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LACEY

Luke walks towards the door of Club Blue as I hold my fingertips to my lips. They are still tingling from the kiss.

He kissed me. Luke kissed me. I kissed him back.

I seriously thought he was joking at first when he introduced himself; he honestly doesn't remember me.  I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or if that just turns the Lucas Drake-shaped knife in my gut a little more.

I was just going to dance with him, then tell him who I was.  It was going to be a joke, because the idiot DOESN'T REMEMBER HIS BEST FRIEND.  His hands were all over me.  Oh god, they felt good.  I've never had so much fun dancing in my life.  Then when he kissed me - fireworks.  Blood on fire, knees quaking, skin tingling, mind-blowing fireworks.

Shit.

I tuck my hair behind my ear and make my way back to Rachel. Her and Justin's eyes are locked on me. I quickly take my jacket from her hands, keeping quiet about what just happened.

"So Lace, do I get at least hug?" Justin grins against the lip of his beer.

My mouth falls open.  "Did you know the entire time?"

"No," he laughs.  "Rachel informed me once you two started grinding."  He leans forward and wraps his arms around me in a brotherly-type bear hug.  "Good to see you."

"You too, Justin.  It's been a long time."  It's been twelve years since I've seen Justin.  I wasn't as close to him but the four of us were together every day when I lived here during my summers.

He releases me from the hug and both of them return to their wide-eyed stare.  My face flushes to a hot pink.  They obviously saw him kiss me.  And if they saw that then they saw me kiss him back.

"Sooo, I'm going to go with Luke." I motion with my thumb to the door.

"Did you tell him yet?  Lace, you gotta tell him,"  Justin pleads with me.  "I've never seen him so scared to talk to a girl before."

He was scared to talk to me?  He won't be once he figures out who I am.  He will probably go right back to hating me, which is fine.  Whatever.  I got a good laugh out of it.

"I have to tell him.  I'm staying at the idiot's house."  My eyes roll as I put on my jacket.  "I'm sure he will go right back to ignoring me."

Justin's head shakes and he and Rachel share a look.  "He likes you, Lacey. He won't ignore you.  Just don't hurt him on purpose.  He's not the person you think he is."

"Lacey, you kissed him," Rachel giggles.  "You kissed Luke..."

"He kissed me." I hold my figure up in protest.  Luke instigated that kiss, that's on him.  I played a game with him and may have ground my ass into his erection, but I was not going to kiss him.

"You kissed him right back and appeared to be enjoying it."

Yes, yes I did.  That was hands down the most amazing kiss I have ever had, but it changes nothing.

"One-time thing," I sigh.  "I'm here for a summer; this won't go anywhere.  Plus, it's Luke.  He hates me.  He's about to hate me even more."

I give them a final wave before they can continue grilling me.  "I'll call you, Rachel.  Justin can get his own deets from Luke." 

I walk away, leaving them both at the bar to find Luke standing by the door.  His eyebrow lifts.  "Did you just hug Justin?"

Good job, Lacey.  Idiot.  "Yeah, told him if he hurts Rachel I'd kill him."

He laughs and grabs my hand with his.  I shouldn't like this as much as I do, but my hand fits so perfectly.  It's comfortable, but it's Luke.

"I think it would be the other way around. He didn't want to deal with her tonight. I think they have a history they aren't sharing."

I think he's right, but the two of us have a history that I'm not sharing so I don't comment.

The night is cool and perfect. After dancing the last hour I am warm. Our hands stay linked until we arrive at a brand new, bright red Jeep Wrangler. He opens the door for me with a smile but before I can even get in his arms are around me again. I swallow hard, watching his strong jaw clench. He dips his head and presses his lips to mine, causing my own to react with approval.  Damn lips, doing whatever they want.  Then my throat betrays me with a moan.  He smiles against my lips, obviously liking the effect he's having on me.

"Your place or mine, Pretty Girl?" 

Would now be a good time to tell him that my place is currently his place?  Probably not. 

I giggle and pull myself away.  "I bet you call all the girls you take home Pretty Girl.  Right?"  I remember back to when we were little and he would call me this.  It must be his favorite term of endearment.

He gives a small sad laugh but shakes his head no.  "No, just one other girl, but she left a long time ago."

Me.  He's talking about me.  How can I not react to that? I wrap my arms around his neck and this time I kiss him.  I want to kiss him just once before I ruin his night at this dinner.  "Your place," I whisper into our kiss.  I have to go to his place anyway, he might as well take me.

"You got it, Pretty Girl."

I get into the Jeep and buckle myself.  As soon as he is in he has our fingers intertwined again. He only releases them when he needs to shift but always returns them to mine.

The wind blows my hair in my face but I don't mind. It's the perfect night for a Jeep ride. I just can't help but to wonder how the hell this happened. The last time I was driving down this road it was away from his house after he slammed a door in my face and told me to fuck off.  There were so many tears because of him.  I close my eyes, trying to suppress that memory but it creeps into my mind.

"Lace, what's wrong honey?  Did- did Lucas tell you something that upset you?"

I turn my face away from my mom, crying into the seatbelt of her car.  I feel as though my heart just shattered into a million pieces.  "No.  He wouldn't talk to me at all."

She sighs, placing her freshly manicured hand on my knee.  "He's having a bad week, Lacey.  It's been three years since you've seen him.  You're practically a stranger to him right now..."

"But mom, it's Luke!" I cry out.  Even if it's been three years, he could never be a stranger.  We text each other constantly, all hours of the day.  That stopped this week.  Four years of summers with him; he will always be one of my best friends, or at least I thought.  "We text all the time!  He just slammed a door in my face and told me to fuck off!  What did I do to him?"

