Chapter 18: Sidechick

Things were tense between us. We've had a lot of fights in our short time together, but this one was real. Luke had turned back into the unapproachable Greek god that I used to watch from the house next door. "Are you sure you don't want to stay?" I asked Austin, as he was getting into his car, "We need an ombudsman." New word... it's going in all my school essays. Henceforth, the ombudsman... "You managed to mess things up right after I told you not to underestimate him." "What are you talking about?" I asked. "I'm telling you not to judge before you know the whole story. With the way Luke acts, it's easy to think he doesn't have feelings. You hurt him." "How? He doesn't even like me." "You two make a good team. He had your back, didn't he?" Austin asked me. Austin didn't know about the grizzly bear or our late-night convos, but he knew Luke well enough to guess something like it. And what Austi