The Road to Quinn Lake (book 1)

Chapter 13

    "I was supposed to stay gone, Luke. As messed up as it seems Adam got one thing right, I don't belong here." Luke followed after her the best he could. "What are you talking about?" "Before any of this happened Adam told me that the people in this town suffocate me; he said I would never be at peace here. I didn't understand it then, but now it's pretty clear." It was like the scene in every romance movie ever; rain pours down and the girl leaves and the guy runs after her and begs her to stay. Luke knew that Emma wouldn't stay just because he wanted her to. Emma had to want to be there and it was obvious she didn't. "What about me? I have no one, Em. No family, no one who really cares about me. You are the only one. If it wasn't for you I would be gone by now. Emma, I am in love with you and you know that. I love you; Em, Adam never loved you." Emma stopped in her steps and sat down on the pavement. Tears fell down her face as Luke sat down beside her. "He never loved me." She said in a soft voice as she laid her head on Luke's shoulder.

    "Em, it's not your fault.", He helped her up and they held hands as they walked back to the house. By the time they got back everyone was gone and no one even noticed they were gone. She sat down on the couch and sighed. She had always loved Luke from the moment they met. There was an instant connection. She was always afraid of love and in that moment she realized that is what lead her to Adam. Emma didn't want love, but once she thought it was there she fell hard. It was all fake and thats what blew her mind about their relationship; how could something so fake feel so real.

    She felt Luke sit down beside her but she was to wrapped up in her thoughts to react. "Em, I'm sorry if I made you upset. I should've been more patient." She looked over to him and instantly their eyes met. All of the sudden a wave of emotion came over both of them and they kissed. They kissed for a long time and it made up for all the words they didn't speak to each other. All the emotions they had ever felt for each other came to life and it was beautiful. 

The Next Day...

    Emma awoke with a tearstained face and there was an indention in the bed where Luke was earlier that morning. The clock read 8:00 a.m. and she still felt the pounding in her head as she relived the events of the day before. Her and Luke had kissed, and she inferred that she must have fell asleep without taking off her makeup. Emma walked down the stairs to find Luke sitting at the island in the kitchen drinking coffee. "Good morning, beautiful." Luke said as soon as he saw her appear around the corner. Emma went to say something in return but all that came out was a long yawn. He wrapped her tight in a hug and kissed the top of her head, "Em, I've been thinking. I am thinking that we should go on a date since we haven't really been on any except for one." Emma looked up at him and smiled, "What time should I be ready by?" "Be ready by 6:00 and wear something formal." Luke left to his part-time job and Emma instantly went to find something to wear.

     She picked a red strapless, flowing, long dress and decided to wear her hair down with big beach waves. "Em, I'm home." Luke called from downstairs. She looked at the clock and realized that it was almost 5:30. "Let me get dressed and we will go." He called as he was walking to his room. They both walked out of their rooms at the same time and surprise was on both of their faces.  Luke dressed in a tuxedo with a red bowtie. "I feel like we are going to prom." Emma laughed as she walked down the stairs hand in hand with Luke. "It's not prom but I think it's going to be even better." Emma's parents waved them off and as soon as they got in the car excitement felt overwhelming. They pulled up to Emma's favorite place; it was called The Pier. It looked extremely small from the outside but once you went in you saw that it resembled a gigantic ballroom. They walked in and the waiter instantly showed them to their table witch was odd because even if you already had a reservations you still had to wait at least fifteen minutes.  The table had both of their names on it and it was right by the window that faced the lake. "Luke, it must have cost a fortune to get this table. I mean look at the view!" Emma was amazed.

     "It wasn't that bad. Em, I been wanting to ask you something, but I wasn't sure how it approach it." Just then the waiter came and interrupted the moment. "What can I get you guys to eat?" Emma and Luke both looked at each other and smiled. "We will both take the grilled chicken with a side of Caesar salad." The waiter walked off and Luke started to talk again but his phone rang before he could say anything. "Hello, this is Detective Collins I helped with Emma's case. I wanted to inform you that the prison had to release people and they miss read the list and have let Adam Ross out of the prison." Luke's heart raced and he couldn't find any words. "Sir, what are we supposed to do? He doesn't know where we are. He can't..." "No, I don't think he knows your location but just keep an eye open and be careful." Then Detective Collins hung up. "What happened?" Emma asked. Luke took her hand and sighed, "Adam is out of prison. I'm sorry that this is happening; I just wanted you to enjoy yourself for once and now this is going on."

      Emma looked out of the window for what seemed like a long time, "It doesn't matter. He isn't going to ruin this for us. Now, what were you going to ask me?" Luke gave her a halfhearted smile knowing that the whole Adam thing was really bothering her. His heart was beating out of his chest as begin to ask his question, "Em, I love you. Almost losing you more than once has been a lot on me and I really want to make sure I never lose you again. I want to protect you and provide for you. The question here is Em, will you marry me?" He was now kneeling down and held out the most beautiful ring in his hand. It was a huge ring that looked as if it was a rose. "Luke, this is insane. We are sixteen years old and we don't even know what we are really doing with our lives." "Em, I know this is crazy but I can't live without you." Emma looked at the ring and started to speak again. "Luke, I love you too. Maybe we should wait awhile though." Luke looked at the floor disappointed. "Yeah, we should. But I want to wear the ring. Everyday. I want you to wear that ring to remind you that whenever you are ready we can get married." Emma thought about it for a while holding it in her hand and admiring it. "How long have you been planning this? Do my parents even know that this is happening right now?" Luke took her hand and looked her straight in the eyes, " I started planning this about a month after you went missing. I knew that there was a possibility that you weren't coming back, but I knew if you did come back I wanted to be with you forever.

     After about three months I brought it up to your parents and they gave me full permission. Your mom even helped me pick out the ring. After you got back home I couldn't ever find the right time and then once you tried to runaway I figured this was the time. You know before I lose you again." Emma picked up the ring and put it on the ring finger of her left hand and smiled. "Luke, I have decided that we can get married if we wait at least a year of being engaged." Luke looked up from his food with a grin, "So you are officially my fiancée?" "Yes, Luke I am officially your fiancée." They finished up with dinner and got back into the car. "Where to next?" Emma asked still a little shocked from the whole night. "We are going ballroom dancing. You still remember how to ballroom dance, right?" Emma laughed, "Yes, I do. Why are we going ballroom dancing?"

     "Well, why you were gone I also read your dairy and in one of the pages it said 'The ideal date with any guy would be to have a fancy dinner and go ballroom dancing.' So thats what we are doing."  Emma laughed even harder than she had before, "Luke, I wrote that when I was ten."  They walked into the ballroom that looked a lot like the inside of the restaurant did. There was a soft classical piece playing from the back of the room and people stared as Luke and Emma started to dance. Maybe it was because no one thought that they knew how to or because they were super young to be wasting a Friday night with ballroom dancing, but neither Luke or Emma really cared. Luke pulled her in close as they whirled across the floor; it reminded her of flying. They had learned to ballroom dance when they were younger before Luke's mom left; she had taught them.

     The song slowly came to an end and Luke planted a soft kiss on Emma's lips. They sat at a table at the far end of the room and took a minute to watch everyone else. Emma's eyes wondered around the room only to see a familiar set of eyes lock with hers. They belonged to Adam.