Page 67 of A Sky Full Of Stars

“Payback.” I shrug. It’s about time I shared something since he always feels the need to fill me in onhissex life.

“I never say the wordsex,” he whines, making me laugh for real this time as I put everything back in the fridge.

“You don’t need to. I know that’s what you’re implying when you say, ‘I don’t know which one I should go for.’ It’s the same thing.”

Luke’s face scrunches. “It’s not the same. At all. Because it’syou.”

“Sexist.”

“I’m not sexist. It’s sisterist.”

“That’s not even a word—”

Hands on his hips, Luke stands tall, adopting the “I’m your big brother, listen to me” pose. “He’s not the right guy for you, Lainey.” My shoulders sag as I turn to face him.Here we go again.It doesn’t matter who I date, he’s never going to be happy. Although, come to think of it, it seems, neither am I.

“You loved him when you introduced us,” I continue to push.

“Yeah, when he was myfriend. But he lost all respect when he hooked up with you.”

“What?” My jaw drops again, and this time, I don’t hide it. “You’re an asshole.”

“No. Jesus. I didn’t mean it the way you think I meant it. He did the wrong thing. I told him you were off-limits, and he didn’t listen.”

Like always, I want to argue. I want to make him see that his rules are bullshit. But when I think back to Thomas’s freak-outafter our first kiss, I don’t say a word. How can I? He clearly thinks the same way. They all act like it’s against some kind of bro code, and I’ll never change their minds.

“Let’s agree to disagree and move on,” I say so I don’t accidentally spill something I shouldn’t, and then for fun, I add, “you’re annoying.”

Luke laughs and his demeanor instantly changes. Probably because he knows I’m pissy and hates when I’m annoyed at him. Either way, I take it. It doesn’t matter anyway. Heath and I won’t be together for much longer. Even if Thomas hadn’t come back into my life, we both knew it was coming to an end. I’m just speeding up the process.

“You’re coming over to watch the game Sunday, right.” Luke asks as he’s leaving a little while later, and I stare at him deadpan until he repeats himself.

“The game. Sunday. You owe me since you're not coming to my game.” His eyes are wide but he already knows the answer. He asks me the same thing every week, and every week, I say no. I made an effort to spend game days with him and his team when we were younger and when I first moved back to Heartwood I alternated between attending his games when I could or watching the pro's. But I stopped going after one of his drunk teammates hit on me. It was harmless, and I easily handled it, but I realized it would cause problems with his team if Luke found out, or if something else happened. It’s easier to steer clear.

“Wrong. I have to work,” I say, giving him my standard response.

“You’re always working. Ineversee you anymore.” Luke pouts but I ignore him. He sees me plenty.

“You’re seeing me right now.” I gesture between us. “And we had dinner last week.”

“Are you ever going to tell me what you do?” he asks, ignoring my response as he folds his arms over his chest.

“Nope. It doesn’t matter.”

I bite back my smile until he peers over my shoulder into my apartment, looking for some kind of clue. I have no reason to keep my job a secret from Luke—it’s just fun to tease him, and his guesses bring me so much joy.

“It’s the old bowling alley, isn’t it?” he asks, studying my expression. “Sundays are comp days, so I’ll bet it’s busy.”

“First, how do you know about their comp days? I didn’t think you’d been since we were in high school. And second…wrong again.”

“Ihaven’tbeen there in years.” He shrugs. “None of us have. Not since that place with the laser tag opened. But I saw a sign somewhere.”

I huff out a laugh as I picture the guys on the football team running around with their little beams of light, but Luke silences me with a glare. “That’s not important.Please, Shortcake. Just tell me.”

“Why? It’s more fun this way.”

I give him a wave and shove him out the door before closing it in his face. It’s just about to click shut when he calls out, “It better not be illegal,” making me burst out laughing.

I’ve got to get my thrills somewhere.

---