Chapter Nine: Period

***

Luke:

On Tuesday, Ophelia and I are supposed to hang out except when I get to her house to pick her up she seems a little... moody.

She's normally so cheerful and bubbly and affectionate but today she seems subdued and tired and kinda grumpy, and it makes me feel bad.

"Hey, Feelz, is everything okay?" I tug her against my chest and she wraps her arms around me, presses herself close.

This is better. Against my shirt, she mumbles, "Just not feeling so good."

Oh, maybe she's getting sick or something.

"I know we were going to go bowling but, maybe can we stay in? I'm sorry, Luke, I'm just... really not in the mood to go out."

"Sure. What do you want to do?"

"Eat a lot of popcorn and chocolate bars," she giggles, then groans. Squeezes her eyes shut like she's... in pain or something.

She doesn't look quite the same, either. She has a couple zits that she's covered up with make-up and she has some darker circles under her eyes.

We pop some microwave popcorn and she puts it into a bowl with some peanut M&Ms and we sit in the living room and watch The Office on Netflix. It makes her smile a little, but maybe not as much as usual.

Normally, hugging and kissing and cuddling cheers her up, but when I lean in to try and kiss her she kinda squirms a little, doesn't try and deepen the kiss, just leans her head in my shoulder and turns back to the TV.

She isn't very talkative today either. Normally we talk about so much random crap but right now she's quiet and kinda... sullen.

I'm actually kinda worried. "Ophelia, baby. You sure you're alright? You seem kinda... out of it."

She sighs, doesn't meet my eyes. "I'm just having one of those days, Luke."

"Oh. Okay."

Did I... do something wrong?

Should I ask?

Talking is important, in this relationship thing, right? I should ask. "Did I... do something wrong, Fee?"

She looks surprised, and her face softens, and she buries her head against my chest. "No, of course not, Luke. I'm just... uh." Her face is turning kinda red. "Not feeling so good."

"Maybe you should... go see the doctor, or something."

She lets out a small laugh. "Uh... not sure that'd really help."

"Are you coming down with a cold, maybe?"

More quiet, embarrassed laughter. "No, Luke, I..." She shakes her head. "You really have no idea why girls sometimes get... a little grumpy and stuff?"

"What do you... oh. Oh." I shake my head, rolling my eyes at myself. "Yeah, okay. I'm an idiot, apparently."

She's on her period. Of course.

Honestly, I can't even imagine what that must be like.

Er, I'd rather not think about it.

She giggles. "I shoulda just told you, but it's kinda... I don't know. Embarrassing to talk about."

"You don't have to be embarrassed, Feelz." I give her a strong, warm hug and she coos a little against me and damn, I love this girl. "At least I'll know when to stalk up on chocolate bars," I tease.

It's close to five PM when the garage-door opens and Aunt Mel steps in.

"Hey, you two. How's it going?"

"Hey, Aunt Mel."

"Hey, Mom. How was work?"

"Just fine, pumpkin." Aunt Mel takes off her jacket and asks, "Luke, do you wanna stay for dinner? We're ordering pizza tonight."

Fee's family does this thing called Take-Out Tuesdays which is kinda hilarious but also pretty fun, I guess.

"Stay, Luke," Fee agrees, leaning her chin on my shoulder.

"Uh, sure. Thanks, Aunt Mel."

"Anytime. I'll order it right now, actually."

I message my parents that I'm staying at Fee's for supper. Darcy shows up a little while later, then Uncle Gavin.

"Oh, hey Luke," Uncle Gavin greets when he sees me. "Staying for dinner?"

"Can't turn down pizza."

When the food gets here, we sit at the kitchen table and between the five of us we tear through a couple large boxes easily.

"So, Luke, how are those applications going?" Aunt Mel asks. She's referring to my university applications for the fall.

"Pretty much finished them, actually. Now I just have to wait to hear back."

Engineering is a competitive field but I had pretty good high-school grades, so I'm not too worried.

"Which schools did you apply to, again?" asks Uncle Gavin.

"U of T, York, Ryerson, McMaster's, Queens, and Waterloo."

"Shit," Darcy comments.

Aunt Mel rolls her eyes, apparently tired of telling him to watch his language. "Where do you want to go, Luke?"

"Well, U of T and Waterloo have the best programs. But Waterloo is pretty far away, and then I'd have to pay for housing, so..."

"I guess it depends where you get in, right?"

"Yeah, exactly. I'll just have to wait and see."

I don't want to go away for school. I mean, almost all my friends and family live in Toronto. Four years away from them? And from Fee? No way.

Although, the program at Waterloo is the best in the country.

"Doesn't Dylan's brother James live in Kitchener?" Aunt Melanie points out. "You might be able to skip the on-campus housing issue by living with family."

"That's what Dad says, too," I agree.

"Mom, didn't you live on campus?" Darcy asks. "How come you didn't stay in Hamilton and go to McMaster's?"

Aunt Mel wipes her fingers with a napkin and explains, "Well, U of T is the best school in the country, and I got a full scholarship. And plus, by the time I was done high school I was ready to move out. I was curious about the big city, I guess."

