Faded Away

|TWENTY-FOUR|

"Let's get dressed, I gotta show you something." Luke said softly, as he planted a kiss on my temple. We quickly recovered our clothing and threw it on. I followed him downstairs and out to the back yard. He started up the ATV and motioned for me to get on behind him. I wrapped my arms around him and rested my chin on his shoulder as he drove farther away from the house.

A solid ten minutes later, Luke and I arrived at a huge red barn. He parked right in front of the large door and shut off the engine. He slid the door open and we both stared into what seemed like an endless void of darkness.

"You wanted to show me your barn?" I asked a bit confused.

"Well yeah..." He chuckled before grabbing my hand and pulling me inside with him. He felt around in the dark before bright lights came on, illuminating the barn. To my surprise, it was in fact not a barn filled with farm animals or tools, but decorated beautifully like a home. A large crystal chandelier hung over the living  room section. A winding staircase led up to the second story hayloft that had a cozy bedroom feel to it. It was everything that I had dreamed of for a home as a child.

"Holy moly, Luke, this is beautiful. Is this what you've been doing when you say 'I'm gonna work in the barn'?" I asked, still trying it all in.

"Yeah, I thought we all needed a getaway space to come hang out at. C'mon and let me show you the music room." I followed him to a spacious room with a large piano right in front. He had more instruments than he did back at the house. It was a song writers' dream. He played me a few samples of some of the songs he had been working on. I listened intently and genuinely enjoyed that he was willing to give me previews of what went on in his brain. The smile on his face as we both listened to the songs made my heart warm and the butterflies in my stomach flutter. I was completely lost in him and I knew that with each passing second, I loved him more and more.

"Let's get married..." Luke blurted out as he was loading in another disk into the stereo.

"What?" I asked confused and  a bit off guard.

"I want to marry you Jackie. I love more than anything in the world and I want to be with you for the long run. I've never felt this way about anyone except you. I know this isn't the fairytale proposal that you probably dreamed of but after yesterday's events, I realized that it doesn't need to be extravagant to meaningful. I've been wanting to do this for a while now but I just couldn't find the right time. And I'm rambling because you're not saying anything and I'm freaking out on the inside. So do you want get married?" He pulled out a small diamond ring from his pocket and held it up in front of my face. I wave a nausea rushed over me and I felt dizzy.

"I-I don't know Luke..." I stammered and quickly got out of the chair. I ran out of the barn and I panicked even more.  I could hear Luke calling after me but couldn't make out what he was saying. My heart beat thudded in my chest as I took off running towards the house.

I made it to the house and figured it would be a while before Luke got back so I wrote him a note before grabbing a bag with my things and keys. I drove until I couldn't see the house in my rear view mirror. I sobbed when I finally hit a red light. I could only imagine how Luke felt because I ran out on him twice. TWICE. What the hell is my issue?

I pulled out my cellphone and called Blake, who immediately answered.

"Hey, how's it going with McDreamy?" She asked cheerfully.

"I'm sitting in my car crying right now. I just ran out on him again." I felt my chest heave as I tried to calm myself down and continued driving.

"What? Is everything okay?" She sounded concerned because it was a rarity that I would call her while bawling my eyes out.

"He asked me to marry him. I freaked out and in the end, I ran. I ran, like the coward I am."

Author's Note:

This book is slowly coming to an end. I'm really sad about it because this is my favorite book that I've written and your response as reader's has been so amazing. After I wrap this book and FTGU, I'm gonna take a long over due break from Wattpad. I'm still gonna write but I just need a bit of time to come up with something that I think y'all will love. 

Thank you so much for your support. It means the world to me.

-Sam