Sorry it took me so long, but I haven't been home all day... Had to go see my sister perform :P
Anyways, here is the next chapter... Now don't kill me, please (it's not evil... you'll know what I mean when you're done reading)!
And yes, I know there's more Carter stuff here, but you're still gonna have to wait for that explanation :) Sorry...
But well... ENJOY!! And review please, if you wanna make me happy :P
Chapter 25 - Can't Be True
"Abby," He walked up to her as she was putting her books into her locker after the last lesson. "Please talk to me!" Leaning up against the row of lockers, he crossed his arms in front of his chest as he waited for some kind of response from her.
Biting her lip she looked down for a few seconds before carefully looking at up at Luka. It only took her a couple of seconds to look away again though, slamming her locker and hurrying down the hallway, away from him.
Luka sighed. She hadn't looked at him long enough for him to be able to read her eyes, the look she sent him, but at the same time he knew he wouldn't have been able to even if she had held the gaze for hours. It was like she wasn't even looking at him, or at least didn't want to look at him.
He took a deep breath as he bent down and picked up the folded piece of paper from the floor. It had fallen out of Abby's trigonometry book as she was opening her locker, but she had been too busy trying to ignore him to notice it.
Opening it up he revealed a full piece of paper completely covered in weird little drawings and patterns. Nothing out of the ordinary, except it seemed pretty dark. Luka wasn't sure what it was that made it seem so 'sad', but the fact that there was nothing like flowers or smileys or those kind of things on it sure helped. Somehow it disappointed him. He had been hoping that this note would miraculously give him a look into Abby's head, help him understand what was going on. He had hoped that this tiny piece of paper would hold the answer, but it seemed like that wasn't the case.
"What's that?" Getting pulled out of his thoughts, he quickly folded the paper and put it in his pocket before turning around to face his brother.
"Nothing. It's nothing." Niko just gave him a fake smile and padded his shoulder.
"Yeah, somehow I don't believe you." He started walking away, knowing that Luka would follow him. Not only because he was his ride home, but because he saw the confused look he had sent him. "I couldn't help but overhear you and Abby's conversation before. Or well, your monologue."
"What?" Luka practically had to run to keep up with her brother.
"All I'm saying is, she isn't as perfect as you'd like to believe." Shocked, Luka stopped walking and looked angrily at his older brother, but realizing there was no chance of Niko stopping, he started running to catch up with him.
"What the heck are you talking about?" Niko just shrugged his shoulders as he unlocked his car, knowing that he was making Luka angrier with each second that passed. "Do you know something I don't?" Sighing, the older boy opened his car door.
"Luka, just get in. I'll show you when we get home."
Luka threw his bag on the bed as he walked into his brother's room. Leaning up against the desk, he crossed his arms in front of his chest, waiting for Niko to come up the stairs.
"Good, we're home, so now, tell me!" The entire ride home had been silent. It had felt like ages as Luka was just waiting for Niko to tell him what was apparently so important, but still not important enough to tell him right away.
"Calm down, Luka." He looked up at the ceiling for a few seconds before giving Niko an evil glare. "There is something you need to know before I can show you."
"Just get to the point!" Luka cut him off. He was getting tired of waiting and lately he'd been very impatient. Nodding slowly, Niko walked over to his dresser.
"Look, I know that you know that I've never liked Abby, but not even a blind person wouldn't be able to see how much you care about her." He felt Luka's eyes on him as he carefully took something out of the top drawer. "And lately I've seen how it has killed you to, well, not be able to talk with her." He looked down as he walked closer to his brother, who was now standing in the middle of the room.
"So trust me, Luka, it's not like I want to give you this. I don't want to see you hurt, but it would be wrong of me 'not' to show you." Niko held the paper out in front of him, and Luka barely got to turn it around before he fell down onto the bed, starring at the picture in his hand.
"This can't... That's not Abby!" He started shaking his head as he felt his brother sitting down next to him on the bed. There was no way he was going to believe this was her. She'd never pose on a bed. In her underwear. She wouldn't even show him the skin on her arms, so why on earth would she reveal practically her whole body?
"Luka, I'm sorry..."
"No! It must be photo-shopped or something. It's not her." At least the body. Yeah, there was no way he could deny that that was her face, her hair, but... Okay, he had to admit that it was a really nice body, but he still wouldn't believe that it was actually her.
"It's not. And there are more where it came from."
"Where 'did' you get it from?" He didn't mean for it to come out as hateful as it had, but he knew that Niko knew he didn't mean it like that.
"I can't tell you. All I can say is that I've seen some of the others, and trust me, this one is the 'least bad' one." Luka could feel his knuckles turning white as his grip tightened on the picture. He felt like ripping it over or making a ball out of it and throw it into Lake Michigan, but he stopped himself and instead put it in his pocket.
