Gone Cold. -Luke Hemmings Love Story. AU-

Chapter 16

-LUKE'S POV-

I groan as I wake up to Karen standing in my room with a smile. "Wake up, Luke! It's Christmas!" She said in an excited voice. "Santa may have came!" She says as I look up at her and roll my eyes. "Fine. But seriously, wake up! I have breakfast ready and everything. Your dad is awake, we want to spend our first Christmas together with you!" She says.
"What time is it?" I ask as I roll back over, putting my face in the pillow.
"I'll tell you, but you wont like it." She says.
"Try me." I say, sarcastically.
"It is six thirty in the morning." She says.
That takes me by surprise. I sit up and rub my eyes. "Six thirty?" I ask. She nods. "I don't get up that early on school days!"
"Oh come on!" She says and sits beside me on my bed. "Your dad and I are excited to spend some time with you!"
I give her a look. "Are you sure that it's not just you that's excited?"
"Don't be like that." She says. "I want you to have a good day. Get some clothes on and come downstairs, yeah?" She asks.
"Fine." I sigh. She just smiles and gets up and walks out of my room, closing the door behind her. I roll out of bed and check my phone to see if it really is that early, and she's not just shitting me right now. But, sure enough. The sun isn't even risen yet. I complain to myself, mumbling and bitching about how early it is as I get a pair of sweat pants and an old t-shirt on. I make my way downstairs slowly. I don't hear any conversation going on like I usually do, telling me the coast is clear. So I just carry my way on downstairs and make my way to the kitchen. I plop down on a chair and put my head down on the table, taking all of my strength not to fall back asleep. I have no choice but to look up as Karen hands me a cup of coffee. I put extra sugar in this time and milk, before taking a sip. It was overwhelmingly sweet, but it should keep me up.
"Merry Christmas, Luke." My dad says before sitting next to me.
"Huh?" I ask, as I jump up. I had my head resting on the table again, and he startled me.
"I said, Merry Christmas." He says with a half smile.
"Oh. Um, you too." I say and go back to my coffee. Karen walks out of the kitchen.
"Did she wake you up too?" He asks me with a sigh.
"No, I thought waking up before dawn would be something I'd just have fun doing." I answer sarcastically. "Yeah, she woke me up." I say with a half smile.
"She is such a morning person." My dad says and lets out a little laugh. "You know, I have this theory that she doesn't actually sleep. She just sits there in a chair or something while we're asleep and waits for the most reasonable time to wake one of us."
I laugh at that. "She does know that we don't celebrate Christmas, right?" I ask, in more of a whisper, because I hear movement out in the living room.
"She said that as long as she's around, we will." He says. "Speaking of Christmas," He says with a sigh. "I didn't know what to get you, on such short notice plus, it's not even seven in the morning so I went to the corner store. You know how I feel about it but- Merry Christmas." He says and hands me a pack of smokes.
"They're open." I say with a half smile. "Did you try one out?"
"Why don't you take a look inside the package to find out?" He says.
"Okay.." I say and open the package, I see about three smokes and a key in there. "What the hell is this?" I ask and pull out the key. "Is this your way of kicking me out of the house? By renting me an apartment or something?"
"That's not a house key, Luke." My dad says and laughs.
"Then what the hell kind of key is it?" I ask. "Decoration?"
"A decoration you're going to need in order to drive your new car.." My dad says with a smile.
"Car?" I ask as my stomach drops.
"Yes. Car!" He says. "Karen ran it by me. I wasn't up for it at first, I thought it meant you'd spend even less time at home, but I don't think that is possible, so we went and got you a used car."
"Is this some sort of sick joke?" I ask. "Cause if it is, I want the rest of the smokes back."
He laughs. "Why don't you go see for yourself?" He asks. "It's parked out front."
"If you say so.." I say as I stand up, not really believing that there is a car waiting outside for me. He wouldn't be the first parent to commit this cruel prank on his kid. As I'm walking out, I notice that there is the saddest ever Christmas tree sitting on the coffee table. I can't help but stop to laugh at that and take a picture of it. It stands maybe two feet tall and is decorated with fake stringed popcorn and the penguin ornaments that I chose out three Christmas' ago. After I get a good picture of the tree that reminds me of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree, I go outside, expecting to find a toy car- if that, waiting for me outside. But, as I walk outside, shocked. There is a car waiting there for me, and Karen beside it with a camera. She take's the picture of my reaction right away.
