Free Falling (Best Friend 2)

Someone cleared their throat next to us, so we stopped and I looked to see it was a freshman. He shifted on his feet nervously, probably a little scared to approach a senior. “You’re Maisie Preston, aren’t you?” he asked, flicking his eyes to Luke who looked like he was body guarding me because of the glare he was shooting the poor guy.

“Er, yeah?” I confirmed, confused.

“Principal Bennett wants to see you in her office,” he muttered, cringing away from Luke as he stepped closer to me possessively.

The Principal wants to see me? “Oh really? Okay, thanks for telling me.” I smiled at the guy reassuringly because he looked like he was three seconds from passing out. Without saying anything else, he turned and scuttled off. I turned to Luke and raised one eyebrow, waiting for an explanation for that face. “Death glare for a freshman, really?”

He shrugged casually, not seeming bothered by my stern face. “He was looking at your butt as you were jumping around.”

I rolled my eyes. Luke could be a little possessive sometimes, but I could handle that, being with him was worth putting up with a little jealousness every now and then. “So what? People look at you all the time, does that mean I have to start glaring at the girls for looking at something that’s mine?” I asked, smirking at him playfully.

He smiled and pulled me closer to him, crushing the photo album and tickets between our bodies. “I love it when you call me yours,” he whispered, looking at me hungrily. I smiled and pressed my lips to his, biting on his bottom lip gently, making his fingers dig into the small of my back.

Suddenly his arms were gone from my waist and his body jerked away from mine. I looked up, shocked; Luke was now a foot away from me. My brother, Alex, had hold of the back of his sweater as he frowned angrily. “Five inch gap between you and my sister while I’m around, you know that, Hannigan,” he growled, pushing Luke away from me.

I sighed in exasperation. Sometimes my twin was the most annoying thing in the world with his protectiveness. “Grow up, Alex. Just go run along and try and get your fill of some slut’s pants before school starts, huh?” I waved my hand dismissively. Alex didn’t like Luke much, never had done for some reason.

Alex frowned at my comment but didn’t reply. Instead, his blue eyes that were the exact shade of mine turned to Charlotte. He swept one hand through his messy dark blond hair as he turned on the charming smile that most girls in the school swooned over. “Hey, so am I getting a birthday present?” he asked, looking at her suggestively.

I groaned and rolled my eyes because he was starting earlier than usual today. Flirting with Charlotte was usually restricted to lunchtimes or after school when she came over to our place. It was innocent enough; they were friends really too, but he just liked to tease the life out of her because she wasn’t very experienced in that department. “I forgot to buy you anything,” she answered, shrugging.

He smiled, his eyes glittering wickedly. “That’s okay; I’ll just take your first kiss.” He leant in close, his lips heading towards hers.

She squealed and pulled back, frowning at him, pushing on his chest to get him away from her. “That’s not for you to decide!” she retorted, clearly annoyed.

He smiled and kissed her on the cheek quickly. “You know I’ll get it sooner or later, Char.” He waggled his eyebrows at her before walking off, laughing at her horrified expression.

I sighed and handed my presents to Beth. “I’d better go see what Principal Bennett wants. I’ll see you guys in class later.”

Luke groaned and kissed me again as I went to walk off. I kissed him back, gripping the front of his hoodie, not wanting to leave either. “I wanted to spend more time with you on your birthday,” he whined, pouting.

“You could always sneak in again tonight if you want,” I suggested, shrugging.

He grinned and nodded eagerly. “I like that idea!” I laughed at his enthusiasm. Luke was coming to the meal with us tonight, so he’d just have to go home then sneak back in again once everyone else was asleep. “I’ll park more than two houses away this time so your ninja mom doesn’t know I’m there.” He laughed, kissing my forehead softly.

“Good thinking. I’ll see you at lunch.” I patted him on the backside as I walked past, heading to the office to see what the Principal wanted. I knew I wasn’t in trouble, I was never in trouble. As I walked into the reception, I was immediately waved through to Principal Bennett’s office.

