Off Limits (4 page)

Chapter Four

I’d just about
calmed down by the end of the school day – the distractions of general school
life were enough to keep my mind occupied. As soon as the bell ran, though, my
uneasy paranoia had returned. If the car was there, I probably wouldn’t have
been able to keep my cool.

Thankfully, it
wasn’t and I could listen to Phoebe’s ramblings about the people in her dance
class that I’d never met. It was easy to just nod along and I welcomed not
having to actually think up a response. “That’s really terrible,” I agreed, hoping
I’d heard right. “Cheating on her boyfriend like that.”

“I know!” Phoebe
agreed, throwing up her hands. “I couldn’t believe it when she told me. She
sounded so pleased with herself, too. Proper fucked up. Are you in your own car
today?”

“Erm, no Luke gave
me a lift. Do you know where he is, by the way? I think we’re doing more shitty
German today.”

Phoebe blinked,
“wow, you really did click, then?” There was only the tiniest hint of suspicion
in her voice. I’d known Luke longer than she had and we’d always had
a
relationship,
even if it was a poor one.

“Yeah, it was all
dark and stuff and I didn’t know the way back to my house. We figured it was
just easier this way.”

Phoebe snatched
the sleeve of my blouse, eyebrows having shot up. “Are you saying you went to
his house?”

I cringed. Of
course I’d been stupid enough to screw that up the day after he’d told me. Luke
wouldn’t want to look at me ever again. “Ah,” I dragged the word out. “Not
really, I just dropped him off outside. I didn’t go in or anything.” That might
have been a suitable lie. Or it might have been suitable to just go with the
truth and stop Luke’s ridiculous lies in their tracks. He was being stupid
about the whole situation – Phoebe was my best friend as I wasn’t the wealthiest
woman in the neighbourhood.

It didn’t stop
Phoebe’s shoulders slumping. “I don’t even know where his house is. I don’t
know why he’s been so secretive about it all.”

I shrugged, trying
desperately to think of a way out of the situation. I should have just outright
lied, now Luke was going to have to put up with so much rubbish.

Not that I should
ever care what happened to Luke over what happened to Phoebe. The fact Luke was
making me feel better about my current problem didn’t just erase the years of
friendship I’d had with Phoebe. She was my best friend and he was a temporary
comfort. At least, I attempted to drill that into my brain.

“I don’t know
either, I’m sure he has a reason, though. He’ll probably take you there soon.”

“I’ll just have to
pester him some more,” she decided resolutely and I could only groan mentally.
Of course she would. “Anyway, I’ve got to head off to dancing so I’m glad you
don’t need a lift from me. Luke had PE last, so I’m sure he’ll be a bit late.”

“Right, thanks,” it
would be best to just wait by his car, then. “Have a good practice.”

I couldn’t stand
still waiting by Luke’s car. I should tell him now so that he didn’t get
Phoebe’s badgering dropped on him later. But then the entire car ride would be
painful.

Luke had appeared
before I’d made up my decision and I’d apparently not controlled my expression
very well. “What have you done?”

There was no point
in lying now. “I kind of told Phoebe that I’d been to your house. Well,
actually I told her that I’d dropped you off, I didn’t mention that I’d met
your mum or anything.” I looked up at him with a wince, really hoping he
wouldn’t be too mad.

Then I wondered
why I cared. This was the kind of thing I’d have done without a second thought
if it wasn’t Phoebe – sabotaging Luke because it was the way our relationship
had always worked.

Either my opinion
towards Luke that had changed, or I was too much of a mess to be thinking
coherently. It wasn’t wrong to have changed my opinion because we now shared a
messy family life, was it?

I was sure it
would be back to normal and we’d be at each other’s throats in no time.

“Please tell me
you’re joking,” I was dragged from my weird thoughts by Luke’s angry figure
looming over me. “I expressly said not to.”

“I didn’t mean to!
I’m not good at lying to my best friend, I don’t exactly have a lot of practice
with it.”

He waved a
dismissive hand. “Whatever, let’s just get you home. I really want to spend as
little time with you as possible. Telling you anything was such a horrid idea.”

I slipped into the
passenger seat and felt incredibly guilty. Or maybe I just felt sad that I was
going to have to suffer silence for the next half an hour.

And silent it was.
Luke didn’t even put on the radio, he just drummed his fingers in an irritating
tune against the steering wheel and forced me to stare out the window and
consider apologising again.

“Right, you can
find your way back now, then?”

I’d been too
pre-occupied with deciding what to do about the awkward atmosphere that I
hadn’t paid any attention to the route. “Whereabouts is the chippy you’re
working at?” I asked instead, putting off the second berating at my inability
to memorise a few roads.

“Chesterfield,
though I really don’t know why you’re asking. Just hurry up and go away,
please.”

“Look, do you want
me to help you out with your German, or not? I need to go and buy some mascara,
so just let me come with you and I’ll help you out during the drive. Cool?”

Luke was really
loathed to accept my offer, but he sighed and turned his engine back on. “Fine.
I really wish I didn’t need your help. What did Pheebs say, anyway?”

I winced. “She
just said she was going to pester you and stuff. I’m really sorry about that,
she was being all weird and kind of jealous about it and I was being defensive,
it just kind of slipped out.”

