Without You

I closed my eyes and let out a sigh.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Luke shoved his phone into his back pocket and walked over to the shelf. He put the whiskey back and then walked into the bathroom.

“Why are you doing this, Luke?”

He poked his head out of the bathroom and asked, “Doing what?”

“Going to Abigail.”

He walked out and looked at me like I had two heads. “I’m going to Abigail because I want to get laid. What’s wrong with that?”

“What about Libby?”

He turned and looked at me. “What about Libby?”

I instantly got pissed off. Lex had talked to Libby over Christmas break, and Libby had finally told Lex what had happened last summer between her and Luke. The only problem was that Luke didn’t remember what he’d said to Libby, and it was tearing Libby apart.

“Do you have feelings for my sister?”

Luke swallowed hard. He shook his head and looked away.

“Luke?”

He snapped his head back and looked at me. “I can’t. I mean, I won’t do that to her. She means everything to me, and I’ll fuck it up, Will. I already broke her heart with the dick move I made on her before I left for college. What if I can’t…I mean, I don’t think I can…I’m not good enough for her, Will. She deserves someone better, and she found him.”

My eyes widened as I stood there, shocked. “Wait—what do you mean, she found him?”

He let out a gruff laugh. “I mean, she’s dating someone. I saw them just now. I was going to ask her if she wanted to see a movie when I saw her leaning against a building. Then, some dick fucking kissed her.” He turned away and whispered, “She looked happy.”

My head was spinning. I knew for a fact that Libby was in love with Luke, but even Lex had said that Libby wasn’t going to wait around for Luke to stop acting like a jerk. Even Grace had tried to talk to Luke.

“So, because you see Lib kissing a guy, you run to Abigail?”

Luke reached down for his jacket and grabbed his truck keys. “I haven’t been with a girl in months. I need to get fucked.”

I grabbed his arm. “Don’t do this, Luke. If you want to be with someone…” I closed my eyes and couldn’t believe what I was about to say. “If you want to be with someone, be with the person you love. Luke, Libby loves you.”

His eyes widened in horror as he took a step away from me. He began shaking his head. “No…she doesn’t love me, Will.”

“Luke, for Christ’s sake, will you just admit you love her? Libby was already your best friend once. Stop pushing her away. She cares about you, and you—”

He held up his hand. “I’ve gotta go. Abigail is waiting on me.”

“Don’t do this, Luke. I swear to God, you’ll regret it.”

He turned away from me and headed out the door. I took in a deep breath as I took my phone out and sent Libby a text.

Me: Lib, are you dating someone?

Libby: Why?

Me: Luke said he saw you kissing someone, and he is out of control right now, Lib. He really cares about you, but he thinks he’s not good enough for you.

Libby: Luke only cares about himself and his fuck buddy, Abigail. She made sure to tell me how much they hook up. I seriously doubt he cares about me when he has her. I’m heading into a movie.

What in the hell? Libby talked to Abigail? How do they know each other?

Me: Wait. Lib, when did you talk to Abigail?

Libby: Two weeks ago. She came up to me in the library and started talking about her and Luke.

None of this was making any sense. Luke hadn’t seen Abigail in months.

Me: Libby, this doesn’t make sense. Luke hasn’t seen Abigail in months.

Libby: Will, I’m tired of this. I don’t care anymore. I’ve moved on. Please let it go. I have to go. I love you.

I pulled up Luke’s number and hit it. It rang two times and then went to voice mail. I called again. After two more rings, I got voice mail again. I tried a third time, and it was obvious he wasn’t going to answer his phone, so I left a message.

“Dude, I just talked to Libby. She thinks you and Abigail have been hooking up all this time. Abigail talked to Libby in the library a couple of weeks ago. She made it seem like y’all were together. Luke, please don’t do this. Call Libby.”

I hit End and stared at my phone, but nothing happened. I tried to call Libby, and her phone went directly to voice mail. I sat down on my bed and let out a frustrated moan.