41. Awkward Nervousness

-Sky-

My leg felt a lot better on Wednesday morning when I was getting ready for school. The new splint was working perfectly, and I didn't feel much pain when using it. I felt silly for not mentioning to anyone that the old one was too big for me. I still felt stupid for not even thinking about it.

But, with the new splint, my leg was healing just fine, and I wished Max and I could go see the owls during the weekend. Because of everything that happened with Cain and his friends, Max and I were behind in our project, and even though our teacher understood it perfectly if we missed the deadline, I wanted us to catch up with the others. It meant that we had to go see the owls two times in one week. I didn't mind, but Max didn't have much spare time. The big game with the other school was approaching, and Max told me the day before that their coach wanted the team to practice more often. I also heard that he wasn't happy with Luke, who apparently didn't always show up, and if he did, he wasn't playing as well as he used to.

I wondered if it was because of Troy.

"Sky?"

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at my mom, who was staring at me sternly.

"Y-yeah?" I stammered.

Things had been a little weird with my mom ever since I told her that I was dating Max. I had tried extra hard not to make her upset with me. I was doing a pretty good job with it, but I still feared that she would change her mind and tell me to stay away from Max.

"Good heavens, boy," she muttered. "I asked you a question!"

"I'm sorry – I was just thinking about the project..." I muttered, and she shook her head.

"I asked if you want anything from the store?" she repeated.

"Oh, um... Pudding?" I smirked innocently, and her annoyance turned into amusement.

"You and your pudding..." she sighed. "Strawberry, right?"

"Chocolate!" I corrected her childishly. "You know I love chocolate pudding!"

"Yes, yes, I know," she smiled. "I was just kidding."

I couldn't believe I fell for that. I groaned and grabbed my bag from the floor. "I need to go or I'll be late."

My mom gave me a weird look, but when I tried to ask why, she turned to look away to collect some files from the dinner table.

"I heard you haven't been late to any of your classes. And you never miss the bus anymore," she said, and continued with a mutter, "Maybe that boy has a good influence on you."

"He does," I said quietly and stepped closer to her. "He's a really great guy. You should have seen him yesterday! He got really excited about those scale models in the library."

"I must say, if a guy takes someone to the library on a date, he can't be that bad," she said and sighed. "He looks like a jock, but..."

"He really is just a geek – like me," I smiled happily. "He's going to show me how to build a scale model!"

"So I heard," my mom smiled. "A hundred times, actually. I thought you weren't into such things."

"Are you serious?" I gasped. "That sounds so much fun!"

"It sure does," Mom said and hugged me suddenly. "Maybe I should ask this boyfriend of yours to join us for dinner and apologize for my behavior. I never thought you could get excited over something other than nature."

I hugged her back, and when she pushed me gently far enough to see my face, she added, "And the best part is that it's not alcohol."

"Mom!" I protested, and she giggled.

"If I ever find out you've even sniffed alcohol, I will ground you for life," she said with a friendly smile, but her eyes told me she was dead-serious.

"I would never do that," I said reassuringly, and looked at the clock on our wall. "But I'll be late if I don't go!"

"You better hurry then. Have a good day, sweetheart," mom said and kissed my temple. "So – vanilla pudding?"

"Mom..." I sighed while hurrying to the door. "Chocolate!"

"Bye!" my mom shouted when I rushed out of the door.

I barely made it to the bus, and I was pretty sure that I had forgotten something, but I couldn't think what it was while climbing inside. I saw Troy and Luke at the back where they always sat, and for some reason they both looked happy to see me.

"Sky! Over here!" Troy yelled unnecessarily, waving at me.

"What's up?" I asked while sitting down on my own seat.

I turned to look at them, and the atmosphere seemed somehow... awkward.

"Nothing much..." Troy said and looked at Luke for a split second before his eyes were back on me. "How was your da... I mean, what did you two do yesterday?"

"You mean our date?" I asked, and Troy gave Luke another hasty look.

"Y-yeah..." Troy mumbled and turned away from Luke.

I peered at Luke, but he was already looking out of the window. I wasn't sure what was going on between them. Luke's face was pale, and he had deep, dark circles around his red eyes. His hair was a complete mess, and he was sweating a little. Every time the bus turned or hit a bump on the road, he winced like he was in pain. He didn't look too good. He seemed like he didn't even know we were there, but Troy, on the other hand, seemed wary of him.

"So, what did you guys do?" Troy asked again, and I turned my eyes on him.

"He took me to the library," I began speaking, and told him about the scale models.