I begin to sob into my hands as she pulls the car off the road and parks it.   Her hand pulls at mine; I can't help but to notice that hers is shaking.  I look up to my beautiful mother with blurred eyes and see hers are the same.

"You two still talk?"  She pauses and takes a deep breath. "You did nothing wrong, Lace.  Don't blame yourself..."

My shoulders shake with hurt.  "It was directed at me.  He wouldn't even look at me.  I did something to make him mad..."

"No Lacey, you didn't." She sighs again and looks out her window, now attempting to avoid my eye contact.

"I hate his mother for this," I mutter under my breath.  How could anyone leave their son behind?  Just walk away and disappear from their family?

Mom hears me and shakes her head. "It's not her fault either.  Just let him go, Lace.  We won't come back again, I've had enough of this town."

"I can't just let him go!" I cry out.  "It's Luke!"

Her eyes widen and then she presses them shut, but that doesn't stop the tears from trailing down her cheeks.  "Oh Lace, please tell me you don't have a crush on Lucas."

I do.  I always have.  How could I not?  My friendly-boy neighbor who always made me laugh even though I didn't want to.  He would never settle for anything less than a smile on my face, even if he couldn't see it through a text.  So what changed today?  Today he's making me cry.

"Lacey, don't."

My head snaps up to my mom.  Her face is serious.  Don't?  Don't what?  Don't have a crush on my best friend?

"We won't come back. You won't see him again.  I'm sorry.  I'm so sorry he was rude to you today but now you see how his family is.  Just let him go."

"I can't let Luke go, he's just hurting.  I just need to talk to him and figure out why he's mad at me and fix..."

"Lacey, stop!"  She cuts me off with a firm voice, holding her hand up.  My mom never yells at me, but suddenly I feel as though she is mad at me too.

"I don't ask you for much," she whispers with a shaking head.  "You're a good girl, the best daughter I could ask for.  But I need you to not argue with me on this.  Drake men... well, they're trouble.  I've worked with his dad a long time to know that.  You're fifteen, there are so many good guys out there.  Let Luke go.  Please, I'm asking you, don't fall for him Lacey.  He's not the one for you."

Fuck off - that's what he told me.  He told me to fuck off and slammed a door in my face, almost hitting me with it.  My friend.  My friendly-boy.

"Lacey, please..." she pleads again and clutches my knee. 

My mom is never mad at me; she never asks me for anything. Why do I feel that by liking Luke I have somehow disappointed her?  Her face is begging me to let him go.

"Okay." I nod.  Her shoulders relax with relief as she starts the car again.   The pit in my stomach grows; heartbreak overtakes me.  I open my phone and text a simple word before deleting Luke's number...

Goodbye.

I'm sitting here with Lucas Drake. What the hell would my mother think right now? It's not like I have a crush on him anymore. I was fifteen. I probably would have had a crush on any guy that spoke to me at that point.

I keep catching his little side glances and smirks, causing the corners of my lips to lift into a smile.

"So, what do I need to do to get your name?"

I laugh and shake my head. This is too fun. I'm just not ready to end this yet.

"Okay, fine. Tell me something about yourself. Are you from here?"

"Do you mean - do I live here year-round? No."

"So you have a summer home here?"

"No."

"So, how do you know Rachel?"

I can't answer that yet.  I can't exactly say I'm an old friend either because he would likely catch on.  I'm just going to ask him a question instead.

"Where did you learn to dance like that?"

A genuine grin comes to his face as he shifts gears.  "I taught myself.  My goal is to open a studio and do choreography."

Choreography?  He's in pharmacy school like I am. I know he is.  So he lies to get girls into bed with him? Classy.  I guess saying that you're in the most prestigious pharmacy programs on the east coast doesn't bag the promiscuous girls he's looking for.

He pulls into the drive of his father's beach house and then to the private guest house behind it and turns off the ignition.  My stomach fills with butterflies as he watches me. 

I need to tell him.

"So what do you do?" he asks.

I shake my head no with a smile.  Pharmacy school would definitely tell him who I am, which I should be doing.

Tell him, Lacey.

He just laughs and gets out of the Jeep to open my door.  "You're a hard girl to crack, you know that? You're stubborn."

"I've been told that."

I take his hand and hop out of the Jeep.  Why, why does it have to fit so perfectly in his?  Why does this have to be Luke?  I should have stuck with my initial plan tonight and went home with a stranger.  But Luke practically is one now.  I'm not sure I would have recognized him in that club if Rachel hadn't told me he was there.

He guides me into the pool house that I am familiar with.  We used to play here when we were younger on rainy days.  He would try and take my mind off of storms, knowing I was terrified of them. Luke begins flipping on lights as we walk further in and I become flooded with memories of rainy days.

"Can I get you a drink?"

I need to tell him.  "No." I tug his hand back towards me so that he brings his eyes back to mine.  "Luke, I need to..."

Lips.  His lips crash into mine with a hungry force.  His hands hold each side of my jaw gently.  Those fireworks are back, causing my entire body to lust for my old friend.  Christ, why does he have to kiss so well?

"What were you going to say?" he whispers against my lips. 

Tell him.  I need to tell him. 

His right hand releases from my jaw, moving slowly down my side until it clutches my hip and brings me as close as we could possibly be.  Our fronts are pressed firmly together; we can feel every breath and every shiver our bodies are producing. 

"Nothing," I whisper back.  I wrap my arms around his neck as he dives back into another kiss.