i love you, but.. // lierra

9

The Power of Love - Gabrielle Aplin

These weeks without Luke seem unbearable to Sierra. Especially since he reduced their communication to minimum. He still texts in the group chat every day, asking how all of them are and what they're up to, and of course, he asks about Petunia. He also sends photos of sunsets from his hotel room, saying how much he misses the beach. He tells Calum how much he misses his food, because here no one cooks like him. But he doesn't say that he misses Sierra and he doesn't really call her personally, or sends her cute cat videos or stupid jokes.

She knows he still loves her, he's just bitter. And Luke actually does miss her, but it takes time for him to trust her fully again. And although he knows she didn't mean any actual harm and her question was unintentional, he still can't let go of the feeling he got in his stomach when he heard it for the first time.

Being away from his friends is extremely hard for Luke, it's unusual and draining in a way. He comes every morning on set and knows no one. He sets up all the lights and cameras, chooses angles. And he is happy to be here, especially since he signed a contract with this company that shoots some TV show, which means it can have several seasons and he's secured with a job. But he feels like something is missing.

Luke makes sure to come back before Christmas. All three of them cancel all their plans for Christmas. They don't spend it with their families so they can be a family for Cory. The three of them started doing it when they turned 20 years old. The thing is that Cory and Calum's parents died right before Christmas so now every year they make sure Cory knows that it's a family holiday. They want him to feel this magic when he writes his letter to Santa Claus, when he opens up his presents under the tree in the morning or when he dresses up in his special Christmas pyjamas for the day.

When Luke gets home, he's still a bit hesitant to stay with Sierra alone. He doesn't ignore her, but if he can, he'll have Cory or Calum with them too. She tries to look as if she doesn't notice, but this pretending doesn't do any good to either of them.

On that Christmas morning, Cory wakes up the first out of them. He sneaks out of his room to go and see the gifts, and as he is too busy looking back to make sure Calum didn't hear him, he bumps into Luke and squeaks surprisingly.

"Shh, shh, buddy, what are you doing here so early?" Luke whispers to him, hiding a package behind his back. He is as surprised as the boy.

"I-I was just going to the bathroom." he lies.

"It's the other way." he squints his eyes at him and smirks. "You wanted to see the presents, didn't you?"

The boy looks down.

"Want me to tell ya a secret?" Luke whispers, and Cory looks up at him immediately. "I'm here to look at the presents too." He takes the package he has just brought to the Christmas tree and makes a surprised face. "Look what I found." he shows it to the boy.

"It says 'To Cory, Calum, Sierra and Luke'. So it's for all of us? Santa really gave us all presents?" he whispers excitedly, his eyes glowing with so much curiosity. "Can we open it now?"

"Only if we can pack it up again, so that Sierra and Calum don't suspect us." Luke says, knowing pretty well they can wrap it again since he was the one doing it the first time and looks awful.

Cory nods and starts opening it very carefully. When he finally gets to the present itself, he sees red and green cloth with Christmas-y ornaments. "What is this..?" he whispers to himself, and Luke just watches him.

"Are these pyjamas for Christmas?" he scream-whispers. "How did Santa know I grew out of my last year's pj's?"

"I told you - he sees everything. What's there for the rest of us?" Luke asks then as if he didn't pick these himself.