She looked up as I walked in, pushing her thick rimmed glasses up her nose as she smiled warmly at me. “Maisie, thank you for coming, dear. I have a favour to ask of you,” she trailed off looking at me hopefully as she waved at the seat opposite her desk.

I nodded, sitting down. “Okay, sounds intriguing.” I was always being asking to do things, I was on a lot of the committees and panels at school, arranging dances and charity events, I was kind of a ‘go-to girl’ for our Principal.

“We have a new student starting on Monday. His name is Zachary Anderson. He’s transferring from another school.” A frown lined her forehead. “Anyway, I wondered if you wouldn’t mind meeting him in the morning, giving him the tour of the school, helping him find his classes and locker, that kind of thing,” she said, looking at me hopefully.

I shrugged and nodded in agreement. “Sure, no problem.”

She smiled gratefully. “Thank you, Maisie, I appreciate it.” She shuffled some papers on her desk, pushing her glasses up her nose as she read one over. “It looks to me like he was struggling a little in his last school and his aunt has requested a tutor to help him catch up with the new schedule. Would you be interested? She’s willing to pay.” She looked at me questionably over the rim of her glasses.

I nodded enthusiastically. I loved tutoring and the money always came in handy considering Luke’s family had a ton of money. Compared to the Hannigans, my family looked relatively poor even though my dad earned really good money in his engineering job. Extra cash was always good, and then I didn’t have to let Luke pay all the time when we went out, even though most of the time he insisted anyway.

“Absolutely. What does he need tutoring in?” I asked, curiously.

She smiled and clicked her tongue, not looking too impressed over whatever she was reading about the new guy. “Looks like just about everything. I would concentrate on the staple subjects though. There’s not long left before graduation, so it’s more important to pull up his average on those. He’s already repeating senior year.”

I raised one eyebrow at the repeating a year comment. He obviously didn’t make much effort at school. Staple subjects meant English, mathematics, and science, all of my favourites. “Okay sure,” I agreed. She handed me a stack of papers. I flicked through them quickly, seeing they contained his locker combination and schedule, everyday things. “I’ll just meet him at the front door then, the same as usual?” I’d done a lot of these initiations. Usually I just got the new people settled, ate lunch with them for a couple of days until they found their feet, and then they went off to do their own thing with friends they’d made.

She smiled. “That’d be swell. Thanks again.”

I headed out of the office, folding the papers and pushing them into my bag, heading to class quickly.

The next couple of days passed quickly; luckily Luke didn’t get caught staying over that night. The only ones we really had to worry about catching us were my parents, because his were hardly ever home. He actually had a better relationship with his housekeeper than he did with his parents. The Hannigans had their own pharmaceutical company that they were both CEOs of, so they travelled a lot. Luke was, therefore, very lonely, though he never admitted it. He liked to spend as much time at mine and around my family as possible. If he had the chance, I had the feeling that he would move into mine permanently.

Saturday finally came around, though not soon enough in my opinion. I finished packing up my camping things excitedly. Luke came by just after lunch to pick me up. He had the whole range of camping gear, so it wasn’t like we were going to be living in squalor tonight. He had a six man tent with different sections for bedrooms, a little area in the middle for sitting in, and it even had a canopy outside so you could sit under cover if you wanted to. Luke liked to camp. Apparently it was something he did with his dad when he was little, that was, of course, before Mr Hannigan started to get too busy to spend time with his son.

“Hey there, baby, are you all packed?” he asked as I walked down the stairs with my rucksack on my back.

I nodded and smiled, looking him over. He looked extremely handsome today in loose fitted jeans and a plain fitted white T-shirt. Today was going to be a good day, but tonight would be even better because I’d get to lounge around a camp fire eating Luke’s perfectly cooked s’mores. “Yeah, you got everything? We’ll stop at the store and buy food, right?” I asked, mentally checking off what I was supposed to bring. The only things I had to bring, according to Luke, were my clothes and my flirty smile.

