I Love You to Death(43)

The only problem is, she never did.
The next day at his graduation she didn’t speak to me at all, except to tell me in a hushed whisper when the rest of his family was busy posing for pictures with Sam, that she didn’t think I was good enough for Sam and, "I’d soon see what she meant."
As I looked at her, I wondered exactly what it was that she didn’t like about me. I had no idea, so I just said to her, "Soon see what?"
"Eventually he’ll get sick of you," she hissed back at me, "And move back to Seattle, without you."
That was the last thing she said to me, for the rest of her trip, and in the end she was right. About part of it anyway.
∞

We’re at the club now, waiting for them to come on. They’re still setting up when Mia returns with beers for both of us.
"How come you’ve never seen them play?" I ask her.
She laughs in response. "Back when I used to visit more, they pretty much sucked. I don’t think they could get many shows. I guess now they’ve changed," she says shrugging.
I smile as I take a sip of my beer. "I don’t know what they were like before, but I can say that they are amazing now."
Mia turns to me. "My brother thinks you are amazing Ash," she says simply, her blue eyes looking straight at me, exactly like Luke does.
I nearly choke on my beer. "What?"
"My brother thinks you’re amazing," she says again, shrugging as if it’s no big deal. "He’s crazy about you, anyone can see that."
I’m standing there just staring at her. I don’t know what to say. "What?" is all I can manage again.
She just smiles at me and then Infinity comes on and starts to play and I can’t ask anything more.
I watch Mia as she starts to see exactly what her brother can do now. She’s wearing a look of complete pride, like she’s known it all along and now she’s just finally seeing the proof. I can’t resist leaning over between songs and asking her, "What do you think?"
She turns to me and smiles. It looks like there are tears in her eyes. "You were right," she says back to me. "They really are amazing."
We both watch them play, me enjoying their show again and Mia enjoying it for the very first time. It’s hard to know which one of us enjoys it the most, but at one point when Luke starts playing a cover of a song which he dedicates to Mia, smiling at her as we stand at the back of the room, Mia grips my arm as the crowd around us goes wild, and I somehow know exactly what she’s thinking.
When they come off stage, Mia launches herself at Luke telling him over and over again how fantastic they are now. I can’t help but smile as I watch them. She eventually lets him go, hugging the rest of the guys in turn and Luke comes over to me.
"Thank you Ash, you know, for hanging out with Mia, for looking after her tonight," he says.
I look up at him and smile. "It was no drama Luke honestly. Mia’s really, really nice." And she is. She’s just like him.
He clinks his beer bottle to mine and leans down to whisper, "Well in any case, I owe you one Asha."
A shiver runs through me as I think really, it’s probably me that owes him. A lot.
When he pulls back, I can’t stop myself from staring at him. He looks back at me in a way that’s similar to how he was looking at me when we watched his friend’s band play last weekend, and I get the sudden feeling he wants to say something to me. I wonder what it is, but before he gets a chance, he’s distracted by Ben who grabs his arm for something. I watch as Luke turns away, resisting the urge to reach out and stop him, ask him what he was going to say to me. And then, Mia is by my side and this time she leans over to speak quietly to me, like she doesn’t want the others to hear. "See, crazy about you."
I turn to her suddenly. "What are you talking about Mia?" I whisper fiercely.
"He can’t take his eyes off you Ash. You’re all he sees," she says. "He’s just waiting for you to see him," Mia continues, sliding her arm around my waist as though we’ve known each other for ages.
"How do you know all this stuff?" I ask her, frustrated.
She smiles at me, pulling me tighter against her and whispering, "Everyone can see it Ash, everyone but you."
I’m suddenly flooded with a thousand different sensations all at once; lightheaded, hot, dizzy, scared.
"He’s worth it you know," she continues, as if to reassure me. "Don’t be scared by him, by how he feels about you."
It feels like the room is slowly spinning now. I take a sip of my beer, relishing the cold liquid as it moves down my throat and sneak a glance at Luke. He’s still talking to Ben and isn’t looking at me. I wonder if he knows what Mia’s telling me, if he knows what she’s just told me. I wonder what he would think if he knew she had told me. I wonder what it was he was about to say to me before, whether he’ll try to tell me later. I’m still staring at him when he suddenly looks up. His dark blue eyes meet mine for the briefest of moments, but this time I see it.
This thing with Luke.
Mia’s right. He does feel something. I don’t know why I didn’t notice it earlier. I don’t know if I would’ve done something different if I had.
I don’t know what to think or feel about any of it, except scared. But strangely enough, it’s not him I’m scared of anymore, it’s me.




By many, eight is regarded as lucky, yet by some it classifies you as crazy