Chapter 21.

After the bombshell that Avery had dropped on me, it was impossible to relax and have a good time at the dance. Luke and I had stayed for a while after the confrontation with Avery, because I didn't want to let her ruin my night, but we ended up leaving early because I was no longer in a dancing mood. I was more than a little depressed at the prospect of Avery spending Christmas break with us. It didn't even make any sense. She hated my guts. Why did she want to ruin her own Christmas, just to make me miserable?

I didn't quite know what to make of Dylan's offer to give Avery a ride home with him either. It had been a sweet gesture, convincing Avery that there was no room in the car with me and Luke. It would let me have a quiet, peaceful drive home from college.

At the same time, though, it meant that Dylan and Avery would be alone in the car together. And while I wanted to trust that he was fully over her, part of me still wondered. I wasn't stupid. I knew Avery was beautiful, and she had Dylan had just broken up. He'd been awfully quick to offer her a ride home. Did that mean Dylan still had feelings for her? It was all too confusing.

Luke had been strangely quiet since Avery had dropped her bombshell, and that worried me too. I still wasn't sure exactly where I stood with him. Was he interested in getting back together with me? Did I even want that? I knew we needed to have the 'define our relationship' talk sooner rather than later, but first, I needed to figure out exactly what I wanted to happen. Did I want to get back together with Luke? Or was I just enjoying spending time with an old friend?

I groaned, shaking my head as I finished packing a bag of clothes for Christmas break. When had life become so confusing? Between all of my boy drama and the situation with Avery, I felt like I had stepped into some over the top daytime soap opera. It was completely ridiculous. I seemed to attract more than my fair share of drama.

Someone knocked on the door, and I looked up, surprised. "Come in," I called, and Luke swung the door open.

"Are you okay in here?" he asked. "Do you need any help packing?"

I shrugged. "That's okay," I replied. "I think I'm just about done." I crammed a few more pairs of jeans into my bag, then zipped it shut. Most of my clothes were already packed, along with my toiletries, phone charger, and other essentials.

Luke watched as I struggled to zip the overly full bag shut, his lips twitching in amusement. "You know, you are allowed to bring more than one bag," he observed wryly. "There's no rule that says you have to fit everything into one suitcase."

"It's fine," I grunted, sitting on the suitcase to squish my clothes flat so I could get the bag zipped. "It will zip."

When the zipped finally eased shut, I smiled triumphantly. "See?"

Luke smirked. "What an accomplishment," he deadpanned. "Now, if you're done fooling around with your suitcase, are you almost ready to leave? I'm not trying to rush you, but I'm ready to go whenever you are."

I nodded, sighing at the thought of getting back to my house and being forced to spend time with Avery. I was really not looking forward to it. It was probably selfish to procrastinate leaving so that I could enjoy a little more time Avery free, but I had never claimed to be a selfless person.

"I guess I'm just about ready," I said reluctantly, unable to think of a plausible reason to delay leaving any longer.

Luke smiled knowingly at me. "Dylan and Avery left about an hour ago. I'm sure you're not in any hurry to catch up with them, so if you'd like, we can stop for lunch before we head to your place. I'd like to spend some extra time with you before we get home and I have to share you with everyone else."

I smiled shyly at him. "Thanks," I said. "I'd like that."

Grabbing my suitcase, I dragged it down the stairs and out to Luke's car. Luke helped me load the suitcase into his trunk, and I climbed into the passenger seat next to him, pausing as I realized that I had never actually been on a road trip with Luke. He had driven me home from school some, but we had never been together in the car for more than fifteen minutes or so.

"Pop quiz," I told him. "What's our road trip music?"

Luke shrugged. "Anything you want," he said. "The first rule of road trips is that the passenger controls the music."

I grinned at him. "Good answer."

I turned the radio to a classic rock station, since that was what Dylan and I usually listened to on road trips. Luke backed out of the parking space and drove towards our hometown, and I watched the college fade away in the rear view mirror.

About fifteen minutes into the drive, Luke recognized a song and started to sing along, and I couldn't help but cringe. The boy had a lot of talents, but singing was definitely not one of them. When his voice cracked trying to hit a high note, I was unable to control my snort of laughter.

"That bad, huh?" Luke asked, smiling self-consciously.

"Sorry," I said. "Let's just say singing isn't one of your strong suits."

Luke shrugged. "Eh, you can't be good at everything I guess."

I turned down the radio, deciding that conversation was probably safer than braving two hours of Luke serenading me with his terrible singing voice.

