No Such Thing As Perfect Love (A Christian Romance Novel)

Last Day

Chloe POV
Luke and I came to an agreement that we were going to try our best to stop worrying and let God take us where He wanted. Though we would fight for our relationship against many challenges and beings, God was not one of them. He knew what was best for us.
So as the days dragged on and time faded into the distance, I forced myself to ignore the daunting questionable future. Well, I tried anyway. It was hard, of course, but I set my mind to it as best as I could. During this hardship, I prayed more earnestly than most days and looked at life as filled with both blessings and threats.
The day that we had been both dreading and looking forward to arrived. As I handed finals to my first period class, I gazed around the room at the students, some of whom I would miss, others I was glad to see go. They left upon the bell, mostly oblivious to my internal conflict. During our free periods, Luke was on the phone about possible jobs (with permission from superiors) while Olivia was grading tests. With nothing else to do, I followed her lead.
Coincidences occur at the most unexpected of times. Just as we expect bitter loneliness and defeat, they shed a gentle light on our lights.
The last final had been filed away and plugged into the grade book when Olivia dwadled into my room. Across the hall, Luke sighed and hung up the phone, wandering over.
"Hey," Olivia mumbled.
"Hi," Luke replied.
"Hey," I greeted with as little enthusiasm as the rest.
In return, we were offered blanketing silence.
"Did you find any interviews?" I asked my boyfriend.
"A few, but they don't look promising," he replied.
Another wave of silence hit us. 
"Well," Olivia began, "it's almost summer."
This once would have shined a bright light on my life, but today, it was a small candle in a black expanse.
"We could always do another debate," Olivia continued. "You know, one final bang."
"It wouldn't have to be our last," Luke cut in, meeting our eyes sadly. "But yeah, we could."
"We'll need a topic," I added, though my heart was not in it.
All the topics we had chosen from before seemed too innocent and infantile.
"How about," I could feel the emotions building up, "whether or not Luke should stay."
I glued my gaze to the floor, feeling the tension in the room grow so thick it seemed to suffocate us. Worry filled my soul as a picture of Luke being mad taunted my mind. I wasn't supposed to bring that up, so why did I? He would be furious for sure.
But the feeling of a larger hand enclosing around mine forced me back to reality. My eyes met Luke's in a mutual understanding. His stare displayed a deep gentleness that no human words could describe.
It reminded me of how much I would miss him.
"Come on, guys," Olivia interrupted, saving me from my thoughts. "We could either spend our last day working together moping in self-pity, or we could make this a day we will never forget."
"She's right," Luke admitted.
"Of course she's right," I agreed. "You always keep us on track, Liv."
"For that reason, I suggest we do something together after school today," Olivia announced. "You, me, Dave & Buster's, six--no, let's be daring--five o'clock."

My sixth period class was genuinely hard to leave. As annoying as Tyler could be, he was actually a good kid. At the end of class, he handed me a small gift bag.
"Aw, you're so sweet," I complimented, surprised and touched that he thought of me.
Inside was a mug with the words "World's Greatest Teacher" inscribed on the front.
"Thank you, Tyler," I gushed.
He smiled kindly before scurrying away for lunch. After placing the gift on my desk, I marched to the hallway to be greeted by Olivia and Luke. We made our way to the staff room, laughing and chatting as we walked. It contrasted sharply to our behavior this morning, and this was much more welcome.
About ten minutes into lunch, Mr. Reynolds stood up to make an announcement.
"Luke, I just wanted to give you a proper goodbye. We know it's your last day. Although it's only been one year, we are going to miss you badly. We all hope you find a job that is worthy of your time and talent. Goodbye, Luke."
Everyone clapped as Mr. Reynolds handed him a wrapped box from the rest of us. My boyfriend opened it with his goofy grin and pulled out a signed picture of all of us.
"This way, you'll never forget us," Olivia spoke up.
"I could never forget you. Any of you," he promised, looking around at everyone. "Thanks, guys."
He tried his best to keep his emotions in check, but we all saw him holding back a tear. When we left thr oom, je was greeted by many wishes of luck.
"I'm going to miss everyone," he admitted.
"I know," I replied softly. "I know."

