I Hate You But I Love You.

I Hate You But I Love You. Chapter 34

A/N - Lol, so its been, uh, what, four years? Yikes. I honestly don't remember why I stopped writing this, like, I knew exactly how I wanted to end it. I guess I became aware of how shitty it kind of is, lol. I guess that's the problem when you try to make a frivolous story with no plot, but realize you can't, and it turns into, well, whatever this has been. A probably inaccurate portrayal of abuse and completely terrible advice on how to fix it. Eesh. But fear not, because I recently read through the whole story again and decided to try to finish it. So, for the few people who are maybe still curious about the ending I will try my hardest to complete it.

**Lukas's P.O.V.**

It had been a few weeks since that fateful Sunday dinner, and things were actually going well. I really expected Bill to only last a week with ignoring me, but it's been almost a month, and he's hardly acknowledged me. I was on edge for a while, making sure to never be in the same room as him for more than a few minutes, but it's gotten to the point where he just looks through me and I've felt more at ease with being at home. As long as I make sure to get my chores done around the house and keep my distance from him, Bill really doesn't seem that bothered by me. Sure, that means I can't hang out in the living room as much, as that's where he spends most of his time in the evening, but that's a small price to pay for not being terrified of pain at any moment.

I noticed that Bill stopped drinking as much, as well. It also seemed like he was spending more time with mom - they've actually gone out a few times, which used to be a rare occurrence. Bill still disappeared on his own a few nights, but he hasn't come back drunk and raging to hit me, so I couldn't care less as to what he's up to.

The best thing is how I can actually see my body healing. Incidents occurred so much that I never felt like my body would heal. Once one bruise began to heal, another would take its place and so on. To not be in pain anymore, well, it felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. I was still on guard for the moment that Bill snapped, but I allowed myself to feel happy.

Due to my new liberation, I decided to keep things going with Scarlet. It wasn't much a question, though, I knew my feelings for her and once we kissed...well, even if Bill was still being an asshole I don't think I could have stopped myself from being with her. We've hung out a lot more and I often find myself texting her late into the night. I was falling hard, and there was no slowing down.

I was currently hanging out in the park with Mark and Dakota, who were still having a hard time believing that things at home were okay. I knew they were cautious around me, waiting to see when things would turn, but I really wanted them to just act like things were normal for once.

"So, how's Jona doing?" Mark asked, stuffing his hand in his pockets against the cold.

"He's good. Happy as ever, you know?" I replied, side-eyeing Mark.

"That's good." Mark paused. "How've you been? Like, at home?" Dakota threw an exasperated look at Mark.

"Jesus, Mark, are you gonna ask me that every day?" I appreciated that he cared so much, but I desperately wanted to move on.

"Guys, let's drop it," Dakota stated, trying to be the peace keeper as usual. "I'm sure if anything happens, he'll tell us, Mark." Mark grumbled under his breath but dropped the subject. "Are things with you and Scarlet still going well?"

I smiled, "Yeah. She's great."

"Who would've thought you'd get a serious girlfriend," Dakota joked.

"It's only been like a month, I'm not sure if you could call that serious."

"Don't let Faith hear you say that, she'll jump you," Mark said. Dakota and I laughed, but Mark remained stoic. "No, I'm serious," he nodded ahead of us where Faith, Trinity, and Scarlet were sitting on a park bench.