If the fight kept going, and I was asked to put money on who I thought would eventually come out on top, I would have undoubtedly gone with Lucas. Yeah, Julian might've started it, but Lucas would've ended it and made it look easy.
Lucas's lip, however, is bleeding pretty badly, so we're in the pool house bathroom with Lucas sitting on the toilet seat cover as I stand in front of him tending to the cut as best I can. Initially, he was leaning against the sink but with our almost one-foot height difference, that wasn't really working out.
"Ah, careful, Lil," Lucas winces, touching his lip as I dab the cut with a soaked cloth.
"It's just water," I tell him, holding up the towel so that he believes me. I reach for the antibacterial cream that some friend of Preston's helped me find inside.
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Hello Kitty?" I ask, holding up both boxes of band-aids.
"You serious?" Lucas asks, but his tone is light-hearted. "Turtles."
"You know, a real man would go with Hello Kitty," I tease as I unwrap it.
"And a real man would've knocked Julian's teeth out," Lucas counters, shaking his head. "I wish you would've let me take care of that asshole like I wanted to."
"Lucas, that would've been a recipe for disaster. And that's the last thing you need right now."
"And you would know what I need how?" he bats his grayish-blue eyes at me, and I punch him playfully in the arm with my fist.
"Don't be a jerk. I just nursed you back to life."
"Yeah, up until 3 seconds ago when you bruised my arm," he says, but I cover my mouth with my hands.
"Shit. Did I really?" I ask, inspecting it.
"Nah," he chuckles. "I'm just messing with you."
I pout at his humor and then look at him more seriously. "So, you going to tell me how you ended up here?"
"Preston and I go way back. Our dads are buddies."
"Right, Teddy mentioned it," I nod, but regret bringing up Teddy when Lucas appears annoyed by my comment.
"I want you to stay away from Julian Lyons," Lucas says, changing the subject. "I mean it, Lil."
"When are you going to stop telling me what to do?"
"When you start listening to me," he counters and then gives me a grim graze. "Please. Stay away from him."
"Okay," I say in a low tone, "I'll stay away."
"Thank you," he smiles, though it's a small one. He studies me intently and then whispers, "By the way, I didn't only come here for Preston. I actually wasn't even going to stop by."
"What changed your mind then?"
He keeps his eyes on me as he stays silent for a few seconds. "I got a text from Landon saying he saw you walk in with Raegan."
I hold my gaze on him for longer than I should, but he's looking back at me the same way, so I don't doubt it. "So, that means you...," I finally speak up.
"...Came here for you," he quietly says, finishing my sentence for me. "Yeah."
My attention is solely on Lucas; on the way that he's looking at me right now. If I'm reading him right, he wants to kiss me. I want to kiss him back. I want to wrap my hand around the back of his head and pull him into me so that our lips crash. But this isn't us. Lucas and I fight. We drive each other mad. We don't have moments like these where we find ourselves falling into one another.
Right?
Right.
"You think we should go back in?" I ask, intentionally ruining the moment between us; my fear getting the best of me. "Raegan's probably looking for me."
"Yeah," he says, nodding his head as a feeling of disappointment takes over his demeanor. "We can."
ESTÁ A LER
The Bennett Boys
RomanceI was wrapping up my junior year of high school when my mom told me that we were moving. It was goodbye Cambridge, Massachusetts and hello Newport, Rhode Island. I knew that Newport was going to be nothing like Cambridge; I knew that I was going to...