“Yeah, we’ll stop on the way. Come on then, let’s get going before your brother or dad start to lecture me about looking after you again,” he suggested, laughing quietly to himself.

As if on cue, my dad walked out of the lounge and frowned. “You guys all done? Luke, can I have a quick word?”

“Too late for a discreet exit,” I whispered, squeezing his hand gently.

He laughed and kissed my forehead before following my dad into the kitchen. I felt so sorry for Luke; he undoubtedly loved me a lot because he put up with the overprotective guys in my family and never once complained. I flopped down next to my mom on the sofa. “Can’t you rein dad in a little? Surely he knows Luke well enough by now that he doesn’t have to give him the talk every time we’re staying out for the night?” I asked, resting my head on her shoulder.

She stroked the side of my head. “You know what your dad’s like. Overprotective. Drives me crazy sometimes too, but it’s part of his personality, Alex has it too, so I’m afraid you and Luke and done for,” she replied, laughing to herself.

I sighed and nodded. “Lucky Luke’s so awesome that he doesn’t mind.”

My mom laughed. “Yeah, Luke’s great,” she agreed. “And as much as your dad makes a show out of teasing him and stuff, he likes him too.”

A few minutes later and they both walked in, laughing together, so whatever talk they had obviously went well. “Are we ready to go now?” I asked, looking at Luke pleadingly. I really wanted to leave already, it would take us two hours to drive up to the place he wanted to camp near the lake, and we needed to stop for food, then it would take him a little while to set up the tent. I didn’t want to be doing that too late; I wanted to start the fun already.

My dad nodded, gripping my hand and pulling me to my feet. “Yep, no wandering off on your own, you stay with Luke. And if you see a bear, as long as you run faster than your quarterback you’ll be fine.” He leant in conspiratorially as he continued, “Maybe trip him so he gets mauled instead of you.”

I laughed and hugged him, wanting to leave before he thought of something else he could lecture us on. “I will do. Say bye to Alex for me.” I pulled back and smiled at Luke, discreetly flicking my eyes to the door so he’d not linger a second longer than necessary. He smiled and picked up my bag like a proper gentleman. His actions and sweet nature really didn’t match his tough, jock exterior. He was different when he was around his friends, still adorable to me, but he got loud and sometimes quite rude. When he was drunk he could be downright annoying, but thankfully he didn’t drink terribly often.

My parents followed us out to Luke’s Jeep, relaying instructions about safety in the water, being careful in the woods, and calling home when we arrived so they would know we were safe. When we finally pulled out of the drive I sighed and settled down into my seat. I beamed over at Luke excitedly. Twenty-eight hours of his company with no one to interrupt, this was going to be bliss.

Chapter 3

The camping trip was incredible, the same as it always was when I went away with Luke. He pulled out all the stops, turning what could have been a boring camping trip, into something romantic and memorable. We’d laid under the stars, eating s’mores, just talking and laughing. The moon had been full and reflected on the lake that we’d set up camp next too. It was so peaceful that it was like paradise. Later, he’d cuddled up next to me in the dark of the night, whispering how much he loved me and how he planned for us to buy a summer place on the lake so that we could visit at weekends. He’d painted a beautiful picture of how we would swim off of the jetty and how we’d get a boat so he could teach our kids how to fish like his father had taught him. Everything about the trip had been magical and breathtaking. It was the most special moment of my life, and I would remember it forever.

Unfortunately, time seemed to whizz past, and before I knew it, it was Monday and we were back to reality again. As I stepped out of Luke’s car, I didn’t get to escape from his friends this time. I sat there on the hood of his car, discreetly checking my watch every few seconds wondering just how long they could actually talk about a football game. When the subject turned to Ricky and the two girls he had slept with on Saturday night, I just couldn’t take it anymore.

I pushed myself off of the car and looked at Luke with a fake smile, pretending that I hadn’t just sat there listing all of my favourite music in my head in a bid to block out the ramblings of the imbeciles that he called ‘friends’. “I need to go meet this Zachary guy,” I said, shrugging at his curious glance.