GOLDEN, luke hemmings

XXIV: BECAUSE I LOVE YOU

"What happened, baby?" Luke whispered, leaning in so that his forehead touched hers, his hands moving to her waist as a way of keeping her close.

"My sister, Aya, called," she responded, tone sadder than it seemed before, and she kept her eyes closed as tried to stay in that moment with Luke, fighting the urge to tangle her fingers in his hair and pull him towards her. "Everything's complicated. Isn't it, Luke?"

Lifting his head up, he held her tighter, her body falling into his chest. He rubbed one of her shoulders comfortingly and sighed, "It'll get better."

Getting up, Ava let go of him and let out a heavy breath of air, the smell of mint toothpaste still lingering. She played with the shirt she had on—one of Luke's that she had changed into after deciding that her costume was too uncomfortable, and she glanced up at him. "My parents are having a party for Thanksgiving, and they couldn't even invite me themselves. Aya called me last minute and asked if I could come through a voicemail. There was cheering in the background. They all sound happy without me."

"That's not true, Ava, they aren't happy without you," Luke soothed, scooting over on the bed so that he could maintain proximity, "And they're reaching out to you, aren't they? That counts for something, doesn't it? Try, baby, please try. I know you're scared, but you're capable of anything. It's now or never, right?"

She sniffled, wiping her wet eyes with her hand, "Can't I just go celebrate Thanksgiving at your family's place? They seem nicer."

Luke laughed quietly and shook his head, "Sorry, babe, my parents go to Australia every Thanksgiving to visit some of my other extended family even though they don't celebrate it, just for the vacation. Maybe next time."

"Can you come with me then?" Ava asked in hushed tone, not really meaning for it to be heard. She was embarrassed, because these were her battles but she was still asking for Luke to help. She didn't expect him to because she didn't want him to, and she was hoping he'd be a jerk for once and refuse so that she could receive a rude awakening, but that wasn't who he was. That's who she was.

"Of course," he answered a little too prepared, a little too fast, "But only if you're sure that you want to bring me and not Becca or someone else."

Ava shook her head, "No, I wanna bring you. But only if you want to go, Luke. I bring you along with me through a lot of things and I sometimes can be a pain in the ass, and I know that you don't always want to be there for me. So I'm telling you don't have to go. Don't go just because you feel bad if you don't. You don't have to—"

"Ava, you don't get it," Luke interrupted, looking at her with disbelief. "I always want to help you, I will always be there for you. I'm not playing the friend card; I don't want anything in return. I just want to make sure you're okay. I'm there with you because I want to be. Because I love you." 

Ava just looked at him again without saying anything—something she had been doing quite a lot of ever since her and Luke started talking again. Her eyes were flickering back and forth between Luke's eyes and lips, flashbacks of times they've almost and accidentally kissed flooding her memory like a dam had broke. She wanted to kiss him, she did, but she wasn't sure if it was too soon. They both had their own problems and they had just made up. Her brain was a frazzled mess, but the funny thing was that nothing seemed to stop her from moving closer to Luke, up until their foreheads touched once more.

"Luke..." she trailed off, her arms snaked around his neck loosely, staring at him. "I know this isn't the best time and that we—friends aren't—I just need you, and its just—Can—can I kiss you?"