*Three months later*
Mary's POV:
"Hey, wake up."
"James. What are you doing? What time is it?"
"5:30."
"Why are you waking me up at 5:30?"
"I have a surprise."
"Can't it wait until the sun is up?" I groan, putting my pillow over my head
"Well, it could. But I just woke up and remembered it."
"Fine," I say, throwing my pillow at him, "what is it?"
"It's not in here, it's out there."
I roll out of bed and try to do something with my bed head.
"It's okay, your hair looks fine."
I walk out into the living room and see my stuff.
"It's my stuff." I say
"From..."
"From my room, at my house."
"At your old house. Last night I went to your mom's house and got all your clothes and posters and stuff."
"Okay..."
"Well, I figured if you're going to live here, you should at least have all your stuff."
"Wait, you want me to permanently move in with you?"
He nods.
"You've been going from here to your house for months now. I figured it was time to ask you to move in."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
I turn around and hug him.
"So...we're serious now?"
"100 percent serious."
"Thank you for getting my things."
"It was nothing. Your mom helped me pack everything."
"But why did you wake me up so early to show me this?"
"I don't know."
"Screw you. I'm going back to sleep."
*
When I wake up, James helps me put all my stuff where I want it. Afterwards we sort of go our own way. I grab a book and lay down in the floor to read and he goes for a run.
"Do you want to come with me?" He asks
I look at him because he has to be joking.
"I'll just let you read. Be back in a few!"
Twenty minutes later he comes back slightly out of breath.
"You took the stairs didn't you?" I say, not looking up from my book
"Yeah." He says, stretching
"What are you doing?"
"Getting ready to do push ups." He says, taking his shirt off
"Have fun."
"Why are you laying on the floor?"
"Why aren't you laying on the floor?"
"Because that's not how you do push ups."
"That's how I do push ups." I mumble
I see him walk over to me out of the corner of my eye then I see his hands on either side of my head.
"What are you doing?" I ask
"Like I said, I'm doing my push ups."
I mark my place and put my book down.
"I don't think you're supposed to do them like this."
"I don't know what you mean." He says, doing a push up and getting a few inches close to my face
"Yes you do." I say, crossing my arms
He does some more push ups, getting closer to my face with each one. After about ten, he stops not even half an inch from my face, and stares at me seriously.
"Hi." I say
His face is stone cold and he's looking right into my eyes.
"Hi." He says, his serious face cracking into a warm smile
"What are you getting ready to do? You're getting ready to do something, I can tell."
"I can't tell you."
He does another push up and lightly kisses me.
"You giggled." He says
He does a few more push ups, each time his lips linger on mine a little longer.
"How many have I done?" He asks mid-push up
"Twenty nine. One to go."
On the last one, he goes down but I don't let him push himself up. I put my hand on the back of his head and pull him down to me.
"Well okay." He says, relaxing
We stay joint at the lips and he switches from holding himself up on his hands to having all his weight on his knees. His hands start to work their way up and down my body. I move my head away from him and put a hand on his chest, pushing him away a little bit.
"Don't get too handsy." I say
"You provoked me."
"You didn't do your last push up."
"Yes I did!"
"No you didn't. You never did a whole push up."
"That's because you started kissing me."
"Don't get so distracted this time."
"Fine."
He does his last push up and I slide out from under him.
"Thanks for the help with my push ups."
"You're welcome."
"Now where were we?" He says, walking towards me and putting his hands on my waist
"I was getting ready to-"
"Nope." He says, grabbing my face and kissing me
I tilt my head up to make kissing him easier and wrap my arms around his neck. He takes me down with him onto the bed and I feel something break inside of me.
Luke.
No, Luke and I are done. He has his life and I have mine.
You swore Luke would be the one.
I know, but I didn't know we were going to break up.
There's a chance he could still be waiting for you.
Yes, a very small chance.
Remember the ring? He could still have it.
That's wishful thinking. Plus, I'm not going to have sex with James.
Well then you might want to stop having a conversation with yourself and stop him before he's in your pants!
He's not in my pants.
He might be in a few minutes!
Okay, I guess I should stop this before it gets out of hand. We're not ready for that.
I try to make it obvious that I don't want to go any further. He doesn't do anything to show that's what he wants to do, so I guess he got the message.
I need to stop thinking about Luke, so I try to pull him closer to me, which is impossible.
"I don't think I can get any closer to you." He says
"That's too bad." I say
He stops and rests his hands at the end of my shirt.
Remember, we're not doing this right now.
I don't know...these things don't happen every day.
Stop it!
Well...
If you let that boy see you without a shirt on...
