“Not me,” I squealed, wriggling underneath him and trying to get away.
“Who’s difficult?” he asked again and wiggled his eyebrows as he held me down. He took one hand and started tickling me and I screamed, unable to stop myself.
“Me, me, me. Stop.” I laughed, breathlessly. He finally stopped and rolled over and I looked at him, panting. “You’re an ass**le, Luke Bryan.”
“And I own up to it.” He laughed, kissed me on the nose and jumped up. “So, what shall we watch?”
“You choose,” I sighed. “It’s not like you care what I think, anyways.”
“That’s not true,” he laughed and held up a DVD. “How’s about Madea Goes To Jail?”
“What?” I twitched my nose. “Madea again?”
“It’ll be fun.”
“Uh huh.” I threw a pillow at him. “I think you’re going to end up dating an older black lady, Luke.”
“You think?” he grinned.
“Someone in her seventies,” I laughed. “Not older like Halle Berry. She’s too hot and too young.”
“What about Kerry Washington?”
“Way too young for you,” I grinned. “Plus, she has President Grant.”
“Ah, yes. I can’t compete with President Grant,” he grinned. “Actually, I missed last week’s episode of Scandal, so maybe we can watch it after Madea.”
“If I’m not asleep,” I laughed and rolled my eyes. Luke had an unhealthy obsession with all the Madea movies. I really wasn’t sure why, but he loved them and owned all of the DVD’s. I didn’t tell him that Tyler Perry had some TV shows as well, or he may never have left his house.
Luke put on the movie and came and sat next to me on the bed. He pressed play and then turned to me. “So, what’s going on with you and lover boy?”
“He’s not my lover.” I blushed because, in my dreams, Bryce Evans was a lot more than just a friend to me.
“Well, I know that.” Luke poked me and grinned at me. “Last time I checked you had never had a lover.”
“Luke,” I groaned. “Don’t remind me of my pitiful state.”
“You’re saving yourself for the right man. There’s nothing pitiful there.”
“If he ever comes along.”
“He’ll come.” Luke lay flat and stared at the ceiling. “So MIT emailed me today.”
“Oh yeah?” I lay flat on the bed next to him and stared at the ceiling as well. For some reason, I felt tension in my shoulders and nerves in my belly. “What did they say?”
“They’ll give me a full-ride, guaranteed admission to a PhD program, once I finish my bachelors, and an assistantship. Apparently, there are two professors who are dying to work with me.”
“Oh.” I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to be happy for my friend, and I was, but I felt more sad for myself.
“Yeah. It was overwhelming reading how badly they wanted me.” He turned towards me and I rolled over and stared into his eyes. “I never thought something like this would ever happen to me, you know.”
“I know.” I smiled at him gently and wondered at his eyelashes. How he got soo lucky to have long, black eyelashes that framed his eyes so well I didn’t know. He smiled back and me and I stared at his chipped tooth, fondly. “So, do you think you’ll go?”
“I’m not sure.” He studied my face. “I’d be leaving a lot behind.”
“Not Bongo, I hope.” I tried to lighten the mood with a joke and Bongo let out a bark, to let us know that he agreed with my words.
“I couldn’t leave my precious Bongo,” Luke smiled. “Let’s play the ten things game.”
“Okay.” I licked my lips and reached over for Luke’s hands. The ten things game was a game we had created when we were sixteen and our friendship had nearly deteriorated. I had been angry at him for something silly and told him to never call me again. He had reached over and grabbed my hands and told me ten things that he loved about me and my friendship. By the end of his monologue, I had forgiven him and we were friends again. We’d since adapted the game to fit into different circumstances and, instead of one person doing all the talking, we both told each other ten things we appreciated about the other one. No questions asked. If one of us needed a pick me up after a sad day we asked to play, or if we just wanted to let the other one know how much we cared about them.
“You start,” I smiled, as Luke laughed. I always made him start the ten things game because I always felt so self-conscious.
“One—I love the way you support me moving to Boston, even though you want me to stay.”
“Two—I love the fact that this is a hard decision for you because you appreciate my friendship so much.” I smiled at him, gently, as he looked at me in surprise. Luke thought I didn’t realize that I was the main consideration holding him back from going, but I did. I knew it was selfish to hold our friendship over him like that, but I just didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t want to lose him.
“Three—I love the specks of green in your warm, brown eyes.”
“Four—I love that you are growing a goatee, even though it looks ridiculous on you.”
“Lexi,” he laughed and I reached over and played with the hair on his chin. “You have to admit that it’s pitiful, Luke,” I laughed.
“Five—I love that you are honest to a T.” He grinned at me.
“Six—I love that anytime I need you, you are there for me.”
“Seven—I love that you are going to help me train Bongo.”
“Oh, no way.” I poked him in the chest.
“Please.”
“We’ll see,” I sighed, melodramatically. “Eight—I love that you adopted a dog, when you are not even a dog person.”
“Nine—I love that you know I’m not a dog person. I thought I hid it well.”
“Just don’t tell Anna, she’ll kill you,” I grinned. “Ten—I love that you are my best friend in the world and we can play the ten things game in your bed and still have sleepovers and it’s not awkward.” I stared at him seriously, then.
My words were so true. No one understood our friendship, not even Anna. She didn’t understand how we could have sleepovers that didn’t lead to sex or making out. Even Luke’s parents were skeptical at first. They thought it was weird that we shared the bed so often without dating. No one really understood our friendship, but it didn’t matter to either of us.