chapter forty: let me try again
SUNDAY MORNING. My eyes slowly fluttered open as I heard a soft whisper near my ear, followed by something soft being pressed against my neck; Luke's lips began to trail down my skin and I smiled at the feeling. "Did the lack of curtains wake you up?" I asked Luke through a groggy whisper as my eyes started to react to the bright light coming in through the windows.
"You might yell at me when I tell you how early it is," Luke said through a giggle, which amused me.
"Oh?"
"It's barely thirty minutes past six." My eyes opened wide in surprise and that caused Luke's brows to raise. "You can go back to sleep if you'd like." Feeling more awake now, I took in Luke's appearance.
"Hey... are you feeling okay?" I could tell that Luke didn't look well-rested; his eyes were slightly bloodshot and puffy.
"I'm better now," he said through a tired laugh before falling onto his back and bringing his hands up to his eyes, rubbing them as he let out a yawn. I leaned over him and placed my hand on his chest. "I woke up around three with a killer stomachache—I might have had too much to drink. But it's out of my system now."
"Oh no, Lu," I said, instantly feeling bad for him. "You should've woken me up."
"Don't be silly—there was no reason for you to be up. I took a shower and got back to bed as soon as I could," he told me, which surprised me further—I couldn't believe I had slept through everything he had done. "But the lack of curtains definitely did me dirty."
"Do you think you could stomach something? I could make us breakfast," I suggested, wanting to do something to help him feel better. "We could make you some toast?"
"It's cute that you want to baby me, but I'm really fine," he told me before leaning up and kissing my cheek. "I'm guessing I look pretty bad—but I'm really not feeling bad anymore. I want to make you breakfast, I don't want you to worry about me."
"Luke," I groaned out in frustration as I realized he wasn't going to let me do anything nice for him.
"Don't worry about me, bubs," he said with a smile before placing a hand on my cheek. He slowly stroked his thumb against the skin of my cheek and I couldn't keep a smile from appearing on my face. "How did you sleep?"
"Like a rock, apparently," I said through a scoff. "I'm telling you—when you're here, I sleep so much better."
"You can't be certain that I'm the cause this time. Maybe it's just the house. I'm sure you'll always sleep well here, even without me," Luke tried to separate himself from the equation and I slowly squinted my eyes as I looked in his direction. "What?"
"Nothing..." I said before letting out a sigh. "I think I'm going to shower, it'll help me wake up."
"Jos, you can go back to sleep if you need to," Luke said, his eyebrows furrowing ever so slightly with concern. "Are you mad at me?"
"No," I told him with a shake of my head. "I'm already up, though, so there's no reason to go back to bed. I'll be quick." I pressed my lips against Luke's cheek before throwing the comforter off me and getting out of bed.
"Hey," Luke said as he sat up in bed. "This isn't how I expected our morning to go."
"What do you mean?" I asked as I turned around to look at him.
"You're upset about something. The last thing I wanted was to spoil your first morning here. I thought we'd share some cute conversation—"
"Luke, I'm not upset," I told him through a tired laugh as I walked around the bed and sat down by his side. "Besides... this is our first morning here," I said, kind of sad, before looking away from him. "You seemed a lot more excited to be part of all this yesterday."
"What? Oh, Jos, I don't want to make it seem like I'm not excited. It's just important to me that you feel confident and happy about this being your place. I'm not trying to separate myself," Luke said, now seeming to understand why I was slightly down. "I just don't want you to ever get to a point where you're completely relying on my presence."
"Well, it's a good thing I'm not even close to completely relying on you," I said through a huff, feeling offended as he spoke. I knew I was taking things more personally than I normally would, but I couldn't seem to help it. I had pushed myself back up and off the bed—I had a plan to get myself out of the room so neither of us could make the situation worse, especially when it was so pointless.
