One Wild Night

Chapter 917  Ghosting

Seated in a cab, Amy stared out of the cab window as the city lights flickered by, and thoughts whirled in her mind.

She tried to focus on the excitement of seeing a late-night movie, but her heart was heavy, weighed down by the absence of her weekend buddy.

It had been two weeks since she last heard from Lucas, and every day since had been a battle against her own thoughts and feelings.

She had kept wondering what she could have done to deserve being ghosted by Lucas that way.

She had even sent him a series of texts apologizing for the prank about meeting someone at the spa, yet there had been no response from him.

She glanced at her phone as she had been doing in the last two weeks, half expecting a notification to pop up, though she had convinced herself not to care anymore.

Her resolve was tested when the device buzzed in her hand. Her heart skipped a beat, and she hesitated before looking at the screen. When she saw Lucas's name, her heart skipped a beat, but a surge of anger and pain coursed through her.

A part of her, the part that still held onto the sound of his laughter and the warmth of his smile, yearned to hear his voice.

But the memory of his silence, the sting of rejection, held her back, and with a finality that surprised even her, Amy swiped the message away, deleting it without a second glance.

He didn't deserve her reply, not after treating her that way and disappearing like a ghost. She didn't need to see what he had to say after ignoring her for two whole weeks.

She had been worried out of her mind, calling and texting and when there was no response from him, she had gone as far as asking Lucy two days ago how Lucas was doing and when last she heard from him. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

When Lucy told her Lucas was fine and she had spoken to Lucas hours earlier that day, she confirmed that Lucas was indeed intentionally ignoring her. The realization had stung more than she wanted to admit.

Her eyes filled with unshed tears as she blocked his number, a sense of finality settling in her chest.

"If he doesn't want to be friends, then I won't force it," she whispered to herself, trying to believe the words.

As she sat back, the cab driver glanced at her in the rearview mirror, sensing her distress but saying nothing.

Amy appreciated the silence, using the quiet to gather her thoughts. They were both probably better off that way.

Maybe it was best this way. Clean break. No messy goodbyes, no lingering hope. They both had their lives and their problems.

She was still dealing with the loss of Miley and learning to be happy again. And Lucas was dealing with his mess too, so the friendship between them was not going to work. It was time to move on.

Meanwhile, away from there, Lucas stared at his phone, a pit of dread forming in his stomach.

Thirty minutes had ticked by, and Amy hadn't responded to his text. He reread the message, a simple apology and plea, hoping it wouldn't appear too pathetic.

He had sent the text to Amy, hoping she would respond. As the minutes ticked by with no reply, his anxiety grew.

He was almost out of his mind after not talking to Amy for two weeks, and he knew that if he stayed one more day without hearing from her, he would lose it completely.

His heart hammered against his ribs as he dialed her number.

One ring. Two. Voicemail. Disappointment clawed at him. He tried again, with the same result. Panic started to set in.

Confused and worried, he tried texting again, only to realize his messages weren't delivering.

Had he messed up so badly that she'd blocked him?  The thought was unbearable.

Desperate, Lucas headed for Tyler's room, not minding that it was still early in the morning and Tyler was probably still asleep.

Tyler being a light sleeper stirred in his sleep when his bedroom door opened, and he looked up to see Lucas. "What's up?" he asked, noticing the distress on Lucas's face.

"I need to borrow your phone," Lucas said, trying to mask his frustration.

Tyler's curiosity piqued, but he handed over his phone without question. "Sure, here you go."

Lucas took the phone and walked out of the bedroom, leaving Tyler to go back to sleep since it was his day off.

As he walked to his bedroom, he quickly typed out a message to Amy: [I know I messed up. I'm sorry. Can we talk?]

Amy's phone buzzed again, and she sighed, expecting a spam message since no one else texted her on weekends apart from Lucas and she had blocked him.

When she saw the unfamiliar number, she frowned since it had Husla's code. She knew it was from Lucas. Her breath caught in her throat as she opened the text to see what he had to say.

