Gerard, “Any thoughts?”
He nodded, “Kell go on up to your room. Your mom and I need to talk.”
Silently Kelly walked into the house. Gerard put his arm around Monica and led her to the porch swing. They sat down. He kept his arm around her. “Kell’s a good kid. She just made a poor decision.”
“I don’t want her seeing Luke.” Monica said angrily.
Gerard had been expecting this. “Look the skipping was Kell’s idea.”
Monica broke in, “Is that what he said?”
“No, he tried to take the blame. Kell told me it was her idea.”
“And you believe her? You don’t think she is just covering for him?”
Gerard shook his head, “No, I don’t think so. I want to talk to him some more, don’t get me wrong I am gonna talk to him some more. But I don’t think it was his idea.”
Monica sighed, “No matter who’s idea it was it was wrong. And going to his house? I’m guessing no one else was home?”
“I don’t think so.”
“So what do we do?”
Secretly Gerard was pleased she was including him in this decision. With all that had been going on between them he wouldn’t have been surprised if she hadn’t. “Ground her I guess. Make sure she understands she can’t do this kinda shit again.”
“Will that work?”
“I hope so.” They swung for several minutes. The only sound was the repetitive squeak of the swing. Finally Monica spoke.
"What about her birthday?"
"You mean should she be grounded on her birthday? Not let Luke come over for dinner?"
Monica nodded.
"I think she should be grounded from her phone and the computer but I still think Luke should come to dinner. I wanna talk to him." Gerard said.
"Okay" She started to get up. "I'm gonna make sure Elle is still sleeping." She and Frank had fallen fast asleep right before Gerard had left to get Kelly.
Gerard grabbed her arm, "Wait, we need to talk."
Monica sat back down and waited.
"How much did you hear when Bert was here?" Subconsciously he held his breath waiting for her answer.
"You mean did I hear Bert say that Liv wants you back? Yeah, I heard." she sounded drained.
"He's wrong. He's just fucking pissed at her and trying to cause trouble."
Monica looked over at him. "She slept with him then told him he'd never be as good as you." She shook her head, "Fuck, Gee. I really think I can see why he might be pissed. Only thing is if you listen to his voice he's not pissed, he's hurt. Liv hurt him."
Gerard didn't know what to say. He has been shocked when Bert had told him about what had happened. He was still trying to wrap his brain around the information.” Look, it doesn't really matter."
Monica stood. "Think about what you just said. Liv is driving a wedge between you and Bert." She took a step back from the swing. "Just like before."
Gerard watched her walk into the house. He continued to swing alone trying to sort through all his feelings.