Fall.

Chapter 36.

"Luke," I said, gently kicking Luke from under the table.

He looked up from the book he was reading, the same one he always carried with him. He was either a very slow reader or he had read the same book a million times, I had never bothered to ask. I liked watching him read, the way his eyes flicked across the page so quickly and how he chewed on the end of his pen when he wasn't marking things in the pages. It was cute. Luke read the same book every time we came to the library while I worked on my homework across from him, only stopping every once and a while to check and see if I needed any help.

"Yeah?" Luke asked, his pen hanging between his lips. "Do you need help again?"

"No, it's not that." I said quietly. Luke closed his book and took the pen out of his mouth, setting them both down on the table in front of him. He leaned forward, a puzzled expression on his face.

"What's up?" He questioned.

"Can you come over for dinner tonight?" I asked, feeling more nervous than I probably should be. Luke had stayed for dinner more than a few times before, but I imagined that this time might be a little different.

"Yeah, of course. What are we having?" Luke laughed, clearly not sensing how I was acting.

"I don't know." I shrugged. "My mom will be home."

Luke had also met my mom many times, but he hadn't seen her recently. And by recently, I mean not since Luke and I started dating. Now that Luke's mom was doing better we spent a lot of time at his house, since most of the time we had a lot more privacy. My mom knew that Luke and I were good friends and spent a lot of time together, but otherwise she was pretty oblivious to the fact that Luke was my boyfriend. I planned on telling her tonight, before it go too late.

"Huh? That's fine, Stel. I'll behave." Luke giggled again. He grabbed his other books from the table and turned away to put them in his backpack, still smiling at me.

"She doesn't know we're dating." I warned, also beginning to put my things away. It was getting late and I was all done with my homework anyway, we might as well just get going now.

Luke stopped moving and looked back up at me, sitting up slowly. "Oh, she doesn't? You never told her?"

"Not yet." I shook my head, wondering if Luke was going to get upset by this. It really didn't seem like something he should be mad about, but I could never be sure with Luke. His emotions flipped from one to another, sometimes the smallest things could set him off.

"Does Eric know? Your brother knows, right?" Luke asked.

"He knows that we like each other, but not that we're officially...together." I mumbled.

"You really haven't said anything to her yet? It's been, like, almost two months." Luke sighed, running his hands over the front of his sweatshirt and smoothing it down.

"I know, and there's really no reason for me not to tell her. I just...haven't." I sighed. The only think I was afraid of now was my mom being upset for not telling her about Luke sooner. I didn't think she would be that mad if I just told her now, but I knew that if I kept my relationship with Luke a secret she may be in the long run.

"But you want to tell her, tonight?" Luke asked.

I nodded, grabbing my bag of the back of my of my chair and standing up. "I just...I think I should. Before you leave, I mean."

"Why does that matter?" Luke stood up too, following behind me as I made my way out of the library.

"Well, I don't know..." I shrugged, trailing off. "Maybe I'll want to visit you or something later in the year. It'll make more sense for me to go visit my boyfriend than some kid that used to tutor me."