Chasing His Kickass Luna Back by Jane Above Story

#Chapter 67: Crossroads
Abby

The tension in the room feels palpable, a thick curtain of unsaid words and unexplored emotions

hanging in the air between Karl and me. My grip tightens on the knife handle as I glance at the chaos of

ingredients strewn across the counter.

“Tell me first,” I blurt out, wanting to avoid the inevitable confrontation as long as possible. “What are

you doing here? The restaurant closed hours ago.”

Karl sighs and shakes his head, walking past me and over to the line. I watch as he bends down

behind the counter and disappears for a moment, muttering to himself, before he stands back up and

holds something up in the air: his wallet.

“Dropped this earlier,” he says, slipping it into his pocket. “Wanted to come back and make sure it was

here. Now it’s your turn. What are you doing here at…” He glances at his watch. “One o’clock in the

morning?”

I swallow, glancing around at the ingredients and half-cooked dishes all around the kitchen. The sink is

full of empty dishes from failed attempts, the trash can is practically overflowing with said failed

attempts, and the various successful attempts are lined up on the adjacent counter for pictures to keep

in mind for presentation ideas.

“I, um…” I find myself choking up slightly. “I’m just practicing,” I half-lie. “Wanted to test my skills.”

Karl raises an eyebrow. “And waste all these ingredients? You’re not that type of chef.”

I nearly curse out loud. Karl is right; I’ve never been the type to waste ingredients.

Even in the past, when I’ve gone on creative cooking sprees, I would never just throw things away

when the dishes don’t turn out perfectly. There’s a food pantry right down the street that I visit

and when I lived with

leftovers.

as well tell me, Abby.” Karl finally breaks

probably has been

“You’ve clearly been up to something huge here lately, and I’m

know. Why

the knife down, my eyes meeting

off the band-aid now. “Okay, fine,” I mutter, wiping my hands on my

the finalists to compete to

second before his expression smooths over into

decipher right now. “That’s great, Abby.

I had hoped for, and his smile isn’t quite reaching

he’d prefer that

instead of catering it.

mean it,” I p rod, my own

said I’m proud of you,” he retorts, clearly

your tone says otherwise. What’s

hesitates, running a hand through his hair. “Look, I wanted to go to the

catering thing sort of ruins

some reason, even though I expected this sort of response from him, I’m still taken aback. I

was a part of me that hoped that he really has changed, that he would be

making it about

you wanted to go

just any party, Abby. The Alpha party is a big deal.

eyes locked onto mine. “And besides, you

chest. “I didn’t forget,” I say. “But this competition…

on television and everything.

away from me for a moment. “But what about us? Don’t

wanted to go with me.” His voice rises

the empty kitchen.

‘us’, Karl,” I murmur. “I’ve told you countless times before that it’s not going

between us.”

strained, like he’s trying to hold

to me like you’ve just been keeping me on a string this whole time, giving me vague promises

let’s not forget

night right here in this kitchen whirls

of how it felt to have him close like