Luke's cold hands ran over my skin as he finished zipping up the part of my dress I couldn't reach. We both stared into the long mirror leaning on one of the walls in my room, studying our reflection a little too carefully.
Ever since spring break things felt a little different. It was a good different though. I think it was put into our heads that this was starting to get a little more serious and we weren't just hopeless romantics that stumbled into the loving arms of their best friends. No, no, no. How different things were for us.
"Our Sunday best on a Saturday," Luke softly spoke. His hands gripped onto my shoulders that had dotted with freckles over spring break. "Only your mother." He smiled at me through the mirror while my expression stayed flat.
"I feel like I should be worried about why we're dressed so nice for this surprise she's going to throw at us." I sighed, eyeing over the dress that clung tightly to my body.
He pressed his chest to my back and wrapped his arms across the top of my chest, kind of like a head lock, but without the actual choking part. "It's nothing, you donut." He teased. I gave him a suppressed smile and clung onto his forearms that were still wrapped around me.
"Are you ready?" I asked, changing the subject. We had a drive ahead of us that I wasn't necessarily looking forward to.
"I am." He shortly said. He unwrapped himself from me and took a few steps back as I turned around.
"Doesn't look like it." I giggled at the sight of his messy excuse of a tie and grabbed the end of it to pull him closer to me.
His bottom lip poked out at my action, "Be careful, this is expensive." He adjusted the knot around his neck to loosen it so I could retie it for him.
"I'm sure you did more harm than I did." I teased. I focused on straightening the tie up and quickly finished it. He readjusted the knot and smoothed down his shirt.
"It's always nice to see you in dresses." Luke admitted, his words sounding more like a sigh than anything. "God, I'm such a sap. What have you turned me in to?"
I rolled my eyes at him, taking his hand in mine and pulling him out of my room. "A human being with feelings." I said over my shoulder, letting my hair fall down my back.
I tugged him all the way through the front door, down our buildings' steps, and to my car without a single peep from both of us. We had already loaded my car up with our bags for the weekend along with our normal road trip CDs. Most of them were made when we were about 14 or 15 and contained mostly of some throw back Fall Out Boy songs mixed with a strange amount of Kelly Clarkson. I blame Luke for that one.
"Hungry?" I asked him, starting up the engine.
He groaned, "Always."
"Me too." I whined, looking over at him.
"This is why we're friends." He laughed. I snickered at his response as I started backing out of my parking spot and starting the horrible drive down to my parent's house.
"This is why we date." I added. We both looked at each other with soft smiles on our faces.
"Relationship goals." He said, nearly mumbling as his smile grew.
I groaned as he chuckled, "God, I hate you."
Our ride was quiet as Luke decided to take advantage of the trip and sleep. Apparently the two donuts he ate had actually put him into a sugar coma.
I used the silent time to think. My life at the moment was unpredictable. It made a 180 and I was at a place where I never thought I'd ever be. And it was incredible and I was happy and that's all that mattered to me.
I looked over at the sleeping boy who, bless his heart, managed to fall asleep with half a donut in his hand. This was also the kid I trusted with my life and feelings and emotions and this was the boy that I managed to fall in love with and holy shit did I miss out for the past however many years.
Despite my short temper and constant over thinking and my super great ability to make really horrible decisions, he still put up with me. And I'd never be able to thank him for that. And it sort of killed me.
-
Luke woke up right as we pulled into my driveway. There were cars lined up on our street and balloons tied to our mailbox and I was really confused.
"Is it Effy's birthday?" Luke groggily asked. "Did I miss it? Oh no, I couldn't have missed her birthday I was planning on getting her this really cool-"
"Effy's birthday is in 3 months, you're okay." I assured him, laughing at his scare of missing a party for an 8 year old.
"Oh." Was all he said. He stretched his arms over his and yawned. His arms fell back into his lap and he blinked a few times before looking over at me. "Thanks for driving babe." He chirped, leaning over and leaving a kiss on my cheek.
