jerk irl \ muke

chptr 26

"i can get out of this, you know. i can talk my mom into letting me stay."

"it's not that big of a deal luke, go spend time with your family."

we were currently debating whether luke should go home for christmas or not. he had basically been living here for the last few days and with it being christmas eve, his mother wanted him home for christmas.

he sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "i-i guess i should..."

i sighed as well as we walked towards the door. don't worry i thought to myself, i'll be fine without him. we'll only be apart for about a day and a half.

as much as i told myself i'd be fine, after being with him every single second of what our christmas break had been so far, i'm sure i'll end up missing him all too much.

he turned around and pulled me into a hug, "i'll miss you."

i rubbed his back as he tightened his grip around my waist, "i'll miss you too, but it's a good thing that you'll be home for a day or so. i'm tired of you taking all of my clothes."

"you know i look hot in your clothes," he giggled, releasing his grip on me to nudge me with his elbow.

i rolled my eyes at him and teased him in return, "i mean, i guess you're alright."

he continued talking, ignoring my comment, "and all the things you'd like to do to me in those clothes... and ending up with them on the floo-"

"luke," i cut him off before he could finish his sentence, "christmas. birthday of jesus. going home. family. remember?"

"yeah, but on christmas you're supposed to give other people presen-"

i pushed him out the door and spoke quickly, "okay time to go see you in two days."

"fine, i guess santa will be the only one coming tonight," he laughed for a second at his joke before digging his car keys out of his pocket.

i raised an eyebrow at him, "wow luke, i'm swooning."

he kissed me on the cheek one last time before getting in his car, "you'll still miss me right?"

i sighed, "of course."

"good," was the last thing he said before he started his car and was driving off.

~

usually on christmas morning i would have woken up as early as possible, but this year i ended up waking up in the late afternoon. over the last week, luke and i had spent most of our time either laying in bed or on the couch all day, sleeping late, and staying up all night watching movies or just talking about the first thing that came to mind. it was weird to think that we ever hated each other.

i walked into the kitchen and checked the drawers and cupboards to see if we had any hot chocolate mix - which we didn't. i noticed it was snowing when i looked out the window, so i figured it wouldn't be a smart idea to walk to the store to buy hot chocolate mix.

i sighed to myself after considering the option of making hot chocolate from scratch like my mom does, but it would probably fail miserably so i decided against it.

i sat on the couch and turned on the tv, choosing to watch a christmas movie before pulling my phone out of my jeans pocket and composing a new text to luke.

'merry christmas :)'

i looked back up at the tv that was playing the santa claus 2. luke responded a few minutes later.

'would be merrier with you here :('

'you're so cheesy.'

'but cheesy is good right?'

'whatever helps you sleep at night.

'hey, michael?'

'uh yeah?'

'i love you.'

i love you

those words were staring me down on the screen.

he loved me. i loved him.

shit, i needed to tell him that.

i moved my thumbs to hover over the keyboard to tell him i loved him too, but just as i was about to do so, the keyboard disappeared and my phone was vibrating continuously.

my grandma's contact was displayed on my phone screen, signaling that she was calling me.

shit shit shit shit shit, i thought to myself, i forgot to call my grandma. shit.

"hi grandma, i know it's christmas and i should have called you earlier but i can't talk right now an-"

"how did you know it was me?"

"grandma, i have caller id."

"you want me to call irene?"

"no, i sai - never mind."

"alright, well merry christmas michael. i sent my present to you a few days ago. it's a shame you're not visiting this year, the mail girl that comes to our house everyday is very cute."

"thanks but i'm not really looking for a girlfriend right now."

"maybe next year then?"

"yeah, maybe. okay grandma, i don't want to hang up on you but i was just in the middl-"

"where's your mother?"

"she's visiting brandon's parents, you already know that."

"who's brandon again?"

"...mom's boyfriend."

"oh, that's right."

i pulled my phone away from my ear to check the time, and i saw that it had already been 10 minutes since luke had texted me.

shit.

"look grandma i gotta go-"

"how's school going?"

"bye grandma."

i hung up my phone and ran upstairs to my room and straight to my closet, ripping my gray sweatshirt off its hanger and jogged down the stairs.

the walk to luke's house seemed to drag on. i couldn't help but tap my fingers nervously against my leg, looking anxiously at the familiar roads in front of me.

i knocked on the white painted door and stepped back on the porch, my phone clutched slightly in my sweaty hands. the door opened a few seconds later to reveal a tired looking luke who was dressed in a pair of red flannel pajamas with a navy blue sweater.

he ran a hand through his messy hair, "michael?"

i nodded, "yeah uh, sorry i didn't text back earlier. my grandma called and each time i tried to end the call she kept interrupting me and, yeah, sorry."

he shrugged, "its fine."

"no, it's not. i probably made you think i didn't love you back. or maybe even made you think i was playing you. sure, i once hated you and this might sound really cliche and all but i do love you even though you have a reputation as a-"

i stopped talking because his lips had captured mine with his own. it was a sweet, gentle kiss, unlike previous ones we've shared. once he pulled back, he smiled down at me and i gave him a small smile in return.

"michael, i said it was fine because i didn't expect you to say it as soon as i did. i didn't think you would want to rush it or anything," he explained before pulling me in by the shoulders into a tight hug.

"i love you," he mumbled against my black hair before placing a kiss on the top of my head.

"i love you too," i mumbled against his sweater covered chest.

----

this is okay i guess.

the next chapter is the last chapter :((