K I S S • L. Hughes

Chapter • Thirty Seven

Ellerie's POV
I laid on my bed staring at the ceiling. I had no motivation, nothing to do and no one to go see. It's 10:00 on a school night so no one was out. I opened my phone and went to click instagram but accidentally hit the find friends app. I saw that I have Lukes location, and I couldn't help but check where he was. I clicked his name and my phone jumped over to the hockey rink.

I live pretty close so I jumped up and ran to my car, not caring that I was wearing an oversized hoodie and bike shorts. I drove in complete silence as I thought of what I was going to say, what I could say, how I could connect with him again.

I parked right outside the rink since no one was there. Only one car was in the parking lot, Lukes. I took a deep breath and walked in the back door, where we usually entered the rink with our friends. I walked around the corner, counting my steps. I turned the corner and there was one single light on above the rink. I scanned the darkness until I saw him.

He was sitting on the bench hunched down, his head on his knees. I slowly walked over, slipping through the open door and into the bench. I sat down about a foot away from his body, he didn't move, and his hood was up.

I sighed and leaned down, embracing the silence alongside him. He moved his hands up to his face. "You shouldn't be here." he said.

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

"I hurt you. You should be walking away from me without looking back." He said sadly.

"How could I?" I replied back. "How could I." I whispered again.

"Because I yelled at you, let you walk down the stairs and you got really badly hurt, and on top of all that you think Tyler would treat you better." He said as his voice cracked.

My heart broke right there, shattered into a million pieces. "No." That was all that came out, I couldn't say another word.

"Its true isn't it?" He cried, putting his head down defeated.

"No it's not Luke." I responded moving closer to him. "What Tyler said to me broke me, you know how close he and I are. I've always seen him as an older brother, a best friend." I paused seeing if he had anything to say. "With you it's been so different, I have had a crush on you for the longest time. I wouldn't let myself get close to you in fear that I would embarrass myself. But this is has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. You came into my life as I was self destructing. I developed an eating disorder because of horseback riding, people talking behind my back about how I wasn't lanky enough to win in the equitation classes. My anxiety was so bad, I could barely function away from home. I would panic and cut myself to deal with the pain because the physical pain took my mind off the mental pain, but then we started getting close. You saved me Luke. Not Tyler, not Ryland, not Mari, you. It's always been you Luke." I said laying my head on his shoulder. "I am so in love with you."

He was silent for a while after that. I began to worry that I said something wrong. I looked up at him and noticed tears rolling down his cheeks. When he saw me looking, he gently smiled and nodded a bit. "Thank you." He said under his breath. He pulled me into a tight hug and kissed the top of my head. "Me too Ellie, I am in love with you too."

We sat in silence for a while. I wasn't awkward or uncomfortable. It was just us, together again. Luke snaked his arm around my waist and squeezed me. I squirmed a little and smiled.

"So how are you feeling?" He asked breaking the silence.

"I'm doing a lot better." I smiled, our conversation turning normal. "I go in to have everything checked and a new cast put on in a week."

"What day?" He questioned. "I could pick you up for ice cream after." He smiled down at me.

"Tuesday." I blushed. "And that would be nice."

"So it's a date?" He asked.

"It's a date." I smiled shaking his hand.

"Now." He smirked. "Lets dance."

I smiled and leaned away from his shoulder. He stood and reached his hand out to me. I took his hand, grinning like an idiot. He pulled me onto the ice rink and towards center ice. Luke is clearly good on the ice, however I am essentially Bambi. He took my hand and my waist once we reached center ice. We slowly swayed back and forth.

"Do you trust me?" He asked.

"Yes?" I questioned unsure of what he is going to do.

He laughed and spun me around. I giggled as he brought me back to him.

"I'm so in love with you Ellerie Rose Holland." He said looking into my eyes and leaning in for a deep kiss.

(A/N) Gosh it has been a WHILE. I am wrapping up my freshman year at college and let me tell you, I have never been so stressed. So I decided I needed a break from writing a 10 page paper about anthropology 😒. I'm so excited to be back writing but please please please be patient as updates will be extremely slow. If only I could go back to posting every other day just like I did with Haunting Memories (Which by the way you should check it out if you love Jack and need a good cry). But this chapter was a bit personal to me because I ride horses and developed an eating disorder due to my riding coaches saying I would never win and I do struggle with anxiety, I am a person too! So please please please reach out to me if you ever need anything because trust me, I went through hell and back last year. But I love you guys and I can't wait to get back into the swing of writing!