Sunshine || l.h. {complete}

Twenty Five

AGH OKAY SO SO SO HOW DID YOU LIKE THE FIRST KISS PART??? personally i loved it, it was so cute and sweet and innocent in stark contrast to the real first kiss - which i loved just as much, if not more. i love hearing you guys' opinions on things!!

okay, so this chapter is going to be dedicated to Im-a-thief !! so thankful for the beginning (hopefully?) of a friendship, as well as some honesty!! hope you're reading this, otherwise it might get awkward.

this picture is what i think luke is always like on the inside whenever he sees belle okay she is literally his sunshine

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6:12 p.m.
[same day as ch24]

Belle runs her fingertips over her lips, her cheeks turning a pretty shade of pink. The sky is nearly dark now, the stars coming out from behind the clouds. Belle feels as though she could take on the world with how light and airy she feels inside, maybe she could fly and join the stars. She's sure that kissing Luke is better than any other thing in the world, and she's very sure that she could become addicted to the sensation it left in her tingling body. He's perfect and precious and she can't help herself when she leans forward and falls into his chest to hug him tightly.

"What's this for?" he chuckles.

The smell of earth and spice fills her nose and adds to the intoxication that is already clouding her mind. Belle squeezes him tighter, "For you." Luke bends his head down and presses his lips into her hair and a tremor runs through her bones.

"Cold?" he questions as he pulls away to look her in the eyes. A blush darkens her cheeks because she wasn't shivering from the cold, but she won't admit that. Luke doesn't wait for her to answer before he begins to pull his jacket off his limbs and drapes it around her shoulders. "Can't have my girl catching a cold, can we?" he asks in a murmur as he reaches into the sleeve to pull her arm through as you would do to a child.

Luke has a long sleeve on, but she wishes he wouldn't have given her his jacket, if anything he's going to be the one with a runny nose by the end of the night. It's chilly out, the wind blowing the open field and setting a coolness over it all. Belle grabs his hand in hers and plays with it, touching his fingernails and the wrinkles by his knuckles.

"D-Do you know how much I l-like you?" Luke's breathing stutters, his words shaking. Belle glances up at him, brushing her hair out of her eyes, "You like me a lot?" Luke smiles, reaching up to touch her cheek with his free hand, "I like you more than I like anything else."

A moment of shared gazes between blue and green takes over the silence, but it is broken when Belle's curiosity consumes her. "Why did you bring a book?" she asks, climbing over to the edge of the blanket to grab the novel. He smiles softly, a hazy glow about him, "It was my backup plan in case kissing you didn't work. I brought a flashlight too. I wasn't sure how long we'd be out."

"You can read to me if you like," says Belle.

Luke smirks, "Only if you let me play with your hair."

Belle nods, shifting so she can rest her head on his leg, waiting as he grabs the book and the light. He sets the book down on the blanket and settles the flashlight in one hand so he can hold down the pages with the other. He flips it open, "The Lion and the Mouse is the one I had flagged."

Luke clears his throat and goes to read the first line when Belle claps together her sweater paws, "I know this one! It's the one where the lion catches the mouse and he begs to be let go. Then, the mouse saves the lion from the trap, right?!"

"You ruined the story, Sunshine," Luke giggles with a tap to her nose, "Now I have to find a different one."

Pouting, Belle picks at her sweatshirt she's wearing, "I'm sorry." Another moment of silence passes as Luke turns the pages to another story but Belle breaks the quiet with a question, "Isn't that uncanny? Any amount of kindness doesn't go unnoticed."