"So, how is school going?" I asked, deciding to start with what I knew would be a safe topic.

Luke smirked. "Really? All of the questions you could have asked me, and that's what you decided to start with?"

"What?" I asked defensively. "I was curious."

"Mmm hmm," Luke said skeptically. "School is fine. I'm pretty sure I aced my finals, and since I'm going for a teaching degree, next semester is going to be my first student teaching position. That means that I'll have less classroom work, and start getting hands on experience. I'm excited for that."

"And you want to teach gym, right?" I asked.

Luke nodded. "And coach football. Although I'm hoping I get to play in the NFL first. That's my real career goal. But since I get to go to school on a football scholarship, it would be a waste not to use that opportunity to get a degree that sets me up for the future."

"Must be nice to know exactly what you want," I muttered darkly.

"You have time to decide, Lillian."

I groaned. "I know, I know. It just feels like everyone has already decided what they want to do with their lives except me."

"It's really not as bad as you're making it sound. You aren't the only freshman in college with an undecided major."

"I'm the only one in my friend group, though," I complained.

"Yes, and aside from Kelsey, most of your friends are at least a year older than you. We've had more time to take different classes and decide what we're interested in."

"Whatever," I said, because I knew he was right, and I was being melodramatic.

"So, that situation with Avery was intense," Luke said, finally bringing up the confrontation at the dance.

I laughed darkly, both at the truth of his words and at his abrupt change of subject. "That is an understatement. I can't believe my parents would do that to me without even talking to me about it. I mean, I guess it doesn't completely surprise me that my mom would pull something like that and forget to talk to me about it. But Dad is normally more sensible than that. It just doesn't make any sense to me. Why are they forcing Avery on me?"

Luke shook his head. "I don't know what to tell you," he admitted. "The whole situation seems strange to me. And Avery is a certified lunatic. I think that girl needs mental health counseling. Something isn't right in her head."

"Tell me about it."

We drove in silence for a while, since there was absolutely no good way to explain Avery's behavior, or to justify my parents decision to let her stay with me and my dad for Christmas. Some situations are just beyond words.

When we were about thirty minutes away from my house, Luke pointed to a Hardee's sign just off of an interstate exit. "Are you hungry?" he asked. "I was thinking about stopping for lunch. I know you always liked Hardee's burgers. Are they still your favorite?"

I nodded. "Yeah, Hardee's is great," I said, feeling oddly touched that Luke had remembered such a small detail about me, even though it had been three years since we dated. "I can't believe you remembered."

Luke grinned. "Of course I did. I drove you there often enough."

I blushed, because it was true. Luke had taken me to Hardee's for more than one date, because I liked it better than a lot of other places. Luke found a spot in the parking lot, and we went inside to place our orders. Once we had our food and had settled into a booth, I asked Luke a question that had been bothering me for quite a while.

"I have to ask," I told him, "because you never did say. That day I went home and you were talking to my dad. What on earth were you two talking about?"

Luke laughed, almost spitting out the bite of burger he had just eaten. That was charming. "I almost forgot about that," he said after swallowing his food. He chuckled. "I'll bet that's been driving you nuts for quite a while, hasn't it?"

I nodded, because he was totally right. He may have forgotten about it, but I sure as heck hadn't. I didn't like unanswered questions, and finding my ex-boyfriend chatting casually with my dad in our living room was one giant, unanswered question.

"I was getting his opinion on a football issue."

I frowned. "Don't you have college coaches for that?"

Luke nodded. "Yeah, I do, but I still value your dad's opinion. To answer your question, I'm officially eligible for the NFL draft this spring, and I wanted his opinion on whether I should enter the draft now, or play one more year of college ball and then enter."

"Wouldn't you have to leave school early if you got drafted?"

Luke shrugged. "Technically, but since my course work is already pretty much done, I could still earn my bachelor's degree. I would just need to take a couple of extra summer classes."

"So, what did you decide to do?"

Luke grinned. "Your dad told me not to be an idiot and to just finish out my last year of college football. The NFL can wait, and I'll have a better chance of getting drafted if I play another season and can make it to the collegiate championships and get selected to play in an all star game."

"So in other words, don't be in such a hurry to grow up?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Luke agreed.

We finished our meal, and with no further excuses, I allowed Luke to bring me home, feeling like I was a prisoner being dragged to face my executioner. Hopefully, I was wrong to be so worried. Avery was staying in my father's home. How miserable could she make me? I was almost afraid to find out the answer.