Page 97 of Bluebird

“Fuck,” Luke panted, resting his forehead against mine.

I took longer to register. “Fuck!” I jumped off Luke and frantically looked for a distraction, whilst trying to fix my dishevelled appearance.

Luke lay back into the couch and raised one eyebrow as he observed my ridiculous behaviour.

Nate saw me first. “Oh, hey, Nat,” he greeted curiously, obviously not expecting to see me there.

“Hey, Nate,” I croaked, trying to look busy by arranging the pile of sheet music on top of the piano.

“What’s up, Nate?” Luke asked, impatiently.

Nate swivelled around. “Ah, there you are.” He threw glances between us with a sly grin. “What you guys up to?”

Luke’s eyes passed over mine, and his jaw tightened. “Just working on some stuff.”

Nate shrugged, indifferently. “Well, Mum wants to invite you over for dinner…Nat, I assume you’ll be there?”

I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “Yeah, I’m just heading back now.”

Luke pursed his lips and stood up. “Thank June for the offer, but I think I’m going to take a shower and hit the hay.”

“Are you sure man? She’s making your favourite as a thank you.” Nate glanced in my direction.

Luke winced and shook his head, suddenly looking entirely uncomfortable.

“What for?” I noted something was off when Luke wouldn’t meet my gaze.

Nate obviously realised he had said the wrong thing and tried to back track. “Um…Luke helped out…on the farm…last week,” he blundered and Luke groaned.

Worst. Liar. Ever. I raised my eyebrows at both boys, before Nate broke.

“Look, Mum just wanted to get you a little bit more motivated I guess, like on a project or something. She asked Luke to help, and well…you haven’t been this happy in ages, so whatever it is, it seems to have worked,” he finished brightly, trying to make light of the situation.

Luke pinched his nose and hung his head. “Nate…”

I glared at Luke. “So, this was all a pity project?”

He pleaded with his eyes. “Blue…”

“Was it?”

“No!”

I tilted my head to the side. “So, Mum didn’t ask you to help me?”

Luke sighed, and lowered his eyes. “It may be how this started, but the rest was all you.”

My hands balled into fists at my sides. “Well, you can report back to Mum that I’m all motivated now. More than ever, actually. So, you’re finally free to do, whatever it is you normally do, when I’m not around.”

Luke took a step towards me. “It wasn’t like that. I would have done it anyway.”

I put my hand out to stop him from approaching. “Don’t,” I warned, feeling my eyes well up. I couldn’t look at him any longer.

“Natalie—” Nate interjected, clearly intent on defending Luke.

“Shut up, Nate!” we yelled, simultaneously.

Yanking my USB out of the laptop, I pushed past the boys and rushed out the door. I marched across the road, fuming. I refused to be manipulated by anyone anymore, and that included my family. But they did motivate me—motivate me to get the hell out of my parents’ house.