DAWN PAIGE GREY Young Adult Romance

Chapter 3 - Luke

“How long have you known each other?”

“Four years. It was sort of love at first sight, if there is such a thing. When Chris first brought Luke home to spend the weekend I was eighteen and he had just turned twenty two. In fact it was his birthday weekend.”

“So what happened to make you fall for him?”

“I think he had me at ‘hello’. He had the strangest colour eyes. You could not define what colour they were exactly. Sometimes they looked blue, sometimes green and sometimes even brown.  It depended on his moods, I think.”

“ooooo !” Annie exclaimed, “He sounds like a changeling, like you get in sci-fi films.”

“Really? You think so?” Dawn asked, winking at her friend.

“Go on. Tell me what happened to make you fall for him.” Annie said, as she sat up and crossed her legs. Turning to face Dawn, giving her all her attention, hoping in some way she could help her friend dispel any doubts she might have about her wedding day, barely two weeks away.

“Okay, but if you get bored, just tell me to stop.” Dawn remarked.

“I’m sure it will be a romantic story, finding out how you met and fell in love with the man you’re going to marry in a couple of weeks.”  Annie nodded approvingly.

“Well, as I said before, Luke came to stay for the weekend. It was his birthday and Chris had asked him to come and stay as he had never been on a cattle ranch before, or ridden a horse. It was all a very new experience for him.”

“Did you teach him to ride?” Annie asked.

“No, but if you keep interrupting, I’ll never get to the end.” Dawn laughed.

Annie pulled a tongue at Dawn and put her finger to her lips saying “Okay I’ll shush up!”

Dawn continued, “Like I said he had me at hello.” She hesitated for a moment, thinking back.

Annie waited patiently with her finger still on her lips, which made Dawn giggle.

“He was such a gentleman and shook my hand. I kind of melted when his hand held mine for a little longer than was really necessary. Even Chris remarked that he could let my hand go now. We all laughed of course. But I think a connection was made between us then. While he was holding my hand he looked me straight in the eye and I blushed horribly. He smiled and winked at me when Chris commented and he let my hand go.”

“Awww! How romantic. So what does he look like?” Annie broke her silence.

“Annie, I thought you were going to be quiet till I finished.” Dawn said, scolding her friend playfully.

Annie immediately placed her finger back on her lips.

“He has brown hair and I’ve already told you about his eyes, but when he looked at me I could’ve sworn they went a very dark brown, almost black I think. His hair had a soft wave and I really wanted to run my fingers through it. It was thick and sat just on his collar. When he did let my hand go, I felt like I had lost something.  It was really strange.” Dawn said, whilst twisting a strand of her hair.

“At lunch he sat across the table from me and I felt so self-conscious of his every move, that when he asked me to pass the salt I was all fingers and thumbs and dropped it into his glass of water.”

Annie giggled and saw her friend blush. She never said a word and waited for her friend to continue.

“Well of course it caused quite a stir and Chris teased me about being clumsy. I was so embarrassed I didn’t know where to look and apologised continuously to Luke. He just smiled and said he had done much worse and explained how he had squeezed a tomato sauce bottle too hard and it went all over his Dad’s white shirt, while they were in the coffee shop having lunch. It made me laugh and feel a lot less clumsy and comfortable with him.” Dawn sighed.