Taking Chances (Remember to Forget Sequel)

Chapter 11

Luke's POV

"I like your laugh and your nose and your hair and your smile. I like the way you say my name and tell me everything and give good advice and-"

"Luke," she says quietly, putting her hands on my chest.

"You can't just cut me off like that," I whisper, laughing quietly.

"I love you," she blurts out.

I love you.

Delilah said those three words. She actually said them. She loves me. It's like she said it in slow motion, like this really isn't happening. I can't mess this up. My mouth needs to say what my heart and mind is telling it to say.

I feel my heart start racing and my palms instantly get sweaty. I wasn't expecting her to say that, especially not now. She's taken me by surprise. I didn't even have a warning. 

Delilah loves me.

She l-o-v-e-s me.

Delilah looks at me, seeming somewhat nervous and waiting for my response. She looks at me with wide eyes and a small smile.

I squeeze her hand lightly and pull her closer.

"I love you too," I tell her.

She lets out a quick breath and hugs me as tight as possible. She rests her head against my chest and neither of us say anything.

We love each other.

I feel like love is such a strong word that I've always been afraid to say it. I never said it to Delia, but I think because I was only 16, I thought I knew what love was, but I really didn't. Right now, I know that what I'm feeling is love and no one can deny that. It still makes me nervous though because the word love holds a lot of weight and love isn't always forever. By saying it, I feel like we're in this for awhile, but it could break at anytime. Anything could happen. We say we love each other now, but what about next month? Things change, people change, love changes. That's what scares me.

Delilah  slowly makes small circles with her finger on my arm as we lie there silently.

"I've never said that to anyone before," I whisper. I never thought I'd ever talk again to actually be able to say I love you to someone.

She looks up at me and smiles. "Me too."

We're both each other's first real loves, I guess.

I feel strangely light and jittery, but not in a bad way. It's like I'm daydreaming, but this is actually happening. I'm actually in love with someone who's in love with me. It doesn't seem real. I never thought this would happen.

I kind of felt like this might be love for the past few weeks, but I wasn't sure if Delilah felt the same way. I was so afraid that she wouldn't, so I didn't want to say it just yet until I was sure. If I looked closely though, I would've been able to tell that she loved me by the way she helps me, and kisses me, and understands me. Even without her saying it, I should've known. But now she's said it, and I've said it, and everything is great. I didn't mess things up for once. Not yet, anyways. I've actually done something right.

"I like the way you say love," Delilah says, her cheeks turning slightly pink.

I laugh. "Doesn't it just sound like someone saying love?"

She hits my chest. "No! Your accent and everything makes it sound better."

I roll my eyes and kiss her forehead.

"I was afraid you wouldn't say it back," Delilah whispers.

"Of course I love you. Don't ever doubt it."

"I thought you'd get too nervous and not want to say it," she tells me.

I tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I was nervous to say it, but now that I've said it, I couldn't be happier."

"Me too. You know what's weird? We both hated each other when you first moved here and now look at us."

I smile. "I never really hated you. I just hated the idea of you," I tell her, laughing. "And then once I got to know you, I liked you and hated myself for it. Because you're you and I shouldn't have liked you. My plan was not to fall in love. If someone told me I would have fallen in love when I moved here, I would have never believed them."

Someone knocks on Delilah's bedroom door, and we quickly roll away from each other.

"Why now?" Delilah whispers.

I sit up quickly. We've mastered trying to make it look like we're not lying down, kissing each other, even though her parents most likely know. Delilah quickly fixes my messy hair.

Her door slowly opens and her mom walks in. "Just wanted to let you know we're home. Oh, hi, Luke. How was work? Your first day was today, right?"

I clear my throat. "Yeah, it went pretty well."

"Great! Well, we'll be downstairs if you need us."

"Okay, Mom. Bye," Delilah says.

As soon as her mom leaves, I lie back down and get back into our previous position. Delilah props herself up on her elbow and looks down at me.

"What?" I ask her, sitting up a little too.

She shrugs. "Nothing."

I turn away from Delilah and look up some synonyms for love on my phone. "I have deep affection for you, I am fond of you, I adore you," I tell her, laughing.

She looks over my shoulder and I try to hide my phone.

"Did you just look up synonyms for love?" she asks, resting her head on my shoulder.

"Psh, no. Of course not. I knew those words already."

She laughs. "If you say so."

She reaches for her polaroid and takes a quick picture of me before I have time to react.

"What was that for?" I ask, trying to grab the picture from her hand.

Delilah jumps out of her bed and gets a marker from her desk. I follow her and watch her write "Love" on the bottom of the photo. It slowly develops, and it's me looking confused but happy. My hair is also very messy.

"Do I really look that bad?" I ask, trying to fix my hair.

"You look cute, what are you talking about?"

I keep my hands on top of my hair and pout. "No, I don't. My hair is a mess. I should just be bald."

Delilah laughs. "It looks fine, I promise. You'd still be cute bald, though." She grabs my hands and pulls them off my head.

"Lies." I go into Delilah's closet and grab my snapback that I forgot here last week and put it on.

I wrap my arms around Delilah and push her back onto the bed. She laughs and tries to push me off, but I don't budge.

"Goodnight," I whisper, laughing. "I'm going to sleep right here."

"Luke," she mumbles, trying to push me off of her.

"Yes?"

"Please stop squishing me," she says, laughing.

I push myself up so I'm above her and quickly kiss her before lying beside her. I reach for her hand and intertwine our fingers.

"We're in love," I say quietly.

"Yeah, we are," she says squeezing my hand.

Love.

this is sorta short but I feel like the stuff in it makes up for it idk

also y'all thought he'd run bUT HE DIDN'T WOOOO

my announcement is in FOUR DAYS!!!!!! 1 PM EST!!! I'm excited, are you?

-Ashley