when we collide ✰ l.h.

Chapter 40

"I took a red-eye flight, took off half past midnight. Midnight at home, of course." He told me since he knew I would ask about it anyways. I simply nodded my head, glancing down to the suitcase in his hands. "How about I set this down and we can go talk?" He suggested, already jumping on his actions and stepping inside to put his things down.

I took a step back and watched as he set his luggage right next to the door. He stood up right and peered down at me. My arms were wrapped tightly around myself as I nervously bit at my bottom lip. Luke wasn't making me nervous, if anything I was happy that he was standing right in front of me. I was nervous of what he was going to say.

He led the way out, snatching a beach towel that hung over the balcony. We were on a path to a private beach and he stopped as we reached a fence.

"Luke, I don't think we can go in here." I told him, speaking over the waves that were only so far from us.

"No one's bought these houses yet, no one will catch us. We're okay." He assured me as he opened the gate to let me through. His smile was the cause of mine and there seemed to be a huge weight off my shoulders.

We neared the water, laying out a blanket about twenty feet from the shoreline. Close enough to listen to the waves, but not close enough to be touched by them.

He laid the towel down and we both sat down, facing the water. He sat with his legs stretched out as did I, but since his were a lot longer it made me want to laugh, but I wasn't too sure if it was the most appropriate time. We were both resting on our hands behind us, maybe an inch between our hips.

"California is pretty, isn't it?" he said, looking over to me.

"Yeah." I answered, smiling as I looked out at the water lit up by the moon. I heard him sigh and I glanced over to him.

"Autumn, I-" he started, unsure of where he was going with his words. He stopped for a second, shaking his head as it fell. He picked his head back up and looked out ahead then back over to me. "I messed up, didn't I?" he asked, his voice breaking just the slightest amount.

I filled the empty space between us, "Listen to me," I began, looking right into his tired eyes. "We both did. We both mess up a lot, actually, but that's okay. It's all okay. Just because this time was a little different doesn't mean that it's the end of the world." I explained to him, bringing my knees to my chest.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I can't believe I yelled at you like that." He buried his face in his hands. "I mean, my girlfriend, my best friend, my whole goddamn world." He muttered, making my heart melt just a little from how disgustingly cute he was at times. "I'm stupid sometimes, I'm sorry." He apologized again and I bit at the inside of my cheek to keep myself from smiling like an idiot.

"It's two sided, it's not all your fault." I chuckled, which is when he leaned onto my side just a little too much and knocked us both to the ground. Luckily the towel was big enough to keep both of us out of the sand. We were both on our backs now as we stared up at the sky.

He sighed, "I know, but frankly I'm too far afraid of letting you slip through my fingers to let you take the blame for this when in reality I'm just a big asshole." He spoke quickly, almost too quickly to where I couldn't understand what he was saying.

"You aren't an asshole." I told him. "And we're just some kids trying to get our lives together. I think we're doing okay." I peered over to him to see that he looked rather occupied with his thoughts by the way his eyebrows were furrowed and he we tugging on his lip ring again.

We laid like this in silence for a few minutes, just enjoying each other's presence. It was calm and peaceful and I was glad I was spending it with Luke by my side. I inhaled deeply, taking in my surroundings.