"Jos, I'm saying all the wrong things," Luke said, throwing the comforter off his legs and preparing to follow after me. "But I'm not trying to be a jerk. I'm sorry." I turned around to look at Luke again and I could tell he was genuinely upset with himself; which I didn't want. "Let me try again, okay? I don't want you to ever stop feeling as though you can rely on me because I'll always be here for you, but I just feel it's important to deflect you from so strictly associating happiness with me being here and unhappiness with me not being here. But if either of us relies too much on the other, I'm the one relying too much on you."
"Lu," I spoke quietly, trying to nicely stop him from continuing as I stepped toward him and placed my hands on his cheeks. He had gotten off the bed at this point and had made his way closer to me. "I understand what you're trying to say, okay? I promise I do. And I'm sorry for sounding hateful. You haven't spoiled anything—we'll try all this again once I'm out of the shower and not in such a poor mood."
"Okay," Luke said, still sounding disappointed. "I'm sorry if I made you mad... I don't know what to do to make mad Josie happy again, and I feel lousy."
I stood on my tiptoes before pressing my lips against Luke's for a short moment. He kissed back for as long as I let him, and we both shared tired smiles as we pulled away. "I'm not mad. But the day we actually have a fight... count me out," I said through a quiet laugh, which prompted Luke to do the same. "I'll be quick, okay? I'll be right back." Luke nodded his head before leaning down and kissing me again, which caused me to smile. We pulled away and Luke turned to go back to bed as I left the room to go to the bathroom that was next door.
As promised, my shower didn't last long. Just long enough to feel refreshed; just as I had hoped. In just a towel, I walked back into the bedroom to see Luke in the process of making the bed. I stopped in my tracks and raised an eyebrow at him, waiting patiently before he finally turned to look at me.
"You're that worried that I'm upset with you?" I joked which caused him to snicker as his eyes playfully rolled. I walked up to him and stepped on my tiptoes as I kissed his cheek. "You know, it's a shame—I was hoping we'd make up for being too tired to get up to anything last night." As soon as the words left my mouth, Luke's eyebrow arched. "But I guess we'll just go make some breakfast and start our day."
I took a step backward before letting the towel I was holding fall from my body. Luke's face lit up as he smiled down at me and I felt my cheeks blush. Without verbally responding, Luke pulled the hoodie he was wearing off; something he had thrown on after I had gone to take a shower. I took a step closer to him and hooked my fingers under the elastic of the boxers he was wearing before pulling them down.
Luke instantly dipped his face down to my height and placed his lips on mine, pulling me closer as his hands started to travel down my hips. I smiled against his lips, mirroring his hand placement and squeezing his ass which caused him to chuckle.
He swiveled us around before sitting down on the edge of the bed, pulling me between his legs as he kissed me hard. I placed my hands on his shoulders before dragging my fingers down his chest, stopping once my hands met his cock. Taking him into my hand, I started to rub his length to please him. Luke let out quiet moans as I continued, his lips never falling from mine.
I placed my hands back on Luke's shoulders as I decided to pull myself onto his lap—beginning by placing one of my knees to the side of his leg. Luke caught on within seconds and pulled me up without hesitation. I stayed up on my knees as Luke pulled me close and began to place kisses on the skin of my tummy. I leaned my head back as he guided me down slightly, until his mouth was on my breast. He took my nipple between his teeth and I let out a moan at the feeling. He began to swirl his tongue around the hard nub and I bit my lip as my eyes closed.
My hand traveled down to Luke's cock and I took him in my hand before rocking my hips, causing my folds to swipe against his tip.
"Fuck," Luke groaned, his mouth falling from my breast. I smiled at his swearing and lined myself up with his cock before sitting down—sliding down his length and letting it fill me.
I started to ride Luke, getting a feel for the position we were in and establishing a good rhythm. He assisted in keeping me steady as I continued and we both shared moans the longer we went. Luke's lips continuously placed kisses against my neck as he stayed close. I placed my hands on his shoulders as I quickened my pace, needing something to hold onto as I pushed myself up and back down.
