Runaways- Runaways 1

Chapter 21: Luke

The second kiss was nearly bruising. My arms flew around his waist, trying to pull him closer. I loved him. I loved him more than anyone else in this world. And I was lucky enough to have him. I could call him mine. Why would I ever criticize him for being homosexual? I mean, to most people we seemed gay anyways. There was no way to distinguish bis from gays and straights.

"I love you," he whispered in between kisses. It took a second before I noticed the tears streaming down his face. It was silent relief painted in streaks of water on his cheeks. I took my thumb and wiped them away, pulling back so that now we were just sitting there. He smirked and I grinned in return.

"I love you too," I whispered back. And I meant it. From the bottom of my heart and with every fiber of my being. I loved him.

"Just don't tell anyone. I, um, I only told Eli. Even Peyton doesn't know," he stammered awkwardly, wiping the rest of his tears away. I smiled.

"No problem."

"You're not mad I told him before you, are you?"

I sighed. He always seemed to think I'd be mad about things like that, or anyone would be for that matter. "Of course not," I reassured him. He nodded.

"Gosh Luke, what would I do without you?"

"Geez, I don't know. Throw yourself off a cliff maybe?" His gaze hardened. "No, not like that," I said, realizing what it sounded like I'd said. "Like, you'd throw yourself off a cliff because you weren't paying any attention to where you were going." He rolled his eyes.

"Hm, maybe. I think that would be more you though," he joked. "You're the more absentminded one." 

I nudged him in the shoulder. "Hey!" Then we just burst out laughing. I think the kiss had made us both giddy.

"All right, we should probably head back over there," Marcus said, gesturing to where the others were. "Otherwise they're going to come to us, and I feel like that would be way more awkward."

"I haven't even finished yet," I stated, picking up the dried mangoes I'd left beside me.

"Well then finish," he commanded sarcastically. I dumped the remainder of the bag in my mouth to make a point, yellow pieces of fruit spilling onto the ground.

He shook his head, laughing. "Seriously, what am I going to do with you?"

"What, that's not what you meant?" I asked playfully. He shoved me in response. That started another fit of laughter for the both of us. I picked up one of the mangoes off the ground and threw it at him, and he threw another one in response. Sure enough, as Marcus had said, Aaliyah came over in the middle of our little food fight. We both stopped and stared at her awkwardly.

"Uh, I would think y'all were twelve if I didn't know better," she joked. "We have to get going if we want to make it to Melrose by sundown." We nodded, gathering our trash and putting it in a nearby can. I was also carrying the backpack with the extra garbage from the day before in it, so I dumped that in there as well. Then we followed her back to the others, and we resumed our hike through the blazing heat and humidity that was Florida.

It was nearly 4:00 when we came across a suitable river for collecting drinking water. We were seemingly in the middle of nowhere. There had been no signs of houses or towns for the past five miles at least.

"Anyone else bathing? I was planning on it," Peyton suggested.

"We probably all should," Aaliyah agreed. "The only rule: no skinny dipping!" I could tell she was serious despite her joking time. I mean, it wasn't like I'd been planning on stripping all the way down anyways. I wasn't all too keen on any of them actually seeing anything they shouldn't see. Plus, I wasn't that stupid. Marcus and I both had boundaries we weren't crossing yet. That's why, whether he put up his hammock or not, we never slept together.