Chapter 4
2236 Words
Chapter Four
Lauren
Do I feel bad for taking Luca to a vegan restaurant?
I do.
Take your two fingers and make a space. Now make that space smaller. Smaller…smaller still… see that sliver of space? That’s how bad I feel.
I don’t want to be a b***h, but one Hawks game in exchange for calling me a tomboy since I was fifteen doesn’t make us even.
His car is impressive, but I’ll never tell him that. Other than the God-awful color that is.
His music taste is similar to mine, but I’ll never share that fact with him.
It’s nice to have an intelligent conversation about sports with someone since none of my female friends are sports fans.
All of those good qualities about Luca Bianco make the ride tolerable, not enjoyable.
He parks his car along the curb across from the neon sign of Native Foods Cafe.
I rub my hands together. “Ready to try some new foods?” I open my own door because in my mind this isn’t a date.
“Do you think I’ve never eaten vegan before?”
I tuck my hands into my jacket pockets since winter is fast approaching. We’ve been lucky to have nice weather this far into December. I expect January through March to be freezing.
We walk across the street, Luca wearing a leather jacket that if he was anyone else would get the girl parts going, but it’s Luca, so they stay dormant.
Okay, that’s a lie. A small one.
“Tell me one vegan dish you’ve had and where from?”
He opens the door to the restaurant for me. “I’d tell you, but then you’d think less of me.”
I shake my head at his absurd way of thinking.
We walk up to the counter, Luca’s eyebrows scrunched as he reads the ingredients. I’d put money on the fact that he’s never eaten vegan before, but I think he’ll be surprised at how good it is.
Why do I even care?
The kid who had to stop mopping the floor when we came in, washes his hands to take our order stands impatiently behind the register. He shoots his co-worker an annoyed look since we’re coming in right around closing time.
“Want to get it to go? I think they want to close,” I say.
Luca glances at the guys who are having a silent conversation with each other. “You don’t want to go to my house and it’s too cold to go to a park.”
“Cool, then we’ll just grab the food and eat at our own houses.” I step up to the counter. The teenage kid flings his head back to move the hair out of his eyes so he can see me. Haircut might be an option, buddy. “I’ll have the cauliflower bites and an order of sweet potato fries. To go.”
Luca joins me at the counter, his hand sits firmly on my hip, almost locking me to him. “Burger with fries. To go. One bag.” He hands over his credit card and the kid takes it from his hand and swipes it.
“I was going to pay.” Leaving Luca’s side, because his hand on my hip feels intimate, I grab the number from the kid and slide onto a stool at an empty table.
The two kids go off to work on our order and most likely spit in our food.
“Are you inviting me back to your apartment?” I ask, tapping the plastic number on the table.
“No, we’re going to your place. Vanessa lives with Cristian, Maddy and Mauro moved in together, and that leaves you alone. I figure you don’t want to eat your cauliflower with my roommate Ben drinking beer, watching you while he picks his belly button lint.” He laughs. “Disgusted?”
“What the…”
“My reasoning sold you, didn’t it?”
For the millionth time tonight, I shake my head at his antics. “I hope to never meet your roommate.”
“He’s not that bad. He’d wrestle me to the ground if he knew I told you that.”
Ben isn’t one of Luca’s friends I’m familiar with. He must be someone he met after high school, or maybe it’s his EMT partner.
“The secret is safe with me. I don’t see any reason why I’d meet him anyway.”
Luca looks away, concentrating on the guys working on our order behind the counter. Diverting eye contact. Interesting.
Not that I know everything about him. The only string that ever bound me to Luca was his friendship with Cody Gillard. Cody and I dated our entire junior and senior year until we had to leave for college, and I decided I didn’t want to do a long-distance relationship. We broke up before that final summer, and Cody wasn’t happy. Rumors circulated about Luca and Cody spending all their time at Summerfest in Milwaukee, sleeping with girls everywhere but a bed. So immature.
It had grated at the time, but Cody was free to do what he wanted by that point.
“Do you still talk with Cody?” I ask, trying to make it sound like I could care less what his answer is. Truth is, I don’t really care. Only in the sense that anyone does when their ex’s name comes up.
Luca’s head snaps back in my direction and he appears to want to slice me into pieces. Then the cool, easy smile that’s practically branded on Luca Bianco surfaces on his lips.
“Yeah. He’s in California now.”
“Really? Still trying to be a wine connoisseur?”
His deep chuckle floats out across the table.
I continue tapping the plastic number on the table. “Married or kids?” I ask.
Luca pulls his phone out and I wait for him to show me some picture from f*******: or i********:. Cody didn’t take our break up well, so we never kept in touch through social media. I wonder if he still has me blocked from seeing his social media profiles?
“No,” he answers, still staring at his phone.
Guess I was wrong about pictures.
I’m surprised Cody isn’t taken. Before our break-up and the appearance of a completely different Cody, he’d been someone I thought was meant to be a husband and father. You know the type—coach the mini-me, date nights with his wife, matching pajamas for Christmas morning photos.
“That’s cool that you still talk. You guys were inseparable.”
He nods.
So…that’s a dead subject.
“Is that how you knew to send me Brach’s?”
He glances up at me from his phone in a dead stare. “Your love of that candy wasn’t exactly hidden knowledge.”
I bite my cheek to keep myself from smiling. He noticed those things about me?
Thankfully we’re interrupted by the worker bee dropping our paper bag on the counter with a fake smile and hand out for the number.
“Great.” I hop off the stool, but Luca beats me to the bag, grabbing it before I get a chance.
He’s so damn competitive.
