Outside || Luke Hemmings

Chapter 83

'You know what?' I said, looking at Luke.

We were on a boat cruising between the mountains in Milford Sound.

'What?' Luke asked, he was standing right beside me.

Our arms were resting on the rail and our fingers were intertwined.

'I'm not that scared of the water anymore' I said, thinking back to the beginning of the road trip.

'Remember when I was terrified?' I laughed.

Luke smiled, looking down at the water beneath us.

'I do,' he said.

'I also remember dragging you in the water when we were in the first place we visited, all the way at the top of the country. What was that place called again?'

I smiled 'I don't remember the name, I can barely even remember what we had for dinner yesterday'

Luke grinned 'same here. We make a great team, don't we'

I looked at him and nodded.

'Definitely, I think we deserve a medal for forgetting all the places we went too'

'We deserve more than a medal for that, I think we deserve an award'

I laughed.

'Yeah, that way it's easier to remind us of how much we suck. Because an award is harder to miss than a medal'

Luke nodded and looked at me.

I looked at the mountains around us, taking in as much as I could.

I noticed all the little holes in the mountains, the little bits of green that managed to grow, I noticed the waves of the water hitting the boat.

'Luke?' I said, looking right in front of us.

'I think I see penguins'

'What? Where?'

I pointed to a few little black and white dots, not to far away from us.

'Oh my god, those are penguins' Luke said, his entire face lightning up with joy.

He squeezed my hand in excitement and stood up straight.

'Look at them! There are actual penguins here!' he said.

I smiled and looked at the penguins.

'Maybe there's more in the water' I said, focusing my eyes on that.

The next couple of minutes were spent with us looking for penguins in the water, which we sadly couldn't find.

'Maybe if we throw some food in the water they'll come closer' Luke said.

I laughed and shook my head.

'They're penguins Luke, not dogs or pigeons. They probably won't even notice it because we're to far away'

Luke pouted and sadly looked down.

'Besides, we don't have any food'

Luke looked up and laughed.

'Right. I forgot about that'

I smiled, kissing his cheeks.

'That's what I'm here for'

Luke smiled, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and pulling me in a very tight hug.

'And I'm glad you are' he said, his voice just audible over the sound of the water beneath us.

We stood like that for a while, watching the penguins until they were out of sight.

Luke sighed, pressing a kiss against the top of my head.

'Seriously though' he said eventually.

'I don't think I tell you enough but I'm so happy you're here. This road trip wouldn't have been complete if you didn't come with me'

I smiled and looked at him.

'I love you' I said, saying the words out loud was still a little weird to me.

It was like my mouth had trouble pronouncing the words, like it couldn't get the words out exactly the way I wanted them too.

But Luke didn't seem to notice it, and the way he smiled when I said it definitely made me want to continue saying it for the rest of our lives.

'I love you too' Luke said, pressing a kiss against my nose.

I scrunched it, making Luke laugh.

I pressed a kiss against his lips and rested my head against his shoulder, looking at the water again.

'I see a waterfall' Luke said.

I grinned and nodded.

'Me too'

'We have seen a waterfall before too...but I don't remember the name of that place either'

'Wasn't that in Piha?'

'No, I don't think it was, didn't we have that ridiculously good pie in Piha? Wasn't that the place where you bought your phone?' Luke said.

'Oh...right...Where was the waterfall then?' I asked.

'How many places did we even visit?'

'I don't know.But we crossed them off on the map so we can count them later' Luke said.

I nodded 'That's a good idea. maybe we'll know where the waterfall was when we see the name of the place'

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A/N:

It's weird how sad I am that this story will be over soon even though I'm already writing the sequel.

Do you think this story can reach 50k reads before it ends in 2 weeks?

That would be so cool! Exactly 50k, nothing more and nothing less.

Do you think we can do that?