Permanent Memories

Olivia

As we walk around the supermarket, Luke pushes the cart while texting people and I put items in.

"What are we making again?" He asks, looking up from his phone.

"Pizza." I put the cold packet of pepperoni in the cart and walk towards the deli.

I ask the girl for shredded ham and diced bacon. We then walk around once more getting all the other toppings for our pizza and whatever we have run out of at home.

Once we get home, Luke brings in the shopping and I begin making the pizza dough from a recipe his mom taught me.

Just as the garlic bread is finished cooking, I pull all the toppings out of the fridge and set them on the table. I call Luke in to make his pizza. While he makes his pizza, I slice the garlic bread and grab us each a drink. I make my pizza along side Luke, putting my toppings on neatly and symmetrical, while Luke just throws his toppings on and spreads it out.

"Luke could you make any more of a mess?" I say taking a mouthful of my drink.

"Yes." The word rolled off his tongue as he goes to grab a handful of cheese and sprinkles it over his pizza and the table.

"Luke!" I scream moving everything out the way attempting to make clean up easier for me. I know what's coming.

"What?" He says putting his hand in the flour container and clapping, making a cloud of flour around us. I then dip my hand in the container and slap my hand against his stomach, leaving a white hand print on his black t-shirt. "How dare you!" He says smiling, then slapping his hand on my backside.

I scream and laugh taking his pizza away from the table, blowing off flour from the top of his pizza and put it in the oven. I set the timer and look at the mess.

"Right... so who's gonna clean this up?" I stand with my hands on my hips looking at the mess on the floor and the table.

Luke walks up to me putting his hands around my waist and pulls me close, his lips barely an inch from mine. "I'll help you." He whispers before leaning down a little further and kisses me softly and tenderly, His piercing cool to the touch of my lips.

Dazed, I stare at him as he steps back and smiles at me, taking a mouthful of his drink and getting a dish cloth as he starts to wipe the table.

"You gonna do something or are you just going to stand there looking like a stunned mullet?" he says grinning at me.

I pack away the toppings and I sweep the flour into a pile and then into a dust pan and then the bin.

***

We sit outside in the cool Autumn air eating our pizzas and drinking, pointing out constellations and ones we have made up ourselves.

"Hey I wanna show you something." Luke stands up, puts his drink down and goes inside. When he reappears he is carrying an extension cord and an old record player. He disappears again and comes out with a pile of records. I knew that he had records and I knew that they were coming back, but I didn't know that Luke owned this many of them.

He sets it down and tells me to pick an album. I sit down next to the pile and start going through them. Luke finishes setting up the record player, fiddling with the speakers and watches me go through the albums. I pick one, pull the vinyl out and place it on the turn table. Luke shows me how to put the needle on.

Rather loudly, Bon Jovi starts playing through the speakers. Luke fiddles with the volume until it is comfortably loud and we can hear ourselves talk through the music.

When You Give Love A Bad Name comes on, we are at the point of the night where we were dancing around the yard yelling the lyrics at the top of our lungs, not caring who could hear. We lived on campus, but we didn't have many people around us. We rented a house on campus. We are about two hundred metres from any of our neighbours so if they could hear us they must be listening rather hard. At the end of the song, we fall on the grass in a laughing heap, unable to control what was coming out of our mouths.

"I do love you Olivia, I don't know what I would have done without you."

"Surely you would have found somebody else, Luke..." I prop myself up on my elbows and play with his hair.

"I don't want anyone else babe, you're the one. The day I met you in that classroom. I walked out and turned to Miles and said to him 'Miles, I'm going to marry that girl. No matter what it takes.' And here I am with the most beautiful girl."

"You want to marry me?"

He freezes and looks at me smiling. "Yes, I do want to marry you. But not yet. After we graduate. I promise."

My heart leaps at his words and I blushed. I curl my body against his and we fall asleep under the stars in the crisp air.

***

I wake up in bed. With the smell of bacon and eggs floating through the air. I wander down to the kitchen and Luke standing shirtless cooking. I stand behind him, wrapping my arms around him and kissing his back.

He sits at the table, and I sit in his lap. We feed each other bacon and share a huge glass of iced coffee.

"So what are we doing today?" I ask, clearing the table.

"We could be lazy and sleep all day? Watch movies? I recently got Netflix."

"Really Luke? You're only just now getting Netflix?"

"Is that a bad thing?"

I shake my head and tell him I'm having a shower before we even begin to watch Netflix. He tells me if I take less than fifteen minutes he will put my favorite Disney movie on.

After I shower, I rummage through Luke's clothes, finally finding something other than skinny jeans. I put the track pants on and one of his hoodies and crawl into bed with him.

"Are you wearing my clothes?"

"Yes, problem?"

"No, as long as you're comfortable... besides, you look so cute and small in them."

I blush and pull the blanket up over my body watching Luke set up his laptop and the projector he borrowed from Carter and projects The Little Mermaid up onto the white wall.

When he gets in next to me I wrap myself around him and fall asleep again before the movie is over.