"Didn't you miss your family?" Ophelia asks. "I can't imagine moving somewhere else and leaving everyone behind."

Aunt Mel smiles. "Everyone's different. I knew if I wanted to work at The Press and get started on my career that I'd have to live somewhere like Toronto." She and Uncle Gavin exchange some kind of soft, happy look. "It all worked out for me in the end."

"Isn't Aunt Ali's brother an engineer?" Darcy recalls. "With EPCOR or something?"

Ophelia and I reach for another slice at the same, our arms bumping in the process. It makes her smile and that makes me smile.

"Aunt Ali gave me his contact info so I can ask him some questions. He was away in Fort Mac for a while supervising a project there, but he's back in town now. I'm actually meeting with him on Friday."

"That should be interesting," Aunt Mel encourages.

"I'm looking forward to it."

We all talk some more about school and work. Aunt Mel tells us a story about when she took over Uncle Roger's job at The Press a couple decades ago and how someone named Marcus played a prank on him at his retirement party. Near the end of dinner as we're cleaning up, Ophelia remembers, "Hey, aren't the Leafs playing tonight?"

Uncle Gavin and Darce groan, make a couple of anti-Maple Leafs jabs and the rest of us roast Montreal for a bit, and then I excuse myself to get back home.

"Have fun at school tomorrow," I say to Ophelia as she follows me to the door.

"I'll try," she promises, leaning in to kiss me goodbye.

"Love you. Feel better."

"Thanks. Love you too."

The front door is just swinging shut behind me when I catch Darcy's voice ask, dry and incredulous, "Did you just say I love you?"

Oops.

Damn, he's gonna give me so much shit.

***

Ophelia:

Just as Luke is out the door, Darcy exclaims, "Did you just say I love you?"

I turn, cross my arms defensively. Why does he seem so... unimpressed? "So what?"

He raises his eyebrows, stares at me for a couple seconds. "You guys have only been dating a couple months."

I shrug, blushing. "So? We've known each other forever, Darcy. Anyway, it's not your business."

"Leave your sister alone, Darcy," Mom chides.

Darcy grumbles something under his breath before trudging away to his room.

"Want some tea, sweetheart?" Mom offers. "I have that peppermint kind that you like. Good for the cramps."

Mom always seems to know when it's that time of the month for me. "Sure, thanks."

Besides being on my period, I'm kinda in a weird mood after dinner today. Something about the remote possibility of Luke getting accepted into university outside of Toronto just makes me... really sad.

I don't want him to away, but what if that's the only option? What if he only gets into Waterloo or Queens and he has to go away to Kitchener or Kingston? Obviously he would have to go, and...

I'm just not gonna worry about that. There's really no point in getting upset about something that isn't even a problem yet, right?

I suddenly remember what happened earlier and I can't help but smile. Aw, poor Luke. He thought I was upset with him or something because I was all grumpy.

I thought they said that this birth control implant thing would make my cycle more 'pleasant' but I feel as hormonal as usual. My boobs always get so sore and I feel icky and not very sexy, and... Well. I guess that means Luke and I won't be... you know. Doing any... uh, making-out this week. I don't even know what to call what we're doing anymore.

Like, oh my God.

Yesterday, at his house? With the kissing and the touching and the rubbing, and... wow.

As soon as it happened I couldn't wait to do it all over again. Except, then last night I got cramps and this morning I got my thing, so... Those, uh... orgasms will have to wait.

"You look rather... deep in thought, Fee. What's going on in that pretty head of yours?"

Mom comes to sit beside me on the living room couch, gently handing me a hot cup of tea.

I can't help but blush. "Uh, nothing."

Except from the look on her face I think she actually has a pretty good idea what I was thinking about.

"Oh, yeah," she remembers. "Forgot to tell you. It's Aunt Vicky's birthday on Sunday, so we're going do spa day on Saturday, all the girls."

"We haven't done that in forever," I point out. "Eek. I'm so excited."

Mom winks at me. "Just don't ask her how old she is, it'll depress her."

I giggle. "She's still so pretty. So are you, Mom."

Mom rolls her eyes and fights back a smile. "You're sweet but you're full of it."

"Hey, your daughter's a smart girl," Dad pipes in, plopping down onto the sofa beside Mom, tossing an arm around her shoulder and leaning in to give the top of her head a kiss. "And she's right."

Darcy thinks they're nauseating but honestly I think they're really cute to still be so in love with each other at their age.

"So then, I'm right when I say the Leafs are better than the Habs?" I tease.

He gives me a stink eye, only in play, and we laugh and Dad even stays to watch the game with Mom and I, even if he pretends that the Toronto Maple Leafs are the worst thing to ever happen to mankind.

***

A/N:

When you realize that MIK was set in 2019/2020 so this book takes place way in the future... Damn. Would they still watch The Office twenty plus years from now? Probably not. I'm pretty much ignoring the fact that future new-fangled technology and who knows what else would exist in this world. Whatever.

XOXO Ami

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