It didn't take Mariam and Valentine that much convincing before Luke gave in to giving to the bonfire. It had been a while since he'd last seen his friends in California, and the idea of going out with Valentine felt appealing to him. The two had been awkwardly secretive, and he wanted to have a good night so that he could get things back to where they were. He missed her, honestly. He wanted to know what it would be like to kiss her. He wanted to hold her hand, to be with her, to hold her close while he slept.
Needless to say, Valentine asking him to go to a bonfire with her was a no brainer for Luke. He would never deny her, though he certainly wouldn't admit that. After a few groans and sarcastic comments about the crowds, Luke shrugged in surrender and gave in to the girls theory that this July fourth would be the best day of their lives.
The only thing that had Luke dreading this night was the fact that Mariam was helping Valentine get ready, and that didn't end up too well for him last time. Luke promised to compose himself when Mariam pulled him to the side about it while the little girl showered, and he wasn't sure how much worse it could get after the first time.
That was, because he hadn't seen Valentine dressed yet.
"You don't think I look weird?" The brunette backed up and walked around a little in front of Mariam's full length mirror, examining her dress and the way it rose up whenever she took each step.
"It's so cute, I'm telling you! And with the hair, god you look beautiful!" Mariam cheered, admiring her work in transitioning the girl to fit in to the scene they would be attending that night.
"And it's not too much makeup?" Valentine asked, running her hands over the braids atop her head, a hairstyle Mariam had insisted on. The entanglement split off at the bottom of the girls head, falling into two beautifully curled pigtails.
"No! The makeup is perfect! You honestly look like a fairy," Mariam encouraged the girl for the hundredth time in the last ten minutes.
As Valentine straightened out her floral print dress she hissed at the exposed skin on her chest. The v-neck hung low enough so that Valentine began to worry if she would get cold. Of course it was summer in California, so that was irrational, but her chest was on full display and she felt exposed.
"Okay... I'm trusting you," she blushed, looking back at the curly haired girl who had just finished straightening her hair. She looked like a totally different person, but not any less stunning. Valentine took note of how gorgeous she looked, and grew a little more confident in her outfit. If she looked anything like Mariam did, she was content with it.
"Good, now lets go," Mariam moaned, dragging Valentine away from the mirror she'd been glued to with all of her strength. The brunette put up a fight, wanting to check herself just one more time, but it didn't really phase Mariam.
"Ready?" The not so curly haired girl called out to the boys in the house, who were glued to their phones in the living room.
"How are we riding?" Nathan called back to his sister as the two girls rounded the corner to face them.
Valentine's eyes automatically snapped towards Luke's, and the two exchanged knowing looks before the blonde's eyes wandered downwards, taking in the little girls get up. He caught his breath in his throat, refusing to let it go in fear it would come out as a groan. Something about her hair had Luke feeling awfully caught up.
"Well, we uh..." Mariam began, stepping away from Valentine as Luke stared unfalteringly.
"We can take the Jeep, Luke and Val in his car?" Mariam suggested, grinning at the little girl as she panicked a little in realization. Luke acknowledged the exchange, noting the way Mariam had set him up yet again. She was practically dangling that damn brunette in front of him like a token of war.
"Yeah, that's fine," Valentine choked out, standing up straight as Luke still refused to look away. His eyes were everywhere, and she could feel it. She couldn't quite get the courage to look back though, she felt a little too intimidated.
"Alright then, let's get going," Mariam urged the two who seemed to be frozen in time and space. They did that often, staring at each other like there was not another human within fifty miles of them.
"Yeah, yeah," Luke finally snapped out of it, standing from his spot on the couch and making strides towards where the girls were standing in the doorway.
"Earth to Valentine?" Mariam giggled, waving a hand in front of the brunettes face to get her attention. The little girl laughed a little before looking down and walking towards the front door to avoid the group seeing her blush.
Luke was dressed in a nice floral print button down, and the two actually kind of sort of matched. Valentine finally noticed as the boy rounded the side of his mothers minivan, and she really got a good look at him. His black pants were leather. The girl felt like she might pass out then, but Mariam was sure to bid them safe travels before she ran towards the Jeep parked in the driveway.
"Try not to drool too much," she joked, giving Valentine a quick hug and leaving her alone before she got the chance to retort.
"I wouldn't do that!" The girl called back as Mariam waved her off and climbed into the passenger seat of their car.
Valentine finally caught up to the blonde and met him in the minivan that he had already gotten started. He didn't want the seats to be hot for Valentine, so he rushed in to get the AC started.
"Hi," she practically squealed as she buckled her seatbelt, sitting straight and keeping her eyes ahead.
"Hey, Val," Luke greeted her, voice low and raspy. Valentine thought that would be the last thing she'd ever hear, because she could drop dead at how beautiful it was coming out of his mouth.
"Yeah! I mean... yeah, sorry, what's up?" The brunette asked him, crossing her legs and fumbling to find a comfortable place to rest her hands.
"Nothing much, what about you?" Luke chuckled lowly, pulling out and following Paul down the street. Luke knew his way to where Mariam's friend lived like muscle memory, which was good because he almost immediately lost the Spirlings vehicle because Paul simple doesn't agree with driving laws.
"Oh, nothing!" Valentine squeaked, cursing herself for being so weird. She didn't know how to act around Luke, not when he was making her so nervous. For such a long time he was just Luke Hemmings, Adeline's best friend and someone Valentine didn't care for. Now he was more like Luke Hemmings the boy that was controlling the speed of her heartbeat at any and every given moment.
