He Calls Me Lu

Chapter Forty-Two

"Lu, it's time to go!" Brenden said, poking his head into his bedroom where I was doing my makeup. "We have to be there in ten minutes to line up." Today was the day of our graduation. Somehow it was finally here.

"I just need three more minutes," I replied, touching up my foundation. Brenden sighed and left the room.

Fifteen minutes later, we were lined up with the rest of our classmates about to file into the arena. We sat through speeches, awards, and finally the procession and diplomas. We were high school graduates! After we had proceeded into the waiting area, I scrambled to find Brenden and Ashtyn so we could find our families.

We were in the midst of taking pictures—well, my mom was taking a billion pictures of all of us—when Ashtyn squealed. I looked over at her, concerned, only to find her staring at the floor next to me with a huge smile on her face. I looked down to find Brenden on one knee, reaching up for my hand.

"Brenden, what are you doing?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Luey, I love you more than life itself," he began. "I had this feeling when I was little and I first met you that you would be the girl I'd spend the rest of my life with. We grew up together and grew more and more in love with each other. Spending this last year and a half with you as not only my best friend, but as my girlfriend, has been like something out of this world. Please make my dreams come true and say you'll marry me."

Before answering, I looked over at my mother, who was still snapping pictures. I wouldn't be surprised if she was in on this. I took a glance around the room and found probably a hundred pairs of eyes on me, as Brenden's public display had drawn the attention of many passersby. I looked back down at him with a huge smile on my face and couldn't help but to tear up a bit.

"Brenden Maxwell, I love loving you. Of course I would love to continue doing so for the rest of my life." I pulled him up so he was standing and kissed him, eliciting cheers and whistles from the people surrounding us. "Now put a ring on it, hot stuff." He smirked down at me, matching my expression, as he pulled a ring out of his pocket and slid it onto my waiting finger. It was a gorgeous ring and fit perfectly, of course.

I turned to Ashtyn and squealed. "I'm going to be a Foxe!"

"Of course you are!" she exclaimed, pulling me into a hug.

+++

"So there's something I've been wondering about practically my whole life," I said, looking over at Brenden as we lay together in my bed that night. He raised his eyebrows as if to say 'go ahead.' "Why do you call me Lu? Where did that come from?"

"What if I told you I didn't know?" he asked slyly.

"I wouldn't believe you for a second, Brenny." I pushed my torso up so I was resting on my elbows next to him. "Come on, it's been literally like fifteen years. Please just tell me." I pouted my lips at him and gave him my best puppy dog eyes.

Brenden sighed and caressed my cheek with his hand. "I guess I could tell you. We are going to be married, after all." He smirked at me before pulling me down so I was lying with my head on his chest. "Alright, so remember when we first met?"

"Vaguely," I replied. "You had just turned four when your family moved onto the street, so I was still only three. My mom and I were home alone because back then, my parents traded off the weeks they traveled because they couldn't leave me alone. My mom was excited to see a new family moving to the street, so we walked over to meet you."

"Exactly. I was only four years old, but literally the second I laid eyes on you, I swear I fell in love." I rolled my eyes at him, but blushed at the sentiment. "You know, it's not every day a cute little girl in a blue dress with little blonde pigtails and bright blue eyes blesses the presence of a lonely four year old boy's life."

"Babe," I interrupted. "I'm loving the flashback but I just want to know why you call me Lu." He brushed me off.

"Well anyway, you guys ended up staying over at the house for like hours I think. We were sent off to play—us and Trevor, at least until Trevor decided that girls had cooties and left." He paused here to laugh at the memory. "But do you remember falling when we were running outside? You smashed your face on something and had a huge fat lip. You started crying and crying."

"How do you even remember all of this?" He ignored my question. I pulled away from him and sat up before allowing him to continue.

"I helped you up and after a couple minutes you stopped crying—right before our moms came outside to see what was going on. I was holding your hand and—well, really just waiting for you to stop. I didn't really know what to do to make you feel better; I was only four years old.

"When you stopped crying, you just kind of looked over at me. I remember telling you something about how you shouldn't cry because you were too pretty to cry and crying made your face red and less pretty. I'm sure it was much smoother than that, though." He smirked up at me. I rolled my eyes. "But I'll never forget what you said back to me, word for word. You smiled at me real big and said, all blubbery like there were still tears in your throat or something, 'Thank Lu, I lub Lu.' And it was hands down the cutest thing ever."

"Wait, wait, wait!" I said, putting my hand on his chest. "You call me Lu because I mispronounced a word the first time we met?"

"No," he smirked. "Weren't you listening? You told me you loved me...sort of...and that's how you said it. You became Lu because I loved you even then and the way you told me that you loved me included the word 'Lu.'"

I was honestly speechless. Who knew Brenden was so sweet? Who knew Brenden was that in love with me for that long? "Bren, I don't even know what to say other than I love you so much."

"Luey, I was just waiting for you to fall in love with me like I loved you all my life—and oh look, it only took you nearly seventeen years." I slapped his chest sort of playfully and smirked at him.

"Don't be like that Brenny," I said. "I gave you all my firsts and have loved you my whole life—even if it hasn't always been the way you wanted me to."

"I'm just teasing, love. Let's get some sleep, okay?" He pulled me back down beside him and kissed my forehead, wrapping me in his arms.

+++

"Thank you so much for coming!" I said, waving as the last of the people left our graduation party, Ashtyn and Brenden standing at my sides. It was a month after graduation and we were celebrating. Ashtyn was off to fashion school in August while Brenden and I were headed to the state college an hour away. I was going to be majoring in Accounting and Finance with a minor in Coaching. Brenden would be majoring in Business Administration with a minor in Coaching. Our lives were headed in the right direction. Even Trevor was going back to school! He and Ashtyn had worked out a deal in which he would take a few more classes towards his degree each semester and she wouldn't use him as a dummy to model her fashion pieces.

After the house and yard were cleaned up from the party and our gifts and cards were sorted and taken to our respective rooms, we all sat in the living room talking about the future. Midway through conversation, a caught a bright shine in my eye coming from the other side of the room.

"Ashtyn!" I yelled, interrupting whoever was talking. "What is that?!" She had a big, shiny ring on her finger—on the finger. Everyone's attention was directed at her and I heard gasps around the room.

"Trevor proposed this afternoon," she said, blushing. "I said yes. We're going to be sisters for real this time!"

Everyone was ecstatic, and why wouldn't we be? We were all growing up and moving on in our lives—together. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Fin—

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A/N: This is it! The end of the book. An epilogue to come soon :)