Breaking the Arm, Healing the Heart

by Ashley Andrews

  "You should just stay with me," Sicily asked, not letting go of her hold on him. "I've told you that a thousand times before."

  "Your friends don't want me,” was his terse emotionless reply.

  Sicily shook her head. "That's only Vanessa," she then said to him. "And besides, she rarely comes to the house."

  "And she just chose today to kick me out, huh?"

  All she could do was sigh. How was she going to make him listen and not let his ego get the best of him? She one-hundred percent had no idea how she was going to do that, and before she could at least try and think of a way, he spoke up.

  "I'll go back home," he said, and Sicily knew that 'home' meant with his father and Theodore.

  Chapter 16: Dateless and 'In Like'

  A week passed, and Sicily was as disappointed and confused as she would ever be. She blamed Lucas for that. She hadn't seen him since the hotel incident, and the night before she was supposed to go to his house and do her punishment of watching over him, he texted her and told her she didn't need to go. She didn't question him then since she knew he just wanted to be alone, but now that seven days had passed, she was starting to worry and was actually…(gasp)…missing him.

  School, surprisingly, lifted up her spirits, but just a little bit. She not only kicked Vanessa out of her group of friends, but she also threatened to kick her off the squad if she didn't stop badmouthing Sicily to her face. The person she preferred to call traitor, shut up right away, and Sicily felt like she had won the Nobel Prize or an achievement equally important.

  "Look at that," Zane said nudging Sicily’s shoulder, "Vanessa's trying to kill you with her eyes."

  Sicily did as she was told, tilting her head to be able to look at Vanessa. She could only smile, instead of smirk. Something else she blamed Lucas for. Her arrogant bitchiness had diminished, not completely though, since she was still the most intimidating female at her high school, but she was a little less of a bitch.

  "I'm immune to that already,” was her impish reply. "Every girl in school has probably given me her signature death glare."

  Her lunch table companions simply laughed off her remark before they went on to another topic—the Valentine's Day Dance, which was happening on Friday of next week. Since Bailey, Sicily, Zane, Bryce, and yes, even Vanessa, were part of the committee planning the dance, they knew what was happening with the decorations, awards, food, drinks, and many other things. So far the dance seemed like it was going to be the best Valentine's Day dance yet.

  "Who are you guys planning to take?" Bailey asked, eyeing no one in particular. "Or have you people asked anyone yet?"

  "I'm just waiting for someone to ask me," Zane said rather slyly and in response, he got a manly pat on the shoulder by Brent, a teammate of his.

  Sicily and everyone else at their table laughed at Zane's remark and nodded their heads in agreement before they replied sarcastically, their responses half-assed.

  "I've actually gotten a few offers already," another member of the basketball team, Jack, said.

  "Taking my girlfriend, man."

  "Aww, now that's chivalry."

  "Chivalry's dead, dear,” was Sicily's remark as she gave one of her friends a smirk, a first for today.

  "And who are you taking?" Zane asked, his tone mischievous, as he raised an eyebrow at her.

  "Why do you want to know?"

  "I'm just curious,” was the fast reply.

  "Well," Sicily responded, trailing. "I'm just weighing my options."

  Truth be told, she had no idea whom she was going to bring to the dance. Not that she hadn't been invited; there had been at least a couple dozen guys who had already asked. She had rejected the majority of them, and left a handful hanging. Sicily was going to give them her answer a few days before the dance.

  "Does anyone tickle your fancy, even just a little bit?"

  "If they did, then she'd already have a date," Bailey answered in a matter-of-fact tone. "Duh."

  Zane held up his arms in surrender.

  "I was just asking, geez," he then said, chuckling. "You don't have to go all Nazi on me."

  "I was just playing, and again, duh,” was Bailey's teasing tone of voice. "Aren't you even going to ask me who I'm bringing?" she then questioned Zane.

  "Oh, I'm sorry," he replied in mock disappointment. "Who's the unlucky bastard?"