"Are you feeling alright, princess?"
Another choked mess of a response from Valentine to go.
"I—uh... yeah! I'm fine, sorry. I just... forget it," she rushed, losing herself in the way his fingers tapped contently against the steering wheel. The pet named just sounded so good, and she couldn't get her mind off of the night he first called her it. The two ended up tangled up in the bathroom at Michaels apartment. It wasn't as scary to Luke this time though, because he could tell by the way she slightly squeezed her legs together that she liked it.
"You sure? You seem a bit nervous," Luke smiled, keeping his eyes on the road as his heart itched to catch a glimpse of her grinning to herself like a little girl. She looked so damn cute, and Luke thought it would be the death of him.
"I am not!" Valentine shot back, getting a little too defensive, to the point where it just made Luke smile to himself.
"Yeah, okay," he grinned sarcastically, leaning back a little as he waited at a red light that seemed to last forever.
"You're a jerk," the brunette poked him, sending some sort of electric shock through his body. He shot up, turned to her, and locked eyes with her within seconds.
"You've declared war," he narrowed his eyes on her playfully.
"War? You wouldn't hurt a fly!" Valentine giggled, leaning back against the window and getting a little more comfortable. If she could just have a normal conversation with him instead of word vomiting every time she opened her mouth, she was satisfied.
"A fly? Baby, I'm pretty sure you've seen me kill a fly," Luke retorted, reaching his arm up to sling it around the seat behind him as the line in front of him wasn't moving at all.
"Baby?" Valentine gasped, repeating the word like it was bad. Luke only grinned at her reaction, admiring the way she visibly digested the word.
"Yeah, that okay?" He asked, testing the girls limits cautiously. Though the two had grown much closer since they'd left town together, he sure wouldn't ever wanna push her too far and end up in some mess. Luke would hate himself if he was the one responsible for ruining what they had going, so he scanned her face for any sign of denial. Once coming up clean, he continued his suggestive grin at her.
"Hmmm... yeah, I think so," she agreed timidly, testing the word out a few times off of her own tongue. As the girl repeated the little name over and over, Luke resisted an overwhelming urge to kiss her then and there. He didn't want to push his luck though, because she just told him that he could call her the very name that came to mind when he thought of her.
"Alright, good, or that would've been kinda awkward," he laughed, returning his vision to the road that seemed to finally be moving.
Meanwhile in Texas, Mary was having a conversation she never expected to have as well. Although, it was much different than a little pet name, though it felt like the world to Valentine. No, the brunette was mistaken in thinking that would take priority after the night she was doomed to have.
"You can't tell me I can't tell her!" The poor blonde girl retorted as her mom leaned back uncomfortably.
"Mary, you're causing a scene," Kellianne scolded, gesturing towards Scout's presence in their living room. The man had come over in hopes of forming a sort of truce with the young woman who'd caught them red handed, but things had escalated quickly after he first showed his face.
"A scene? Me? You know what's causing a scene? The fact that you guys are fucking!" Mary raised her voice, swearing in spite of her mother's orders to never do so around her. The older woman winced as her daughter exploded, even though she knew she probably deserved it.
"We are not just fucking, Mary. We aren't teenagers."
"Oh, and because Valentine is a teenager it's okay to lie to her?" Mary shot back, not really having much mercy within her poisonous tone. She didn't care what they thought of it, because they had been lying to her and she had caught them in the act of it.
"No... I just... I want to tell her myself," Scout sighed, surrendering to the angry twenty year old who clearly wasn't going to cooperate with him.
"Well, that's fine. But I will not lie to her. If she asks me, I'm telling her. If she even so much as asks if I'm okay, I'm telling her why I'm being weird. I don't care," Mary rambled, announcing her stubborn views on the situation. She wasn't going to change her mind, and that was painfully obvious.
"Okay, thank you," Scout smiled weakly.
"Oh, and one more thing—" Mary threw her hand up dramatically.
"Just because I know about it, that doesn't mean I want to see it." The blonde stormed up the stairs and into her room before either adult could get another word out, and the conversation ended there.
"God, she's something else," Scout sighed, wincing as Kellianne reached out to him.
"I'm sorry... you know, Valentine won't react like that. My daughter is just very... expressive," Kellianne apologized on her offsprings account.
"I should call her, shouldn't I? I don't want to avoid her..." the man thought aloud, rubbing his thumb against the woman's palm half-mindedly. "But I don't wanna talk to her and then her find out I've been lying."
"Maybe, yeah, do you want to talk to her? I mean, she's coming home in what—two days?"
"Of course I wanna talk to her," Scout rose up a little, defending himself in regards to his relationship with his daughter.
"Right, yeah, I know. I just meant... I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. Why don't you go call her in my room and I'll stay out here?" The woman backtracked, feeling guilty for the way she had worded her previous comment.
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A/N ok so per usual I literally don't know when you'll be reading this because I write these weeks before I publish them BUT
How are we feeling about this?! Kellianne and Scout??? And what does calum know that mary doesn't???
also wtf is up with Mariam??? Does she have good intentions with Valentine??? Luke doesn't seem to think so
Also can I get a round of applause for Luke and Valentine being cute??? Seems like they're always being angsty smh
I can't believe I'm on chapter 38 and they've kissed ONCE!!! I am a sucker for a slow burner
One last thing... illicit affairs by taylor Swift is valentine and Luke's song thank you for reading I love you