Luke rolled his
eyes. “She’s always like that. Whatever, I’ve deflected her a thousand times
before. Let’s just get on with the German.”

The ride went
significantly quicker when we were actually communicating and it almost
irritated me how quickly Luke picked up on what I was telling him. Maybe he’d
just skived off in German to the extreme for all these years or something.

“Okay, I’m going
to come in and be your first customer because I’m starving. If I order in
German I guess that’ll be okay.”

“This entire thing
is horribly embarrassing,” he grimaced. “I really wish it was anyone but you
that was here, I mean, seriously.”

“To be fair, I
haven’t made fun of you. I could have been really cruel,” and I’d been on the
verge of it many times. “Anyway,” my stomach rumbled and interrupted us. “Let’s
go.”

Luke’s boss was
incredibly weird looking. I couldn’t quite place what it was, but I felt
uncomfortable whenever he smiled. “Luke, it’s going to be a busy day today. Your
colleague has handed in their notice unexpectedly.”

I hovered in the
corner. “No problem,” we were both pretty sure this wasn’t going to take much
learning. “Are you wanting to order something?” He checked with me. “I’m not
sure what you’re going to do for the four hours I’m working. The car will be
cold and dark.”

His boss’s eyes
lit up. “If you’re free then I’m sure we could use some help for the night. Is
cash in hand okay? Thirty pounds for the four hours?”

I spared Luke a
glance, but he didn’t look offended by the arrangement. “Sure, that would be
cool.”

The fish and chip
shop was ridiculously easy to run. Luke took the orders and I dealt out the
food for the most part. It was only the hairnet that really got on my nerves.

“This is so
funny,” Luke exclaimed, grinning ear to ear as I attempted to fit my
excessively long hair into the thing. It normally sat to the dip in my hip and
I felt almost bare without it.

“Maybe this was a
bad idea after all.”

Luke’s boss – Tyler,
he’d later revealed – hung around in the background for about an hour until he
knew we were sorted. After that, he went into the back room and didn’t come
out. I felt more at ease when Luke and I could just do our thing without a
watchful eye staring us down.

We didn’t make a
single mistake, as far as I was aware, and there were a few lulls where we
actually got some German practice done.

Tyler reappeared
when the shift was over and put the closed sign across the door. “Good work,
both of you.”

We nodded, unsure
what else there was to say to that.

“And so, Carmen,
I’d like to offer you the more permanent job, if you’d be interested. It would
be the same contract, hours and wages as Luke and starting immediately.”

I glanced up at Luke
once more, but he was impartial. It was my decision. “Sure, that would be
really great, thank you.” This way, we could get the German done and I’d
actually have some money coming in. I could be less reliant on my mother for
everything.

“Excellent,” he
shook my hand and went to fetch a piece of paper. He’d clearly been preparing
this whilst we’d been working. “Just sign here and we can sort out all the bank
details and stuff later.”

He’d said it was
the same as Luke’s so, probably stupidly, I just signed it.

“Well, that’s all
sorted then. I’ll see you tomorrow at the same time.” He handed me the thirty
pounds as promised. My regular wage worked out as slightly less than that, but
it was still more money than I’d ever had before.

“Is anywhere even
still open at this time?” Luke asked as we left the shop and braced the cold. “Well,
anywhere that sells mascara.”

I was too busy
shivering to really register what he was saying. I’d been working in my school
uniform with an apron on top and whilst the chippy had been boiling, the
outside weather at nearly nine o’clock wasn’t so pleasant. “I think that
Tesco’s will be open. I’m pretty sure they close at ten and they always have
some make-up.”

“Okay, cool, I
hope you didn’t take the job just because of the German thing by the way. You
didn’t have to do that.”

I smirked, “I’m
really just after the money, don’t worry. I’m not that generous at all.”

“Well, that’s
good, then. Hey, are you cold? You can have my jumper if you want.” He shrugged
out of the big, black fleece I’d been ogling. It did look awfully cosy.

“Nah, it’s cool.
I’m sure it’s not that far to the shop,” I had to hope, anyway. I’d only been
to Chesterfield a few times and really hoped I was remembering the way
correctly. I wrapped my arms around myself and wondered if Luke and I could
have always been this civil if we’d given each other the chance.

It was
surprisingly nice.

He draped the
fleece over my shoulders. “I really try to be a gentleman sometimes.”

Pushing my arms
through the sleeves, I buried my face in the material that swarmed my small
frame. It smelt like Luke. “Thank you.”

But he couldn’t
hide the fact he was freezing almost as soon as he’d relinquished his fleece. I
couldn’t help but feel a little bit guilty, but my comfort cancelled it out.

Inside the shop, I
picked up the cheapest mascara and took it to the till. Luke hovered in the
warm blower at the entrance and rubbed his hands up and down his arms rapidly.
I couldn’t resist the mental smile. I’d definitely never expectedly gentlemanly
Luke to be shown to me.

He’d obviously
forgiven my goof with Phoebe earlier.

Back outside, I
shoved my mascara in his pocket and handed him back the fleece. “I think we can
call it a truce if you have it for the walk back to the car. You are driving,
after all. And I’ve just crashed your whole job thing.”