Hey, I'm the one who decides what to do. You're just here to make me question myself. We're not doing to do it. What harm can this do?
I take his hand in mine and move it up.
"Not right now." I say
He nods and gets up.
"Sorry about that." He says
"That's okay. I uh..."
I sit there, feeling awful.
"I don't want this to be all we do." He says
"Me neither. But I uh...I liked it."
"I did too."
"I just...I don't want to go any further right now."
"Yeah, I've never..."
"Yeah..." I say, looking out the window, "me neither."
"I'm going to go get a shower."
"Okay."
He gets his things and goes into the bathroom. I lay back on the bed and stare at the ceiling. I hear my phone ring.
"Hello?"
"Hey," I hear Luke say, "do you have a second to talk?"
"What do you want?"
"Wow, someone sounds grumpy. Okay so I get home in a few months. Can I talk to you when I get home?"
"Why are you doing this?"
"Doing what?"
"We're not together anymore. Just because you call and act like everything is fine doesn't mean we're okay. I know, Luke. I know you have someone else."
"But she-"
"Save it."
I hang up and I can't believe he called. We haven't talked in months and he's put me through so much but he thinks one phone call will make everything better? What kind of world does he think we live in? He's the one who moved on so fast. He doesn't realize that we have our own lives now. I do what I want, he does what he wants.
My phone rings again.
"Hello?"
"I still have the ring," he says, "the one you gave me. I don't break promises."
"Luke, I might talk to you when you get home. Until then, goodbye. Please...don't call me again."
Luke's POV:
She hangs up on me and in doing so, she breaks my heart even more. I didn't even think that was possible.
I don't want things to be like this anymore. I want to be with her, that's where I belong. Every time I start to think of her I start to ache. I need her and I don't feel the same without her.
She said to not call her again but I feel like I need to. I have to talk to her. I start to feel frustrated and my eyes fill with warm tears. Why can't I get this right? Why can't I make her see that I still care? I have a few weeks to come up with a way to get her back. I don't know if that will be possible, but it's worth a shot.
Mary's POV:
I wake up and James is still asleep, so I quietly make my way to the bathroom and get ready then make my breakfast. Afterwards I grab my jacket and quietly go back into our room. I kiss him on his forehead and leave the apartment, trying not to wake him up.
I walk to my house-my old house, and pass Luke's neighborhood on the way. I had forgotten that no matter which way you leave the busier part of town, you have to pass by his neighborhood to get to mine. I stop and stand there, just staring at the quiet group of houses. A few yards from me Liz and Andrew are probably doing things around the house and worrying about Luke. Audrey is probably talking to Michael.
I start to think about them, Audrey and Michael. I remember when I first met her, she was so nice. She reminded me of him, Luke. They're more like siblings than cousins. When I first saw her with Michael, I was happy. But a small part of me felt...jealous. Michael had told me that he liked me and we had a love hate relationship. I had honestly considered dating him because that was before Luke and I had officially told each other how we felt.
I miss those days, back in school. I hated school, but they all made it better. If I had never met them, I might not be the person I am today.
I'm deep in my thoughts when I remember I'm standing in the middle of the street. I take one last look at the neighborhood and start towards my house. Mom didn't have to work this morning, so I figured I would surprise her. I knock on the door and she answers.
"There's my little girl!" She says, wrapping me in a hug
"Hi Mom."
"How are you?"
"Exhausted. I'm so happy Im almost finished with my last year of college."
"I know and I'm so proud of you! How is James?"
"He's good...things are starting to seem more normal between us."
"That's good. I'm happy you decided to move on."
"Yeah...can I ask you something?"
We go into the kitchen and she pours a cup of coffee while I make myself a cup of tea.
"I see you've quit drinking coffee." She says
"Yeah, I've gotten hooked on tea."
"What is it you wanted to ask me?" She says, spooning some sugar into her coffee
"I uh, I've been thinking about him lately." I say
"Luke?"
"Yeah," I say, leaning against the counter, "is that...weird?"
"Well, I don't think it's weird, but it is unusual."
"I mean, the other day we were..."
She looks at me.
"No, not that. Anyway...I started thinking about Luke of all people. I have no idea why."
"You still love him, that's why. You told me yourself."
"But I like James...at least I thought I did."
"Yes, but do you love him?"
I cross my arms, "I- I don't know. Sometimes I feel like I love him and he loves me. But we haven't said it to each other yet."
"I wouldn't worry about it right now. You need to get out there and have another relationship. Broaden your horizons."
"Yeah, you're right. I just can't help but wonder if I love James or if I'm moving my feelings for Luke over to someone else."
"Give it time, you'll know."
AN: I should probably edit these because usually I write when I'm half asleep.
