A Completely Different Story

{Twenty-five}

In the end, we'll all become stories.
-Margaret Atwood.

-Maggie-

My leg was bouncing up and down as I tried guessing where else Luke was taking me. We were about to reach outside of town, and so far I had absolutely no clue. "Okay I give up." I leaned my head back on the headrest in defeat and crossed my arms as Luke chuckled.

"We're already here actually." He nudged his chin forward, gesturing for me to look. I raised my eyebrows and smiled as I saw the huge poster at the entrance of our destination. "An art festival!" Luke grinned and got out of the car, walking around to open the door for me. I had tried getting out myself most times but he eventually won that battle. "There's a lot of things here I thought you'd like. Shall we?" He extended his hand and I took it with a smile.

"We shall."
********

"You should have a self portrait." Luke said, pointing at one of the booths. The woman running it would paint people's faces skillfully, but then he would out them with people's outfits like Mona Lisa or Abraham Lincoln. I laughed and shook my head. "As appealing as that looks I couldn't stay still for that long." The art festival was filled of life. There were booths everywhere and people would show their different forms of art. I was enjoying our time here, and almost every single thing I saw managed to fascinate me. A certain booth caught my attention and I gasped, dragging Luke along by his hand. He laughed at my eagerness as we came to a stop in front of the booth. There was a long display shelf, showing off all the types of rings that the guy had made. My eyes were glued to the wooden rings. They had beautiful designs on the outside; and I instantly decided to buy one the second I saw the ring with tree designs. I was about to pull my wallet out when Luke grabbed my elbow, making me look at him.

He smiled and shook his head. "Which one do you want?" I rolled my eyes, knowing he wasn't going to let me pay. I pointed at the ring I wanted just as the guy running the booth walked up to us with a smile. "Can I help you with anything?" His voice gave me chills for some reason, but I decided to ignore it as Luke pointed to the ring I wanted. "Yeah, that ring with the tree design please." The guy grabbed the ring and handed it to Luke. Luke turned to me and placed it on my right ring finger to see if it fit me right. I nodded my head as he quirked an eyebrow before handing it back to the guy. "We'll take it." Luke said, getting out his wallet. The guy looked at me as he spoke. "Would you like anything engraved on the inside? There's no additional charge." Luke turned his head to me to see what I wanted. I shrugged and nodded my head. "Okay," I frowned as I looked at Luke. "What should I do though?" He smirked and looked at the man. "Could you engrave the name Graham?" He nodded his head and went off to go engrave the name on my ring. I stared at Luke with a blank expression as he examined the rings on the shelf meant for guys.

When he noticed me looking he quirked an eyebrow. "What?" I shook my head, a smile coming onto my face. "Nothing." It wasn't nothing though, because right now I just realized that maybe, just maybe getting to know Luke even more won't be something I'll regret. Just maybe it could be the start of something new.

"Okay, you paid for mine, now I'm paying for yours. No arguments." Like opened his mouth to protest but I put my hand up. "If you don't let me pay so help me I will never go on another date with you." Luke slowly closed him mouth and licked out a ring as the man came back with mine. I put it on as the man took out the ring Luke wanted. It was thicker than mine and darker; and the design it had were leaves and vines. Luke looked at me after trying it on. "What should I engrave in it?" I looked at the man who now had the ring and smiled.

"Thalia." As the man walked off I noticed Luke whip his head in my direction. When I faced him his face held several emotions; confusion, shock, sadness and joy. "How did-"