"Okay." His voice didn't sound very convincing, but he didn't care. There was no use in hiding, or trying to hide his emotions. Getting up from the bed he grabbed his backpack.
"I'm just gonna go, ehm, do my homework." Niko just nodded as Luka walked hesitatingly out of the room.
Luka hadn't gone to his locker after the last class. In stead he had gone straight to this big tree close to the school, which he knew Abby walked by every day. It was dark outside, the sky was covered in thick, dark clouds and it looked like it would start raining any second. But Luka didn't care. He wanted, no 'needed' to speak with Abby. Now.
As he had expected, it didn't take long for her to come. Abby flew into the air as someone grabbed her upper arm.
"Damn, Luka." She put the hand Luka wasn't holding on top of her heart, trying to get it to stop beating so fast. "Don't do that!" Her voice was weak and she was trying to get her arm out of Luka's grip, but she wasn't succeeding. Instead he grabbed her other arm as well, forcing her to look at him.
"I'm not letting you go, Abby. Not until you talk to me." She tensed up at his words, carefully shaking her head as she looked scared at him.
"Please, Luka. Just leave me alone!" Luka just shook his head. Even though it killed him to see Abby looking so vulnerable, he needed to get her to talk, to get the truth out of her.
"No, Abby, I can't do that. It's Thursday today, do you know what that means?" Biting her lip she slightly shook her head. "It means that you've been completely ignoring me for more than a week. Not just that 'barely talking with me', but 'completely' ignoring me!" He hadn't even finished the sentence before he felt the rain drops on him.
"I'm sorry!" She sounded like she meant it even though her voice was still barely above a whisper.
"But why, Abby?" Biting her lip she looked away, but not before Luka noticed the pain in her eyes.
"I can't tell you." She was whispering, but her answer wasn't good enough for Luka, so he started gently shaking her, not wanting to hurt her. "I can't, Luka." She was looking back up at him, slightly shaking her head and her voice a lot more powerful. "I really can't!"
Luka sighed. He was hoping that he could get her to talk herself, but it didn't look like that would happen. Hoping that she wouldn't run away from him, he carefully let go of her arms and took the picture out of his pocket.
"Does this have anything to do with it?" The second he held it up in front of her he saw how it was like all the air got punched out of her. If she had looked vulnerable before, then she looked absolutely broken now, with tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.
"Where did you get that?" With her voice shaking, she took a small step back, but at least she didn't run away.
"From my brother." Abby bit her lip as she looked down, and Luka could see how she was trying to hold her tears back. "I don't know where he got them from, though. Do you?!" She looked up at him as his harsh words escaped his mouth. It hadn't come out as a question, but more as a statement. An accusation. Continuing to bite her lip she looked up at him with closed eyes.
"Carter." She opened her eyes to look at him as her voice cracked. "He got it from Carter."
"Carter?" Wiping her eyes for tears that had yet to fall, she carefully nodded. "So it's real? It 'is' you?" She couldn't look at him. She knew that she'd break down if she did. So biting her lip till she could taste the blood, she looked away. Luka just let out a breath. It was all he needed. The look in her eyes had said it all. He let his arms fall down by his sides, placing the picture back in his pocket.
"So that's why you've been ignoring me." He spoke very quietly, speaking like he was stating the obvious. Abby's head flew up. Looking hurt at Luka she started slowly shaking her head.
"No." Her voice was shaking. "They're old." Still shaking her head she looked pleadingly at Luka. "They have nothing to do with it." Luka grabbed her upper arms which made her look up at him for a split second before looking back down.
"Then what, Abby?" He was speaking louder now, trying to get through to her. "Talk to me!" He shook her a few times but stopped when she looked back up at him with tears streaming down her face.
"I'm pregnant!" Luka let go of her the second the words had escaped her mouth. Or well, she'd practically yelled it. His arms fell to his sides as the rain started pouring down, soaking them in less than a second.
"What?" Abby just shook her head, looking like she'd just seen her entire family get killed. The look in her eyes was a combination of fear, sorrow and embarrassment.
"I'm sorry, Luka." Biting her lip she took a step back. Luka didn't move, he was just starring at her, not knowing what to say. Shaking her head again she looked down, taking a deep breath.
"I have to go." She started walking away from him but quickly sped up. It wasn't long till she was out of Luka's view.
He barely noticed that she left though. He was too shocked. He was just starring straight into the air. The empty air where Abby had been a couple of seconds before. He couldn't believe what he had just heard, didn't want to believe it. Abby, his Abby, pregnant? He sure had gotten more out of her than he'd expected, hoped for.
It wasn't till he shook his head to get rid of his thoughts that he noticed how cold the rain was making him. Maybe he should just go home and think things over. He'd talk to her tomorrow. He'd have to get her to tell him everything, even if that meant ripping it out of her. He wouldn't just let her break his heart like this without a good, a really good explanation.