Playing With My Heartstrings (12 page)

"No, no, it's fine, honestly," I replied, waving his un-needed apology away. "I was only looking at the menu because there was nothing else to stare at - it looks as though I'm going to be stuck in this queue for a while."

The boy nodded. "Yeah, I've already been here for at least five minutes and the time is dragging - it hasn't been so busy here for ages!"

"You come here all the time?"

"Sure, it's one of the only fast-food chains that I like!" he warmly chuckled, then introduced himself, "Hey, I'm Luke."

"I'm Sadie," I replied, and without the thought flashing through my dumbstruck mind, I shook hands with Luke, whose lack of reluctance amazed me.

The last time I'd attempted to shake hands with a boy ended up with a sarcastic comment and threatening smirk, leaving me as embarrassed and red-faced when my seven year old self accidently dropped my Care Bear toy down the toilet and Mum had to spend nearly two hours restoring it to its former clean state.

An out-of-breath Valerie and sleepy Piper sluggishly trawled behind me as I led the way to the local McDonald's, which every town never failed to have. As I could tell that Valerie and Piper were on the verge of collapsing out of exhaustion (and I partly didn't want to drag them onto their feet, therefore causing yet another unnecessary scene), I went into the music-blaring restaurant alone, where I found Cassie, Mae and Amelie treating themselves to a man-sized order of salty, stick-thin fries and iron-rich cheeseburgers, which caused my stomach to rumble angrily.

"Hey guys," I casually said, walking over to their table. "How you're doing?"

Swallowing an enormous bite of beef, Cassie replied, "Fine, we just went to New Look and got tons of clothes in their summer sale!" gesturing towards two massive bags lying behind her, stuffed with brightly coloured shorts, quirky t-shirts and dresses which were born to be worn in the glorious sunshine. "So," she said, a sly grin clouding her face, "how did your piercing go?"

I beamed, relief flooding through me as I realised that I wouldn't have to cover up or produce fantastically poor lies about getting a bold, parent-hating piercing. "Oh, only just a second ear piercing, no big deal," I stated, waving my hand as though I didn't have a care in the world.

Cassie grimaced. "I asked Mum for another piercing a few months ago and she said no! How is that fair?"

Actually, I'd never asked Mum about the possibility of my getting a second ear piercing, but I assumed that it was okay because a) I was almost three years older than my whiny little sister, b) I was wise enough to be able to take care of the piercing myself, unlike Cassie who obtained an infection when she got her first pair at the age of nine, and c) Mum had two piercings herself, so she wasn't in the slightest position to give me a door-slamming 'no'.

"C'est la vie," I said, cheekily picking up one of her many fries. "Mmm," I murmured, as the delicious flavour hit my tongue, "I've got to have some of those."

"Where is Valerie?" Mae asked, her eyes flashing around me, looking for the slumped, I-don't-care form of Valerie.

"Val and her friend, Piper, are sitting on the benches outside as the short walk was way too exhausting for them." I rolled my eyes. "So I was given the job of buying the milkshakes and food, which was too exciting to decline. Who knew that becoming an owner of a car would turn you into a lazy ghost of yourself within a week?"

Cassie and Mae roared with laughter, whilst cool queen Amelie discreetly took a sip of her orange juice, giving the proud impression that she so wasn't amused. As if she ever was.

I left the three, hopefully as Cassie tried to knock some sense into Amelie's boorish behaviour, and joined the long, boring line of customers awaiting to be served or receive their orders. A tall, lanky boy not much older was standing in front of me, blocking my view of the menu screen above the counter, which brought aromatic smells of finger-licking fries, divine chocolate milkshakes and frying burgers, and I leapt into the air once or twice, still unable to read the menu.

"Sorry, I didn't know that I was in your way," a deep, smooth voice said, clearly apologetic. The boy in front of me in achingly bored queue turned around, revealing a stunning pair of heart-warming chocolate eyes and large, kissable lips, his skin displaying a soft golden tan.

"No, no, it's fine, honestly," I replied, waving his un-needed apology away. "I was only looking at the menu because there was nothing else to stare at - it looks as though I'm going to be stuck in this queue for a while."

The boy nodded. "Yeah, I've already been here for at least five minutes and the time is dragging - it hasn't been so busy here for ages!"

"You come here all the time?"

"Sure, it's one of the only fast-food chains that I like!" he warmly chuckled, then introduced himself, "Hey, I'm Luke Avery."

"I'm Sadie Thompson," I replied, and without the thought flashing through my dumbstruck mind, I shook hands with Luke, whose lack of reluctance amazed me.

The last time I'd attempted to shake hands with a boy ended up with a sarcastic comment and threatening smirk, leaving me as embarrassed and red-faced when my seven year old self accidently dropped a Care Bear toy down the toilet and Mum had to spend nearly two hours restoring it to its former clean state.

Yeah, so far, this conversation happened to be normal, which was a miracle regarding the fact that my last chat with a teenage boy ended with an Oscar-winning argument in front of half-deaf pensioners inside a cake-scented cafe.

"So, do you live around here, Sadie?" Luke asked. "I don't remember seeing you before."

I shook my head. "No, I live in Applebury."

"Ah, I could sense that there was a new-girl-about-town way about you - for instance, unlike the local girls, you don't wear a banging pair of gold hoops which dangle all the way to your waist."