"Gross." I joked which only made Luke come back for more. He tried kissing my lips this time but I kept avoiding him. "Ugh, you know how I feel about physical contact." I sarcastically said, eventually giving in and pecking his lips once.
"We're too far into this to have you playing hard to get." Luke said, getting out of the car as I did too.
"Lighten up, Hemmings." I sighed, walking over to him and letting my arm hook with his. "Now my mom said a shit ton of my family is here, so don't act like my stinky and dingy boyfriend." I told him, peering up at him as we walked towards my front door.
"No one knows we're actually together, Autumn." Luke reminded me. "I mean, my parents and your family knows."
"Just April and my mom, actually." I corrected, stopping outside my front door.
"Really? Not even your dad?"
"'Hey dad, I'm living with my boyfriend a few hours away in our small apartment. We totally aren't sharing a bed or having sex.' That doesn't sound too good." I answered, Luke's eyebrows raising at my comment.
"Alright, remind me that we should break it to him when there's nothing around him that could possibly cause internal bleeding." He joked.
I laughed, "You know my dad, he's not like that." I looked around my porch then back at Luke who was nervously tugging at his lip ring. "Just be casual, alright? Don't touch my butt and keep your hands where everyone can see them and you'll be alright." I told him, putting my hands on his shoulders.
He glared at me which only brought out my smile. There was nothing more irresistible than him being annoyed with me.
He grabbed my hand, but in the way that our fingers weren't locked. He pushed my front door open and we were both greeted by the overwhelming sound of many many people talking along with balloons filling my house.
"Is it someone's birthday?" Luke mumbled, pulling me to his side as we walked towards my living room where it looked like a majority of people were.
I scanned the room, spotting a particular sign. "Apparently not," I replied as I pointed to the said reading 'Congratulations!' that hung over a table of presents, mostly wrapped in pink and blue paper.
His eyes widened at the banner then down at me then at the people that were about to bombard us with multiple questions about college and Manhattan and living on my own. One question in particular has stumped us both.
"You've gotten so mature since the last time I've seen you. Luke too. Have you met a lucky boy yet?" My aunt was always the one asking about relationships, it ran on my mother's side of the family.
"I, uh, yes. Luke's my boyfriend." I told her, my cheeks flushing a bit as Luke gave her a small wave.
"Really?" She asked, her eyebrow raising. I nodded slowly as I could see Luke pointing over to me to tell one of my cousins that he met last summer that I was his lucky lady.
"You two did grow up together, it's sweet." She gave me a sweet smile, the one I had missed for years.
Luke and I were both separated for a little while since we were chatting way more than we should have been. I hadn't spotted my actual family anywhere, but I did get to catch up with Luke's. We were actually in the middle of a conversation about our summer plans when I felt someone short cling onto my body.
"Hi Effy!" I grinned, rather excited to see my little sister. I leaned down to give her a tight hug and Luke quickly followed my actions.
"You're more excited to see Effy than you ever are you see me." I put on a fake pout, getting enjoyment out of teasing Luke.
"I'm very excited every morning to roll over and see you sleeping next to me, thank you very much." He quietly said, kissing my temple. My cheeks flushed at his words as another group of people had came into the room.
Both of my parents had led Travis and his wife, who had a very visible baby bump, through the crowd of relatives to say hello to me as they had already greeted the others.
It felt a bit weird to wrap my arms around my parents and squeeze them because I missed them. College had driven me out of my 'I hate my parents' stage and drove me into my 'I love my parents because they're paying for my education and some of my housing' stage. Also because I had felt a few things had changed.
My parents had drifted a bit apart, which wasn't anything worrisome. I was told it was normal. Travis is here with his pregnant girlfriend-wife, I mean. I still couldn't process the fact that my older brother was married and by the looks of it had his own child on the way. Also I had Luke by my side not as my best friend but also as my boyfriend and I was now flaunting him to my family.
After a few conversations cut short, Luke and I finally found out way back to each other in the middle of my kitchen.
"Sorry about my family pestering you." I laughed, hopping up on the counter. He wriggled his way between my legs and rested his forehead on my shoulder.
