when we collide ✰ l.h.

Chapter 16

My parents and Luke's parents always went out the night before Thanksgiving, leaving all of the kids here while Luke joined in with us. But this year, April, Travis, and his girlfriend had tagged along which left Luke and I to stay with Effy. I didn't mind this though since Effy followed directions quite well and would probably be asleep before Luke even came over.

It was 9 o'clock now, I had put my little sister to bed despite her wanting to join Luke and I all night, telling me that she was 'a big girl and can stay up to 11'. This is the only fight she ever put up, but then eventually got the point once I actually left her room and shamelessly left her in her room to fall asleep.

I jogged down the stairs and just on time, there were a few knocks on my door. I jumped off the last step and rushed towards the door, unlocking it and seeing Luke waiting out front with his hands in his pockets.

"Hi." I breathed out, giving him a smile. He returned the expression back as he stepped inside my house. It was strange how this exact moment had happened just 2 years ago. "Effy's already in bed so we've practically got the house to ourselves." I told him as I followed him into the living room.

He sat himself on my couch, stretching his arms out behind the back of the couch and picking his feet up to rest on the rather large coffee table that sat in the middle of the room. I stood in the corner of the room with an eyebrow raised as we looked at each other back and forth for a few seconds.

Luke looked rather tired, from either lack of sleep or because he had just woken up and drove himself over here. It seemed perfectly fine from the gentle smile he was giving me, but it was readable in the weight that settled under his eyes that told me different.

"What time did you go to bed last night?" I questioned as I leaned against the wall.

"I didn't." He finally spoke.

"You didn't?" I repeated. He slowly nodded his head then shifted in his seat. "Aren't you tired?" He shrugged his shoulders, seeing as he wasn't exactly affected by the lack of sleep.

"Not really." He replied.

I glanced down at the ground then back up at Luke who had his arms stretched more towards me, gesturing for me to sit next to him. I walked towards him and sat with my back against the arm of the chair and my legs crossed, letting my knees barely brush the side of his leg. We had a smaller couch than the one in Luke and I's apartment, but it was easy to adjust to since we had sat just like this a thousand times.

"Why did you stay up all night?" I asked out of curiosity. His eyes were focused on whatever was playing on the TV in front of him, but he took a glance at me before turning back.

"Because I could." He told me with a half smile pulling at his lips. I rolled my eyes, not wanting to keep pestering him with a question he wasn't actually going to answer.

Things hadn't felt different between Luke and I even though necessarily things were different. It was clear that we wanted more from each other, I just didn't exactly know what Luke had in mind because we haven't actually talked about it. For all I know Luke could just be confused about everything, but then other things start to come into play that changed my view on that.

I was still facing towards him with my legs crossed, scanning every inch of him as he kept his attention on the screen. My eyes trailed up his torso, to his neck, then his lips, then I froze once I met his eyes. A small smirk pulled at the corner on his mouth.

"Do you really want to know why I was awake all night?" His tone seemed critical as he turned his body to face me.

"Well, yeah." I answered, fumbling with my hands in my lap. His chest rose as he took an obvious deep breath.