Chapter Twenty Two

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"Come back to LA with me."

"What?l I turned around with a questioning expression on my face. We drove back to our little Eden and sat silently watching two birds mate on the first floor. Romantic, I know.

"This vacation is nearly over for me; in a weeks time I fly back to LA. I want you to come with me." He asked again.
Just to clarify, when I said I would runaway with Luke in a heartbeat; I didn't mean it quite so literally.

"Luke, you know I can't." I replied sadly.
"Why?"
"You know why."
"Is it your family? Your friends? Your job?" He questioned. Somehow I new his conversation was coming, I think we'd both just been avoiding it. Dancing around it like avoiding a hot flame because you didn't want to get burnt.
"Is all of the above an option?" He looked at me blankly with his pretty little blue eyes as I said this, and I had to turn away or else I thought I might cry. Was this really what I wanted?

"I'll help you get another job? We can get a cute little apartment, our families can visit." He suggested, he pleaded. "I don't want this to end like it did the last time. I still love you the same way I did then; but this time I can ask you to come with me."

"Luke babe," I placed my hand over his, "My life is here. My family; albeit messed up at the moment, I love them and I need to right all the wrongs. I have a career; one I've worked extremely hard for."
"Mila, please. Don't give up on me; on us. I thought you loved me."
"Told pull that reverse psychology shit on me. Because if you want to play that game, guess who's going to win." I scorned. Luke threw his head back and let out a hearty laugh. "What?"

"Nothing. It's just- you wear that attitude better than I wear my favourite sweater."

Damn, this guy was good.

"After all the difficultly we've faced. The ups and the downs; the emotional trauma of a break-in, your fathers meltdown, your sister turning out to be a psycho; after everything we've fought through to be together; you're ready to give it up?" I knew he was right. Of course, he was. We'd taken all the trials head on, but here I was contemplating our future. "Mila, please?"

The desperation in his voice was killing me.
"I do love you, Luke. I really do."

He cut me off. "I get it. You've got your dreams; and I've got mine." He sat back in his seat and rubbed his eyes frustratingly.

"I can't leave, Luke. You've got to understand."
"I do. But I've lived the last almost six years without you, I don't want to have to live the rest."
I had no reply.
"Is this the end of us?" I couldn't stop the flow of tears from coming until my eyesight became like a shower screen after a wash. He pulled me into his lap and we sat, embracing each other in silence. His eyes where crying too; and also his heart.

"Do you remember our first date?" He asked after a few moments.
"Of course."
"And I told you I always thought you and Drew where made for each other." He asked and I nodded.
"Mhm."
"I lied. I always thought we where made for each other. And I still do. But fate has a funny way of showing it." Him saying this only turned up the pressure of the water in the shower until the screen was so covered in dew drops and mist that you couldn't see a thing.

Dropping Luke off back at his parents house was the worst thing I'd ever had to endure. The look on his face, the Luke on his face; it only made me question myself more. But I'd worked too damn hard to give up what I had now.
Engulfing me in a hug, I breathed in the last of his scent, felt the last warmth of his touch.

"I guess this is goodbye." I whispered. He was crying but he wiped away mine before he did his own. And giving me one last kiss to the temple, he walked away.

Not for long though, after a few moments he ran band and pulled me in by the waist against him.
"Just one more." He said and kissed me again. In the movies, they always describe a kiss like fireworks going off inside you. Personally, I always found this a little overrated; but that was until Luke.

"Maybe, someday." He said.
"Maybe, sometime." I replied.

And then I let him go.

The Summer I Spent With You {L.H} ~ Book 2Where stories live. Discover now