"You're going to be an aunt." Luke murmured. We quickly figured out that this was a baby shower for Travis' wife and I was just extremely paranoid.
"I feel so old." I giggled as he took his head off my shoulder.
Luke shook his head, "I couldn't imagine being married with a kid at 21. Props to them." He placed his hands on either side of my thighs and had a light grip on the counter.
"Everyone around us is getting married and popping out kids and buying houses like we're still teenagers and that scares me." I sighed, trying not to kick my feet so I would hit Luke.
"You're stressing me out." Luke chuckled. He stayed silent for a moment then popped his head back up to talk to me. "Could you imagine if we had a child?" He asked. By the lift of his eyebrows and half smile I knew just was he was thinking.
"Oh, God," I said under my breath, a laugh soon following my words as I hung my head low.
"I can't tell if we'd be horrible parents or if our child would be out of control." He replied, picking my chin up with the tip of his finger.
"Probably both." I laughed again, just having this image of two kids running around our apartment while Luke and I were asleep on the couch.
"Hello, you two." Our heads turned towards my mom's voice as she walked into the kitchen. Luke took a step back from me and straightened up as she stood on the opposite side of the counter from us. "I'm guessing you guys figured out why I called you out here." She lightly laughed.
"How far along is Sarah?" I asked. It seemed so weird now that she was my sister-in-law instead of just my big brother's girlfriend who's been around for I don't even know how long.
"Almost 5 months." She told me, my jaw slightly dropping. The wedding was just a month or so ago and she wasn't even showing that much.
"5 months?!" I replied, glancing over to Luke who had just about the same reaction as I did.
My mom nodded her head, "Yeah, she found out the gender of the baby last week and wanted to wait until we all got together to tell us." She said.
"When is she telling us?" I questioned.
"She brought a cake and whenever she cuts it the inside will be either pink or blue. It's really cute." She faintly smiled at me and Luke.
"That's sweet." I told her, looking up at Luke who was already lazily smiling my way.
"It's all sweet until you realize I'm a grandmother." My mom joked, rubbing her temples with her fingers.
Luke laughed, "You don't look a day over 30." I snickered at Luke's comment as my mom shook her head at him. If anyone had a better relationship than us it was literally him and my mom. Weird, but true.
"Thank you." She replied, letting the room fall silent for a few seconds. She cleared her throat, "Speaking of grandchildren, I don't want anymore for another few years. So me and your dad have a proposition for you guys." She began as I raised an eyebrow at her.
"A proposition?" Luke asked, placing a hand on the counter next to my leg.
"What does this have to do with grandchildren?" I questioned. My mom held up a finger which is where she began making her point.
"We know you're adults and you can make our decisions and what not, but since we're still helping pay for your apartment over in Manhattan we felt it would be best if you guys were in separate apartments next year." She explained. It wasn't us being apart that I couldn't deal with, it was the small details.
"But Luke couldn't pay for-"
Luke cut me off before I could object and put a hand on my knee, "I can live on campus, I know Michael and Calum live in the dorms at school. They said it's actually really nice."
"Or you could keep the apartment you have now and Autumn can go house hunting." My mom suggested. "Or vice versa."
"I mean we both have low paying jobs it's hard to pay even half of rent." I sighed, looking between the two. "I know what you're trying to say I just want to make sure we're both stable." I added as I didn't want to make it seem like I wanted to argue about this.
"We can all put our heads together and figure something out." She assured me. She sighed and looked between us, her smile growing. "Sorry I had to break up the Hemmings and Saunders gang. We never really figured you two would, uh..."
"Actually get together and have your dream come true?" I finished her sentence in the way I'm sure she wanted to say, but also in a way to get her to know I'm joking.
"You could put it that way." She said. I laughed as I looked over at Luke who was trying to hide the pink that was creeping up on his cheeks.
"We'll start looking for places right after school gets out, sound good?" I asked her.
She nodded, leaning onto the counter. "Great."
