Free Just a Little Series (Parts 1 - 4) by Tracie Puckett Page A

but I didn’t get so much as a glance.
    “What can we do for you, Pumpkin?” Charlie
took a long drag from his cigar.
    “Just wanted to let you know I’m going out,”
I said, with no intention of actually leaving. After all, I had no
plans. Where would I possibly go? I’d only gotten ready for the
sole purpose of making a grand entrance—one, as far as I could
tell, that had gone completely to waste.
    “Back by midnight,” he said with a smile.
“Have fun.”
    “That’s it?” I asked, frustrated that he
didn’t care enough to ask where I was going, and even angrier that
Luke hadn’t looked up once to indicate any kind of interest. “No
string of questions? No rules? Just a back by midnight and have
fun ?”
    “What do you want me to say?” Charlie asked,
focusing all of his attention on the game. “You’re you . What
kind of trouble could you possibly get in to?”
    “Forget it,” I mumbled. “Have fun.”
    I turned and walked out of the room, and my
heart broke a little with each step I took. It seemed to me that
Bruno had been way off. Luke didn’t have feelings for me; he
wasn’t even the slightest bit interested. But—for reasons I
couldn’t quite understand, my heart ached for him, and I didn’t
know how much more of his cold shoulder I could take.
     
     

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    Saturday, September 15
    I sat on the porch step for the third
consecutive hour and let the rain fall on my face. I wondered how
much longer I’d have to stay out in the dark, wallowing in my own
self-pity. At what point could I just give up the pretense and
sneak back in the house?
    The sun had set, and all that was left of
the day was the faint drizzle of rain as it dropped from the night
sky.
    “Julie,” a familiar voice said quietly,
“what are you doing out here in the dark?”
    I glanced up to the sidewalk to see our
newest neighbor standing at the edge of the pavement with a leashed
dog in hand. The white, slightly damp German shepherd licked
Derek’s hand as he took a step closer.
    “I guess you’re not afraid of a little
rain,” he observed, watching as beads of water dripped off the ends
of my hair. I could only imagine that I looked like death—my face
was soaked from the rainfall, and there were probably plenty of
mascara trails left over from the tears I’d cried since leaving the
house.
    Derek took a seat next to me on the bottom
step, and the dog rested in a puddle at his owner’s feet.
“Everything okay?”
    I nodded, but didn’t say anything.
    “I don’t know,” he said, his voice laced
with skepticism, “Looks to me like someone needs to talk.”
    I gave him a half-hearted grin and
shrugged.
    It was nice that he offered, but the only
person I’d ever trust with my feelings for Luke was Matt, and even he had been a worthless confidant since Hannah had come
along. Deciding that it was probably a terrible idea to unload my
problems on a perfect stranger, I bit my tongue and shrugged. My
silence didn’t last long; before I knew it, I found myself looking
up to meet his stare.
    “My uncle has a houseful of guests,” I said.
“There’s just a lot going on in there.”
    “And you feel left out?”
    “No,” I said, honestly,“just in the way, I
guess.”
    He nodded, but he was still skeptical. I
could see it in his eyes that he wanted me to talk to him; he
seemed to actually care what was on my mind. But I didn’t feel much
like sharing, so I tried to find a way to pull the focus off of
me.
    “So,” I nodded uncomfortably, “how do you
like Oakland so far?”
    He smirked and met my gaze, sparking a bout
of wonderment between the two of us. “No complaints.”
    “Good,” I said, unable to tear my eyes away
from his. Again, I couldn’t help but wonder why I recognized him.
“Okay, I have to ask, why do you look so familiar?” I hoped that my
question wouldn’t take him off guard. I was only curious if I was
as familiar to him as he was to me. “I swear I must know you