Chapter 17: A familiar face

I walk walking back to lie down and get some sleep when I saw that familiar figure walking towards me. What was he doing back here? I was both happy yet angry to see him.

"Carter," Luka said catching up with me. "How are you doing?"

"Just fine." I replied with coldness in my voice. I did not stop walking but continued. I did not feel like talking right now.

"What's wrong?" I heard him ask as I felt his hand grab my arm.

"You should know." I said back to him stopping for just a brief second. "You knew she was coming here."

"Abby?"

"Yes Abby." I said back to him.

"I thought that you would be happy to see her Carter." Luka said back to me.

I thought for a minute before I spoke again. "She was a sight for sore eyes at first, but come on there's nothing between us and there never will be Luka." I threw my hands up in the air, "she's all yours buddy."

"What are you talking about Carter?" He said. It almost sounded like he had no idea what I was talking about for a minute.

"Oh come off it Luka." I said back to him, "I know what happened in Chicago, you don't have to play dumb with me."

"A mistake is what happened in Chicago Carter." He said back to me. "Don't tell me that you are holding that against her. That you are being so damn stubborn that you won't let her get close to you because you think that she stabbed you in the back."

"What would you know about being stabbed in the back Luka? You are one of the people holding the knife." I spat back.

"Hold on Carter, I did no such thing. I did not stab you in the back. You are the one who sent her the letter telling her to move on with her life. You are the one who left Chicago and never came back. I did not do that to her. I'm not the one who hurt her because I needed to run away from what was happening to me."

"I thought that you and I were friends Luka. I thought that we had finally got past the bitterness that we felt for each other yet here we are three years later still fighting over the same woman. I tell you I am done with fighting over her, fighting for her, what it has gotten me. I'll tell you; right now all it has gotten me is a broken heart." I spat back at him, "you're the one who took it upon yourself to comfort her when she needed someone. Although there is one thing that I will admit, if she needed to reach for comfort at least she reached for you and not a bottle of beer."

"Carter you are acting like a two-year-old." Luka said to me, "Get over what happened in Chicago, open your eyes and see that woman loves you just as you are, she's a one in a time love that won't be offered to you again. You will never find another woman who loves you as much as she does, and even if you find someone who loves you that much, you won't be able to love them because part of your heart will always belong to her."

"That my friend is where you are wrong. You could not be more wrong. There is nothing between us anymore and there never will be." I said back to him. God only knows why I was being so stubborn with this.

"Oh I am now am I? Carter if you did not love this would not be hurting you as badly as it is. Come off it, I can see it in your eyes. I can see the pain that it is there. How every badly she has hurt you, don't you think that she is hurting just as much as you are?"

"It doesn't matter Luka. Nothing matters anymore." I said pulling back away from him, "there's more to it than just what you think you know. There was a lot between us when I left that wasn't right."

"So make it right." Luka said to me.

"It can be made right just like that." I said.

"Don't let her get away Carter. Don't let it end like this." Luka said to me as he turned and walked away.

I continued. Letting what he said to me sink in for a minute. I still did not know what was going to become of our relationship.