Reality || L.H.

Chapter 45

Before we left college campus, he took me out for lunch at our favorite diner on the corner of Madison and Seventh. We went shopping and Luke got a new band T-shirt and I got a couple of shirts. But I know there's a second part of the night that's got him smiling like a complete idiot as he makes a right turn. We've been in the car for an hour or so and I have no idea where he's taking me.

Luke likes to pretend that he's not a big softie, but everyone knows the truth. I'm curious about whatever he's got planned.

He parks the car, sliding out to join me at the front. I laugh in surprise as his hands cover my eyes. "What are you doing?"

"No peeking!" he says, a smile in his voice as he starts to gently moves me forward.

"Can I open my eyes now?" I ask after a minute, slowly following Luke's lead, hoping that I won't trip over anything.

"Not yet," he says, his voice low in my ear. "Just a little bit more..."

I huff in annoyance, but I'm excited to see what he's been smiling about for the last few hours. Although it doesn't matter to me what we do - as long as I'm with Luke, I know I'm going to love every second of it.

"Ok, now," Luke says, removing his hands from my eyes.

I gasp in surprise. We're standing by the edge of the river that cuts through the middle of the city, passing through the park that my parents took me once or twice growing up. Just by the riverbank in a part of the park where no people are walking by, Luke's set up a blanket with a picnic basket of food and little fairy lights, which shine dimly in the fading sunlight, a few pillows scattered on the blanket.

"Did you do this?" I breathe, still shocked.

Luke nervously twists his lip ring with his tongue, his blue eyes watching me anxiously. "The boys helped a little, but yeah," he says, fiddling with the hem of his shirt. "Do you like it?" he asks hesitantly.

"I love it!" I say, turning to kiss him on the cheek.

A relieved smile lights up his face as he sets his hands on my hips, drawing me close to him. I can smell his cologne when the wind changes direction and a dozen memories flash through my mind.

Luke quietly playing guitar in his room when we thirteen, humming the lyrics under his breath as his fingers fumbled along the frets. Calum had sent me upstairs to get him because he wanted to go out that night, and I paused in the doorway, transfixed. Luke glanced up after a few seconds, blushing furiously when I had caught him.

Our first home high school football game in freshman year. I was too short to see over the crowd, so Luke put me on his shoulders as we stood in the bleachers. I remember the way the bright lights lit up his crystal eyes.

The shadows under his eyes as he sat down at our lunch table in the beginning of junior year after not hanging out with us all summer. A lip ring was pierced through his bottom lip and he looked different. He looked... older. A black beanie covered his blond hair and he looked relieved the second we sat down, like just us being there with him made him feel better.

High school graduation. Luke was complaining about the cap messing up his hair, trying to argue with the teachers that wearing a hat was stupid anyways. They made him wear it anyways and he had flat hair for the entire ceremony. But when we moved our tassels to the other side of our caps, he grinned and spun me around as our whole class cheered. I laughed as he set me back down, leaning heavily against Calum...

What lead to us being here? With Luke's arms wrapped around me, his skin warm against mine? What changed between us when I got back from San Francisco? That day Luke had to get stitches in the back of a MedExpress, grimacing in pain while his hand held tightly onto mine... Was that the moment I knew something was different in the way he looked at me?

"What are you thinking about?" he whispers, his blue eyes wide and curious. He's beautiful without even trying. I wonder how he could possibly be mine.

"You," I murmur. "Us. How we got here."

He smiles softly as he pulls me down onto the blanket, our feet tangling as he wraps his arms around my waist. His breath stirs my hair when he speaks. "If I'm being perfectly honest, I've been in love with you for a while. But you never gave me a second look until last summer. I'd been trying for months to get your attention, but nothing seemed to be working. You are the only good thing that has happened to me since my mum kicked me out."

I twist to meet his eyes, tears blurring my vision. I cup his cheeks with my hands, my gaze flickering all over his face as I try to commit every feature to memory. I could stare at him for hours and never get tired of it.

"I was too hung up over Blake to realize that something always felt like it was missing when I was with him," I say quietly. "You were what was missing. I was never really in love with Blake - I didn't know what love was until I started falling for you. It's always been you, Luke, even if I didn't know it at first."

His expression melts at my words. "I love you so fucking much," he says in a low voice that's almost a growl, squeezing my hips gently as his mouth crashes into mine. I gasp, tugging at his hair, making him moan.

"I love you too," I breathe as he flips us over so my back is against the ground.

Around us, the fairy lights twinkle in the light cast by the setting sun, the bright city lights across the river shining like stars darkness falls. I grin as I pull Luke closer to me, his lip ring cool against my mouth. I don't care if anyone is walking past us right now.

The rest of the world fades into background noise, dull compared to the beautiful boy in front of me.