I opened my mouth to speak but was interrupted by my aunt who was filing people out our back door. "We're all going out back for cake." She sweetly told us, gesturing towards our backyard.
I swiftly hopped off the counter and head towards the doors, but when I turned around to see if they were following me I found my mom stopped in front of Luke. I quietly laughed at he glanced over at me, his eyes slightly wide from I'm guessing what my mom was speaking to him about. I let them be and walked through the doors and to the mass group out back.
After a few short conversations with a few more relatives and a meeting some of Sarah's friends, I sat at the small wooden table we had set up next to the one with the white frosted cake sat on.
I sat by myself as Effy had ran away from me and was clinging onto Travis' side now. Just as I started wondering where Luke had been he walked out of the back door. I watched him spot me and hurry over while trying to loosen the knot on his tie.
As he sat down next to me I noticed how red his cheeks were and I had to hide my laugh by covering my lips with the back of my hand.
"What happened?" I asked, a few quiet giggles falling out.
"Your mom is still really straight forward." He mumbled as Travis and Sarah started talking and getting everyone's attention.
"What'd she say?" I whispered, trying to make it look like I was paying attention while also trying to stop laughing at his embarrassment.
"Well at first she said something like 'I don't want to separate you guys because I hate you or anything' and then she said 'I just want to make sure you guys get an education before even thinking about a family.'" He rambled, trying not to let the red find its way back onto his face.
"That's not so bad." I shrugged.
He lifted a finger at me, "I'm not done yet." He said. He buried his head in his hands which muffled his already quiet laugh, "Then she straight up asked if we were having sex."
My eyes quickly widened at this, "What did you say?" I asked, a bit of panic in my tone.
"I said yes! What else was I supposed to say?" He questioned, looking between me and the couple still talking to my sea of relatives.
"No! You could've said no!" I quickly replied, gently slapping the side of his arm.
"I didn't want to lie!" He told me, putting his hands up in defense. He rested his elbows on the table as we both sighed. "Then she was like, 'I just want to make sure you're being safe.'" He continued.
I shook my head, spotting my mom as I looked out towards everyone. I gave her a glare she couldn't see since she was so caught up and beaming because she was about to find out the gender of her first grandchild. I laughed, thinking about how the conversation must have gone down in full, "I'm so sorry." I sheepishly said. He shrugged as he grabbed my hand under the table and intertwined his finger with mine.
"And then after a few minor details she asked if I loved you." He quietly said.
I raised an eyebrow, "And?"
"Well I said yes, obviously." He chuckled. "She said that she's happy with us if we're happy with us." He told me. I nodded as I took in the information, a small smile tugging at my lips.
"She said nothing much after that, it was-"
He stopped speaking as everyone started getting loud and talkative. We looked towards Travis and Sarah as the both clutched onto the end of a knife that they would cut the cake with. They laughed as they struggled to do the task and quickly held up the plate where the piece sat on, the inside being an obvious pink.
"Awww," I cooed over the crowd of cheers, turning to Luke who was smiling just as wide as I was.
"Do you want a boy or girl?" He asked, tilting his head a bit to the side.
I shook my head at him while still gripping on his hand. "Don't get me thinking about a baby." I said, watching on as Sarah received multiple hugs and a ton of 'congratulations'.
"I want to know!" He laughed, trying to get the information out of me.
I sighed, "I'm not even sure if I want kids. They scare me a little." I confessed which only got me a glare from Luke. "I don't know, I'd probably want a girl." I told him. I hadn't ever really put thought into it and I'm sure I wouldn't be for a while.
Luke tugged me close to his chest and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. He left a lingering kiss on the too of my head as I nuzzled further into him with the surrounding thoughts on not only my future but my future that would include Luke on my side.
-
A/N:
i'm trying to get the last chapters out there and make them good for u guyz
but wtf i've been working on this since january why did this take so long i'm an actual mess
i hope you guys have enjoyed this story and i cant even explain how cool it is to have so many people actually like a story of mine it's nice ok
i hope u like this!!!