“Have a nice night,” I say sweetly to the guy who’s probably going to flip me off on my way to the door. “Hey.” I swing back around, walking backward. “Maybe good karma will go your way and you’ll get laid tonight.” I give him two thumbs up and circle back around as Luca pushes the door open.
“Yeah, he’s flipping you off right now.” Luca laughs, finding his keys in his pocket.
“Seriously, I get that we were late, but we’re still customers who have Yelp at our fingertips. What is wrong with today’s youth? Don’t they care about being a good person?”
Luca opens my door and I slide in the car.
It isn’t until he’s tucked next to me with the food behind us that he responds. “Not everyone can be a paramedic and want to help people.”
There is a list of adjectives that one could use to describe Luca Bianco. On the top of that list would be self-centered.
“Hello, I’m a physical therapist. I help people too.”
The engine roars to life and he pulls away from the curb, breaking immediately when a cab flies by. Luca mumbles words I’m thinking were Italian curses and continues toward my house.
“I save lives,” he says with smug satisfaction.
“I kind of do too, you know.”
He glances over at me, his dark eyes taking me in for a moment before he responds back. “We’re talking coding in the ambulance. Rehabbing a torn ACL isn’t the same thing.”
And here I thought we could co-exist. His brothers are dating my best friends and I’m going to see him at every damn wedding, baby shower, baptism, first birthday, second birthday. My head hurts just thinking about how entwined our lives will be.
Why did I ever bid on Mauro for Maddie?
Because you’re an awesome friend who gave your bestie a chance at her dream guy?
Damn it, I hate it when my sentimental side wins.
“For your information, I’ve saved lives. I help children live a life without canes, crutches or wheelchairs. I push them to better themselves and I make miraculous things happen.” I huff, cross my legs and stare out the window.
“You’re right. What we both do is important. We shouldn’t argue.”
Wha…wha…what? “Who are you?”
The light from the street reflects the humor shining in his eyes. “I’m just sick of the fighting.”
“Fighting is what we do best. It’s basically how we communicate.” Then all the puzzle pieces join together in my head. I’m so stupid. “You want something.”
We pull up in front of my house just as I realize what a f*****g moron I am.
“Nope.” He takes the keys, grabs the bag of food and gets out of the car.
He’s totally playing me. I might not be a psychologist who can quickly spot a liar, but Luca, I know too well. Not well, but when it comes to our interactions—I know him. And this nice Luca, taking me to a Hawks game, buying me dinner, wanting to eat with me…this isn’t the Luca Bianco I know.
I climb out of his car, the slam of the door echoing down the dark residential street. “Tell me what it is you want.”
His lips remain straight, not even a hint of a smile or smirk.
Another clear sign that this isn’t the Luca I know.
“Come on. Let’s eat.” He nods in the direction of my house.
“By prolonging whatever it is, you’re just pissing me off, which means if you need something, I’m more than likely going to say no. Or we could play a little game…”
“How about we eat?” He waits patiently as I insert the key into my door, disengage the alarm that Cristian, Luca’s brother insisted we get installed.
Police officers. Jeez.
We step inside and he’s the one to shut the door and flick the lock.
“Planning to have your way with me?” I’m not serious as I walk into the kitchen to grab us some drinks, utensils, and napkins.
The sound of the television blaring drifts into the kitchen seconds later.
With my hands full, I head back into the living room. “Feel free to make yourself at home,” I deadpan, handing Luca a Vitamin Water and a napkin.
“Thanks.” He lifts the napkin and drink. “And thanks.”
We sit on the couch because although our house is nice and newly redecorated thanks to Maddie’s mad skills, the family room area is small and the best place to see the television is the couch. No worries though, there’s still a cushion between us.
I open up my box of food, a little bit of steam hitting my face. “I can’t just sit here and watch soccer with you and not know what you want.”
I hate that I’ve had to resort to being sincere in my request.
He opens up his own box and I’m a tad jealous I didn’t get the burger. It smells and looks delicious.
Luca doesn’t respond, just stands and heads into the kitchen.
He knows our house way too well thanks to his brothers always suggesting we meet here when we go out.
I pop a cauliflower floret into my mouth, tasting the Korean flavor that makes my mouth water. Opening up my Vitamin Water to cool my tongue, I ignore Luca’s return, instead, fixating on the television as he rounds the coffee table in front of me. The couch dips with the weight of his body which is now closer than before.
I’ve never been alone with Luca, much less this close. I feel a shift in our volatile relationship like the stillness before a storm. It’s too quiet. It’s too calm. Too…enjoyable.
“Here.” My gaze shifts from the television, although I couldn’t tell you the score of the game and I see he’s holding half his burger out to me.
“What’s this?” I ask, loading my mouth with another caulifloret.
Man, it’s hot.
“I think you had a little bit of drool dripping from your mouth when I opened the container. How about we share?”
He smiles. A smile I’ve only ever seen on his face with his friends, or his brothers, and especially his mom. He doesn’t even wear this smile when he’s with girls. At least not that I’ve ever seen. That fact runs around my stomach stirring up the butterflies to max flight.
I don’t like this.
It’s too damn calm.
Where are the eighty mile per hour winds?
“Luca, if you don't tell me what you want, I’m going to kick you out of my house.” I take half the burger and slide my cauliflower and fries closer to him as an offering.
“You can’t just wait?” he asks, seeming disappointed.
“HA!” I point to him with a greasy finger. “You do want something from me. Tell me what it is.”
“You’re ridiculous you know that, right? A normal person would wait.”
I shake my head. “No, they wouldn’t.”
See, this feels good. This feels right.
“LUCA!” I scream.
He blows out a breath. “Fine. I need a favor from you.”
- Writer
