take your time ? l. hughes

If you asked me to pinpoint the point where Luke Hughes came into my life, I would tell you to go away. Because I hate not knowing. I hate being unsure. I always want to be confident in any answer I have to give. Luke's infiltration of the Song household would never be something I'm confident in.

My father can tell you all his stats nearly perfectly up to date after each game. My stepmom could tell you what his favorite meal, snack, and drink is. She could tell you his mother's best recipes. They've shared plenty of things since Luke and my step-brother started being nearly inseparable in their free time. It's only been two years but I wasn't there for the start. It will always feel so sudden.

"Hey!" Joey shouts through the open sliding door. "Can you get me a White Claw?"

"You're dripping all over the floor," I say.

"Toss me a stupid can already," he snaps. With a roll of my eyes, I toss the first flavor I can reach. Joey barely gives me a smile before disappearing back into the backyard.

Hoots and hollers of boys echo into the house. My plans to get out of the house aren't for another hour or two. As much as I love my brother, he's much more bearable without all of his closest friends around. I prefer his idiotic arguing to be with my best friend. Not with me. It's always with me when they're around and she's not.

"Hey, Bex?" A voice asks. Now at the back door is a smiling Luke Hughes. He's not even leaning in and dripping water on the floor. It's that easy.

I smile back at him. "What's up?"

"Got a lime White Claw in there?"

Seeing as I was the one who got the box of drinks last week, I know what flavors we have. I nod.

"Cherry?"

I nod.

"Orange?"

A shake of the head.

He pauses to think. "Lemon?"

"Nope," I say.

"Hm. Raspberry?"

"Joe took the last one of those."

A smile I've never really seen spreads on his face. This small, almost shy smile. Although, now that I think about it. Luke looks different in general this summer. He seems different. Or maybe it's just that I'm a bit different. It's not something I really get. It's something I've been told over and over since I got back from Connecticut at the end of the school year.

"Lime's good," he says.

Slower than I did for my brother, I grab the can from the fridge. Instead of tossing it to him, I walk it over. His fingers brush against mine as he takes it and I try to keep my cool.

"Way to waste my time," I joke. "Going with that first choice."

He shrugs. "Maybe your time is all I want."

* * * * *

"Come on!" Maggie shouts over the music and voices surrounding us. I latch on to Naja's hand as our resident frat rat does her job of leading us through yet another house party.

I try to return as many greetings as I can while we weave through. People I don't even know say hey or my name. It's something you would think I'd be used to by now. I'm not quite that used to it.

"Joseph!" Mags yells the moment we break into the kitchen. I groan but it's lost in the noise.

"Hey, kiddos," Joe says despite being a month older than Naja, our youngest friend.

My nose wrinkles up the moment I stand next to him. He's pouring so many liquids in one cup. So many different colors it's turned brown already. "What are you making?"

"Lukey boy lost a bet." He nods toward the taller boy. "Bitch Cup time."

"Such a dick move," I say. My gaze lingers on Luke a bit too long and it makes Maggie's eyes bore into the side of my head.

"Bet's a bet," Joe mumbles because he's that focused on making this drink as terrible as he can.

I grab the cup, whatever was being poured into it at that moment pools a bit onto the counter. "Don't kill him. He's one of your calmer friends and if I'm stuck with you all summer, I want you with the calmest friends you have."

"Stuck with me all summer?" He nods toward Mags. "Thought you guys were going to her dad's lake house or whatever the hell it was."

"We're still debating it," Maggie says.

Naja laughs. "More like her dad is still debating whether or not this one should be allowed that privilege."

"We're for sure going at some point!"

"Sure we are, babe." Our friend makes a show of rubbing Maggie's back comfortingly. Mags shrugs the hand off and grabs a bottle of Jack before heading out into the party.

"Go fix it," I state. Naja's already in the process of chasing after her.

Someone yells out my brother's name. Instantly, he's heading for the attention. That leaves me here. With Luke only a Joey-sized gap away. My focus tries to stay on the Bitch Cup in my hand. It really is gross.

"A bet's a bet," Luke says. Why is his voice— Oh. He's closed that gap to be standing right next to me.

"You want to drink this?" I question. Only a few tiny threads are keeping my cool intact.

He glances at the cup quickly before his eyes get right back on me. "Not really."

I'm a relaxed person. Seriously. To the point where I don't think a guy has ever made me blush or get butterflies. It's the whole reason I've only ever lasted maybe two months with every guy I've dated or had a thing with. I'm calm and collected at all times. I don't lose my cool in attraction, anger, or even sadness. It's my thing.

Luke is testing my thing. My head feels hazy. I haven't drunk anything. All I have in my system is his smile from earlier and his eyes on me. All I have in my system is the way he told me all he wanted from me was my time.

"So... Yale, huh?" He asks. Have I ever talked to him about school? Now that I truly think about it, I think today was the first time I exchanged anything but a quick greeting with him.

I shrug. "It's not a big deal."

"We've never really talked, have we?"

"Nope," I say.

"How have we never really talked before?" It's directed more towards himself than it is to me.

"Bex, holy shit," is practically shouted from the doorway where Maggie is standing with the bottle she grabbed gone and a panicked look. "Naja locked herself in a bedroom because you won't fucking believe who's here."

Genuinely disappointed, I let out a sigh and gave the Hughes boy an apologetic smile. "Duty calls."