What This Is

Chapter 20

Lacey's POV
That night, I stayed at his house. My mom was okay with it, as long as if the número uno rule was followed: no sleeping together (if you know what I mean).
We laid on the bed, simply enjoying each other's company. Luke spoke up, "Lace? Do you want to go outside?"
It was summertime now, so it took forever for the sun to set. For example, it was 9 o'clock and the sun was only starting to hide.
I climbed out of bed, grabbing a sweatshirt from Luke's closet. I turned around to see a crooked grin across his face.
"What?" I questioned, returning his flirtatious grin.
"Everything you're wearing is mine, and I think that's absolutely adorable," Luke said, leaning against me, his hands on my hips. With my back against the wall, I glanced down. He was right, I was wearing a pair of basketball shorts, his band tee, and his sweater. My hair was put up in a messy bun, and I had previously slipped into my vans.
Luke's soft lips brushed against my nose lightly. I looked up again to gaze into his beautiful, blue eyes. The kiss that followed sent chills through my spine, and explosions everywhere.
We broke away in unison and I smiled.
"What love?" Luke chuckled.
"Nothin," I laughed reaching and grabbing his iPhone and headphones and I sprinted out the door.
"Aye!!" Luke shouted, his Australian side barging in at full force; not that I'm complaining...
He caught up to me and picked me up from behind, me squealing in surprise.
He let me go, dying of laughter as he grabbed my hand. I placed the right ear bud in his ear and adjusted the left one in my ear. It makes both of us anxious when the earbuds are in the wrong ear.
As I manned the music, I also scrolled through his more recently downloaded music.
"Luke..." I tightened my hand around his to get his attention.
"Hhm?" His seemed a little distracted...
"You downloaded all my favorite songs... Why?"
"We have a similar taste in music when it comes to the alternative or punk artists, but you also listen to all this classical and soft stuff. I figured it'll help me figure you out. I can tell you it's seriously helping," he finished, smirking knowingly.
"Oh really?" I challenged, quite curious to where this is going.
"Yeah, like the songs by Birdy, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Secondhand Serenade, Shawn Mendes, 5sos, The Piano Guys, and 2cellos, you know, those type of artists. Love, is there a reason why you listen to such sad songs?"
"Not all of them are sad," I replied quietly, growing slightly defensive.
"Hey, Lacey, it really is okay, I love their work, I just want to know if there was a reason," Luke explained softly. We had made our way to the edge of the park facing the ocean. I climbed into a tree, Luke following at my feet.
When settled, I leaned into Luke, who had his strong, protective arm around my shoulders.
"It's just, their lyrics say what I'm to scared to, knowing that other people think those thoughts, it makes me feel a bit better, knowing I'm not completely alone, you know?"
Luke was quiet for a bit, probably processing what he just heard. I had actually brought my ramble to an end as I told him what I just did. Lord, I pray he won't pick at that like I would have...
"You have scars, don't you Lacey?"
"No," I growled, mad that he even thought that.
He didn't say anything as he squeezed my shoulders, and checked my wrists. It took him a bit, for I have multiple bracelets on each wrist.
"Luke, I've only thought about it, I promise," I stated, the tears streaming down my face.
"Lace.... I've been in your bathroom, you really need to hide things if your trying to keep it secret. But it's too late, I know about your sleeping pills," he whispered.
In complete frustration, I screamed.
My throat was utterly raw, and I could barely speak the next words, "Lucas. I'm so bloody sorry for what I've done. I promise I've never done anything extreme with those. I promise I don't want to die like that. I promise I promise I promise," I muttered into his chest, my back heaving as I tried to catch my breath.
"Come on, let's get down," Luke said, his voice soft and full of understanding.
I've collected myself, and Luke and I have gone back to his house. When we got home, it was 10:30 pm. So we tiptoed to his room and turned on the radio. We lied on the bed in each other's arms, and finally I spoke up, one question killing me. "Luke, why aren't you mad at me?"
"Because I used to be just like you. I just recently got over it when my dad left. Those pills, I recognized them because I had the same bottle in my medicine cabinet."
"Oh," I slurred the word rolling off my tounge.
With that, sleep fell upon both of them, drifting off into sleep leaning against his wall, with Lacey resting against Luke's chest and his head against hers.