safe | l.h.

thirteen

pre-chapter note: i am so sorry for the wait lol

"oh, i've just gotta try, try to keep in mind, what's one bad night in paradise?" - Bright Side of the Moon / Christian French

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-Violet-

I squirmed around in my seat for what was probably the twentieth time during the bus ride, "God, I can't wait to get off this bus. I am so uncomfortable."

Luke sighed quietly, nodding as his head rested against the window, "I know, Violet. I know."

I frowned, turning his face so his eyes met mine, "Hey, I'm sorry for complaining so much. I promise I won't be like this the whole weekend. We've just been sitting on buses for so long, I can't wait to get up and stretch."

A small smile filled his face, and he leaned over and gave me a light kiss on the forehead. We obviously didn't have a car with us on the East Coast, so we had to take a series of buses to get to the resort in New Hampshire. It was less costly and more convenient than a rental car, but the bus seats were killer on my back.

I tried to keep my comments to a minimum, though, because I knew Luke was really trying to make sure this weekend was a good time for both of us. Even despite the travel conditions, I was unbelievably excited to have this alone time with Luke. We both needed a vacation, and I was ready to try and relax and forget about all the stress of work and planning for the baby and everything else. Despite my best efforts, though, I couldn't fight off the tiny little nagging voice in the back of my head that was worried about the finances of this trip.

After what felt like forever, we pulled up to the main building of the resort. Luke's eyes were wide as we stepped off of the bus, "Oh my god, there's so much snow. I can't believe it, it's not even December yet."

I smiled and laughed lightly, "Well, we are in the mountains now, Luke. But you're right, it's so unbelievably pretty."

Luke looked over at me with a cheesy grin, "I don't know, I would argue it's only the second prettiest view I have right now."

I rolled my eyes, but felt my cheeks flushing from his comment and the cold. We stepped into the lobby of the hotel and spent a few minutes just taking everything in. Luke went to the desk and got our keys, and we took the elevator up to our floor. We walked mostly in silence, taking in every detail of the gorgeous place we were in.

In our room, the first thing I did was open the curtains wide, and I let out an involuntary gasp. Luke joined me immediately, mirroring my reaction. Outside our window was the most picturesque view of the mountains I had ever seen. Their peaks were stretching up into the clouds, and were covered with snow sparkling under the sun.

Luke finally broke the amazed silence, "Holy shit."

"Holy shit is right. For once, I am so glad we decided to splurge a little bit and pay for a room with a view. This is incredible."

I felt Luke's arms wrap around my neck from behind me, and his head came to rest on top of mine. I grabbed his hands in my own, and we stood there looking at the landscape towering into the sky for what felt like an hour.

A pleasant sigh escaped Luke's lips, "I'm really glad I'm here with you."

I leaned back into him, "Yeah, me too."

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"We're doing what? Snowshoeing?" Luke was giving me a wary look, holding the large racket-like shoes in his hands.