when we collide ✰ l.h.

Chapter 19

I had just wrapped a towel around my hair when Luke texted me telling me he had gotten to my house. It was barely 7 o'clock in the morning and he didn't want to wake my family up by ringing the doorbell or knocking.

I don't know why we chose to leave this early to head off back to college, but we were doing it. Knowing Luke, he would've wanted to leave later in the afternoon, but I'm guessing that today was an exception for him.

I let the towel drop from my wet hair, as I knew Luke would get any chance he could to laugh at me about it, and I quietly ran downstairs to let him in. I unlocked the front door slowly to avoid any possible loud noises as my house did have quite the echo. I opened the door to find Luke rocking back and forth on his heels with a finger toying at his fresh lip ring, but he stopped immediately once he saw me.

He raised an eyebrow at me as a small smile grew on one side of his lips. I'm guessing that he wasn't expecting me to be with messy wet hair and fleece Christmas pajama bottoms on.

"Good morning." He softly said, leaning in to kiss me. I jerked back from him and laid a hand on his chest. He gave me a confused look once I met his eyes.

"Are you crazy?" I quickly asked.

"What?" He chuckled, looking me up and down.

"You know my family lives here, right?" I told him in the fear of being caught by yet another one of family members.

It wasn't that I didn't want my family to know that Luke and I had taken a particular 'interest' in each other, it's just that I knew my parents would not be too happy with me living in the same home as a boy I was constantly kissing on as they explained to me that they 'don't want to be grandparents at 40'. I've received that speech from them multiple times even though they know I haven't done anything stupid. It's just not a risk they want me taking.

"And who in the Saunders family gets up before 9am?" Luke jokingly scoffed as he stepped inside. I closed the door behind him and began to lead him upstairs.

"And who in the Hemmings family gets up before 9am? Because usually you don't." I replied as I walked up the stairs backwards so I could look at him.

"My dad." He answered with a smirk once we reached the top.

"That's such a lie, your dad gets up at the same time as you." I remained quiet, but wasn't at a whisper yet. Luke nodded his head to the side as he shoved his hands in his front pockets.

"Okay, yeah, that's true." He admitted.

I walked into my bathroom which luckily was attached to my room and I didn't have to worry about shouting across my house just so I could talk to Luke. I raked my fingers through my knotted hair that was still wet, yet had become slightly frizzy. I felt too lazy to blow dry it straight or do really anything with it so I tied it behind my head in a single braid.

I just started collecting the few essentials I had brought with me from our apartment and placed them in my suitcase that laid on the bed. It was neatly centered in my bed, but Luke had pushed it aside once he sat down which is something I expected from him. I had dragged the luggage closer to me and dropped the things in there.

"Jeez, Autumn. It's freezing in your house." He spoke up as he crossed his arms over his chest. I peered down at my attire as I was bundled in baggy clothes and mismatching socks over my feet. I wasn't cold myself, but I could see how Luke was from the lacking amount of layers he had on.

"I might have one of Travis' jackets you can borrow." I offered him as I walked over to my dresser and pulled out the bottom drawer. I dug around my own sweatshirt and pulled out a black crew neck that I knew wasn't mine and tossed it over to Luke. He easily caught it in his hands and stared up at me as I walked back over to him. "What?" I asked as I furrowed my eyebrows at him.