The Pull of Destiny (29 page)

“No problem. I
thought you’d be kinda cold.” He looked around. “Did you walk over here?”

I nodded. My
MetroCard had just expired and until I got my next paycheck I was going to have
to hoof it. I was definitely not asking Aunt Kelly for transport money.

“Yeah.”

Luke sucked in
a breath. “Bummer. I’m giving you a ride home today, even if I have to kidnap
you,” he told me.

I shook my
head. “You don’t have to,” I protested weakly, even though I was already (in my
mind) leaning back against the comfy leather in Luke’s limo.

“I know I don’t
have to. But I’m going to. So there.” He stuck his tongue out at me playfully
and I grinned.

“Okay. You
don’t have to kidnap me, I accept your offer.”

“You damn right
you do,” Luke laughed. He linked his arm through mine. “C’mon, let’s go inside
before we get arrested for loitering.”

We walked into
the building and once we were through with the security check, walked to the
ticket purchase line. It was long.

“Have you ever
been arrested for loitering?” I asked, looking up at Luke curiously.

He grinned,
shaking his head. “Nope. You?”

“I’ve never
been arrested. Never had trouble with the law.”

Luke grinned
wider. “Goody goody,” he said.

“Have you ever
been arrested for anything?”

“Yeah,” Luke
replied, looking off into the distance. “Two DUI’s. My dad wanted to neuter me
after the second one.”

“Oh.”

Every time Luke
said something about his dad, it sounded kinda bitter.

“Ugh, look at
the lines! We’re gonna be here till midnight,” Luke complained, exaggerating,
of course.

“That’s part of
the appeal of being here,” I told him. I didn’t mind waiting in the lines. As
long as I had my hot coffee and Luke by my side, I could wait forever.

“Waiting is not
appealing to me,” Luke muttered darkly, sticking his free hand into his pocket.

The line moved
torturously slow but finally we reached the ticket purchase desk.

“Hi, we’d like
two tickets please,” Luke said, smiling charmingly at the lady behind the desk.
She was wearing a smart suit and a nametag saying ‘Kendall.’

“Alrighty,
then. Are you heading to the 86
^th
floor observatory or the 102
^nd
floor observatory?” she asked him.

Luke glanced at
me in puzzlement then looked back at her. “What? Don’t you just go straight to
the top floor?”

“They have two
observation points,” I told him. Kendall was staring at Luke, obviously
thinking ‘he must be a tourist.’

“Jeeze, the
more you know,” Luke mumbled. “Uh, the 102
^nd
floor, I guess. Better
views, right?”

“Oh,
definitely. And it’s amazing at night,” Kendall said.
I told you so
.
“That’ll be seventy dollars, please.”

Luke didn’t
even blink at the cost as he reached into his pocket, drew out his black card
and slid it across the granite table. “You can just put that on my card.”

He looked
across the lobby, groaning at the throng of people milling around. “These lines
are killing me.” He turned to Kendall. “Hey, isn’t there any way we can- skip
the lines and just get on the elevator? We don’t wanna go on the tour or
anything.”

I’m pretty
sure there isn’t a tour, Luke.

“We do have an
express ticket that lets you skip to the front of the line,” she told Luke.

“We’ll take
it,” he exclaimed immediately, while my heart sank at the thought of how much
it would cost. Luke grinned at me over his shoulder as Kendall recalculated our
ticket fees. “See? Bitching works!”

“But it’s
forty-five dollars extra,” I whispered worriedly as Kendall announced the new
total.

“Yeah, that’s
cool. Charge it,” Luke said easily.

“Luke! We can
just wait in the line; you don’t need to spend all that cash!”

Sulkily, Luke
said, “But I don’t wanna wait.”

“Patience is a
virtue,” I said wisely. It was wasted on him.

“I am patient,”
he explained. “I just don’t like waiting for something if I know I can change
it.”

Kendall handed
us our tickets and Luke’s card. “Here are your tickets; the elevators are right
over there. Enjoy yourselves,” she said, a smile on her face.

“Thanks, we sure
will,” Luke said, propelling me to an elevator. “We are gonna have so much fun!
This is so awesome,” he exclaimed as the doors closed behind us. The lift rose
quickly as the other passengers talked quietly amongst themselves. “Hey, CiCi.
What’s wrong? We’re about to have an adventure, why do you look so sad?”

I blinked,
hardly believing that I was about to say this.

“Luke, I can’t
pay you back,” I whispered, stepping closer to him so that he would hear me
properly.

“For what?”
Luke frowned, looking confused.

God save me
from ignorant hotties.

“The tickets,”
I elaborated. “Well, I
can
pay you back, but not until I get paid
because my cousin- I mean, I don’t have the money right now.” I couldn’t hold
his gaze and quickly looked away, feeling embarrassed. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“Dude, you’re
not paying me back.”

“I have to,
Luke. It’s too much-,” I started, wishing that I had waited till we were out in
the observatory to tell him this. The elevator suddenly seemed way too small
and not private at all.
Great timing, Celsi.

“CiCi, be
quiet.”

I gaped at him.
“What?”

“You’re not
paying me back. What kind of a person would I be if I said you should pay me
back?” Luke shook his head. “No way.”

“Luke-.”

“I don’t wanna
hear it. Change subject.” Luke actually sounded and looked mortally offended
and I bit the inside of my cheek.

“Um, okay.
Thanks. So much,” I said quietly.

He glanced at
me and sighed. “CiCi, it’s not a problem.”

We were silent
for a while as we got to the 80
^th
floor and were transferred to
another elevator. “What’s your name mean?” Luke suddenly asked, looking at me.

Talk about
changing the subject.

