I Will Never Forget You || l.h.

twenty seven

*two weeks later*

"Well, everything is packed," Luke says sadly as he zips up his suitcase.

"Okay," I nod.

He looks at me. "You okay?"

"Yep. Fine," I nod, plastering on a fake smile.

"Don't lie," he warns.

"I'm fine I swear," I assure him.

"Babe. I know you're lying," he says seriously.

"I'm not," I lie.

"Baby, what's up?" he says sweetly, reaching across the space separating us and taking my hand in his.

I try not to cry but suddenly tears flow out of my eyes. "I don't want you to go." 

He immediately pulls me into a hug, burying his head in the crook of my neck, shedding warm tears on my shoulder. "I don't want to leave." His voice is husky and pained.

We stand there in the middle of our bedroom for a long while, hugging each other tightly as we both cry. His hands lightly tug on my hair as he holds me closer, as if he's holding onto me so that he doesn't have to go, which makes me cry harder. There's a knock on the door indicating that Luke's ride to the airport is here and it finally fully hits me: Luke is leaving for 6 months, maybe even longer. My breathing stops for a second which results in me loudly sobbing onto his shoulder, and unfortunately instead of holding me tighter, Luke lets go.

"I don't wanna keep them waiting," he whispers, wiping the tears off of his face.

I nod my head and wipe away my tears too, looking at the ground.

"Hey," Luke says sweetly, lifting up my head with two fingers under my chin. "I'll call you every night, and we'll FaceTime often, I promise."

I nod my head and try to smile at him. He gives me one last tight hug and passionately kisses my lips. He then walks out of our shared bedroom and walks into Lily's nursery. I see him pick her up and kiss her forehead, giving her a hug. He walks out and by then I'm meeting him at the door.

"I love you," he whispers, putting a strand of hair behind my ear and keeping his hand on my warm cheeks.

"I love you too. Have fun," I say, then kiss the palm of his hand.

A few tears fall onto his cheeks as he lets go of me, then kisses me hard one last time. He opens the door, pecks my lips one last time and walks out the door, closing it behind him. I cover my mouth with my hand to hush the loud sobs escaping my parted lips. Luke was gone. And he wasn't coming back for a long time.

. . .

About 3 weeks have gone by since Luke left for tour. It's been pretty lonely in the house, and it's been a tough job taking care of Lily by myself, but I make it work. I found a job about 2 weeks ago, I'm doing online marketing for a local music shop. Luke and I have been calling, video chatting, and texting as much as we can despite his busy schedule.

My phone starts ringing beside me so I pick it up to answer it.

"Hello?" I say, twirling a pencil between my fingers in my other hand.

"Hello beautiful," Luke says, a smile evident in his voice.

"Hello handsome, what's up?" I smile.

"Ah not much, just about to get on stage. What are you up to?" he sighs, but then his voice gets cheery.

"Just working. But I'm about to stop because I gotta head over to dad's wedding," I sigh, not very happy about going. "Wish you were here with me."