After reading it, she considered ignoring it but remembered all the times Lucas had been there for her even when she didn't deserve it, and her resolve weakened.

Reluctantly, she unblocked his number and texted back, [You had better have a solid explanation for the disappearing act you pulled. I'm waiting for your call.]

Almost immediately, Lucas called and she received the call but stayed silent, waiting for him to explain.

"Amy?" He called, his voice tinged with relief.

Hearing his voice, Amy's heart skipped a beat but she refused to respond.

"I know I was an ass," Lucas began, his voice sincere. "I shouldn't have ghosted you the way I did, and without an explanation too. I really needed to sort out something. I admit that I didn't handle it well. I don't know what I was thinking. It was a jerk move and I don't blame you if you're mad…"

"And I didn't deserve a simple, Amy I need some time to myself kinda explanation?" Amy cut in, "Why couldn't you just communicate it to me? We are two mature adults, are we not? What did you need to sort out that you couldn't talk about?" Amy asked, and though her voice was cold, her heart ached for answers.

Lucas took a deep breath. "My feelings for you. I needed to sort out my feelings for you, Amy," he confessed.

Amy's heart skipped a beat and she paused. "What do you mean by that?" She asked, in a barely audible voice, taken aback by his unexpected confession.

"I realized I liked you more than I should," Lucas confessed, the words spilling out in a rush.

"More than you should? Is there some unit of measurement to know how much you should like a friend?" Amy asked in confusion.

"Not as a friend. I like you more than a friend should, and it scared me."

"Why?" She asked, her voice thick with emotion.

"There's no easy answer, Amy," he admitted, his voice low. "The truth is, after you... you know, talked about meeting someone at the spa..."

He hesitated, the memory of Sam's kiss a ghost on his lips. Shame burned in his gut. How could he tell her the truth without making it sound worse than it was?

"It threw me. It stung more than it should," he finally finished, the words hollow even to his own ears. "I realized I liked you more than I thought and I needed some space to figure out what to do since I wasn't ready for a relationship."

There was another pause, and this time, he could almost hear the question forming in her mind. "And have you done that? Figured out what to do?"

"No. I still don't know if I'm ready to go into another relationship yet. The only thing I have figured out is that not talking to you is driving me crazy and I miss you. I miss our friendship."

Amy drew a deep breath, "Who said you had to be in a relationship with everyone you liked? And what makes you think I would want to be in a relationship with you even if you were ready to be in one with me? Isn't that a bit presumptuous?"

Lucas was taken aback by her response. "I… I don't know. I just thought…"

"You thought wrong," Amy interrupted, her voice softening. "You didn't give me a chance to understand or to talk. You just disappeared."

Lucas was silent for a moment, processing her words. "I'm sorry, Amy. I really am. I messed up, and I know I hurt you."

Amy sighed, the anger slowly dissipating. "I was worried about you. I thought something had happened. And then to find out you were deliberately ignoring me… it hurt. I expected better from you."

"I didn't mean to hurt you," Lucas said earnestly. "I was trying to figure out what to do with these feelings, but I handled it terribly."

Amy took a deep breath, considering his words. "You should have talked to me, Lucas. We could have figured it out together and I would have helped you out of your misery by rejecting your feelings."

"You would reject my feelings?" Lucas asked in disbelief and she laughed.

"Yes, I would. I don't want to be your rebound. I deserve better than that," she said and Lucas sighed.

"I know," Lucas admitted. "Can we start over? Can we at least try to talk this out?"

Amy's heart softened, and she nodded, even though he couldn't see her. "Okay. Let's talk. But that would be later," she said as the cab pulled up to the movie theater.

"I'm going to see a late-night movie. I will call you when I am done. Is that okay?"

"Yes. Sure. I will wait," Lucas said and Amy smiled as she hung up.

Amy thanked the driver as she paid, and stepped out, feeling a mix of hope and uncertainty.

She didn't know what the future held for her and Lucas, but for now, she was willing to give him and their friendship another chance.