Nomads

Chapter 34

Today was the day.

It had been two weeks since Mara had gone dress shopping with the girls, two weeks since she hinted that she wanted Luca to ask her to the dance.

Over a week since she called him over to share her insecurities about her appearance with him.

He knew what he had to do. He could only hope that she would actually like it.

The plan was to take her to the place where he had asked her to be his girlfriend; the cherry blossom tree at the bottom of Goliath Hill. His friends helped him put up some simple wintry decorations; paper snowflakes tied to the branches of the tree with string. The girls had told him it would be really romantic if he handed her a ticket while they were under the tree and asked her to be his date, and suggested a short speech about how much he liked her.

He thought it was a great idea; very simple, not in front of a crowd, not too flashy or extravagant. Perfect for his lovely, down-to-earth, simplistic girlfriend.

His girlfriend. The thought still made a blush creep up his neck, even though it had already been over two months since they started dating.

He was so glad she had said yes back in August when school started. It would have been so hard to spend the year pining after her but not being able to call her his. And he couldn't imagine not having her by his side even just as a friend.

She meant so much to him. She had shown him the love of God. A love he had long forgotten, but one that had always lingered in the outskirts of his consciousness; when his dad yelled, when his mom cried, when things were thrown and skin was bruised. God's love for him was there, he just hadn't been able to see it.

He knew now that God's heart was breaking with his back then; he knew that God wanted to give him the love his father never could. A better love, a sweeter love, an unconditional love. And Naomi got the gears turning, got things moving, and got him questioning and hoping and desiring to know the love of God.

And he would forever be grateful for the smile she gave him when she bumped into him that day in the square.

"What's all this?"

Luca was snapped out of his reverie, a faint blush creeping up his neck as he took in his girlfriend. She was dressed in another of her thick, oversized sweaters and had her arm outstretched to admire one of the paper snowflakes he and his friends had made during lunch. The look on her face made his heart swell. She looked happy, excited, expectant as she took in the admittedly sub-par decorations.

Sarah had complained that he should have given them more than a day's notice, so they could have come up with something better.

But as Mara's eyes slid down from the paper snowflake to where Luca stood beneath the tree, he knew that this was exactly what she wanted. He could see it in her smile as she waited for him to answer.

And in that moment he realized he'd been standing there staring wide-eyed like an idiot for at least a full minute.

"Uh, t-the dance." He stuttered, fumbling with the ticket as he tried to pull it out of his back pocket. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "The winter dance is coming up; I was wondering if you wanted to be my date?"

Mara's smile was so bright it almost blinded him. "I was wondering if you'd ever ask," she teased, taking a few steps toward him and wrapping her arms around his neck. "I'd be delighted," she murmured, burying her face in his chest as she tried to contain her elation. It felt just like the movies; cheesy, romantic, and it made her heart pound and her cheeks ache from how wide she smiled.