Her second home was outside of Hattiesburg in an area named Oak Grove and it wasn’t the happiest place for her. She skipped going there as much as possible, instead driving straight to Luke’s apartment where she had clothes and personal items to get her through until she left Thursday night for work Friday morning. She explained to Luke that it was her roommate that kept her from the house where she was paying rent.
Her roommate was a skinny young redhead by the name of Krista who was a serious kleptomaniac. Anna would often complain to Krista and her boyfriend about them staying in all day and all night, smoking marijuana and playing loud music. Anna would arrive after working several shifts throughout the weekend to find missing items from her room. She would confront Krista, but the arguments between the two would sometimes get to the point where Krista was threatening Anna, most times with a sharp object. She was always quick to apologize once Anna would lock herself in Krista’s room and not leave until she came out with whatever was missing.
Luke’s choice in major had also changed. He knew that once he graduated with his bachelor’s degree, he wanted to attend law school. But picking the right major was difficult for Luke. He always thought that it didn’t matter what path he had to take to get to law school, as long as he got there.
At the beginning of his college career he consulted with an advisor who informed him that his undergrad major was not of an importance and that majoring in anything would suffice. After careful consideration, he chose business. Once he arrived at USM, though, he realized that political science was the better fit for him.
Luke always kept in the back of his mind that his time with Anna was running short, so it was vital to him to make sure that every moment counted. Though his fear of losing her was diminishing, he didn’t want to look back once Anna moved to Oxford and realize that he could have done something different.
When Anna visited, the two would discuss different options to fill in their time. Their favorite activity was to drive to the university campus and walk around in the cool winter air. Anna would always admit to Luke that she felt the closest to him after being alone for an hour or so, just strolling around the naturally beautiful campus.
January had passed and February was in the air. It was also a time for the people in the south to celebrate Mardi Gras. Anna and Luke planned to attend several parades and parties during this festive season. One in particular was the large parade that went on in Waveland called Nereids. But even with the opportunity for the “pre-lent” celebrations, Anna and her family had decided to use the week to go to Orlando. They had been saving for several months to take the vacation. They had their hearts set on Galactic Adventure and Sea-Universe.
It was several days before Anna and her family planned to drive to Orlando. Anna was at Luke’s apartment going over homework for the online class that they had decided to take together. They were discussing the theory of religion when Anna’s phone began to ring.
“Hello? Hey, Mom. Yeah, we are studying now… yeah, you know I’m looking forward to Florida! Are you kidding…? He might… let me ask him real quick.”
Anna placed her phone to her chest and directed her attention to Luke as he went over his theories and said, “Hey, honey, I know it is short notice and all, but Mom wants to know if you want to go to Florida with us. She says that she knows that it is short notice and all and that she will not be mad if you say that you can’t go. She and dad were talking and they said that they would love it if you went with us.”
Luke placed his coursework on the bed next to him and looked at Anna, seriously considering what she was proposing. “Are you joking? Of course I’ll go! You know I have never been down there! Hell, yeah, I’ll fucking go!”
Anna placed the phone back to her ear and confirmed Luke’s attendance for the trip. She smiled as she ended the call and threw her phone to the end of the bed. Her jaw dropped. She slowly turned to Luke and excitedly said, ‘Oh my God, babe! You are going on another vacation with us! Holy shit! My mom says that when she brought up the idea to my dad that he almost immediately agreed that your first time to Orlando has to be with us. I could hear Becca screaming in the background with excitement!”
Luke’s eyes opened wide, his mouth began to hurt from the large smile that wouldn’t dissipate from his face. He jumped to his feet with excitement and yelled, “Holy fuck, I’m going to Galactic Adventure!”
Luke attempted to jump on his bed out of excitement, hitting his head in the process. Luke fell back to his mattress with agony rushing into his head. Anna laughed and placed her hands on the sides of Luke’s face pulling him towards hers. She slowly kissed him through her tight smile.
Anna started feeling aroused and began rubbing her hands over Luke’s body. She pulled his bright red boxers down his legs and hurled them to the floor. She then grabbed Luke’s body, thrust it over hers, laid her arms behind her head, and said, “I want you to take me now. I want you to have your way with me. I love you so much, baby, and I think now is the perfect time to finally do it.”
Luke lifted his upper body, hovering over Anna and began massaging her breasts.
Luke removed Anna’s black lace panties. He threw them to the floor and lifted up her shirt, revealing her perfect perky breasts. He pulled himself closer to her shivering body. Anna reached for his groin and placed him inside of her. Luke began thrusting. He continued to feel Anna for the first time.
Not long after the two began, Luke decided to stop. He threw himself off of Anna’s sweaty body and said, “I’m sorry, baby. I don’t think we should do this right now. Not like this - this is too random for the first time. I just feel like it needs to be more special. I don’t want either of us to remember that we made love the first time while studying. You said before that you wanted to wait till the moment was right, and I’m not going to let this surge of emotions take that away from you.”
