Falling (l.h.)

Chapter 73

SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT, BETWEEN WARPED, WORK, AND PLANNING MY SWEET SIXTEEN TRIP NEXT MONTH, I'VE BEEN REALLY BUSY, BUT I'LL PROBABLY UPDATE TOMORROW JUST TO MAKE UP FOR IT :) 

AND I MET BROOKS BETTS AT WARPED OKAY LIKE MY LIFE IS FUCKING COMPLETE

PLEASE LISTEN TO JAMES DEAN & AUDREY HEPBURN (ACOUSTIC) - SLEEPING WITH SIRENS FOR THIS CHAPTER, IT GOES REALLY WELL WITH THE SECOND HALF

Bri’s POV

I woke to the feeling of Luke removing his arms from around me as he got out of bed. I kept my eyes closed, but groaned to let him know I was awake.

“I’m sorry babe, but I promised my mom I would work today. I have to get to America somehow,” he explained softly before leaving a kiss on my forehead.

“I’ll miss you,” I frowned.

“I’ll be home tonight and we can have a movie marathon together, just us,” he suggested.

“Sounds perfect,” I smiled with my eyes still closed. I felt the bed shift under me as he stood up to get ready. A couple minutes later I heard the shower turn on and the sound of the running water made me slowly drift back to sleep.

*

I slept in considering I’d be alone all day. When I finally got up, I made myself breakfast and did some laundry, which was desperately needed. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had done any. I grabbed my suitcases from the closet in the hall and left it by the closet so I could pack after classes tomorrow and then I vacuumed and basically cleaned the entire apartment, leaving me exhausted by three. I took a nap so I would have energy by the time Luke got home.

“Bri, wake up, I’m home,” Luke whispered in my ear, gently shaking my shoulder.

I opened my eyes to see my amazing boyfriend smiling down at me, holding a McDonald’s bag out in my face.

“Luke I think I’m going to marry you,” I said, joking around as I grabbed the bag from his hands and pulled out all the food inside.

He sat down on the couch next to me, grabbing a handful of fries before popping them into his mouth and saying, “sounds good to me.”

I unwrapped a burger and took a bite, moaning at the taste, causing Luke to laugh.

“You really are a keeper Luke,” I smiled. He knew I would rather sit on the couch with fast food and watch tv all night in his tee shirt and shorts than get all dressed up and go out to a fancy restaurant and spend hundreds of dollars on overpriced steak and lobster.

“You clearly are too,” he said, laughing as he wiped ketchup off my chin, leaving me blushing. “The apartment looks really clean… and correct me if I’m wrong, but did you actually do laundry for once?”

“Yes Luke I did,” I confirmed, proud of myself. Normally I made Luke do my laundry for me, and if he didn’t I would just wear his clothes once I ran out of clean ones myself. “I even did yours too.”

“Who are you and what have you done with my girlfriend?” he joked.

“I’ve missed this,” I said honestly. I couldn’t remember the last time we had done anything even remotely close to this. Lately, everything has just been drama and school and more drama.

“Me too,” he frowned. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a shitty boyfriend.”

“I forgive you,” I said. “As long as you forgive me for being an equally shitty girlfriend.”

“Obviously,” he giggled, before leaning in to kiss me.

We spent the rest of the night watching movies and stealing kisses every now and then. We also spoke about how excited we were to go to New York and he could finally see where I grew up.

All we had to do was survive the next couple of days together and we were off. Of course, we both had the same worries and thoughts in the back of our minds… Aleisha and Matt.

Both of them were still missing. No one had a clue where they had gone or what they were up to, but we both knew whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be good.

I was really hoping that they wouldn’t use Luke’s biggest weakness against him. Yes, I believe he is okay and won’t return back to his addiction, I truly believe he is strong enough and that’s one of the reasons I didn’t force him back to rehab, but I’m just not sure if he believes in himself because that’s really the most important part. If he doesn’t believe he can do it, he won’t.

Luke’s POV

The sound of Bri’s annoying alarm clock woke us up even from the couch. She sprinted down the hall to shut it off and I silently prayed she would crawl back onto the couch and let us both ditch classes, but knowing Bri, that wasn’t going to happen.

“Luke get up,” she said as if she could read my thoughts.

“But I want to sleep,” I whined.

“So do I, but think about it… The quicker you get up and go to classes, the quicker we can come home and pack and then the quicker we go to bed, go to classes again, and then get on our flight to leave,” she tried reasoning.

“Actually, if I sleep the whole day away, the flight will still come at the same time so I think I’m going to choose sleep,” I remarked.

“Luke,” she warned. I could tell by the tone in her voice she didn’t want to deal with my sarcasm today.

“Fine,” I groaned.

I rolled off of the couch and jumped into the shower quickly, just to annoy her, but instead, she followed me in.

“Sorry babe, we have to get to class,” I teased.

“I’m not in here to have sex with you,” she rolled her beautiful eyes before continuing, “I need to shower too.”

I washed my hair and moved so she could do the same. I watched her as she screwed her eyes too tightly shut to avoid getting any shampoo in her eyes. I watched as she stood under the water much longer than she needed to rinse her hair, trying to get rid of her goosebumps. I knew that we needed to get to class, but I wrapped my arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

We stood there for what felt like forever, just letting the water run over us in each other’s’ arms.

“Stay with me,” I whispered too quietly, half wanting her to hear, and half not.

“Forever, no matter what,” she whispered back.