I stared
blankly at him, still embarrassed with the whole ticket thing.
Open mouth,
insert foot.
“Huh?”

“Celsiana.” My
stomach flipped as he said my name, a small smile on his face.
I kid you not
.
So much for him not remembering my name, huh? “I’ve never met a Celsiana
before.”

“Unless you’re
talking about a rose,” I told him.

“Celsiana’s the
name of a rose?” Luke asked, screwing up his nose in thought. “Sweet! He nudged
me. “No wonder you smell nice.”

Hold up.
Luke Astor just said I smelt nice. Memory book.

I smiled at
him, just as the elevator door opened. “Thanks.”

We walked to
the enclosed observation point, the entire city bathed in lights. I was speechless.
The view was absolutely breathtaking.

“Wow, it’s so
beautiful,” I breathed, walking to the railing and staring down. I looked at
Luke and caught him staring at me.
Why? Did I really have something on my
face?
Deciding to ignore that, I motioned to him. “Come over here. Is that
the George Washington Bridge?”

“Oh, yeah!
That’s pretty cool, huh? Awesome view.”

Luke came up
behind me, not quite touching me.

“Yeah, the
view’s amazing. It didn’t look like this when I was in the fourth grade.”

Luke chuckled
softly near my ear. “I’m sure. I would pretty much love to come here every day.
Well, every night, at least. It’s just so peaceful up here.” He slipped his
arms around my waist and put his chin on my shoulder. My heart racing, I
steeled myself so that I wouldn’t twitch or jerk or hurt him.

“I know what
you mean,” I said, willing my voice not to shake. Being so close to Luke,
feeling his body against mine- it wasn’t conducive to my sanity.

“This is the
kind of place you’d want to come to with your better half, isn’t it?” he mused,
glancing at a making out couple near us.

He sounded
wistful and I wondered if he missed dating Joanna (really dating her, not
creeping around with her in supply closets and deserted bathrooms).
Probably.
Especially since she was the one who dumped him.

“Yeah,” I
sighed, feeling wistful myself. What did I know about that? I was single!

As if he read
my mind and wanted to toy with me, Luke asked, “Do you have a better half?” He
let go of me and leaned against the railing, giving me an intrigued look.

I laughed. “Do
I look like I have a batter half?”

Smirking, Luke
said, “More than one.”

“In a good
way?”

“As in you
can’t keep them off you,” Luke replied.

I smiled
uncertainly. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You should, I
meant it as one. So. Do you have a boyfriend?”

I shook my
head. “Nope, I’m single.”

“Why?”

“Why am I
single?” I giggled, shrugging. Luke didn’t laugh; he just stared intently at
me. “I don’t know, I just am.”

“It can’t be
due to the lack of offers,” Luke said slowly, taking a sip of his coffee.

“It kinda is,
actually,” I admitted. I was no femme fatal. Guys weren’t falling over
themselves to get to me.

“I refuse to
believe it,” Luke said. “I mean- dude. You’re cute.” My mouth dropped open and
I was powerless to stop it. I stared at him as he continued. “Like- seriously
beautiful.”

I couldn’t
talk. I couldn’t move. I just stared at Luke, who had the most sincere look on
his face and I wanted to cry. Nobody had ever called me beautiful, especially
not a cute guy with his hair falling into his eyes.

“Oh. Thank-
thank you,” I managed to croak.

Giving me that
adorable crooked smile, Luke said, “I mean it.”
ZOMG. I am going to faint on
top of the Empire State Building and it will be Luke Astor’s fault.
“So,
what you doing on Saturday night?”

Still befuddled
from all the compliments I had received in such a short amount of time (or
maybe the height had just gone to my head) I replied, “I’m either going to see
Shazia in the fashion show or just stay home and read.”

Probably the
latter. I was sure that if I went to the fashion show, Aisha would find a spot
for me as a model.
No thanks.

“Read what?”
Luke grinned cheekily at me. “Instant Connection?”

I’m never
going to live that one down.

“Well...no,” I
said lamely.

“Ha, you’re a sucky
liar.”

“I shall
probably be reading a magazine,” I told him loftily.

“Okay.” Luke
grinned at me like he didn’t believe a word I was saying but had just decided
to humor me. Suddenly, a hesitant look in his eyes, he asked, “CiCi, do you
want to be my date for the gala on Saturday?”

Just when I
thought the night couldn’t get any stranger...

I laughed out
loud. “Well, I have to make sure that my fairy godmother is available to
conjure a dress up and turn a pumpkin into a carriage for me,” I snickered, wiping
tears of laughter from my eyes.

Luke had
jokes, didn’t he?
So why wasn’t he smiling?

“I’m actually
being serious!” he exclaimed, placing his coffee on the wall.

I grinned at
him. “So am I!” I joked.
Two can play at this game.
I was so on to him.
First the
‘I love you’
thing, now this.

“You think I’m
playing? When I have this serious look on my face?”

“Improv. You’re
pretty good, I must say.”

“CiCi, I really
am asking you to be my date to the gala,” Luke said patiently. I stared at him.
Maybe he isn’t joking.

“Why?”

“Well,
because-,” he started, but I interrupted almost immediately, Robyn style.

“If you expect
me to believe that you want to take me to a fancy gala just a couple of weeks
after we’ve started talking to each other, you must think I’m stupid.” Luke
opened his mouth to answer and I talked over him. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

“No.”

“Good. So why
do you want to take me to the gala?”

He smiled at
me, sticking his hands into his pockets as he slouched against the wall.
“Because I think every pretty girl deserves to go to a gala.”

I stared at
him. “You stole that line from Jim Carrey in Yes Man,” I said accusingly.