Hours later, the three of us sat around a circle table, looking like mature adults with plates of loaded mac 'n' cheese in the middle of Dave & Buster's.
"I love mac 'n' cheese!" Olivia ranted.
"We know," Luke teased. "It's all you've been talking about."
"You love that as much as I love my cat," I added. "Anyway, I think I'm full."
"Can I have the rest?" Olivia pleaded with wide puppy eyes, referring to the few bites left on my plate.
"Go ahead," I permitted, shaking my head but smiling nonetheless.
She shoved the food into her mouth and then suggested, still chewing, "Let's go get those little card thingys."
We followed her lead to get the "card thingys" we would use to play the games. She seemed to know exactly where she was going, which should have surprised me but didn't.
"Let's look at the prizes before we start playing," Olivia decided.
"We can't just--" I began but stopped when I saw my friend trying to crane her neck as much as she could to see into the area with the prizes.
"You can actually see pretty well," she assured. "LOOK AT THAT SHINY PINK UNICORN!"
"Aw, there's a cute little stuffed kitten," I pointed out.
"I'm going to win it for you," Luke vowed with his little grin.
"I NEED THAT UNICORN!"
Olivia ran off to the Skeeball.
"I need to get enough tickets!" she announced in determination.
It was actually surprising how good she was at the game. When I tried, I kept getting the gutter and only ended up with a few tickets that were probably just for participation. Luke stepped up confidently, and I started laughing when he sucked as much as I did. Meanwhile, Olivia had a small pile built up.
We moved on to the tower in the middle. The goal was to press a button to stop a pointer at the highest ticket value. I was not too bad at it; however, Luke kept getting the smallest ticket values possible.
"You have to be trying to do that poorly," Olivia commented.
On the other hand, she got the jackpot on the first few tries. Eventually, our friend got bored with our sad attempts and wandered around, stopping to play games as she desired.
The result of her obsessive gaming was that she maxed out her card far before Luke and I. We made a big deal about her watching us play while she stood there like a child as she begged to go look at prizes. As soon as we finished, she pulled us over in line. A mother and her son, who was likely around five hears old, arrived behind us.
"Mommy," the boy asked, "can I please get some candy?"
"Liv," I whispered, "that little boy is better behaved than you are."
She glared at me, but Luke chuckled, which was enough to make it worth it.
Finally, we reached the front of the line. When they weighed our tickets, we found that Olivia had more than twice the number of Luke's and mine combined. Needless to say, we could barely afford a few boxes of candy. I disappointedly eyed the stuffed kitten on the shelf as I decided on what candy to choose.
"Sorry I couldn't win it," Luke apologized, looking genuinely upset with himself.
"It's okay, even knights lose some battles," I assured, smiling teasingly.
"I'm ready to go," Olivia suddenly announced, holding a crap ton of stuff.
I picked out some candy for myself and followed her to the line. The worker Olivia marched up to looked annoyed upon realizing he was going to have to check out that much stuff. The lady next to him helped me and seemed to be relieved I had so little. Luke and I waited outside for our third friend for a few minutes before she finally trotted out.
"Merry Christmas!" she shouted.
"It's June," Luke reminded.
In return, she shoved a cute stuffed dog at him. To me, she handed over the adorable kitten I had been eyeing.
"Aw, thanks," I gushed, petting the new member of my family. "Her name shall be Hermione. She will grow up to be a fierce lion in Gryffindor."
"This is Erik," Luke informed about his new dog. "Like his namesake, the Phantom of the Opera, he has a dark and misguided past along with a instinctual passion for music."
"This is Sparkles," Olivia spoke up, holding her pink unicorn. "She has the power to turn any color into rainbows and all objects to candy."
"You don't need more candy," Luke observed, gesturing towards the huge pile she was balancing.
"Do you want to try to take it from me?" she questioned.
"On second thought, I would like to keep my life and my new puppy, thank you," he decided.
"Let's take this moment to consider each other," I suggested. "I just want you both to know that this school year has been the best one yet, and while we don't know what is going to happen in the next few months, I will never forget what we have accomplished together."
"I agree," Olivia continued. "I don't know what we are going to do next year, but I do know that there will always be a connection between us."
"We knew from the beginning that I would have to leave," Luke added. "I'm just surprised you chose to get close to me despite that. I can never thank you enough for the warm welcome you gave me on my first day and ever since."
"I think we can leave here today knowing that we built something here that won't be knocked down so easily," I finished. "We will continue to survive."
The other two nodded in agreement. Although none of us really wanted to part ways, we knew we had to. I gave Luke a kiss goodbye and both of them a hug. It was not going to be the last time we will saw each other; however, there was something shadowing the air that night that we could not ignore.
Still, there was hope, and that was what mattered most.