Chapter 183

Over the next few days, things between Lucas and I remained the same.

I still was surprised to see him in the mornings at Grandma Jo's sitting at the table, and our drives to school were still silent.

Even though Lucas respected my space and gave me time to heal on my own, he was still making a quiet effort.

I opened my locker the other day and found a note from him, complimenting how beautiful I looked that day.

When I got home from Grandma Jo's yesterday. There was a bouquet of roses sitting beside my bed in a glass vase.

He had been doing little things to show me he was sorry, using his actions instead of his words, just like I had told him to.

I couldn't deny the fact that I found his gestures incredibly romantic. He hadn't made such an effort like that before.

I knew he was sorry and as the days went by, I felt more and more willing to accept his apology and move on from this.

After school on Friday, Lucas and I were driving back to Grandma Jo's in my car when his phone began to ring.

"Hello?" he said as he answered the call.

I frowned, wondering who could be on the other line. As if he sensed my confusion, Lucas looked at me and mouthed 'Grandma Jo.'

"You're going tonight?" Lucas asked. "What are you guys going to get up to?"

I sat in silence as I looked out the window, trying to eavesdrop on what they were discussing.

"Don't get too crazy," Lucas continued with a laugh. "I don't care that I'm not your father, and I don't care if you're over eighty... You need to be home by curfew."

Lucas laughed harder at something Grandma Jo said. "Okay, fine. I'll see you later. Have fun."

He hung up the phone and looked to me. "Grandma Jo's going out tonight. She won't be home when we get there."

"Where's she going?" I asked, raising a curious brow.

Did Grandma Jo have some secret lover we didn't know about?

"Her yoga friends are dragging her out of the house, finally," Lucas teased.

I smiled. "That's good. She deserves to get out of the house and enjoy herself."

"Yeah," Lucas nodded in agreement. "That means the house is all ours until she gets back. She probably won't be back till past dark."

"Do you know where they're going?"

He shrugged. "No idea. Maybe the club?"

"No way!" I laughed. "I can't picture that being Grandma Jo's scene."

"Yeah, probably not," Lucas said, giving me a warm smile. "Since she won't be there to cook dinner for us, do you want to have dinner together?"

I hesitated slightly, unsure on how to answer that. I figured it wouldn't hurt.

"Sure, at the house?"

Lucas nodded. "Yeah, I thought I'd take a stab at cooking for once if you're alright with that."

I nodded. "That sounds fine by me."

Sure enough, when we got to Grandma Jo's house she was already gone. The reality that Lucas and I would be alone for a couple hours made me a bit anxious.

We hadn't been alone for awhile. Not since before all of his lies.

"I'll get started on cooking," Lucas said, making his way toward the kitchen.

"Do you need any help?" I asked, following behind him.

"No, I think I got it," he said. "You can just make yourself comfortable on the couch and I'll call you over when I'm done."

I followed Lucas's orders and took a seat on the couch. I began to scroll through my phone to kill the time.

Every so often, I would look over my shoulder and spy on Lucas in the kitchen. It looked like he was attempting to follow some recipe he had found online.

Lucas never cooked, so I wasn't sure how his food would turn out. I wondered if this was another one of attempts to show me his forgiveness.

Was it another one of his romantic gestures?

If so, I found it incredibly endearing. He was going to great lengths for me, and I appreciated that he wanted to change to make me happy.

An hour had passed and Lucas still wasn't done with his cooking yet. I was about to get up and interrupt him when the smell of burnt ingredients wafted through the air.

I couldn't help but stifle a chuckle, imagining him panicking in the kitchen.

It was clear he was no culinary expert, and he was too proud to come into the living room and tell me he had failed his meal.

I was going to remain silent about it until the smoke detector went off, sounding all throughout the house.

"Help!" Lucas shouted from the kitchen. "I think I need your help now!"

I jump from the couch and ran into the kitchen. There was a pan on the stove that was engulfed in flames. Lucas just stared at it in shock.

I located some ovens mitts and put them on before grabbing the pan and holding it under the sink. I turned the faucet on cold and smoke and steam sizzled through the air.

The alarm was still going off and Lucas opened the window to try to get some fresh air into the kitchen.

I left the ruined pan in the sink and turned toward Lucas who was starting to break out in a sweat.

"I'm sorry, Shana," he mumbled, frustration evident in his voice. "I wanted this to be special... I didn't think it would set on fire."

"Hey, it's okay." I approached him, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "It's the thought that counts. You've never cooked before. Besides, Grandma Jo's cooking is hard to match."

Lucas sighed, looking genuinely disappointed in himself. "I just wanted to do something nice for you after everything that happened. And instead, I almost set the entire house on fire. I feel like an idiot."

I softened, realizing the sincerity in his eyes. Guilt pierced my gut. How could I still be mad at him when he was proving to me his willingness to change.

"Lucas, really, it's okay," I said, rubbing his shoulder slowly. "We can just order a pizza or something. The effort you went through means more to me than the burnt attempt at cooking."

"Really?" he asked. "You're not upset?"

"Of course, I'm not mad," I said, slightly surprised that he thought I would be upset. "Look, you've clearly tried showing me this past week you regret lying to me. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget it, and it will still take a long time for you to gain my trust back, but I want us to move past this."

A smile tugged at the corners of his lips, "You want to move on?"

I nodded. "I do, but you're still on thin ice. I won't forget it so easily."

Lucas regarded me, "That's fine. I understand. Thank you for giving me another chance. I won't disappoint you again."

My eyes fell to Lucas's lips as there was a silent pause. I cleared my throat, not quite ready to seal it with a kiss.

"So, should I order us a pizza?"