mr. hemmings // l.h.

39 • madeline

((( aw aw our little cinnamon roll also this gif is low key a mood for this chapter WINK WINK )))

I relaxed against the familiar material of Luke's passenger seat. He had one hand on the steering wheel and the other intertwined with mine, resting in my lap.

I looked over at him. He was concentrated on driving but was softly singing along to the radio.
I smiled.

After a few minutes of watching him, he looked over at me. He blushed a little, and chuckled.

"What are you staring at?" He teased.

I giggled, "You. Try not to get a big head over it."

He laughed, loudly. "That's fair."
He spoke a little more seriously, "Hey, thank you for coming with me tonight."

"Well, I wanted to be with you." I shrugged, nonchalantly.

"Yeah, I know," he nodded, "but I'm not quite sure if I deserve it."

"Deserve has nothing to do with it." I said, softly. "It's just the way I feel about you."

He nodded again, "Even though I hurt you."

"Yeah," I agreed, "even though you did."

He stroked his thumb over the back of my hand.
"I won't hurt you again. I know, you've heard that so many times, from so many people. But I mean it. I'm so sorry, my love."

"I just don't really understand what went wrong." I admitted. "Everything was going so good, at least I thought so. And you were constantly reassuring me that things were good."

"I don't know what I was thinking." He said. "In fact, I probably wasn't thinking at all. It was me being impulsive. It was me sabotaging myself. But I promise, I won't slip up again."
He squeezed my hand, "I meant what I said, you know? I love you, Mads. And I know it might sound crazy but it's true. There's just something about you."

I grinned, "And here I thought I was just another silly little girl with a crush on a teacher."

He smiled back, "It seems like just yesterday you were staying up way too late to finish that painting for me. I'll never look at Australian wildflowers the same way again. I have a new found appreciation for them. You put so much beauty into everything."

My face reddened. "Stop."

He kissed my hand. "I really do want us. I do want to be on the same page, even though I might confuse you."

"You do confuse me." I said, admittedly. "But Luke, you know how I feel. I have done nothing but tell you how I feel about you since the night I got drunk and sloppily confessed to crushing on you."

He smiled. "I remember that. It seems like we've been through so much, even though it hasn't been that long at all."

It nodded, "Yeah, it hasn't been that long."
I thought for a moment.
"How do you know you love me?" I asked, suddenly.