Luke's POV.
"You guys look very nice tonight, thanks for getting him out." Mom lowered her voice to Marcus and Troy, I pretended I hadn't heard anything.
My sisters took lots of pictures, I put on the fake smile but I wanted to be alone. I wanted to go to her house and apologize, maybe she'd join us but I needed to at least clear the air between us.
"Thanks Annabeth, we'll keep him out as long as we can." Troy gave my mother a look I couldn't read but it seemed to make her smile. We waved goodbye to my family as we piled into Troy's big black car, they had refused to let me drive.
"Where are the girls? Aren't we picking them up?" I asked them from the back seat.
"No, we're meeting them at the dance, they had some last minute preparations. Probably girl stuff." Troy answered bluntly.
Marcus shifted in his seat, I listened to them talk under the radio. I stared out the window and memories of all my friends and I, clouded my vision. I saw us at the rock wall at camp. On various quests that mashed into a collage of memories, I saw us laughing at lunch. Then one by one, the memories of us faded into just Lauren and I.
It started when we were seven playing basketball at recess, then we were ten when she had told me about her aunt. I saw the night she was claimed, I watched us play in the pool at my house with my siblings. I saw the New Years Eve party at Chandler's last year, us sitting in the bathroom then staring at the Atlantic Ocean by the lighthouse. I saw that night at camp last summer when I'd asked her to the fireworks dance and she'd said no. I'd thought I was hurt then, but that like getting pinched compared to how I was feeling now.
I saw us in the sword arena, I listened the voice in my head replay everything I'd said to her just before she'd kissed me. I saw our sixth month anniversary date, I listened to her laugh and gazed lovingly at her smile. I thought about her hands in mine, I thought about her eyes and her sweet smelling hair. Then as the car screeched to a halt and my memories stopped, reminding me that I'll probably never see that part of Lauren again.
"Let's go guys." Marcus ordered. I followed them without a word, wishing I was at Lauren's apologizing for everything I'd done to her.
The cool May air nipped my face but was quickly drowned out by the heat and pulsating music from the gym. The theme this year was summer love and I was pretty sure the universe was mocking me.
I stayed close to Troy and Marcus until Ruth appeared with Mara. Ruth was wearing a deep purple dress with black heels, she looked stunning. Troy seemed to think so, he kissed her for a while then offered her a dance.
Mara was wearing a lavender dress that covered her feet and she'd curled her bright blonde hair. As soon as she reached Marcus, he kissed her like there was no one else in the room. And just as I'd predicted, I was alone in a sea of people talking, dancing and kissing. Now I really wanted to go home. I wanted to walk alone and drown in my thoughts and be anywhere but here.
"Alright high schoolers! Here's your first slow song, here's Prefect by Ed Sheeran." The DJ played the song, really? Why did he pick this song? Every time I heard this song I thought about Lauren, it's like Ed Sheeran had followed her around and wrote this song about her.
Over the song I heard the gym doors open, I turned to see who it was and I was lost for words. Her eyes scanned the crowd nervously, her brown hair was done up in a messy crown braid with a few loose locks of hair framing her face. The dress this girl was wearing was a deep sea green, it shimmered like the ocean when the light hit the dress. I couldn't stop staring, I pushed through the crowd entranced by her. Her eyes veered in my direction until they met mine. I kept moving towards her, never breaking eye contact. I'd finally reached her, her cheeks had flushed a light red that was just as cute as it always had been.
"Hey," I heard her voice over the song.
"Hey," my throat was scratchy.
"You look nice." Lauren said nervously, her eyes dropped to the ground.
"Thanks, you look...amazing. I thought you looked great last year, you've continued to out do yourself Winters." I said as confidently as I could not taking my eyes off her.
"Thanks," Lauren raised her head her intimidating eyes that I'd missed so much locked with mine. She opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by Satan's spawn in a bright red dress.
"Babe, what are you doing with that?"
Lauren gave me the most soul crushing I'd ever seen in her eyes. Then something snapped inside me and I was gonna let Andrea have it. "I'm no one's babe. You ruined everything, you ruined what I had with Lauren. You have ten seconds to get out of here before you wish you'd never done what you did to me." I turned to her and gave her a venomous look.
Andrea took a step back but didn't leave, "no! I've been pushed around by you for too long Luke Jackson, you love me, you just deny it because she tells you lies about me."
"What Lauren's says about you is all true, I've seen it myself. Apologize to her, apologize for making her life hell at school." I lowered my voice giving Andrea a murderous look.
"No, why I would apologize to someone who doesn't deserves it?"
In an instant Andrea hit the ground and let out a scream. Sea green covered her red dress and the whole gym went silent. I felt all eyes transferring from me to the two girls rolling on the floor. I heard something crack and I picked Lauren up, my pulse picked up with Lauren in my arms.
"Let me go! She needs to be taught a lesson!" Lauren kicked and thrashed in my grasp.
"Thank you," I whispered into her ear which made her stop thrashing.
A bunch of girls in overexposed dresses helped Andrea to her feet, blood pooled on the floor, Andrea covered her nose. There was a bruise on her cheek and tears in her eyes, "you're such a bitch Lauren! What the hell?!"
"If I'm a bitch then you're the nicest person alive! I've dealt with enough of your shit and I'm not going to take it laying down anymore!" Lauren shouted.