"Oh, now that's priceless!" She says as she looks at the picture. She walks up to me and shows me the picture. "What do you think?" She asks.
"Oh wow." Is all I can manage to get out as I look at the picture. My hair is sticking up in every direction, my eyes red due to just waking up, my mouth is literally dropped open, there is a coffee stain on the shirt that I'm wearing and my eyebrows are raised so far that they look like they're about to get caught in my hair line. "I look great."
"You look adorable!" She says. "What do you think?" She asks as my dad walks out. She walks over and shows him the picture of me, he bursts out laughing.
"It's actually mine?" I ask.
"It's actually yours!" Dad says with a smile.
"Holy shit, thank you so much!" I say before running up to it and unlocking the door and getting in drivers seat. I switch gears and pull out of the driveway, and start going around the block a few times, before going back to my house, backing up and parking beside my dad and Karen's cars. I get out.
"How does she ride?" Dad asks.
"Perfect, thank you!" I say.
"Merry Christmas, buddy!" My dad says with a smile before walking up and wrapping an arm around me. "I'm impressed with your parking skills. You're better than I am. I almost always hit the mailbox."

-KIT'S POV-

I sit in my room as I wait for dinner to cook. Usually we have a bunch of people over, but this move was the farthest from home and nobody could make it over this year, so all of our family is having family dinner without us today. It's just my parents and I this year. Which I find strange. Not that I like the family dinners, I always get sat at the kids table with bratty cousins, and even then, I usually just stay in the corner, finding the soonest excuse to ditch the dinner. Don't get me wrong, I love my family. I really do. But, in small doses. And by small, I mean I'm usually done by the time Uncle John has his eighth beer into him. Because, when he notices he's drunk, he likes to talk about what's wrong with the world today, most of which are things I think are great. Things like gay marriage. I've fought with him over that one. I know he means well, he's usually a good guy, he's just very opinionated, and I am as well.
I walk downstairs with wide eyes as I see the amounts of food that my parents are cooking. It's about the same amount of food they cook when we have too many people coming over. "If you telling me that there is no family time this year was a joke, it wasn't a funny one. You can't get my hopes up like that." I say, half serious as I go over and help my mom peal come potatoes.
"No, I just didn't know how much to cook." She says. "I'm not used to it just being the three of us. I don't suppose you know anyone who may want to spend Christmas with us?" She asks.
I think about it for a minute. There's Luke, but he doesn't want to meet my family yet, plus, he likes Karen. I wouldn't want to pull him from his first Christmas with her. "Afraid not muta." I say with a slight frown. "What about your work friends?"
"Why would I invite those bitches into our home?" She asks, catching me off guard. I cant help but burst out laughing.
"Oh, fuck!" I mumble as I don't pay attention to where the knife was going, it landed across my palm. I drop the potato as blood starts running down my arm.
"Oh shit, Kit are you okay?" My mom asks.
"Yeah, fine!" I say. "Just scared me." I insure her as I run my hand under some water. "The girls at your work can't be that bad." I say.
"Oh they are." She says. "I've never quite met any like them." She says.
"What do you mean?" I ask as I take my hand out of the water because it stopped bleeding.
"All they do is bitch and complain." She says. "One told a patient off." She says. "The patent had a broken leg due to an accent. She had the nerve to snap at her when she was confused about what was going on."
"What assholes." I say as I look down and notice that there is blood on my shirt. "I'm going to go wash up. Maybe dad knows someone that will come over." I say as I make my way upstairs. When I get to my room, I take my shirt off and throw it in the hamper. I go get one of my darker shirts and put that on. I frown down at my hand, it really does hurt. But, I ignore it as I put some pants on. It's almost dinner time and I was still in pajamas. I know that mom will want family photos so I go into the bathroom to do my makeup, I do it the same as everyday, the thick line above my eyes, with a trace of eyeliner below my eyes. Today, I decide to put on some red lipstick, because something about my look needs to have a Christmas color on it. I look in the mirror to make sure that I don't have lipstick in my teeth, and to my surprise, I actually don't. I usually always have some on my teeth. I guess I'm getting better at this whole makeup thing.
