Page 38 of The Story Of Us

Luke

I’m going to need more than that

Isaac

I asked her if she would text me and she didn’t even answer

Luke

Oh that is bad

I resist the urge to send him the middle finger emoji.

Isaac

No shit sherlock

Luke

Did anything else happen?

Luke knows I didn’t want to go to Oxford, but he has no idea that a part of that was because of Violet. I don’t know how to explain her reaction to me telling her that I’m taking the LNAT without telling him about the foolish dreams I had a year ago.

Isaac

I told her I was taking the LNAT and she said that she was sure I’d do great

Luke

And what’s wrong with that?

Isaac

I don’t know

Maybe she just said it to be polite

Luke

Why would she do that?

She probably did mean it

I decide to call him instead, and he picks up after the first ring.

“Why do you think that?” I ask him, laying back down on my bed to look at the ceiling. There’s a faint outline of stars on there from when I had glow-in-the-dark ones stuck on there as a child. My father took them down as soon as I moved away for school.

“From everything you’ve told me, and I know it’s not the whole story, it doesn’t seem like she’d be polite to you for no reason. If I broke Jinhee’s heart, I don’t think she’d be as nice to me unless she actually wanted to.”

I take in what he’s saying, replaying the moment in my mind and trying to analyse her facial expressions. I knew her so well before, but it feels like she’s changed over the summer and put up a wall that’s designed to keep me out.

“There’s more to it, Luke.” I pause, preparing to tell him more about our relationship so that he can understand just how big of a deal this is and how serious we are about each other. “We made plans. Imagined a whole future together that was dependent on me not taking this exam. The way her face dropped when I told her… I felt like I was breaking her heart all over again.”

I hear Luke sigh over the phone, and I know he’s probably rubbing his forehead in exasperation.

“She just doesn’t strike me as the kind of person to say something she doesn’t mean. Have you thought about texting her first?”

“But when I asked if she would text me, she didn’t say anything.”

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