Anna quickly grabbed the cover next to her left side and covered her body. With an awkward look overcoming her face, she responded, “Um… okay… but to be honest, it feels like you are rejecting me. Are you not attracted to me? Was it something I said or did? I love you Luke and I thought you felt the same! I finally feel comfortable with having sex with you, and you totally blew it up in my face.”
“Baby, no…’ Luke continued, ‘it’s not like that… at all! I do love you, but you have preached for months now that you wanted to wait till it was the ‘perfect moment’ because we are much more than just sex. I’m just trying to respect that. I don’t want you to look back and regret the first time we had sex, and wished that it was more special.”
An awkward silence filled the room. Luke patiently waited for Anna to respond. He turned his head towards his bedroom door, leaving the peripherals from his right eye still heavily focused on Anna. He continued to wait for several moments before breaking the silence.
“Next week will be our first Valentine’s Day and it will be on a Sunday, but we can celebrate it when you come over on Monday. So... without adding any pressure or taking the fun out of spontaneity… maybe we might have that perfect moment for our first real time.”
Anna nodded her head as she forced her body to lean onto the right side of Luke’s, wrapping her arms around his.
The next morning came too soon for Luke. He had an early class that was followed by a short shift at the community center and had to leave his apartment at 7:30am, leaving Anna to sleep in. He pulled himself from the dark blue comforter and sheets that lay perfectly messy on his king-sized bed. He rubbed the remaining sleep from both of his eyes and stumbled to his bedroom door. He opened the slender white portal and walked towards the bathroom in the middle of the hallway.
Closing the door behind him, he walked up to the beige porcelain. Placing both of his hands on the sides of the oval sink, he examined his face in the wide mirror that hung over the small vanity. Thinking to himself that this morning was a good time for a shave, he thought further on the topic and decided to just clean his teeth and then step
in for a quick shower.
He dried the remaining moisture from the exterior of his body and placed the thin white towel into his lightly colored, heavily woven hamper and made his way back to his room. While only wearing his under garments, he searched through his closet in the dark. Still remaining as silent as he could, he slipped into a pair of blue jeans and a long sleeve shirt. Walking softly to his door, he stopped at the side of the bed where Anna was enjoying her deep sleep. Luke leaned in towards her face and kissed the tip of her nose. He whispered softly, “Good morning, beautiful. I’ll see you soon. I love you.”
Luke walked out of his room then out of his apartment. He entered his vehicle and makes his way to his first class.
Luke arrived home shortly after noon. He continued working with Anna on homework that was due at midnight. They continued discussing theories that focused on religion, when Anna begins discussing the trip to Orlando.
“Okay, so I have got to talk about this trip because I am still extremely excited about your going with us… no, I’m, like, ridiculously excited… overly excited!”
Luke placed his coursework to his side, giving Anna his full attention.
“Okay, so I talked to Mom earlier today and she said that we are going to leave early in the morning and drive straight to Orlando. She and Dad have rented a house that is like… ten minutes away from Galactic Adventure and Sea-Universe. We are staying for four days and… well, we are actually going to play the rest by ear. Doesn’t all that sound like fun?!”
Luke smiled as he saw the excitement in Anna’s behavior. He told her that he had informed his boss he would be out of town for the week to visit family on the coast. Even more excited in the confirmation of Luke’s presence, Anna reached for his face and pulled it towards her, giving him several small kisses.
The morning had arrived for Luke to get up and drive to Bay St. Louis to meet with Anna and her family. He decided to stay in Hattiesburg the night before opting for an early rise. Unfortunately, the young man had come down with a sudden illness. During the night, he was hit with an intense headache, accompanied with irritation in his throat, forcing his body to end the peaceful sleep of which he was much in need.
Luke took all the over-the-counter medicines he had in his apartment, hoping that they would relieve the symptoms. He called Anna to inform her of the bad news.
“Hey, baby girl,’ Luke continued with his voice becoming more and more difficult to understand, ‘I’m sorry to have to call you and tell you this, but I am deathly ill right now. I didn’t sleep at all last night, and I might be a little late this morning.”
“Okay,’ Anna said. “I’ll tell my parents. I’m sure it won’t be a big deal or anything - just don’t die if you can’t drive here. We will think of another solution. I love you, honey. I’ll see you soon, I hope.”
It was soon time for Luke to get ready. He crawled out of bed, took a shower and put on his day clothes. Forcing his body to move, Luke reached for his medium sized overnight bag filled with clothing and toiletries and headed to Bay St. Louis. The intense migraine became too much for Luke as he drives down I-59. He decided to pull into a gas station just shy by two miles from his exit. He entered the empty store and immediately ran towards the restroom and without any interruption from his perception of the dirty conditions that surrounded the toilet. Luke vomited bright green liquid from his medicine filled stomach.
Luke finally arrived in Bay St. Louis. Weak from the lack of nutrition and a now agonizing core from muscle retraction, he stumbled to the concrete steps. With great effort, he opened the screen door and entered the front porch. He took a moment and rested on the lone rocking chair before entering the dwelling. After several minutes trying to ease the pain as it consumes his entire body, Luke rose and proceeded into the Winchcomb’s home.
