“He’s not that much older and it’s not like we’re together or anything. She doesn’t need to do anything. I don’t need to talk to anyone. I’m. Fine.”
“So you really don’t think seeing a counsellor will help?”
Was he just ignoring the fact that I’d just said I was fine?
“I don’t need to see anyone,” I replied.
“I just think if it’s going to help you then maybe you should give it a go.”
“Do you think I need to?”
“I think you should do whatever it takes to help you get through it.”
“That’s what I have been doing,” I said, throwing my hands up in the air. Why couldn’t anyone see that? Not everyone dealt with things in the same way and just because I wasn’t crying and going through Dad’s things like Mum and Ava didn’t mean I wasn’t dealing.
“Really? So Kai was helping, was he?” he asked sarcastically, raising his eyebrows.
“Kai is... a distraction. Yeah, it helps.” His jaw clenched. I didn’t know what else to say so we just sat in silence until I couldn’t bear it anymore. “Luke?” He looked up. “You wanna get out of here?”
“Yeah.” He smiled. “I know exactly where to go, too. Come on.”
We snuck out of my room and down the stairs; everyone was still in the kitchen so that made it easier. The front door was about five meters away. I covered my mouth to muffle my giggling at how stupid we must look. “Come on,” Lucas whispered, darting towards the door.
We made it out and into Lucas’s car. I started laughing as soon as we were inside his car. We’d make shit ninjas.
“Okay, where are we going? I asked.
He chuckled and replied, “You’ll see. I need to stop off at mine and pick something up first.”
“Pick what up?”
“My car.” Huh? Was he aware that we were already in his car? Oh God, was he really drunk? He’d only had one beer after that sip of punch but I didn’t think he was drunk.
“So…we’re in the invisible car now?” I asked sarcastically.
“Very funny, Tegan,” he replied.
I shook my head. “You have another car?”
“Yep.”
“Why’re we getting it? Where’re we going?”
“I’m taking you somewhere I go a lot and we need the other car.”
“Why do we need the other car?” What was the point in driving over an hour back to his house to get another car when we already had one?
He smirked. “No more questions. You’ll have to wait and see.”
“Pleaseee,” I asked in my sweetest voice.
“Nope.” He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and did another crap job of looking indifferent. He’d make an awful actor.
When we eventually got to his house, he led me to one of the garages at the side of the house and unlocked the garage door. He lifted it up to reveal a striking blue Subaru Impreza. I stood there drooling over it for a bit. I was a bit of a car whore. Dad loved cars, too, and took me to a lot of shows and track days.
“You like it?” Lucas asked, following me as I walked round the car.
“Um, yeah!” I said. “It’s the STi, too, nice.” The shocked expression on his face was priceless – mouth open, eyes wide – I wished I’d had a camera.
“You like cars?”
“Yeah, since I was little.”
Lucas stared at me like he was trying to figure something out. Don’t figure anything out. I had no idea what he was thinking but the way he looked at me gave me butterflies.
I suddenly remembered why we came here. “Where are you taking me?” I asked, narrowing my eyes playfully.
“You’ll see. Get in.” He opened the door and nodded his head for me to get in. I sighed dramatically, making him laugh as I slid in the passenger seat. Guess I was just going to have to trust him.
We drove out of town towards...somewhere. I hated not knowing where we were going but I did trust him. Still, it would be nice to know when I was being taken, not that it really mattered as long as I was far away from my mother.
He turned down a small track off road and I had absolutely no clue which direction we were going in.
“Luke, can I ask you a question?”
“Yeah,” he replied.
“Are you taking me in the woods to have your wicked way before murdering me?”
He laughed and shook his head.
“Actually, I’m serious. Bit creepy that you’re taking me down here to be honest.”
“As fun as the first part of that sounds, no, that’s not my plan. This is a short cut.” A short cut to where? “We’re almost there, quit whining.”
“Better be and I’m not whining. It’s not unreasonable for me to want to know where I’m going.”
“Do you trust me?” he asked.
“If I say no will you tell me where we’re headed?”
“No.”
I sighed. “Fine.”
Lucas didn’t respond but he did grin. Arsehole.
We pulled into what looked like an old deserted business park about ten minutes from his house. Two rows of run-down and abandoned warehouses and buildings with no windows or doors lined the ground in front of us. Why would he bring me here?
“Err, this is it?” I asked. “You don’t take girls out often, do you?”