He had started running with me again in the mornings. But we didn’t really talk a whole lot, especially since it was always time for him to go to work and for me to go to sleep. He did flirt with me a little, sneaking in small touches and flipping my ponytail randomly—no doubt just to irritate me. Which it didn’t. The only thing it did was make my heart grow a little bigger in my chest. Other than those small encounters, things had been uneventful.
I thought about pulling a prank on him again like old times. I thought it would break the ice. I even bought several boxes of plastic wrap for the ol’ toilet seat prank. I had done that to my brother once and it was epic, except that my mom made me clean up the mess he had made and he laughed his head off the entire time.
But, instead of actually following through with my plan this time, I chickened out.
JoJo even started to “bock” at me like a chicken. She and Ryan both confessed to me that they had a running bet on which one of us would finally break down and profess our love for the other first, but Luke and I were both stubborn. I think he was even more stubborn than I was. Me? I was just a big fat chicken. That was my excuse.
Looking around the buzzing bar, I half-yelled, “Can you make sure she gets home safe?” to a few of the other friends JoJo had tricked into coming out tonight.
Amanda nodded her head and then we both laughed when we saw JoJo doing a poor rendition of the sprinkler in the middle of a disco-like dance floor.
I hopped off my bar stool, texting for an Uber to take me home, and pushed past the tipsy dancers surrounding my best friend.
“Hey,” I grabbed her arm and she slung her arms around my neck. “I’m gonna head home, okay?”
JoJo scrunched her eyebrows at me and looked down at her watch. Then she smiled at me and nodded.
“What? Is it an acceptable time to let me go home now, Mom?” I joked.
She nodded her head and grinned. Her eyes twinkled and my stomach lurched as alarm bells went off in my head.
“JoJo…what’s going on?”
She turned around and started to dance again. I stood there, confused beyond belief as she yelled, “Just remember to fall.”
“What?” I called.
My phone vibrated in my hand and I realized my Uber was waiting.
I waved at JoJo, still confused about what had just happened. She wagged her eyebrows at me.
God, she was so tipsy. Ryan really had to stop training in the field so much.
* * *
When the Uber driver pulled up to my house, I paid him and he grunted in response. Not the friendliest of Uber drivers, but whatever. I wasn’t up for a chat, anyway. I was too concerned about whatever JoJo had been spouting when I’d left.
“Just remember to fall.”
I mean, let’s get real for a second. I fell all the time. I was clumsy, so her advice kind of sucked.
Out of habit, I looked at Luke’s house and felt the burning urge to bang on his door. Maybe it was the amount of alcohol in my system, or the long cab ride to think about how I wished he’d been at the bar with me tonight, or maybe I was just tired of waiting around for him to make a move.
I was the one who basically said we were over. But he was the one who said that bit about bending rules. I thought he meant he wanted to bend the rules for me.
Maybe he didn’t know whether I wanted him to or not.
But I did.
I really, really did. I didn’t care anymore. I wasn’t just bending my rule, I was breaking it in half.
I’m in love with a Marine and I don’t care who knows it!
My fist hit his oak door three times, flesh pounding harder and harder with each knock. I tapped my heeled feet on his porch and bit the inside of my cheek. I even walked over to his front window to see if I could make anything out inside, but I couldn’t. It was completely dark.
His car was parked out front, but he wasn’t answering. Was he sleeping? Maybe? I pounded again and again until my hand literally felt like it was going to fall off.
“What the hell!” I yelled, pissed he wasn’t answering.