  "You'll see."

  "And I even had to ask."

  Sicily laughed. Obviously, she knew who Bailey was going to bring, or so far, whom she was planning on bringing. What was funny though is that her friend even asked her permission. It's not like she held the guy with a leash, but Bailey thought that she needed to have Sicily's blessing before she invited the guy to go to the dance with her. What was all the more amusing though was that, aside from having to ask Sicily, Bailey had prepared something special on how to ask the guy. She wrote a letter, which Sicily had already read, and she was planning on slipping it into the guy's locker right after school. Both of them were dying to find out what his reaction was going to be.

  "Why can't you just tell us now?" a fellow cheerleader seated at their lunch table asked. "Is it a secret?"

  "Do I really need to answer that?"

  "I’ll take that as a yes."

  Sicily rolled her eyes at her two friends before she focused her attention inwardly. She needed to think about the dance and about her date—which was non-existent at the moment. Finding a date had never been a problem for her really. Well, that was until Lucas Mercer came along. All he had to do was tell her he liked her for her mind to go haywire. Maybe she could choose a new, absurd approach—a draft.

  "What?" Zane asked confused, as he brought her back to the present. "Did you just say draft, as in drafting someone to play in the NBA?"

  "What the hell? How did basketball get into this?"

  "Then why'd you just say draft out loud?"

  Sicily smiled sweetly and innocently at her best friend, and the moment she turned on that charm of hers, he knew she was up to something. He furrowed his eyebrows together and wrinkled his forehead in confusion before he eyed her and asked her what she was thinking. Sicily leaned in much closer to him and told him about her plan.

  "So you're going to write their names on tiny pieces of paper and pick one of them to be your date?" Zane then asked right after Sicily finished.

  "That's the plan."

  Zane smirked before he placed a hand on Sicily's head and said, "That's an amusing but stupid idea."

  "Oh, trust me,” was her response. "It will work."

  * * * * *

  Anything was better than this, Lucas thought as he went down the staircase of his house. As usual, it was silent, dark and empty, but ever since his mom decided that living in a hotel was much better than living in a mansion with sprawling gardens, his home had become unlivable. At first he thought that it was just a psychological thing—that his mind was just depressing him, but then Theodore confided in him and told him the exact same thing. The house was depressing.

  Lucas wanted to leave again, to go live somewhere else. He wanted to bring his younger brother with him, but where could they possibly go? All doors had been closed, so they had no choice but to stay in the cold and grey building that used to be his refuge. Before he could inwardly rant to himself about how glum his life was, his father spoke up, using his usual demanding and intimidating tone of voice that always summoned audiences.

  "Lucas, I want you and Theodore to be home by six," Don said, cutting his son's train of thoughts.

  "Since when did I have a curfew?"

  "Is it so hard to ask for a family dinner?"

  Lucas immediately looked down to meet his father's eyes. He wanted to ask if the family dinner would include his mother, but ever since he found out that his father had been cheating on his soon-to-be divorced wife, a.k.a. Lucas' mom, he lost all hope of a reconciliation, and he realized how smart and how right Sicily was not to expect a happy ending anymore. "Shit," he cursed uninte
ntionally.

  "What did you just say?" his father asked, his tone suddenly sounding angry.

  Lucas cussed at the thought of Sicily's name. It didn't have anything to do with what his father said even though Don seemed to think so. Speaking of Sicily, he still couldn't get her out of his mind despite trying to ignore her for a week. Worse though is that he had been thinking of asking her to his school's upcoming Valentine's Day dance which was going to take place next Saturday, and thank God Sun Coast’s dance and Marina's didn't fall on the same day.

  How'd he know? Connections.

  Even though he was currently sulking, he still ruled the school. He could fish information out of someone in just a few seconds, and finding out the date of Sun Coast’s Valentine's Day dance hadn't been a problem at all.

  "I'll be home by four thirty," Lucas said, and before Don could stop him in his tracks and reprimand him for cursing his own father, he left the house running, never looking back to see the expression on his father's face.

