marryme215 | l.h.

21

21

"hey annalise!" ashton said with a huge smile on his face. he looked so happy to see annalise. she felt kind of bad. "this must be luke?"

luke nodded and stood up. ashton wrapped his arms around annalise and hugged her. which was odd. she'd seen him only yesterday and he almost never hugged her. but she hugged back anyways, not wanting to make anything awkward.

"nice to meet you," ashton said, turning to luke. luke just smiled a little.

"when are your friends getting here?" annalise asked luke, looking around the park. she honestly had no idea what to expect. for all she knew they could be really rude goth dudes.

luke glanced at his phone. "they're here," he said.

all three of them turned to where luke was pointing. two boys were walking - no, skipping - towards them. both had black hair, and when they got closer annalise noticed one of them was calum. she instantly felt uncomfortable.

"luke!" they both shouted in unison. they ran to luke, engulfing him in a bear hug. when they pulled away they looked at annalise. "so is this your girlfriend?" the black haired one asked. luke nudged him hard with his elbow.

"this is michael and...calum," he said, motioning to them. ashton smiled like he always did and shook hands with them. annalise hadn't looked at calum yet.

"it's nice to finally meet you," calum said, surprising her by giving her a hug. she felt a little suffocated with how many hugs she was receiving.

"yeah," she said with a smile, pulling away when the hug lasted a little bit too long.

to say this was awkward would be the understatement of the century. they all sat down at a picnic table and annalise couldn't stop thinking about the uneasy feeling floating around them like the breeze. was she insane?

"but bro, that's totally unfair!" michael shouted, pounding his fists onto the wooden picnic table. annalise jumped a little in her seat. apparently she'd zoned out a bit.

"life is unfair," calum said casually. he was sitting across from annalise and every once in a while she would catch him staring at her with a smirk. it made her want to run behind a bush and stay there until he left.

luke was sitting next to her. he wasn't really talking to anyone. annalise wanted to ask if something was wrong, but decided against it. ashton was pacing next to a pine tree. they were in some sort of argument.

annalise felt someone's leg bump into hers. she shifted in her seat. it happened again. she tried not to think about it, but calum was rubbing his foot against her leg.

"can you stop please?" she tried asking quietly. calum just winked.

"sure thing babe."

(i'm so done with you calum)

luke must've overheard because he took annalise's hand in his, sending a title wave of emotion through her body. she thought she almost caught him glaring at calum, but she couldn't be sure.

suddenly ashton looked at his watch. "oh shoot, it's four already!"

calum and michael jumped up from the table, quickly saying goodbye. "we have... places to be," was their excuse. annalise just shrugged. it'd be more exciting without them anyhow.

ashton also had somewhere to be. "football practice," he said with a weird smile.

annalise only nodded. she knew better than to question ashton. he wasn't on a football team.

"your friends are nice," annalise said. luke played with her fingers.

"yeah, i guess so," he mumbled, not looking at her. "i'm sorry about calum."

annalise laughed. "calum is just calum."

luke nodded, chuckling.

it wasn't long before luke had to go back to his aunt's house. tomorrow he'd be busy all day long. annalise might not ever see him again. so when the time time came for luke to leave and for annalise to go back home, luke cleared his throat and began.

in movies, confessions of love are so artificial, with emotional music playing in the background as the man gets down on one knee or they kiss in the rain. well, that didn't happen here. once luke was kneeling, a bug crawled up his leg and he squealed and jumped up, nearly knocking them both over and apologizing profusely while cursing the bug. annalise was just laughing.

"annie, i know i'm not, like, good enough for you," he rubbed his head awkwardly. "but i really, really like you. and when calum stole my phone and said those things to you, i kind of flipped out. it was him that dropped my phone in the toilet."

"why would he do that?" she asked. luke was still holding her hand and she was having a hard time thinking properly.

"he likes you," luke said with a grimace. "or, at least i think he does. he only likes you because i do."

annalise nodded. there was a pause. "so what now?"

luke leaned down and kissed annalise's cheek. "you wait for me to come back for you."

"will you ever come back?" she whispered.

luke chuckled. "i always wanted to live in a river."

+

OK OK THIS IS LIKE THE LAST CHAPTER I THINK AND THERE WILL BE AN EPILOGUE AND STUFF SO YOU WILL FINALLY UNDERSTAND THE TITLE (lmao)

i'm so sad tho. i really liked this book *cries* vote and comment for one of the last times.

-your queen, nora