Just as I go to walk downstairs my phone starts ringing. It's Luke. I answer right away. "Hemmings." I answer with.
"Kit Kat." He replies with. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas to you too, Hemmings." I say. "What are you up to."
"Just about to go for a drive in my new car!" He says, I can tell that he's excited. "Karen and dad got me a car. Whatever they were trying to do, worked!"
I laugh. "Aren't you having dinner with them?" I ask.
"They're both working." He says.
"But it's Christmas." I say.
"And they have work." He says with a small laugh.
"So you're all alone?" I ask, as I can't help but feel bad for him.
"Guess so." He says. I can almost hear the shrug. "Wanna go for a drive?" He offers.
"I'd love to!" I say with a smile that quickly drops. "But I can't. My mom cooked so much food and it's only her, my dad and I. She'd be so hurt if I ditched. I can't do that to her."
"No big deal." He says, but I can tell he's disappointed.
"Why don't you come over here for dinner, than after we can go for a drive?" I offer, knowing he won't be keen.
"I don't think that would be a good idea. I don't want to intrude. Why don't I pick you up when you're done?" He asks.
"My mom was just asking if I knew anyone that would want to come over. you wouldn't be intruding." I say. "Pleasee!" I beg.
He sighs. "Fine." He says. "I'll be there in twenty minutes, okay?"
"Thank you!" I say with an ear to ear smile. "See you then." I say before hanging up. I rush downstairs, almost falling down, but I managed to catch myself. "Good news!" I say as I go sit at the table with my mom and my dad.
"What's that, sweetheart?" My dad asks.
"I have a friend that agreed to come over for dinner so it won't be just us!" I announce, with a smile.
"Oh, fantastic!" My mom says with a smile. "Which friend?"
"Luke!" I tell them.
"You talk about him so much, I've been excited to meet him!" My mom says.
"Yeah, I'm interested in meeting the boy you talk so much about, too." My dad says dully.
I roll my eyes at that. "Before you do meet Luke, you need to know that he's a little different." I tell them, giving them a fair warning that he may not come off as the friendliest.
"Is Luke from the special ed class?" Mom asks. "Is he a friend that you took under your wing? That's so sweet!" She says.
I can't help but laugh at that. "No no!" I say. "He's not that kind of differant. His mom died last year, and it really fucked him up." I explain. "They were in a car crash. He'd never admit it, but he blames himself. He's very closed off." I tell them. "Don't say I told you, he doesn't like talking about it, okay?"
My mom gives me a half smile. "We wont say a thing."
"Dad, be nice." I say and look over at him. "Don't be the typical dad meeting his daughter's friend that happens to be a boy."
"Don't worry, sweetie." He says.
"Thanks." I say. "I'm going to go wait outside for him, okay?" I ask. They just nod at me. I walk out and sit on the front steps to wait for him. I'm a little nervous about this, I don't know how it's going to go. Inviting him over could be the worst mistake I've ever made. But, it may also go extremely well. Maybe my parents will adore him and accept this twisted crush that I have on him.
Before too long he pulls up in his new car. He parks his beside mine and gets out with a smile. "What do you think?" He asks, pointing over at it.
"It's beautiful!" I say. "Did you give it a name yet?" I ask.
"No?" He says, as he knits his eyebrows together. "People name their cars?" He asks me with an amused look on his face.
"In my world they do." I say. "Mine's Birtha!" I tell him. "You have to give your car a name."
He thinks about it for a minute. "How about Gurtie?" He asks and laughs.
"It's you that has to live with the name you chose, not me?" I tell him with a small smile.
"Gurtie it is." He says. "You look good, by the way." He says as he moves his feet nervously. "Lipstick looks good on you."
"Thank you." I say as I feel myself start to blush. "Merry Christmas, again." I say.