I giggled. "Well, I do wear gold hoops from time to time, but obviously not the pairs which literally pull my ears off."

"Thought so," Luke remarked, a wistful expression planted on his lightly freckled face. "Shame that you don't live here, Sadie" - his saying my name sent a rush of ecstasy through my enlivened veins - "because I'd love to have somebody like you around." Lowering his voice to a whisper, Luke moved his head closer to mine and murmured, "None of girls in Millingbourne are, well, my type."

My ears, barely covered my loose mane of wavy hair, turned red. An older woman, frazzled to the extent that she looked like she was on the verge of starting World War III inside the noisy building, nudged me and muttered to move ahead as there was now a huge gap in the queue, so Luke and I rushed ahead, relieved that we were one step closer to being served.

"Do you ever travel outside of Millingbourne?" I wondered.

Luke offered a broad smirk in response. "Of course, I get out of here all the time!" he exclaimed, "otherwise I go crazy!"

"What about your friends? Do they ever come with you?"

"Nah, they hardly do. Nowadays, they are far more interested in going around the park with their girlfriends and taking them on dates to the fish and chip shop." Luke paused. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

I turned my gaze away from Luke and stared at a young girl gobbling around twenty fries in one go, in the hope of Luke getting the message that it was a question I'd avoid answering at all costs.

He didn't get it, though.

"Come on, surely a, um, pretty girl like you" - I nearly snorted because how could I be classed as 'pretty' when my foundation barely covered my recent outbreak of whiteheads and my two year old pair of grubby, grass-stained trainers were the only shoes I could find in the closet? - "must have a very lucky boyfriend!"

I shook my head, wishing that Luke would change the subject. Hm, only an answer would do. "No, I'm single," I declared, in a flat, hoarse tone.

At that moment, Luke was called up by one of the cashiers at the counter - we'd barely taken any time to notice that we'd reached the front of the dwindling-in-size queue - and he gestured that he'd come back to continue our chat, then I stated my order, making a spur-on-the-moment decision to get some McFlurry's. Who cared, I thought, as I handed over the cash to the cashier, whose black, claw-like nails kept catching on the thin notes. A teenager - particularly one with a super tiny waist - only lived once!

Heading against a clown-painted wall where Luke had been waiting for me, we first stood in silence, his awkwardness leaving me speechless to what I could possibly say. Relationships were hard - everybody, whether single or not, were aware of that - and it did seem a tiny bit inappropriate asking about whether I'd been going out with anybody when we'd just met a few short minutes ago. Perhaps it was a man thing.

"So, do you want to meet up sometime?" Luke eventually asked, breaking the silence like a hot air balloon.

And despite my annoyance at his asking about a too-difficult-to-explain relationship, I couldn't resist it. "Of course, I'd love to. Do you want my phone number?" I offered, unzipping my bag to reach my phone.

"Sure." Luke put his hand in his pocket and fished out his iPhone, which had a Chelsea FC design case - Dad definitely would've been chuffed to meet a fellow Chelsea supporter - and read out his phone number, as did I.

By the time we'd entered and save our numbers, Luke's order was ready and he went over to the counter, carrying boxes of Big Macs and tower-tall bottles of milkshakes.

I raised an eyebrow. "Are those all for yourself?"

"Unfortunately, no," Luke responded, a pretending sad expression played on his face. "Actually, my family were too impatient to order in the Drive-Thru, so they asked me to come inside. So," he awkwardly began, rolling on the heels of his Converse trainers, "I've got to go now."

"Me too."

Luke sighed. "What about if I travel to Applebury via bus sometime soon? My summer is set to be a wash-out and I'd prefer to be doing something with someone who isn't glued to their phone awaiting texts all the time."

I burst into a euphoric grin. "Yeah, I'd absolutely love that - I'm sure that you'd like it! There's even a little cafe that I visit all the time..." I trailed off, unsure what to say next.

"Nice meeting you, Sadie."

"You too, Luke," I said, truly meaning each word.

Luke tried to wave, but as his hands were full with food and drink, he left with a friendly grin, then I picked up my order, wishing that I could still be talking with Luke. 'Course he didn't set my heart racing like Joel or did the sound of his voice create thousands of butterflies in my stomach, but I liked him and he seemed to like me, so why not?

Glad that I was leaving the restaurant, I quickly searched for Valerie and Piper outside and found them at a far-away bench, their healthy glows restored to their original form before their piercings.

"Hey, what took you so long?" Piper questioned.

"A long queue," I replied, creating a mini white-lie; there was a queue that nearly trailed from the car park, but I would've left sooner if it wasn't for my chat with Luke.

"Never mind," Valerie said, her hand grabbing the closest packet of fries. "Let's get busy eating!"

As Valerie and Piper unleashed their wild side by cramming as many mouthfuls of meat into their mouths at once, I took my time, far away in my own little world. I yearned to meet up with Luke again, who treated me as a trustworthy friend, and he made me laugh, which even jokester Cassie had struggled to do for me recently.

When Valerie noticed that I'd barely touched any food, she voiced her concern, which reminded me of my mum.

"I'm just thinking, that's all," I said, in a tone which stated that there was nothing more to be mentioned about it.

Thinking seemed to have become my sole hobby, as of late.