Acknowledgment mostly came from Luke himself bragging about me on every possible occasion. Either it was my knowledge of the human body, tattoos, English classics, or how I convinced him to cliff jump that one time. Those all seemed trivial to me, but it helped me gain confidence in myself. That feeling of trying to earn people’s love slowly dissipated.
It had been a full year, and we were going strong. It was my birthday today, and I had asked Luke not to buy any balloon arches this time. It was Mady’s wedding tomorrow. We were planning to spend the evening at Logan and Norah’s with theusual bunch, plus Mady. John had decided to stay at his best man’s place tonight to prep for the wedding tomorrow.
I tried to convince Mady not to come too, since tomorrow was the most important day of her life, but she categorically refused.
“What am I? An old lady? Tomorrow’s my day, but today is yours. There’s no way I’m skipping this. See you later. Byeeee,” she said and hung up, not letting me fight her. I looked at Luke, and he smiled with an annoyingI told you so.
“That’s what you get for making friends and letting them love you.” He hugged me with his wet hair dripping on my shoulder and kissed my forehead. His warmth always calmed me.
“Yeah. It’s the worst,” I murmured, my mouth pressed to his chest. I breathed in his oaky scent and put my arms around him. My body relaxed, and he hugged me tighter.
The evening was nice and quiet. Ava made me a birthday cake, and we played board games. It felt good to be among friends, laugh about stupid shit, and not have this constant need to reciprocate.
I also quit my job at the coffee shop. I was finally ready to move on. I started to work for a small publishing house. They didn’t have a lot of clients, but the ones they did have were very talented and had a massive fan base. There was an immense potential, and I felt like I could really grow here.
I didn’t take my dad’s offer, but over the year, I began to reach out to him more. It wasn’t much, just small steps, but it was something. Maybe one day we would be closer, but for now, I was content with the relationship we had.
I did, however, practice, practice, practice. I practiced until, one day, I called him for a recommendation to the publishing house I had applied to, knowing he could help.
I figured I would ask. If he helped me, I would be grateful. If he didn’t, that was fine, too. There was no pressure. I didn’t feelthe excruciating need for his love anymore. The ones I needed were here for me, no matter what, and gave their love and support without asking.
Luke was convinced our friends loved me more than him. I told him it was absurd and that they just teased him more often. But he only smiled and said it was fine, because he loved me more, too. And I believed him.
As far as I could tell, Luke was very cautious about introducing me to his parents. He tried to shield me from them, but he didn’t have to anymore. I felt strong with him by my side. Whatever his decision was about letting them into our lives, I would support him. The most important part was that they didn’t take his light from him. His heart. He’d promised me he wouldn’t let that happen, and I promised I’d keep it safe with me.
It was dark outside when we slowly stumbled into our apartment. Luke’s arms were wrapped around me as I opened the door, his mouth on my neck, giving small kisses.
“Mmmm,” I hummed.
“I love how you make that sound,” he murmured, his lips grazing the skin, and I shivered.
“I love how you make me make the sounds that I make,” I said, having trouble concentrating on the correct words.
“Are you hungry?”
“Not for food anyway.” I tightened his arms around me, and he groaned, rolling his hips.
“I have something for you,” he murmured.
“Yes, I can see that.” I arched into him and pressed my ass into the bulge in his pants. He just laughed. “Luke, you already gave me new books, and then there was the weekend getaway. It’s too much.”
“Technically, that didn’t happen today. I don’t think that counts.”
“You also gave flowers and made me breakfast this morning.”
“You have an awfully low threshold fortoo much.” He turned me around and brushed his lips to mine.
“It’s nothing huge, I promise.”
“Lies I’ve heard before.”
He groaned, crushing his lips to mine and slowly backing me up until my legs hit the couch. “Sit.”
I shrugged off my jacket before settling onto the couch, tucking my legs comfortably beneath me. Luke returned from his room, hands behind his back.
“Close your eyes,” he instructed.
A small, crunching sound came from somewhere just out of reach, but I couldn’t distinguish what it was