He closed the door behind him, attracting the attention of the entire house. Dana, being the closest to the front of the house, welcomed Luke with great admiration and praise. “Luke, are you okay? Anna told us that you had a rough night last night.”
Luke placed his bag next to the other luggage that was waiting to be loaded. He wiped the sweat from his brow. “Yeah, Ms. Dana… it was, uh… it was a bit rough. But I didn’t want to miss this trip.”
Dana made her way through the scattered belongings and wrapped her arms around Luke, squeezing him gently. She took his hand and guided his disoriented body through the front room and into the family room, resting him on the oversized couch. She offered him a glass of juice as she walked into the kitchen. Luke allowed his body to sink into the comfort of the piece of furry furniture and said, “That would be great. Thank you, Ms. Dana.”
Anna soon arrived at Luke’s side with the juice that her mother poured for him. She placed a blanket over Luke, tucking the sides around him. She placed her hand to his forehead and said, “Baby, you are so warm, but you are shivering like crazy! Is there anything I can do for you?”
“No,” Luke said, “I just want to sit here and rest a bit before we leave if that’s okay.”
Anna ran her hands through Luke’s wet hair and handed him the drink. She looked through the corridor that leads to the front area then back at Luke. “Honey, of course you can. We are all playing catch up right now, so it might be an hour or so before we leave. Mom and Dad had a fight this morning, and he has been spending the morning in his man cave not really talking to anybody. But he did tell me that when you got here that he is still glad that you came and that he is looking forward to going on another vacation with someone who isn’t a female.”
Luke chuckled as Anna smiled and kissed him on his feverish forehead. She lifted herself from the couch and continued helping the others get ready.
An hour or so later the family began loading the maroon van. They helped Luke into the middle seat of the vehicle, handing him a blanket and pillow to sleep with on the way. Luke started feeling faint and immediately passed out as Stuart pulled the SUV out of the driveway.
After several hours of restful slumber, Luke woke to the current conversation that was taking place inside the cabin.
“… Yeah, well, it will be much better once I get to Oxford, I’m sure. No offense, Mom, but I’m not exactly looking forward to being around April and Emma all the time. You know the crowd they hang out with… rich people who are all ‘Greek’!” Anna declared as she discussed her future with Dana. She soon realized that Luke was awake. She placed her hand on his chest and says,
“Wow, honey, you have been out for a while! We are in Florida and Dad just said that we are only a couple of hours from the rental. Do you need anything? Juice, a snack… anything at all?”
Luke took Anna’s hand and placed it on his lips. He then returned it to his chest and responded, “I’m okay baby. I feel a lot better; I just need to relax a bit more. Thanks again for everything.”
Luke did not return to sleep for the rest of the drive. He stayed up and listened to the family tell their stories about their previous trip to Orlando. Dana told the story about the mysterious Jason and how terrible he was.
“That boy was a lazy no good! When we got there, he insisted on doing whatever he wanted to. That boy didn’t even pay for anything but his ticket in. Even with that, that spoiled brat had his parents buy the ticket for him. He was just so ungrateful!”
Luke once again found himself in an uncomfortable state. He was thinking that Jason couldn’t have been that terrible of a person. Dana’s words about him were the first he has ever witnessed by a person speaking so ill of a person that was once placed on a pedestal. Luke soon directed his attention towards the window of his left side trying to block out what he was forced to hear by the verbal bashing from Dana.
Once Dana completed her thoughts on Jason, she began discussing many other rather unorthodox topics. She began discussing her students.
“That’s another thing that I can’t stand… I deal with a lot of just pathetic people. They are little kids that just need a good spanking in their life. Li
ke, seriously… these kids will do bad things so that they can skip class and go into the counselor's office and complain how daddy gives him everything, but nothing that they really want. Shit, these kids are talking about how their parents give them a brand new ‘Corvette’ but won’t buy them a ‘Porsche!’ I’m so tired of that school! They just need to whip those kids’ asses on a daily basis!”
Luke sat and listened to Dana complain about the unfortunate disadvantages of being an instructor. His attention was still focused on the scenery speeding past his window.
It was late by the time the SUV arrived at the rental house in Orlando. Stuart was the first person to exit the vehicle. He stood at the open door of his driver’s side, breathing in the fresh air. Dana then opened her door and got out. She took the house key from Stuart and continued towards the front door. Luke, Stuart, Anna, and Becca started reaching for the luggage and making their way inside.
They entered the home and immediately took in the incredible first impression of the medium-sized establishment. The family room was complete with vaulted ceilings that accompanied a large golden fan as its center piece. The dining room contained a small chandelier that hung over a solid mahogany square table which was overcome with colorful decorative flowers inside a crystal clear vase. Stuart made his way around the house and said, “Well, it looks like we spent our savings well. This place is huge for the small price!”
Becca walked through the living room and noticed multiple long white pieces of covering placed over a portal. She pulled a silver chain at the end of the curtain, revealing a dual pane glass. She focused on the location just outside the back of the house and said, “It’s a pool! Can we use it tonight?”
Adaptation of the Chameleon Page 8