safe | l.h.

prologue

-Violet-

When I finally felt like the sun shining through the bedroom window was too persistent to ignore, I sat up in bed. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, trying to be careful not to move too quickly or loudly. Luke was still sound asleep next to me, turned on his side with his head tucked into the pillow.

I looked at the mess of blonde hair on his head, sticking up at all angles from a good night's sleep. I smiled beside myself, still feeling grateful that I hadn't turned him away the day he showed up at my door with an apology and duffel bags in tow a year ago. I also thought back even further, wondering how different things would have been if he hadn't drunkenly stumbled to my apartment by mistake.

One thing was for sure, I wouldn't have a ring with a sparkling diamond staring back at me from my nightstand if things had been different. I slowly picked it up and slid it back on my finger, taking it in for what must have been the hundredth time already. Two weeks had passed since Luke had proposed, and I was just finally getting to a point where the sheer sight of the ring didn't fill me with a subtle panic.

I slid out of bed then, not allowing myself to fall into the spiral of what-ifs that sometimes filled my mind if I let them. For some reason, it didn't matter that I knew I loved Luke with my entire being, that there was no one else I would rather have in my life. Despite all that certainty, there was still always some looming fear in the back of my mind, afraid of the changes and big steps that were ahead of us.

I made my way slowly over to the shower, turning the water on and waiting for it to heat up. I silently hoped that this would help wash away the temporary doubt, the kind that liked to rear its ugly head, make me feel horribly guilty, and then promptly go away as soon as it had come.

Taking one last quick look at the ring before I placed it on the bathroom counter, I remembered how grateful I was for how nonchalant Luke had been about actually getting married. He said it was no rush, that we had all of the time in the world to make things really official. There was no sense in us stressing ourselves out to plan a wedding that didn't need to happen anytime soon.

He was right, and I loved him for having the same thought as me. We were happy, we loved each other, and a promise of forever was enough for now. We didn't need some flashy celebration just yet to make things feel real, whatever that meant.

Things were perfect, and why would we want to do anything to change that?

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A/N:

remember when i said their story was over and i was done writing? what a hilarious thing for me to do

lol but for real ever since i finished writing this story i've been missing the characters and writing about them so much that i couldn't help myself from coming back, so here we are! new conflict, new city, new everything, same couple that we all love.

one thing i do want to say before i continue is that i will admit the updates probably are not going to be as frequent as they were for clumsy, at least for now. i'm still studying abroad and taking real, in-person classes and enjoying my time exploring Italy, but i'm going to try and write whenever i can.

first real chapter will probably (hopefully) be up tomorrow because i have no classes and its already half written!

i hope you're all as excited as i am, and thank you in advance for being patient with me as we go :)

xx, colby