when we collide ✰ l.h.

Chapter 48

"I don't want to give this up." I whispered to Luke. My head rested on his shoulder and I could feel my eyes brimming with tears.

"Autumn, we've only lived together for a little less than a year. We spent 11 years apart, I think we can manage it." Luke quietly told me as he slowly raked his fingers through my hair to try to keep me from getting upset.

Maybe it was just me being me or the cheesy chick flick playing on my parents TV as we sat on the couch bundled together. It was around midnight and all I could think about was having to wake up in the morning and not have Luke's head by my hips every morning. He said he could just stay at my place or vice versa since no one would know, but it would make me beyond guilty knowing that someone was having their money wasted on an empty apartment.

"I'll only be a few blocks down." He sighed, tugging me closer to him.

"Why does this feel like the end of the world?" I asked him, looking up at him which made a single tear roll down my cheek. I softly laughed as he brought his thumb up to me cheek and frowned as he wiped away the drop. "Am I always this dramatic?" I laughed again as he gave me an easy smile.

"Maybe not dramatic, maybe just in touch with what you want." He shrugged. I actually thought about his statement and the way it was worded. It made me think and it sure made me feel a lot better.

We sat there for a few moments, simply staring at each other. It was kind of like a moment we had every so often where we kind of paused the time and just took in each other. Our features and what's changed and what's stayed the same. It was kind of strange, really. But I'm sure many many people did this besides us. It was a nice reminder.

"You know who I thought you've always looked like?" I quietly said.

"Hmm?" He hummed, his lips pulling into a faint smile as he watched me intently.

"Cindy Lou Who." I giggled, tapping the tip of his nose.

He raised an eyebrow at me, "The little girl from 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'?" He asked. I nodded my head at him, trying to hold back my growing smile.

"That's the one." I teased. I've always told Luke how cute is nose was despite how much he hated when I talked about it. He claimed it was normal and that there was nothing great about a nose, but I proved him wrong.

"Thanks for telling me I resemble a child from a Dr. Seuss book." He replied, leaving a soft kiss to my temple.

We let the room fall silent, the only thing being heard was the movie playing that we had lost interest in awhile ago. I nuzzled further into his side and he pulled me a little closer to him. I started thinking a little too much. It was mostly about things that really didn't matter at all, but at the moment it seemed like such a problem.

"Stop thinking." Luke mumbled. I took in a sharp breath and it went unnoticed by him.

"I wish I could." I sighed. His fingers still twisted around the ends of my hair as he tried to soothe me.

"It's just a few miles, not a few thousand." He assured me. I picked my head off of him and tugged my knees tighter to my chest. "We won't be worlds apart." He gave me a sweet smile which I returned as I nodded once.

Luke seemed fine about it, like so casual. I know that it probably wasn't a big deal to him as long as I was still clinging onto him as I'm sure I always would be. I had a feeling it was just him growing up a little, dealing with things that were coming at him. Although he's never been one to throw a fit over something, I envied his calm thoughts a lot.

We laid on this couch all night and we eventually fell asleep on it. I was using his chest as a pillow all night long and he didn't seem to care one bit. When I woke up, I was the one clinging onto him instead of the other way around. My eyes barely cracked open and when I could finally see what was going on I noticed that Luke was already awake.