  When he arrived at school, crowds of people immediately turned to look at him. God, he was starting to hate that. There was something to be said for being just one of the masses. This daily routine of having the student body eye him and gossip about him, had gotten old. Lately the subject had been the fact that he didn't have a car or any mode of transportation. This meant one thing—he walked to school.

  Looking for his small but elite group of friends, he stiffened up at the more-than-usual attention that he was receiving, and walked away. He went to his locker and there he found Tanner and Zack waiting idly for him.

  "Took you long enough," Zack said, his expression emotionless as usual. "And you look like crap by the way."

  "I second that,” was Tanner's insignificant interjection.

  "Then maybe you can pick me up next time," was the somewhat irritated reply, Instead of leaving me to walk."

  Zack and Tanner looked at each other, incredulity etched on their faces, before they turned their attention back to Lucas who had his eyes trained on everywhere but at his friends' faces. It was an embarrassment for him to walk to school since he had a new, black and polished Hummer just sitting at the garage of his house. It was also bad enough that he couldn't play basketball, and worse, that he couldn't drive himself and needed to depend on other people to get him to places.

  "You seriously walked?" Tanner asked, controlling the smirk that was making its way to his lips.

  "Looks like it," said Zack, crossing his arms over his chest as he surveyed his best friend who looked not only annoyed but disappointed as well.

  "Hmm…Sicily sure did you some damage," Tanner said.

  Lucas' eyes sparked at hearing her name. Even though he could blame her for his temporary handicap, he didn’t. Scratch that. He had actually—back when he still hated her with a passion, but now all he wanted was for her to like him back. For once he considered trying to get a girl a challenge, something he never expected to happen.

  "But you know," Tanner continued. "I wouldn't object if a hot girl like Sicily was forced to take care of me and follow my every request."

  Lucas looked thoughtful for once.

  "Well, she did follow everything I told her to do," he said, his face still empty of emotion. "But that would usually come after some sarcastic and derogatory remark or profanity."

  "She's just playing hard-to-get," Tanner noted.

  "And wow," Lucas replied rather sarcastically. "You're giving me advice about women?"

  "Most likely," Zack said, interrupting the two's conversation. "It seems like you need it."

  Lucas eyed Zack, and the latter saw right through the former. Lucas didn't need to tell him what he was hiding in relation to his feelings towards a certain brown-haired, blue-eyed gal. They were best friends, and in addition, Zack was an intellectual and logical person, smarter than most of the people at his school. He understood just by putting a few clues together.

  "I'm going," Lucas said, walking away from his friends when Zack stared him down. He just needed to be alone. "I'll meet up with you guys later."

  When Lucas was out of hearing and seeing distance, Zack and Tanner looked at each other once more. Zack was a loyal friend, but he thought that the reality of Lucas’ feelings for Sicily was a secret Tanner should know about. As gay as it might have looked, Zack leaned in closer to the other male and was about to whisper the secret into his ear, but was quickly pushed away.

  "I need to tell you something," Zack said, taking a step closer to Tanner who immediately shoved him away again when they were close to each other.

  "I. Am. Not. Gay," said Tanner, who rubbed his hands on the sleeves of his shirt.

  "You wish," Zack said, eyes darkening. "I was just going to tell you something about Lucas," he said, looking left-and-right, and when the coast was clear, he continued, "He likes Carmichael."

  "Oh."

  "Yes, oh." Zack rolled his eyes. "There was no need for you to get your hopes up."

  Tanner punched his friend hard, actually very hard, on the shoulder, and then after, they both shared a laugh.

  "A hundred dollars says he'll take her to the dance," Tanner said, eyes glinting in mischief. "Do we have a bet?"

  Smirking, Zack shook his head.

  "No bet,” was his fast response. "I also think he's going to take her."

