Learning

Chapter 17: Talking It Out

All three of the people Asajj had visited had kept what she said in their memory for a while. What she'd told them had been good advice yet while Lux had no bad idea of her, Barriss and Ahsoka kind of wished it came from someone else. Nevertheless none of them, Barriss especially, didn't want to disappoint her and continue this drama. Ahsoka would be happy to call Lux her friend again and put this behind her, maybe Asajj had been telling the truth and that she didn't know the whole story?

Lux stood to the side of the wall today, as he waited for Barriss and Ahsoka to arrive. He was pleased not to have to go and talk things over with Steela and the trio could just enjoy each others company. A bicycle bell broke through his thoughts and he turned to see the two girls approaching him. When the three if them arrived at the wall, a surprising and slightly awkward silence settled over them. Each one of them thinking about what Asajj Ventress told them earlier. "Hey, nice to see you both." Lux smiled at them as they approached.

Ahsoka smiled. "Yeah, so how are you? How was your day?" She figetted on her seat as Barriss remained silent behind her.

Lux thought for a moment. "It was fine, thank you. My lessons were pretty good. I got some good advice. All in all, not terrible." He started to walk as they followed him.

Barriss suddenly picked up her pace and went in front of them a bit. "You know, I need to get home soon. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye." She hurried past a group of girls gushing over their phones and disappeared through the small side streets that was used as a shortcut to her house. It wasn't that she didn't want to spend time with Ahsoka or Lux but she couldn't spend another walk home, waiting for something to happen and torturing herself with possible what ifs' as to whether or not she became abandoned.

Lux raised his eyebrows. "Was that me or was that rather abrupt?" He turned to Ahsoka who was chewing her lip.

She looked surprised at his presence despite cycling beside him for a few minutes. "Hmm? Oh, maybe." She trailed off into silence as they continued to walk home. Eventually Ahsoka couldn't take it anymore and huffed. "What's going on? Nothing feels right, is something wrong?" The tension between them was unbearable for her.

Lux looked surprised for a moment before he started to laugh. "You know, I was just going to ask you the same thing. I fear as though you've been given a bad opinion of me and I don't want that." Lux smiled at her through a mass of hair.

Ahsoka felt herself blush at being so forceful. "No, no one would. I don't have any bad opinions of you Lux, you seem like a nice person. Did you-"

"Awwww, cute! Look guys! Lux and Ahsoka are on a date!" A deep voice boomed over them which sounded familiar to one. Lux pulled his head down and hurried along, half motioning for Ahsoka to follow. "Yo Bonteri, wait up! You're leaving your girl behind!" Saw Gerrera shouted after him as Ahsoka pedalled faster to catch up.

Eventually Lux couldn't handle his heckling anymore and turned around to face him. "Give it a rest Saw, don't you have anything better to do?" He continued to walk but it was slower and Saw caught up with ease.

He didn't sound so jolly now as he glared at them. "Don't worry, I'll leave you alone in a minute. I just wanted to see exactly who you thought was better than my sister." Saw stopped Ahsoka's bike and looked her up and down. "Bit of a let down, isn't she?" His mates behind him laughed but Ahsoka wasn't having that.

Raising her bike upwards, she then slammed it back down on his feet. Hard. "Perhaps your sister would have better luck in relationships if she didn't have such a sexist and idiotic older brother to compare them to." Then she cycled away as Lux stood open-mouthed on the sidelines. "I'll talk to you later. Text me." She whispered to him before disappearing along the street.

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Later that evening, Ahsoka sighed as her bike raked passed the ground and threw the pebbles and dust everywhere. She knew it was good to talk to Lux about what she felt, the awkwardness they had felt earlier wasn't good. It reminded her far too much of the uncomfortable silence her parents experienced as their marriage fell to ruin. Not that she was going to marry Lux anytime soon... Just a metaphor.

The breeze was a little chilly but Ahsoka didn't mind as it made the leaves blow off the trees around her. She wondered why Lux had wanted to meet here but actually didn't mind the ride. To be honest, it was quite nice to focus on something that wasn't her mum's second breakdown. Up ahead, the path broke through the trees and opened up to a cliff edge that Ahsoka hadn't been aware of before now. Lux was stood there with a smile on his face as he saw her. Ahsoka pulled to a stop beside him, resting her bike on the bench. "Hey you." She pushed his hair away from his eyes.

Lux blushed. "Hi, how are you?" He asked her while gesturing if she wanted to sit down.

Ahsoka grinned and happily took that offer. "I'm good thanks and I'm pleased you managed to get away from those boys." She paused, considering her question. "Who was that stupid person earlier? I've seen him around but I don't really know who he is." Ahsoka raised an eyebrow as Lux sat beside her.

He sighed and raked a hand through his hair, allowing it to fall in front of his eyes again. "He's Saw Gerrera, Steela's older brother. I've been waiting all day for him to get back at me for what happened yesterday. Anyway, today a rather terrifying girl called Asajj Ventress informed me that I needed to sort out things between us... She told me you saw Steela and myself at the park yesterday." Ahsoka felt a great deal of anger for Asajj rise in her at the thought of being spied upon.

"So what? She stalks me and you accuse me of stalking you?" Ahsoka wanted the answer to these questions but hadn't meant to sound so angry.

If Lux was taken aback by her behaviour, he didn't show it. "No, I'm not accusing you of stalking me, many people go through that park. I can't speak for Asajj however. But my point was that I'm sorry if you got the wrong idea. I'm not exactly sure of what you saw but the kiss didn't last long. At all. A few seconds max." He looked at her and noticed she was very interested in the ground. "'Soka, you okay?" Lux reached forward to hold her hand.

Ahsoka jumped slightly at the sudden touch but didn't pull away, instead curling her fingers around his. "I'm good, in fact Asajj came to talk to me earlier today as well. She mentioned how I might not have had the entire story. So what is it between you and that Steela girl?" Ahsoka wasn't sure how she would feel if Lux confirmed that they had been a thing in the past. As she had come to learn, the past could easily interfere with your lives when you least expect it.

Lux shrugged his shoulders. "Right now, I'm not sure. I think she sees me as the bad guy but I don't think either of us are. We were friends for ages when we were younger but instead of going to Temple, I went to the Senate. I also think I pushed people away after my Father died, including her. Steela thinks highly of herself and took my retreat from society personally. She may have liked me but my feelings for her were only platonic. That kiss was a last resort for her to get me to change my mind." Lux noticed Ahsoka was holding her breath and lightly nudged her to relax. "It didn't work, in her favour at least. I realised that I did like someone but it wasn't her." He reached across the bench and held her closer. "Ahsoka." He whispered her name into her hair, enjoying the smell and feel of it against his fingers.

Ahsoka felt very confused at this moment. Never in a million years did she ever think of herself in such a romantic situation. The way he was holding her reminded of the night at the bus stop, only a couple of days ago. Crazy. She took a deep breath and looked into his misty, grey eyes. Eyes that she didn't know existed a week ago. "I... Well I'm pretty sure... I love you, Lux." Ahsoka whispered against his forehead, wrapping her arms into his hair.

She felt his cheeks warm and eyelids rapidly blink before his hand reached up to lift her chin slightly. "I love you too Ahsoka." Then he kissed her with as much love as he could muster.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'm pretty sure that I've gotten all the main Luxsoka fluff out the way now so I'm sorry if I got a bit sidetracked from the plot of the story. I'll update again soon with more progression of family coming in. Until then though, bye, bye.