Deception #YourStoryIndia

Air

Avery P.O.V.

I woke up to something warm and hard pressed against my side.

Due to some reason, I was extremely stiff; and the warmth of the- object?- beside me made me cuddle upto it. I did not open my eyes, but moved closer to the warm body while mumbling something incoherent. The sunlight penetrated through the large French windows and as soon as my thoughts cleared, I realised that the body had stiffened beside me and was breathing raggedly by my ear.

Crap.

I quickly scrambled away and looked up to find Luke staring down at me with a slight blush tainting his perfect cheekbones. Our limbs were tangled with one another and we were sitting on the floor. What the hell happened last night?

Then, it all came crashing down on me.

Mum. Dad. Sammy. Fear.

Duce.

I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. I realised that I had been staring at Luke for quite some time now. He was looking at me with an intensity that made me want to squirm, but I held my ground. I already showed him my vulnerable side yesterday, and I don't plan on doing any such thing today. He might already think I'm a weakling. I can't let my emotions overpower me.

After a few seconds, Luke said, "Hey. "

And I almost dropped dead.
His morning voice is so.... good, that I almost jumped him then and there. Now that I was distracted from my thoughts, I realised something. Luke was shirtless.

And boy, was he one fine piece of meat.

I knew he worked out a lot, but seeing him like this made me drool. He had abs to die for, and from prior experience, I knew how comfortable they felt when pressed up against them. His back was pressed against the side of the bed and one hand was resting on my thigh. Thank god he could understand water and not emotions. 'Cause then he would know how unnaturally off the charts my hormones were acting.

"H-hey," I replied. I realised how coarse my voice sounded. It was most probably because of my crying spree yesterday.

"You alright?" He asked, arching his eyebrows and rubbing the pads of his thumbs against my skin. My breath hitched.

"Y-yeah. Um... what exactly happened last night?" I asked, looking pointedly at his bare torso.

He looked down and let out a slight laugh. "Nothing. I heard you crying last night so I came to see what was up. I saw you sitting on the floor and bawling your eyes out. I hugged you and you fell asleep in my arms. At night I saw that my entire shirt was wet with your tears so I had to open it. But when I wanted to settle you down on the bed, you refused to move. Thus the pillow and the blanket," he said, pointing to the blanket draped around both our bodies.

"Uh.. listen, I'm sorry for last night, I mean..."

Luke tightened his grip on my arm, effectively stopping me mid-apology. He turned to face me, "Ave. You have nothing to be sorry about. This wasn't your fault. I know what it feels like to lose someone close to you, believe me. And I'm happy you cried. Only the brave can accept their feelings snd display then in front of others. You are brave, Avery Storme. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

These words touched me. No one had ever told me such inspirational words before, because I had no friends. Al the girls at school didn't like me, and I never had a boyfriend. It warmed my heart to see that people cared.

I was about to reply when the door of my room flew apart, startling me.

"Rise and shine, my favourite duce!" Came the cheery voice of Laura, who came waltzing in. Alex followed her.