Luke's POV

I walk into the waiting room, and of course Delilah is behind the front desk. It's been almost a week since I last saw her, and I've been doing pretty well avoiding her until now.

"Hi, Luke," she says quietly when I walk past the desk.

I don't do anything in response. I sit in the farthest possible seat from Delilah.

I can't help but notice that she's wearing a shirt Delia had.

"That song is horrible, Calum. How do you- Luke! You just spilled your water all over my shirt!" Delia shrieks.

I bite my lip to try not to laugh. "Oops, sorry!"

"You're so clumsy. You're lucky it's just water."

"Want my shirt?" I offer.

"Please, say no," Calum says.

"It's fine," she says laughing. "It'll dry."

"Sorry," I say, laughing.

"I hate you," Delia mumbles as she leans her head on my shoulder.

"I hate you more," I whisper.

"I hate you guys the most," Calum says.

"Shut up," we say in unison.

"I'm just saying, this is my house You guys come in here and eat my food and curl up together on the couch. It's my house. You're supposed to do things with me."

"We're not going to do things with you," I say, laughing.

Delia slaps my shoulder, but I can tell she's trying not to laugh.

"I hate you so much, Lucas," Calum says rolling his eyes.

I get off the couch and run over to Calum who's sitting in a beanbag chair. I wrap my arms around him and nearly crush him.

"Calum needs a cuddle," I say in a child-like voice.

"I do not," he says, shoving me off of him. "Go back to your girlfriend."

I lay on the floor and poke Calum in the cheek. "C'mon. Smile!"

He pushes my hand away. "No."

"You're no fun," I say. I hug in my knees and rest my head on top of them. I smile cheesily at Calum, and he looks up at Delia.

"Your boyfriend is a weirdo," he says.

"When will you stop referring to us as boyfriend and girlfriend? We have names," Delia says.

"When you break up."

"Who says we'll break up?" Delia and I say in unison. Again.

Calum laughs. "It's creepy how you always say the same thing."

"You're just jealous," I tell him.

Delia leaves for a second to go get something to eat, leaving Calum and me alone.

"Have you told her that you love her yet?" Calum asks quietly.

Calum knows everything about me, and vice versa. We tell each other everything, he's like a brother to me.

I look down at my hands. "No."

"You need to tell her."

"Tell me what?" Delia asks, returning quicker than expected.

"I, um, there's a, uh- That I'm really hungry," I say, reaching over for some of the pretzels she brought.

She rolls her eyes. "You could've told me before, I would've brought more."

"Luke?" I hear Delilah say. I look up and see Candace standing in the waiting room.

"I called you a few times, Luke," Candace says, smiling widely.

She's way too happy all the time.

I stand up and walk past Delilah without looking at her. I sit in the same couch I always sit in, and Candace sits across from me.

"So, how are you feeling today?" Candace asks.

Anxious. Upset. Tired. What else is new?

I shrug.

"How's everything going with your dad? It's been a little over a month since you've been here."

I give her a thumbs up.

"That's good. You don't want to write on the board today?"

I shake my head no.

"Alright. Hmm... Have you met any other people yet? Made any friends?"

I think about Ashton and Delilah.

I shake my head no.

"Maybe you could try one of the support groups again. I know you did one a few months ago, but maybe now you'll like it more. You'll get to meet some people."

I glare at her and raise my eyebrows. I am not going to another support group. You're supposed to talk at those, which is something I clearly don't do.

I know that Candace is trying to be helpful, but today she's annoying me. I want to leave, I don't feel like being here today. I just want to go to sleep.

I look up at the whanda painting. I still haven't determined if it's a whale or panda. It could be neither.

"I know Delilah lives in your neighborhood. Have you met her?"

I look at Candace, a little shocked from the mention of Delilah's name. I shake my head yes slowly.

"See! You have met people!" she says happily.

I roll my eyes.

I've barely thought about Delilah since I last saw her. Now Candace has to bring her up, which is making me think about her.

I wonder what she wanted to tell me when she ran out in the hall before I left. She looked so upset and sad.

I hadn't really forgotten my socks. I was standing there debating whether or not to leave. I almost walked back in her room.

But I couldn't.

So I trudged home in the rain, feeling horrible and strangely upset. I thought I would feel better knowing that I wouldn't have Delilah in my life.

But in a way, when I'm with her, I feel better.

No, I don't. I can't.

I need to stop thinking about her.

The visit with Candace finally ends, and thankfully when I leave, Delilah isn't anywhere to be seen. The car ride home is silent like it usually is.

When we get home, Ashton is outside. He waves when we get out of the car.

"Hey!" he yells, walking over.

I guess Delilah didn't tell him.

"Hi, Ash!" my dad says, shutting his car door.

I force myself to smile a little, I'm not really in the mood to see Ashton right now.

"I haven't seen you in awhile," Ashton says, smiling. "Thought you went back to Australia or something!"

I shake my head no and roll my eyes. Not in the rude way, though.

I yawn and walk inside, leaving my dad and Ashton outside.

I go into my room to find one of the boxes on the ground. I still haven't unpacked a lot of my things, and I don't think I will. Most of my stuff was sent over after I got here. I bend down and pick up the box, but most of the things fall out.

Everything inside is old pictures, newspaper clippings, awards, stuff like that. I picture of Delia and I lands on top of my foot.

I put the box down and grab the picture, holding it tightly in my hand. I run my finger gently over the edges.

I've tried not to look at pictures since she died. I didn't even know that I had a box full of them, my mom must have packed it without me knowing.

The picture is us outside. Both of us are laughing. I don't remember what was so funny, but we're both in our school uniforms. It looks like it was a few months before she died. Her nose is crinkled, which always happened when she laughed too hard.

I quickly put the photo in the box before I start crying. I decide not to look at the rest of the pictures, I'll save those for another day when I'm ready. If I ever am.

After looking at the picture, I can't help but notice that Delilah scrunches her nose like that when she laughs too.

i updated two days in a row wow it's a record

i hope are still liking this. do you like when i do the flashbacks so you can see how luke was?

do you ship duke (delilah and luke if luke stops ignoring her) or lukia (delia and luke)

btw i stalk your tweets a lot and i don't think you guys realize that i'm favoriting your tweets about this story lol so if @singsongash favs one of your tweets, that's me

-ashley