  * * * * *

  One more minute, Sicily whispered those three words softly to herself. She wanted to leave the classroom. She needed to leave. She needed to get to Zane who was just a few classrooms away. She was aware of the desperation she felt, and she needed Zane to be able to set her mind straight so that she didn’t feel this horrible need.

  Sicily couldn't believe it, but she was actually thinking and worrying about Lucas. Every since lunch break, he was all she could think about. She needed Zane's advice on men, since he was a guy he would probably have the same thoughts and feelings as the Luke, if ever he was put in the same situation. She shook her head and buried her face in her hands. She was going to count to sixty.

  "Finally," she groaned when the bell rang as she quickly stood up and grabbed her notebook that was on the desk.

  When she asked a few people to move aside and give way to her, they immediately obliged and some even look scared when they stepped to the side. She smiled. She was probably one of only a handful people who were actually glad there was a social hierarchy in their school since she benefitted from it. Sicily quickly left her World History classroom, heading over to another room five classes down from hers. She was just in time to see Zane leave the room. Before he could see her, she circled his wrist with her long, slender fingers to catch his attention, and by her touch, he swirled around to face her.

  "I need to talk to you," Sicily said quickly, going straight to the point before he could even give her a greeting.

  "About what exactly?" was the next question, and then his eyes lit up. "Is this about your draft? Do you want me to print out the names of your many suitors?"

  "They aren't suitors," Sicily responded, eyes suddenly becoming a dark shade of blue. "They're merely currently-dateless people."

  Zane smirked and then let out a small laugh before he put an arm around her shoulders and led her to his locker. During the short walk, they began talking about Sicily's tiny dilemma which according to Zane wasn't a problem at all.

  "Will you start or should I force it out of you?" Zane teased, his arm still around her neck.

  Sicily sighed. She couldn't believe what she was about to confess.

  "I can't get Lucas out of my head."

  Zane smirked. He already knew this, it was not so much a confession, as it was her own epiphany. They were best friends, and just as Zack could read Lucas, Zane could do the same thing with Sicily. And she never had to say a single word. He then turned his smirk into a small smile of triumph.

  "Are you finally going to admit that you like him?" Zane asked, and once again, he didn't need her to say anything. He knew she did, and another thing he kne
w was that she was probably going to deny having more-than-friendly feelings towards Lucas.

  "Liking him is so different from feeling sorry for him."

  "You have nothing to feel sorry about."

  "Oh, come on," Sicily said, rolling her eyes. "His parents are divorcing and his dad just cheated on his wife. You should've seen Lucas' face. I thought for a moment that he was going to cry. Add to that the humiliation of his credit line being cancelled. Everyone in the hotel felt sorry for him."

  "And your point is…?"

  "Who wouldn't feel sorry after that?"

  Zane sighed and looked contemplatively at Sicily.

  "You were there with him the whole time? You saw what happened?"

  The cheerleader nodded. She didn't know where Zane was going to go with his questions.

  "And you told him he could still stay at your place?"

  "With all his problems? Why not?" Sicily responded, shrugging off Zane's grin.

  "And after all you did, you're still telling me you don't have feelings for the guy?"

  They had finally arrived in front of Zane's locker. He pressed his combination onto the lock, and the metal door opened with a soft clank. It took Zane a few moments to notice the small white piece of paper falling from his locker since he was focused on dealing with Sicily's problem.

  "You stayed at Lucas' side the whole time," he said, bending down and retrieving the neatly folded paper from the ground. "And you were willing to bring him into your home, for the second time I might add, despite all the crap going on in his life."

  Sicily didn't know what to say. She didn't even open her mouth to try and defend her dignity since she couldn't defend a lie. She sighed. Zane was right and was actually making sense. She liked Lucas Mercer. She was falling for him.

  "He made your life a thousand times harder, and you never complained," Zane then said, unfolding the piece of paper. "What other options are there than you like Lucas for more than a friend. Everything points to you liking h-…what the?" he said, stopping midway. "What's this?" He handed the small paper to Sicily who immediately smirked when she read the note.