Luke's hands traveled down my back and he grabbed onto my ass, guiding me down onto his cock. I let out a moan as he forced me down, my head falling back in response to how deep he was in me. Instead of going fast, my motions became slower yet more forceful as they became more intentional.
"I never understand why we don't do things your way more often," Luke breathed out, a quiet laugh following after. My eyes playfully rolled as I rolled my hips while riding him, breathily laughing at his words.
"It's because you're so good at doing things your way," I joked back with him. "Are you close? Do you wanna switch things up?"
"Let's keep this going," Luke said, breathing heavily as his hands found my waist. I continued to ride him, but arched my back as I let my hands rest on my ankles that were resting on his thighs. I plunged myself as far down on him as I could before coming up, and I did that as fast as I could.
It wasn't long before Luke told me he was close—instead of staying on him, I got off and finished him off with a blow job. Luke fell backward on the bed after he came, his breathing heavy.
"I didn't deserve that after the morning I caused," Luke scoffed, just before grabbing my hand and pulling me down beside him. I laughed at his actions, but tried to get serious as he rolled himself to be towering over me. He ducked his head into my neck and began to leave kisses against my skin, all the while his hand traveled down my body before swiping two fingers between my folds. I opened my legs a little wider for him as his fingers continued to explore. He dipped a single finger in me before adding another and I bit my lip at the feeling; he flashed me a smile before kissing my jaw.
Luke began by swirling his fingers inside me, bringing me pleasure instantly, even before his fingers curled and found my sweet spot. My hips moved against his touch and I moaned as he continued.
His thumb entered the equation as it found its place on my clit, swirling around the aroused nub and causing me to gasp in pleasure.
Luke leaned down and took one of my nipples in between his teeth, pulling on it gently before letting go—I gasped in response to that action as well, a loud moan following in suit as his thumb's motions quickened.
Luke suddenly stopped, just as I was on the cusp of climax, and he began to giggle to himself.
"Luke!" I whined, my core becoming overwhelmed with a sense of dissatisfaction.
"I'm so sorry," Luke said, as if he had only realized what he had done. "I just realized we're in a whole ass house by ourselves because you own a house now and it just seemed so silly yet impressive. I didn't mean to stop, it just happened." I brought my hands up to my face, finding the heart to laugh at him for having such a silly thought. "I'm making it up to you—don't worry." Instead of simply starting again, Luke pushed himself further down on the bed. His face came close to my right leg before he placed a kiss on the skin of my inner right thigh. He kissed around the marks he had made just nights before and I bit my lip as he trailed kisses to my folds, just before his tongue swiped along them and soaked up my arousal.
Using both his tongue and fingers, Luke had kept his promise and made me climax within minutes. Once he was done, he trailed kisses up my tummy as I regained my composure.
"You smell awful nice—did you change your body wash or something?" I laughed at his question, mostly because of how genuinely interested he sounded, but also because I was surprised he had noticed something so minuscule.
"I did, actually," I told him with a nod before wrapping my arms around his neck. His hands were on either side of me as he kept his face close to my own. "What do I smell like?"
"Hmm," Luke said, just before intentionally and obnoxiously sniffing at my neck. "Smells a bit like vanilla, but also a bit fruity? I know you used to use that brown sugar stuff, so you smelling fruity is throwing me off."
"You don't like it?"
"No, I do—it's just not what I'm used to."
"Well, it's not actually fruity," I told him before leaning up and pressing a kiss against the skin of his neck. "It's honey vanilla, so I didn't think it would be too different when I was buying it."
"How fitting—you're my honey," Luke said with a big grin on his face. "But you're also my sugar."
"Look at you go, Hemmings," I said through a laugh before leaning up and pecking his lips. "I don't want you to go."
"Hey," he said as he sprouted a pout, "we have all day. There's no need to think about that yet."
"I know... I just can't help it," I said through a sigh. "I'll drive you to the airport."