I tried not to sound too excited when I spoke, but I couldn't help my nature. By the time Max sat next to me, I was speaking so fast I almost forgot to breathe. I didn't even notice him there before I felt his hand on mine.

"I take it that the date was a success," Max smiled and intertwined our fingers.

"Definitely," I breathed out when our eyes met.

I forgot we weren't alone. I just stared at Max, who was staring back at me, and I felt like my body was melting. Troy cleared his throat to get our attention, but I was reluctant to look away from Max. Sadly, Max broke our eye contact. His smile faded when he looked at Troy and Luke.

"You don't look too good," he spoke to Luke, who turned his red eyes towards us.

Luke just shook his head a little, indicating he wasn't going to talk about it. I saw Troy looking at him, and it seemed like he was going to say something, but then he bit his lower lip and looked down at his lap.

"You look really sick," Max continued, but Luke ignored him completely.

Troy lifted his eyes and saw me looking at him. He frowned a little, so I smiled and nodded my head towards Luke as subtly as I possibly could. Troy's frown grew deeper, and he turned his head slightly towards Luke. I saw him looking at Luke's hand for a moment before he looked at me again. I nodded encouragingly, but he didn't do anything. At first.

I held my breath when he moved his hand slowly on Luke's arm, and for the first time in that morning, Luke seemed to snap out of his gloominess. I tried to hide my smile when Luke looked at Troy's hand that was resting on his arm, and slowly his gaze trailed upwards to meet Troy's eyes.

"Are you all right?" Troy asked quietly.

"I'm fine – it's nothing... Just a headache..."

"Doesn't look like just a headache," Troy noted carefully. "You look really sick."

"I... I..." Luke trailed off and shook his head lightly. "I have migraines... Last night was... bad."

"Shouldn't you be resting?" Troy continued with his questions now that Luke was actually answering.

"I'm fine... I just have a headache," Luke spoke, and I wasn't sure if I had ever seen him being so patient before. "It'll pass."

None of us believed him. He clearly wasn't fine at all, but none of us was suicidal enough to start arguing about it with him. He looked bad, but still he had decided to come to school, and it was not our place to tell him what to do. No one told Luke Frost what to do, even I knew that.

"Okay," Troy said silently and turned his head away from Luke.

Luke seemed like he felt the same way I always did when Max looked away from me. When Troy moved his hand back on his lap, Luke's expression turned blank just before he turned to stare out of the window. I watched him for a moment, and soon enough Luke closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, like the moving view outside the bus made his head hurt even more.

After that, the mood around us turned awkward again. I noticed how Troy tried to start a conversation a couple of times, but for the first time ever, even he couldn't break the ice. Max and I exchanged looks a few times, but we didn't speak either. I was quite comfortable with it. I would have enjoyed holding hands with Max without talking if we wouldn't have had one extremely nervous guy and one extremely sick guy sitting right behind us.

Thankfully, it didn't take us long to arrive at school. Max helped me up and looked around like he was searching for something. We both had our bags, so his behavior confused me.

"You lost something?" I asked.

"Where are your crutches?" Max asked with a frown.

My eyes shot wide open. "I forgot to take them!"

Now I knew why I had the feeling I had forgotten something!

"You forgot them?" Max repeated with a partly amused and partly worried look in his eyes. "How is that even possible?"

"I was talking to my mom and almost missed the bus, so I ran... But it's all right, my ankle isn't hurting that much anymore," I tried to convince him, but it wasn't easy to convince him in a matter like that.

"It will start hurting if you don't have your crutches," Max said.

"It's all right. We can go ask the nurse if she has a pair to spare," Troy suggested. "I'll go – you can wait at the gates."

"I can..." I tried to say but Troy was gone faster than the eye could see, "...walk..."

"Don't worry – Troy is our fastest runner," Max said and nudged his head towards the door.

"You don't say..." Luke muttered while passing us by.

Max and I waited until he couldn't hear us anymore, before Max spoke, "That was awkward..."

"So I wasn't just imagining things?" I asked quietly and followed him out of the bus. "Troy was being really weird. Too quiet."

"He sure was quiet," Max nodded. "I have never seen him so nervous before."

"I think I would be nervous too," I said. "If I were in his shoes."

"Same," Max nodded. "Changing the subject, my parents would like to meet your parents, and my mom asked if they'd like to come for dinner this Friday."

"Yeah? My mom actually said that she'd like to have you for dinner someday. I'll ask them," I said with a smile.

"Now that's going to be awkward. Our parents having dinner. It's quite scary actually," Max said and stopped by the gates.

