Stay Beautiful

4 - Almost Kisses & Surprises

4 - Almost Kisses & Surprises

"Thanks for coming," Luke said as he stepped aside for me to go into his home. There was a specific smell of just baked chocolate chip cookies, and my mouth immediately watered.

"Did your mom make cookies?" I asked in a thread of a voice. His mom actually liked me, and I loved her for always having cookies when I came over. I had no idea how she had the time to do it, since her job was demanding and she was always busy with plenty of things from home and work. I could not complain if she was willing to make me chocolate chip cookies, though.

"Of course she did," Luke laughed. "You know she always does when I tell her you're coming," he added as he directed us to the kitchen.

With every step I took further, my knees became weaker and my mouth watered a tad bit more. Luke eyed me and laughed out loud. "You're hilarious," he pointed out as he grabbed a hold of my shoulders with his broad hands. He shook me up a little bit but I could care less and so I did when my eyes finally landed on the heavenly cookies that I could happily beg for if I had to.

There they were, lying temptingly on the counter, right in front of me. I could even see a holy light surrounding them, and that is when I understood I had an addiction problem to them, just like I did to Luke. It was not my fault though. Both of them were pretty much perfect to me.

I reached out to grab one and literally sobbed when I made contact with it. I raised it and after my small ritual, took a bite. "Just take the bunch to my room," Luke told me as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"She will do no such thing," someone deadpanned as they walked into the room. I immediately raised my head and smiled broadly to the maker of the divine thing I had in my hands.

"I was not intending to," I told her and she smiled proudly.

"What would I give for Luke to be as understanding as you are," she sighed, then glaring at her son.

"Hey!" he whined. "Eating in my room is no crime," he countered then with an eye roll.

"It is when you do not clean after yourself," his mother rebutted with a stubborn tone.

I bit my bottom lip as I watched them banter, feeling warm at the beautiful sight, also because I was accompanied by my delicious chocolate chip cookies.

"You don't have to clean it, mom," Luke shrugged.

"And who will then?" she questioned with her hands to the sides of her hips.

"I will," he replied with what he thought was a convincing tone. I was right beside him and trust me, it was not.

"Yeah right," his mom scoffed and he gaped hurt.

"Mom!" he complained. "Sabi, look at how mean she is being to me!" he wailed to me next. He quivered his bottom lip and walked over to me, then resting his head on my shoulder. I giggled and patted his head in reassurance.

"You'll be just fine," I assured him and I shared a giddy smile with his mother.

She laughed satisfied about having embarrassed her son and then waved me goodbye. "See you guys later," she bade.

"Bye!" I chirped and then turned to Luke. "Stop being such a baby," I told him in a laugh.

"You're not the one embarrassed," he mumbled under his breath, taking one of the cookies.

"Hey, those are my cookies," I chided as I reached out for the one he had grabbed.

He quickly shoved it into his mouth, causing me to throw myself at him with no success in getting the cookie. I lost my balance and landed on him. He held me straight with one hand and I glared up at him. "Sorry," he whispered and it was until then that I noticed just how close we were. I held onto my breath for dear life, but was unable to move.

"It was mine," I managed to breathe out, trying to keep myself functioning. "All of them are."

"I know," he responded and then he did something that surprised me, he inched closer. His grip on my arm got tighter, but in an eager way that sent my heart in overdrive. His other hand, which was now empty since he had already eaten the cookie, found its way to the small of my back to pull me closer. Just like that we were breathing the same air. Not that I was really breathing at all.

I could not believe what was happening. Did he actually have feelings for me? Had I not been imagining the little things he did for me, or how much time he spent with me? I was dumbfounded and had no idea of how to react or what to say, which was idiotic since I had imagined scenarios like this for so long and had practiced my reaction and response. "Luke..."

He hummed in response and his eyes wandered from my eyes to my lips, causing me to almost have a stroke.

My eyes wandered off to his lips too, not really registering what was going on but deciding to let go and live the moment, because this was quite a moment for me. He inched even closer and parted his lips. I gasped slightly and was about to close my eyes when a noise brought me back to reality. To a reality where I was not going to kiss Luke anymore. Damn it.

Luke immediately jerked back and we both turned to where the noise had come from. Ben, his older brother wandered through the kitchen without a care in the world. After he finally felt our gazes on him, he turned to look at us. "Oh, why did you stop?"

I raised an eyebrow and Luke frowned. "Ben..."

"I was just getting some food. You guys go back to kissing," Ben urged and I felt my cheeks turn a crimson shade of red at his choice of words. I hid my face underneath my hair and took a step aside and away from Luke, away from our almost kiss.

Luke was about to speak up when I intervened. "Show me the songs you're playing tomorrow," I muttered as I scurried out of the kitchen, not even daring to glance at Ben, who I knew had a knowing smirk.

I heard some shuffled steps, mutters and a laugh behind me, knowing the first two belonged to Luke and the last one to Ben. I cursed under my breath for his terrible timing but decided to play it cool. I finally found myself in front of Luke's room door and opened it. I filed into his room with him behind me. His cheeks, neck and ears were a bright red, but I pretended not to notice because it would only be more awkward between us.

He grabbed his guitar, bumping it with a chair in the process and wincing at the action right away. He cleared his throat and then made his way to his bed. I did the same, but since I was such a nervous wreck, we ended up colliding. He laughed nervously and scratched the back of his neck. I placed a nonexistent loose strand of my hair behind my ear and sat down quickly. I was beyond mortified and had no idea of how to get out of this house without making a fool of myself. It was all going so wrong. All I had wanted all this time was for this to happen, but never like this, so awkward and weird.

Luke sat down next to me, but at a saddening distance. I could not bring myself to scoop closer to him, though.

He began striding some chords and the music filled in the tense air. I let out a silent but relieved sigh as he relaxed a bit. He began singing and I did not even notice when an hour had passed by. I suppose that is a good thing.

"Alright, which song will you guys cover at the end?" I asked in a low voice, still feeling a bit apprehensive. I glanced at him and found his blue eyes were studying me carefully, drawing away as soon as I had raised my gaze though.

"Oh, that is a surprise," he said with an award winning smile that almost made me want to finish what we had stared in his kitchen. But I was too much of a coward as to do so, and I was sure he would not try it again. Whatever chance we could have had had just been blown.