Chapter 23

                                    

                                          
'Okay,' Luke sighed when we both got in the car.
                          
He grabbed the map and a red marker and opened the map.
                          
He handed me the marker and smiled.
                          
'Cross it off' he said.
                          
I smiled back at him and crossed Kerikeri of the map.
                          
We looked at the next circle which was pretty far away from the place we were now.
                          
'Alright, next stop is Piha. But I think we need to stop somewhere in between since it's so far away' Luke said.
                          
I nodded and watched him as he tried to fold the map.
                          
'I think you need to decide where we stop this time'
                          
'What?' I said. 'we'll probably end up in this weird place and there will be nothing to do'
                          
' So? We'll just go back if that happens. It's not like we'll be stuck in the place you chose for the rest of our lives'
                          
'Okay then' I answered. I felt slightly nervous for some reason, I knew Luke was right, but I didn't want to pick the wrong place. I guess I had my father to thank for that. He always taught me that picking something that is wrong or doing something wrong will get you in trouble. I did a lot of things wrong in his eyes and it always got me in trouble. I knew he loved me, he just always had something to complain about.
                          
Just when Luke was about to drive away his phone rang and he sighed, getting it out of his pocket.
                          
I picked it up and put it on speaker without saying a word.
                          
'Can you hold this for me?' he said, handing me his phone.
                          
I nodded and took his phone so Luke could drive away.
                          
'What's up Cal' He started talking.
                          
'Nothing. What are you doing?' The guy, Cal, answered.
                          
'I uhm, I'm doing the Macarena while teaching my flying monkey how to play the piano'
                          
Cal laughed 'You have a piano with you?!' he asked.
                          
'Of course I do, you know I don't leave the house without a piano in my pocket'
                          
'right, sorry I forgot. But uhm, I have another question. Am I on speaker?'
                          
'Yes you are, I'm also driving'
                          
'Oh, well I'll ask you later then'
                          
Luke furrowed his eyebrows and looked at his phone.
                          
'It's alright you can ask' he said.
                          
'No, it's not even that important I was wondering about something but I'll ask you later'
                          
'Right, but you'll probably also be on speaker next time'
                          
Cal sighed and went quiet for a minute.
                          
'I don't want to ruin anything Luke' he said.
                          
'You won't ruin anything, what are you talking about?'
                          
I looked out of the window as Luke drove the car on the highway.
                          
'Well,' Cal started. 'I just...uhm, I was wondering...we were wondering...since Ivy doesn't have Twitter or Facebook or whatever, does she...like...now? About...you know?'
                          
I frowned and looked at the phone I was holding in my hand.
                          
'Do I know what?' I asked, not to anyone specifically.
                          
'She doesn't and I would like to keep it that way a bit longer' Luke answered.
                          
He ignored my question and so did Cal.
                          
'Alright, well you might want to be a little bit more careful with what you do then, because...people notice...things'
                          
I looked at Luke, who looked at his phone before focusing back on the road.
                          
'Well, just let them think what they want' Luke answered.
                          
He sounded like he didn't care, but when I looked at him, it was kind of obvious that he did.
                          
'I would have...but they're saying really cruel things. Just read it when you stop somewhere or something. It's nothing to worry about yet, but you do need to read it'
                          
Luke sighed staring at the road.
                          
'Alright, I will'
                          
They said their goodbyes and Cal hang up the phone.
                          
I handed Luke his phone back but he just shook his head and looked at me with an apologetic smile on his face.
                          
'Just hold it, I can't put it back in my pocket anymore now.' He explained.
                          
I nodded and looked out of the window, dropping the phone in my lap.
                          
Thousands of questions were going through my head about that conversation, but somehow I knew he wasn't going to answer them anyway. So I didn't ask them.
                          
20 minutes past in silence, the only sound we heard was the sound of the radio that was softly playing on the background.
                          
Luke looked somewhat sad and slightly pissed off, so I tried to just leave him alone as much as I could.
                          
I didn't know how he was when he was angry, but I didn't feel like finding out about that just yet.
                          
'I'm sorry,' Luke softly said.
                          
'I didn't mean for any of this to happen and I definitely didn't think it would be this big of a deal to just not tell you about it'
                          
I looked at him and shook my head, not understanding what he meant.
                          
He sighed and let out a little laugh. 'I'm not making this any better now am I?'
                          
I smiled at him and shook my head.
                          
'Not really but it's okay, just tell me when you're ready' I answered.