"Merry Christmas." He says before pulling me into a hug. It doesn't last long though, My mom yells out the window that the food is ready.
"Ready to meet the family?" I ask.
"I don't know." He says. "But let's go anyways.." He smiles at me. I return the smile as I lead him into my house.
"Mom, Dad, this is Luke!" I say with a smile as he stands awkwardly behind me.
My mom goes up to him, he extends his hand to shake hers, but she pushes it away and pulls him into a hug. "It's so nice to finally meet you! Kit talks about you all the time!" She says.
"Mom!" I say embarrassed.
"Don't act as if it isn't true, darling." Dad says as he goes up and shakes Luke's hand as my mom let him go. "It's nice to meet you." He says.
"It's nice to meet you guys too." Luke says as he follows me out into the dining room and sits beside me at the table as we all get our food.
"So, what is your family up to today?" My mom asks, careful of her words.
"My dad and his girlfriend are at work." He tells them. "We don't celebrate usually, so my dad didn't think to schedule work off. And Karen got called in last minute." He explains to them.
"Don't celebrate Christmas?" My dad asks.
Luke shakes his head. "Well, we used to." He says. "But, last year it was just my dad and I, we didn't know how to celebrate without my mom, so we didn't." He says, as he looks down. I put my hand on his leg, sympathetically.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Luke." My dad says with a small frown.
He shakes his head. "Don't be." He smiles. "What about you guys? He asks, from the way Kit Kat explained it, there is usually a bunch of people over for Christmas."
"Kit Kat?" My mom asks as she looks up from her plate.
"It's what I've nicknamed her." He explains.
"That is precious!" She says. "And Nobody had a way here this year. But, we don't mind. We don't mind the quiet."
"I only call her that because she calls me by my last name, Hemmings." He says, quickly. Mom just smiles at him.
The dinner doesn't last too long. It was mostly filled with small talk, about school, and work and small things like that. After Luke and I are done helping my mom with the dishes he asks me if I want to go for a drive in his new car. "Can I?" I ask my mom.
She nods. "Have fun." She says.
"Thank you!" I say before we run out the door and into his car. "How was that?" I ask with a smile as he pulls out of my driveway.
"That wasn't so bad." He says with a smile.
"They like you." I inform him. "They do, I can tell."
"I like them too." I say. "They're not how I pictured them." He admits.
"How did you picture them?" I ask.
"Honestly?" He asks. I just nod. "A bitchy mom and your dad to be way too nice because he's not your biological dad." He says. "They're more normal than expected."
"Sorry to disappoint." I say and laugh, as we go into a random, empty parking lot. He just parks his car and turns the radio off. "What are you doing?" I ask with a smile.
He just gets closer and closer to me, before our lips meet. He starts kissing me, as I start kissing him back. I put my hands on his face and move them up to his hair as the kiss continues. Much more aggressive than last time, but I really don't mind. My heart starts pounding as he pulls away, I didn't really want him to, but I just give him a nervous smile. "Sorry." He says, as he blushes. His face is almost as red as the lipstick that is now smeared on and around his lips. "I've wanted to do that tonight. The lipstick was driving me crazy. You look so hot."
"Hot?" I ask. He nods. "You think I'm hot?"
"Of course I do." He says. "Why wouldn't I?"
"Nobody has called me hot before." I tell him.
"What about your ex?" He asks.
"Nope. Never." I say.
"Well, I'll say it again to make up for him. You're hot, Kit Kat." He tells me with a smile. I pull him in and kiss him again, this time only a peck.
"You're hot too, Hemmings." I tell him with a smile. "Like really hot, holy shit." I give him a small laugh. "Even with the lipstick on your face. I say you pull it off better than I do." I say as he looks at himself in a mirror.
"Shit." He says as he wipes it off with his shirty. "You may want to wipe it off too. Nothing says 'Hey, dad I was making out with the boy that you actually kind of approve of!' like lipstick on your chin!" He says with a smile
"You may have a point." I say and look at myself in the mirror, wiping the lipstick off. "Am I good?" I ask, looking over at him.
"You're good, Kit Kat." He says with a genuine smile before we start driving around again.