"Jos, it'll be so early in the morning—and you have class tomorrow. I don't want you driving back out here at such a time, when it's so dark."
"Well, that's too bad. You'll just have to stop your worrying," I told Luke with a shrug.
"Josie..."
"I am not letting you leave in the middle of the night without me saying bye to you at the airport, Luke. Don't even try to fight me on it. I'll drive to your place instead, okay? Would that make you feel better?"
"Yeah... I guess so," Luke said, nodding his head as he sprouted a small grin. "That's ages away, though—what's on the agenda for today?"
"Well, I'm hoping we can go downstairs for breakfast soon because I'm hungry," I started, which caused Luke to snicker. "I don't have much in mind, though... I might seclude myself for thirty minutes or so to finish up some homework, and I thought about going to look for some little things for the house, but that can wait."
"Why wait?" Luke asked with furrowed brows.
"I don't want to bother you with that," I told him. "I also figured you'd probably want to stay away from running into crowds of people."
"I don't care about that, Jos. All I care about is being with you, and a couple of people coming up to talk to me isn't going to change that. If you wanna go out and pick up some odds and ends, we should go."
"Are you sure? We can do something you want to do instead—we can do whatever you want."
"Of course I'm sure," he said with a grin before leaning down and placing his lips on mine, just for a short second. "I might as well have a say in at least a couple of things you buy, right?"
"Yeah, you're right," I smiled as I spoke, unable to help it. "Pieces of Luke scattered around are required, actually."
Luke pushed himself up before offering me a hand, helping me up from the bed. "Is that right?" he asked, which earned him a nod. "That's what I like to hear."
"Do you think your family will like me?" I asked, out of the blue, which caused Luke's eyebrows to raise.
"What?" he asked through a laugh. "Of course they will—what got you thinking about that?"
"I don't know," I told him through a chuckle as I walked across the room, beginning to pick out something to wear. "My whole family just loves you so much... I guess I just hope your family finds me as charming and lovable."
"Jos, they're going to adore you," Luke assured me. "I can't imagine disliking you. You're simply the best."
"Better than all the rest?" I quoted Tina Turner, singing badly. Luke laughed through his nose, his head falling back slightly before replying.
"Better than anyone I've ever met," he replied, his head nodding. "And guess what? I'm stuck on your heart—I hang on every word you say," Luke sang his response and I smiled widely at the sound. "There's no doubt that they're going to love you, Josie. My mom already asks about you every time she calls." Luke crossed over to me, now wearing a pair of shorts. Once he got to me, he placed his hands on my bare hips.
"Does she really?" I asked with a smile, my heart fluttering at the thought. Luke smiled as he nodded.
"She can't wait to meet you. And I can't wait for you to meet her, and the rest of my family. And I also can't wait to travel with you, spend the holidays with you... I just can't wait to share all my time with you once I'm back from tour. I love daydreaming about it all."
"I do, too," I admitted. "I can't wait to have you all to myself for more than a weekend at a time."
"It'll come sooner than we think," Luke said, trying to make us both feel better. "I say we have a celebratory mimosa for breakfast."
"What exactly are we celebrating?" I asked through a giggle.
"Us," he said with a proud grin.
"Oh, of course. We love us."
a/n:
lmao uhhhhh this chapter took so long to write aidhwjdhdkhfkdf
i'm getting a lil worried about how difficult it has been for me to write !!! i hate writer's block so much ...... i just wish it would cease to exist
but hey !!!! i am done with a school !!!!!!!! so hopefully i will be updating like crazy and u guys will get sick of me !!!!!
i have missed you all SO god damn much. u all literally make me so happy and it makes me so sad that i've been so inactive
i hope u all are still here 🥺
i'm not gonna make this a/n too long, but i did just wanna say that i miss u !!!! and that i plan to be much more active during the summer!!! pls forgive my absence
u all are the world to me
thank you SO MUCH for reading. ugh i love u all
ok bye <3
jill