"Lauren Topanga Winters, people like you never get what you want. And what the hell kind of name is that? Topanga? That's a dumbass name for a dumbass person, girls like you who live with their abusive, alcoholic aunts never get a happy ending, you don't deserve something you'll never get." Andrea hissed.
Lauren stopped, a single tear streaked down from her cheek, she was quivering, how did Andrea know about that? Lauren never talks about her middle name or her aunt.
"You know something Andrea? I've always known what you are, you think the world revolves around you. Let me say this, you'll never do anything Lauren can. Lauren is the smartest person in our school, she's going to Harvard, she's going to change the world and live a life she deserves because people like you only thrive in high school. And for the record, Topanga means where the mountain meets the sea. And the name Lauren means wisdom. So in short her full name means wisdom, where the mountain meets the sea. I don't even know what the hell your name means but I can assure you it isn't as beautiful as hers.
"You'll never be anything more than the most popular girl in school, you're such a bitch, you've made my life miserable because you're so needy and so artificial. Lauren is going to change the world because she's the strongest person I've ever known. One day you'll be sorry you ever messed with this girl because you know she's better than you. You have no excuse to pick on her because Lauren would never do anything to hurt someone else...without good reason." I turned to Lauren as I said those last words, before I continued.
"Lauren is way smarter, tougher, sweeter, prettier, funnier and as close to perfect someone can get. She's an angel, and she's my best friend and when you mess with an angel there's always a consequence. Now I'm gonna say this one more time, apologize to her. Or that big nose of yours won't be the only thing broken." I stopped myself from biting my tongue, I'd completely forgotten that everyone else was here and it wasn't just Andrea, Lauren and I.
Andrea opened her mouth and in a voice hardly louder than a whisper she grumbled, "I'm sorry."
"Thank you. I hope you all find some way to enjoy the rest of your night." I turned around and stomped towards the doors, not looking back. Fueled with aggression I walked fasted, knowing no one was following me.
I heard the music play again as I closed the gym doors behind me. The air was colder now, the sky was black, clouds covered it, I knew it was going to rain, and I wanted to be home before it started.
"Luke!" I heard a voice call my name from the inky darkness surrounding me. I heard the sound of heels hitting the pavement, I knew exactly who it was, the inconsistency in her footsteps was always like this when she wore heels. I forced away the smile and kept my composure.
"Luke Jackson, wait a second!" She panted, she was out of breath but nothing had made me happier to hear her voice in the dark. I stopped under a street lamp by the bus stop where Lauren had left me a month ago.
"Stop!" She appeared into the light, her hair was messy, and her cheeks were bright red but she'd never looked better.
"Yeah?" I asked, holding her eyes but keeping a straight face.
"Thanks, thanks for doing that, standing up to her...you're a great—oh screw this, Luke this is bullshit" Lauren's voice hardened.
"What is?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"This...us," Lauren gestured to me then her, "what we've been for the last month. It sucks, you were right, you were right okay? I can't trust people cause I'm afraid to be hurt because I've been hurt enough. I'm not myself without you there, I miss my best friend, I miss the shoulder I've always been able to lean on. I miss how we used to be, before all this. I'm sorry." Her voice broke off, she stood there shivering in the frigid May air, I felt the first raindrop splatter onto my nose.
"It's my fault too, I shouldn't have yelled, I didn't mean any of that stuff I said to you. I was hurt that you'd accuse me of something like that. You know I hate her, I tell you that everyday. I was hurt that you didn't trust me, I was wrong to punish you for that, I'm sorry." I took a step closer to her, she did the same. We were an arm's length away, I could feel the walls being broken down between us.
"We both made a mistake Luke. But you said me exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks for standing up to her, thanks for saying all those things about me. But you got one part wrong, I'm not your best friend." My eyes widened, what?! What did that mean?! Lauren took a step forwards and took my rain coated hands in hers, my heartbeat was sent into over drive.
"Listen, Lauren you're my best friend, it's always been you, I understand now if you don't feel the same way. But we don't have to go back to what we were, unless you think you'd be comfortable with that. But I'll be perfectly happy knowing that you're my friend again because I was lost without you. Please, could we go back to being friends, I missed you too much." I squeezed her hands and pulled her closer to me, the rain drops soaked my hair but I didn't care. I needed an answer, I needed to know that we'd be friends again. I could accept the fact if she only wanted to be friends, because she needs to be the dictator about when and how we change what we have.
"I think I can do a little more than that bird brain." She leaned up and her rain doused lips touched mine, softly and sweetly. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled herself into me. I was stunned, at first I thought I was dreaming but then I felt cool air from where her lips met mine.
She had pulled away, her cheeks were red from embarrassment, "oh, I'm sor—" I cut her off and kissed her again. I placed my hand on the back of her head and deepened the kiss. I pulled her even closer into me, because I wanted to keep her warm and because I'd missed her so much.
Eventually we stopped, both panting mildly, "whoa." Lauren half whispered, her face just inches from mine. I smiled and let out a small laugh, she did too. I missed this.
"Don't ever apologize for kissing me ever again." I cupped her face in my drenched hands.
"Deal, that goes for you too." Lauren pecked me on the cheek. I pulled her in and kissed her again under the street lamp in the pouring rain and it was the best kiss ever.
A/N: yeah! Double L is reunited!