Now Or Never

Chapter 22

It felt like a movie. Walking into this party with Luke. All eyes seemed to turn to focus on us. Luke seemed to enjoy the attention, keeping his arm around my waist. I smile and lean on him. The music was loud as people dance together and drinks were being passed around. A girl holds one out to Reggie. I watch as he takes it and lifts it to his nose before scrunching it up. He sets it down.

"No thanks.." He says, looking around for Flynn. I laugh softly at him. Alex immediately sees who he's looking for and disappears into the crowd. "Well. He found Willie." I say, leaning my head on Luke's shoulder. He nods and smiles while keeping me close to him. He moves to take my hand. "C'mon baby, let's go dance." He says dragging me with him. I giggle softly and move my hands up to his shoulders when he moves in front of me. Luke's hands move down my sides to my waist. I listen to the music, dancing with him.

"I can't stand all these guys staring at you." He says quietly to me. I shake my head and wrap my arms around his neck to pull him closer. "You're such a jealous boy." I say giggling softly. He smiles at my giggle and leans his forehead on mine. "You're the one who came in here looking this good." He mumbles, keeping his hands on my waist. The butterflies danced around in my stomach while we stared into each other eyes. His eye contact always got me. "Kind of glad I came in here looking this good." I say, smiling at him. His lips turn up into a cute smile before he leans in to kiss me gently. I kiss him back and honestly it feels like it's just him and I. He had that affect. He had a way of making me feel like the only girl in the world sometimes. I pull away from him and giggle softly, leaning my head on his chest.

"Adorable." He says chuckling quietly. I smile and shake my head at him. "I'm thirsty." I say, looking around for somewhere to get a bottle of water. "Here, my love. I will find you something to drink. Water right?" He asks. I nod and smile at him. He lifts my hand to kiss my knuckle ever so softly before he walks off through the crowd to find me a drink. Truly my knight in shining armor sometimes. I look around at everyone dancing and having a good time. I smile to myself and hum along to the song. Someone grabs my arm, making me jump a little and look over. It was a guy. I didn't know his name, but I recognized him as one of Josh's friends.

"Hi?" I take my arm away from him and look at him confused. "Hey, you looked bored and lonely." He says chuckling softly. "If you don't mind me asking, who are you?" I raise my eyebrow at him. He holds his hand over his heart in a fake offended way. "That hurts. C'mon. We had biology together. I'm Chris." He shakes his head at me. I smile politely at him and nod. "Right. My bad." I fix my dress a little.

"You look really good. How about we dance?" He asks, taking my hand in his. "No. That's okay, my boyfriend will be back in a second." I say trying to take my hand away from him. I notice his grip tighten as my heart starts to beat a little faster. "Oh sure he is." He chuckles while starting to walk with me. I try to pull my hand away from him again, the panicking starting.

"Hey, could you let me go?" I ask, trying to stop to make him stop walking. Chris turns back to look at me. "What? Loosen up. Let's have some fun." As soon as the words leave his mouth, a hard punch is sent across his face. Not by me. By Luke. He falls immediately onto the ground as I cover my mouth. Luke glares down at him.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you to never lay your hands on a woman unless she wants it." Luke says crossing his arms. Chris looks up at him, holding his busted lip. "It'll be fine. Only going to leave a mark. But it'll remind you to learn to respect women, especially my girl. Asshole." He mumbles before turning back to me. I wrap my arms around his neck and bury my head into his chest. "I've got you." He says quietly to me, rubbing my back. People had kind of turned their attention towards the commotion. "Can we go and get some fresh air..?" I ask quietly. He nods and leads me through the crowd carefully, opening the door to the front porch. I lean back onto a pillar and close my eyes. Luke places his arm above my head, watching me.

"He didn't hurt you, did he? Just held your hand?" He asks cautiously. I nod and slowly open my eyes to look up at him. "Thank you. You didn't have to punch him, but still. Thank you for looking out for me." I say quietly. My heart was finally beginning to slow down. "Of course, bubba. I'm not going to let anything happen to you." His free hand cups my face gently making me lean into his touch. The cool air brings the flush-ness from my face. I fully calm down.

"Feel better?" He asks and I nod. He leans in to kiss my forehead softly. I smile and close my eyes. We both hear a car pull up and turn our gazes towards it. It looked to be an expensive car. Which then again, all of Carrie's friends drove expensive cars. I recognize the person getting out of the car. It was Carrie's dad. "Uh oh. He's going to be mad." I say quietly to Luke. Luke nods and watches as he walks closer to the house. His eyes suddenly go wide. "Bobby.." I look at him confused. Carrie's dad, which I knew him as Trevor, looks over at us. He's about to go inside but he pauses. Luke steps away from me a little.

"Luke..?" Mr. Trevor asks, turning his attention back towards us.