First//Luke Hemmings

Chapter 33

“Zoey Banks, are your parents ever going to warm up to me, or are we going to have to sneak around everywhere?” Luke asked, rolling his eyes at me as I shut my door as quietly as I could.

“Unless you randomly decide to study medicine or law, sneaking will be our new forte. However, Holden’s luckily on our side, so he’ll cover for me if I ever get caught. However, that will never happen, considering my smooth ninja skills,” I whispered, fake karate chopping his arm.

“Just get in Banks,” Luke sighed, opening the car door.

Luke jumped in, about to turn on his headlights, when I grabbed his hand, pulling it away from the button.

“Number one rule of sneaking around, never turn on the lights until we are out of sight,” I said, glaring at him.

“Sorry, you seem to forget that before you I was never rebellious,” he chuckled, driving slowly down my street.

“I highly doubt that,” I laughed, slapping his arm lightly.

“No, honestly the most rebellious thing I did was stay up until midnight playing videogames in my room,” he laughed.

“What can I say I’m wild and crazy,” I laughed, wiggling my eyebrows at him.

“You’re a bad influence Banks, you’re corrupting my character,” he giggled, finally turning on the lights on his car.

“Oh just so you know, Heather is expecting Ashton to ask her to prom in an extremely extravagant way,” I said.

“Does she really still want to hook up with Ashton, that’s so last semester,” Luke laughed.

“She says, in her direct words, ‘good boys are all actually bad boys, you just need to rough them up a bit,” I said, raising my voice slightly to mock her.

“Oh god, I don’t want her to rough up my best friend,” Luke said, grimacing.

“Just… can you let me know if he’ll actually ask her? If not, Heather needs to track down a member of the football team to take her, and that usually takes a bit of time,” I said.

“You’ll be the first to know,” Luke said, quickly kissing my cheek, then returning his attention to the road.

☆ ☆ ☆

“Luke?” I asked, tracing circles on the small strip of Luke’s torso that had been exposed when he lay on the bed.

“Yeah?” I said, turning to look at me.

“I was wondering, you don’t need to respond to this if you don’t want to, but could you tell me about your mom?” I asked, glancing up at him nervously.

I continued to trace my fingertips along his skin, feeling the warmth of his body spread through me.

Luke sighed shakily, locking his eyes with mine. “Why?” he asked, his eyes clouding over with moisture.

“I don’t know, I just want to know what she was like…” I said, looking away from him.

Luke breathed in deeply and I immediately regretted asking him about this.

“You know what, never mind. It was stupid that I asked I’m sorry,” I said, rolling away from him.

“Zoey, please stop. Its fine, don't feel bad,” Luke said, pulling me back into his chest, his long arms draped around my waist.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable…” I whispered, flipping my body so that I was facing him.

“I’m sure,” he replied, taking in a deep and shaky breath.

“My mother was, is, one of the most amazing women I have ever met. She put up with a lot of shit from me, mainly my angsty pre-teen years. I mean, she always stocked our freezer with pizza bagels because she knew they were my favorite. She paid for really expensive guitar lessons for me because I wanted to be just like Billie Joe Armstrong from Greenday. I can still play American Idiot, which is about the only thing I can remember from those lessons. Anyways, she always left these little post-it notes in my lunch box, which at the time embarrassed me but now I appreciate. I have them all saved in a shoebox under my bed, buried behind all our old family photos and Converse with holes in them. And Zoey, I know she would have loved you, maybe almost as much as I do,” Luke said, kissing me on my forehead.

“I’m really sorry Luke, truly. She sounds so amazing,” I said, kissing him on his lips softly.

“You know, I’ve accepted it though. If my mother had never passed, I would never have met you. I know that sounds a little horrible, but I believe everything happens for a reason. One person left my life and another one slowly entered it,” he said, a faint smile spreading across his face.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to realize that you existed,” I said, blushing slightly.

“Well, you were worth the wait Zoey Banks. I would have waited for forever if I had to,” he said, kissing me softly on my lips.

We woke with daylight streaming across our bodies, Luke’s arms holding me tightly against him. We got up slowly, tiptoeing out of his house and into his car. He drove me home in a comfortable silence, just appreciating each others presence, occasionally humming to a song on the radio. We pulled up to my house, and I leaned in and kissed him quickly.

 Before I pulled away, I whispered “Thank you…for everything” in his ear, shutting the door as I left.

a.n///

so first of all THE FREAKING LIVE STREAM AND THE FREAKING LYRIC VIDEO JESUS CHRIST. sorry, i needed to get that out there. anyways, i'm a loser and have written a lot of the ending to this story (though i havent finished the other chapters). i was wondering if you guys wanted a little hint as to what it will be about, just like a little teaser. WOULD THAT BE FUN, YEAH?!?! if you guys want me to just comment pls :)

dont forget to comment and vote!!!!