Summer Sadness

On Thursday, I convinced Luke to drive with me to Fremont, Nebraska for a high school girl's tennis match for Elena's sister, Elle.  Except for when I'm in season, in addition to working at the Racquet Club, I give lessons, and Elle was one of the girls I worked with individually, so I tried to make her matches when I had a chance.  Unfortunately, because I had been so busy during this season, I hadn't had an opportunity to watch her play at all, or to work with her.  The only time I'd seen her recently was when we went dress shopping for Elena's wedding.  She had worked really hard during her high school career, though, and was playing number one singles for varsity this year.  I was so proud of her.  The night we had gone dress shopping she told me she was going to try to walk-on to the tennis team.

Since Luke and I had scheduled to have a date, I asked him to go with, but I don't think he was very pleased about it.  We arrived while the girls were warming up with their opponents, signaling that the match would be starting shortly.  I grabbed Luke's hand and walked with him down to Elle's court.  Once arriving, I found Elena there with Jeff, and Elena and Elle's parents, Gary and Barb.  Since I had grown up with their family, Gary and Barb were like second parents to me.  They stood up and greeted me, each of them enveloping me into bear hugs.  I introduced them to Luke, and settled in to watch the match.  After a few games, Elle looked over and saw me, and waved excitedly.  I returned the sentiment.  When her match was over, we stayed around and chatted.  Elle told me that they had multiple matches left, and their season didn't end until around the middle to end of May, depending on how far they went during tournament.  She looked at me expectantly, and I told her I would definitely try to make it to at least one more.  I told her that once my season was over, I would be able to make more.  She asked, "Do you have any matches left?"

"I do.  Tomorrow we leave for Illinois, and then we have two more matches here the weekend after.  After that is our tournament, but the team has really struggled this year, so I'm not sure how well we'll do."

"Would it be okay if I came to one of them?"

"Oh, Elle, of course!  You know you don't even need to ask.  I'd love for you to come!"

She smiled widely at me and gave me a tight hug before going to cheer on the rest of her team that was still playing.

I saw that Elena and Jeff were chatting with Luke.  I strolled over to them.  As I was approaching I heard Jeff asking Luke about his summer plans.  I realized at that moment we really hadn't discussed the summer, and it was quickly approaching.  I thought about how after Illinois this weekend, home matches the next, tournament after that, finals were going to be about a week or two after my last matches.  I needed to focus on some studying and writing some papers.  I made a mental note to pack my laptop and textbooks so I could work on some final term papers while traveling to Illinois.  Lost in my thoughts, I didn't hear what Luke was saying, so I wanted to make sure to talk to him about summer when we left.  We said our goodbyes to Elena and Jeff.  I told Elena I would see her later that night, and we left.

As we were driving back, I asked Luke about his summer plans.

"Oh... yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that.  I think I'm going home."

I raised an eyebrow and snuck a sideways glance at him, but then immediately flicked my eyes back over to the road.  "I see."

"Are you mad?"

"Well, I mean, I'm not happy.  But I guess I'm a little more upset that you are just now telling me with less than a month of school left."

"I know, I'm sorry.  I actually made the decision yesterday.  I spoke with my parents and they want me to come home to help out."

"Help out?"

"You know, just with the house and stuff.  But anyway, I'm leaving my stuff here with Nate, because we already know we'll be living there next year again, and he's staying there the whole summer.  I'll be back to visit, don't you worry!  Plus, the basketball team is running camps for kids a few weeks towards the end of June, so I'll be back, then, to help run those.  What are you doing?"

"I'm actually staying on campus this summer.  I'm going to be working at the Racquet Club a couple days a week.  In addition, I'm taking a summer class, too.  I'm hoping to be able to take minimum credit hours next year, and some easier classes, since it's my last year.  I purposefully made last year and this year pretty hard and major focused so I could relax a little more next year."  I paused, and then added, "And of course I can come visit you, too, if you want."

"But you're going to be so busy!  How would you even get any time off to come down there?"

I sighed.  "I honestly don't know.  I guess we'll play it by ear, and talk all the time, right?"

He moved his hand to my thigh and squeezed, "Of course."

"So I wanted to let you know that I think my parents are coming to one of my matches the next weekend."

"Are you trying to ask me something?"

"I just didn't know if you wanted to come, and if so, if you were okay with probably meeting my parents?"

"Meeting the parents of my girlfriend?  What if they don't approve?" He asked in mock worry.

"They'll like you.  Besides, you aren't going to be around anyway all summer, so even if they don't, it isn't like you'll have to see them," I respond teasingly to him.

I pull up outside his house and he asks me if I want to come in.  He adds, "Nate is staying the night with his girlfriend, so we would have my room all to ourselves."

I look him up and down in the now dim light, my eyes pausing on Thor.  "Um, I think I should probably pass for now.  I'm leaving early tomorrow morning again, and with how little of school we have left, I have several papers I need to get started on."

I could see the disappointment flash across his face.  "Okay, well, be safe, and I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

"Yep!  Goodnight, Luke."

"Goodnight, and good luck over the weekend!"  He gave me a soft, but lingering kiss, that left me regretting my decision to go home.

When I arrived home Elena was already there, in the living room watching Netflix.  She paused it and turned towards me when I sat down next to her on the couch.  "So what'd you think?"

She gave me an unreadable look and said, "He's okay."

I furrowed my brow at her, "What do you mean just okay?"

"I don't know, Aleah.  He just seems... unattached."

"To me?  How?"

"Yeah, and I can't pinpoint it.  I can't say exactly what it is.  I'm sorry.  Please don't think I'm a jerk."

I frowned.  "You aren't.  I know you've always been honest with me.  Thanks.  I just really want you all to like him."

"I know.  Maybe I'm wrong.  He was probably just having a bad day or something."

I shrugged my shoulders and opened my laptop, to do some Facebook browsing before packing my bags.  At the very top of my News Feed was a picture that Luke was tagged in, with some gorgeous red head.  I squinted my eyes and leaned closer towards my laptop, quickly gasping at the picture, seeing him with his arm around her waist, his hand positioned low on her hip, and her holding up her left hand, showing a ring on that ever important finger.

"What?"  Elena asked, hearing my sharp intake of breath.

"Look at this!"  I quickly exclaimed, turning my laptop screen to face her.  Right as it faced her, my laptop died.  "No!  Dang it."  I leaned down, frantically searching for my power cord, to plug it in.

I grabbed my phone instead, and pulled up Facebook, scrolling quickly through my News Feed, looking for the picture.  It wasn't there, but then again, I can't figure out what the News Feed shows half the time, and why it shows other things if I reload it four seconds later.  I typed out Luke's name into the search bar and brought up his profile.  I scrolled down towards his wall, as Elena watched over my shoulder.  I stared at the screen in disbelief.  The picture was gone.