"Why?" I asked, but then I thought about it and came to the same conclusion. "Yeah, that is going to be scary," I smirked.

"It's fine if you forget to ask your parents," Max joked.

I just laughed lightly at his comment. Soon enough Troy returned to us, but he didn't have crutches with him.

"She didn't have any to borrow," Troy said apologetically.

"It's fine – it's not like my leg is broken. My new splint is enough," I said reassuringly. "We'll be late for class if we just stand here."

"Maybe I should carry you around," Max said, and I knew it wasn't entirely a joke.

"Tempting," I winked at him, and he blushed. The fact that he blushed made me blush too, and my sudden spike of high self-confidence was gone. "I mean... I didn't mean... The last time you carried me around was..."

"Oh right – I still have that picture of your butt," Max said.

"You have what now?" Troy asked, trying to hold back his laughter.

"Please delete it!" I begged him.

"I won't," Max said, but his blush grew deeper. "It's a nice picture."

"Of his butt," Troy smirked.

"Let's just at least change the subject," I muttered, trying to hide my bright-red face.

"Agreed," Max said, his face as red as mine.

Troy shook his head with a wide smile on his face. He was definitely back to being himself now that Luke wasn't around. I wondered if my behavior changed whenever Max was around, but I didn't need to think too long before I knew the answer: yes. I became a drooling, melting pile of heart-shaped mess whenever I was with him.

"About Friday–" Max began speaking, and Troy tensed up immediately.

"What about it?" he asked, and Max looked at him in confusion.

"I was talking to Sky – our parents want to meet each other..." he muttered.

"O-oh... I see," Troy said, and blushed even harder than Max or me.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Max asked carefully. "About you and... Luke?"

"There's nothing to talk about!" Troy said and faked a smile. "Everything's cool."

"You sure?" Max asked.

"Yeah – why wouldn't it be?" Troy said hastily. "We'll just see what happens, that's all."

"Okay, if you're sure..." Max trailed off and turned to speak to me instead. "So – about Friday–"

"Okay, what if it's going to be awkward?" Troy blurted out, interrupting Max. "What if things go bad? He's our friend, and if I... if it doesn't work out – but what if it does work out – what the hell am I supposed to do? I mean – because I don't want a picture of his butt, and it would be weird if he had mine, and – he's a guy. I'm a guy. I don't know if I can kiss him, not to mention–"

"Whoa there, dude! You need to breathe," Max said, interrupting his blabbering. "Just calm down, okay?"

Troy took a deep breath, but it didn't seem to help.

"But what if–"

"Dude – calm down. You said it yourself, you're just going out to see if it could work out, yeah?" Max spoke. "You're overthinking. Remember, you wanted to go out with him, so that means you don't hate the idea."

"You sure?" Troy asked quietly, looking pale all of a sudden. "Because I'm not."

"I uh..." Max trailed off and looked at me like asking for help.

"You'll find out on Friday," I spoke reassuringly. "I'm sure of it."

Actually, I wasn't sure of anything, but I believed that after Friday Troy would know more about how he felt and what he wanted. Troy didn't look convinced, but at least he seemed to relax a bit.

"Okay," he nodded and grinned apologetically. "I'm sorry about that outburst. I promise it won't happen again."

"You know you can talk to me, to us, about anything," Max said and patted his best friend's shoulder. "We will be here to listen if you need us," he added and looked at me questioningly.

"Definitely," I said cheerily.

"Thanks, guys," Troy said and started to smile a little, too. "Thanks."

"Anytime," Max said. "But now we'll definitely be late for class."

We hurried to the door and deeper into the building. We still had two minutes left, so we wouldn't be too late. The bell rang just before we turned around the last corner, but thankfully the door of our classroom wasn't closed yet. Max was the first one at the door, me being a close second. I stopped to see where Troy was, and I saw he was still standing by the corner, his back turned at us. Behind him, I saw Luke. He was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, rubbing his temples and looking even worse.

"Troy! Come on!" Max yelled at him, and both Troy and Luke turned to look in our direction.

Luke saw Troy and stood up, but Troy didn't look at him anymore. He walked to us and without saying a word, stepped into the classroom. Luke stared after him for a moment before he lowered his gaze and leaned back against the wall, ignoring us.

"Sky?" Max said quietly.

"Coming..." I muttered, feeling bad for Luke.

I couldn't believe I had missed the signs before. It was so obvious that Luke was in love with Troy. That was why it broke my heart to know that at least for now, Troy didn't feel the same about him.

As I walked to my seat in silence, I had the feeling that the next couple of days before Friday would be really, really long.