Chapter 34Song for this chapter:Love is Easy - McFly“If this is love, then love completes me,

Chapter 34Song for this chapter:Love is Easy - McFly“If this is love, then love completes me, cause it feels like I’ve been missing you”*******Please read the authors note at the end of this********★☆★ Vivian’s POV 3 hours before the show. I walk out of Luke’s house, feeling stiff, and like I need more sleep. Julian called me right after Luke went up to his room, telling me that I need to go to Aunt Melody’s before we head to the show. He said something about mom wanting to tell us something important. I can’t help the fact that my heart is beating three times faster than it should be. I focus on driving to keep myself from overthinking. When I arrive, I pull into the driveway, but don’t get out of my car at first. I try to calm my breaths, and convince myself that it’s nothing huge. When I’m as calm as I think i’ll get I open the car door, and am met by the hot summer sun, with a slight breeze. I take a deep breath, and close my eyes, getting more relaxed. Walking up to the door, I tell myself that no matter what the news is, I won’t let it affect me at the show tonight. Luke mentioned that they’re doing something special this show, and I’m excited for it. Whatever they have planned has to be amazing, everything they do is. I open the door, and walk in, immediately met by the smell of pancakes and coffee. My mood is instantly lightens, and I hurry into the kitchen, hoping that the food is still warm. “Viv! I’m so glad you’re here,” Aunt Mel exclaims, dropping her spatula, and pulling me into a tight hug. I hug her back, only mildly surprised that she’s so excited to see me. “Me too,” My voice is muffled by her apron. I almost say something about seeing her yesterday, but I decide not to. “I’ll make you some fresh ones,” she gesture to the pancakes on the table, “Do you want chocolate chips in them?” She offers once we pull apart.I nod vigorously, “Yes, please!”She sets off to work, leaving me to search for anyone else. The rest of the kitchen is empty, so I assume that everyone has already eaten. I travel downstairs to find Julian sleeping. I grin to myself, and walk over quietly to his bed. “Julian,” I whisper, making my voice high pitched like the girls he usually goes for. “Hmmmm,” he mumbles. “Oh, Julian,” I say in a sing-song voice, still high pitched. “Kelly?” he mumbles again, and I let out a surprised squeak, quickly covering my mouth with my hand. “Vivan? What the hell?” He’s fully awake now, and sitting up. “Kelly?” I ask, standing a foot out of his reach, “As in Kelly Garcia?” I reference to the smartest girl in his grade, who everyone makes fun of as being the “nerd” of the school. “N-no!” he sputters, and I see that even in the dark his cheeks are turning pink. “You like her!” I exclaim, clapping my hands together in excitement. “No I don’t!” he denies, standing up and throwing on a shirt.“Oh quit lying, you know you like her!” I point, a huge grin on my face.  He sighs, his shoulders slumping in defeat, “Fine. I like her.”“Since when?”“Freshmen year,” he mutters, not looking at me. I squeal and jump towards him, tugging on his arm, “Aww, that’s adorable!” “Shut up already!” He groans, sounding extremely embarrassed. “I have to tell Alex!” I turn to leave, but he grabs my arm. The serious look of fear in his eyes silences me, “Please don’t let her find out, okay?” “I won’t, but you need to tell her. That girl has been mooning over you for forever.” Surprise and hope fill his eyes, “Really?” I nod, “Really.” A small smile forms on his lips, and he lets go of my arm. I start to walk away, but turn back around, “Wait, why were you sleeping if you called me this morning, and already ate?” He shrugs, “I was still tired.” I roll my eyes, and walk out of the room. Boys. I make my way upstairs to Alex’s room, to find her standing in her closet, looking stressed. “Need some help?” I ask, causing her to jump, then look happy when she sees me.“Please,” she groans, flinging herself onto her bed. I find a tank top with Nirvana’s logo on it. Tossing it towards her, I smirk, “I’m sure Ashton will like this.” Her cheeks immediately turn as red as a tomato, “W-what?” “Luke and I saw the two of you eating each others faces yesterday, don’t deny it.” I raise my eyebrows at her. She covers her face in her hands, looking utterly embarrassed. I walk over and sit down on her bed, “Don’t be embarrassed, I know you have the biggest crush on him in the world.” She peeks out from behind her fingers, “I do. He was being so sweet and nice yesterday, helping me out with the games that I sucked at, and then during laser tag he stayed with me the whole time. Out of nowhere he tells me he likes me, then kisses me!”I see her shoulders relax, and can immediately tell that she’s been wanting to tell someone about it since the moment it happened. I hug her tightly, “I knew he liked you too.” She doesn’t reply, and I pull away, “Guess who else likes someone?” “Who?” she asks, looking curious. “Julian,” I answer, and Alex raises her eyebrows, “I was shocked too! He actually likes this girl too! He doesn’t just want to sleep with her!” “Who?” She asks, leaning forward slightly. “Kelly Garcia.” Her eyes widen, “Kelly Garcia? Nerdy Kelly Garcia?” I nod, “I know, right?” “Wow,” she replies, “For how long?”“Freshmen year!” “Awww that’s so cute!” She squeals. “I know!” I agree, “But I promised him that we wouldn’t say anything.” She nods understandingly. We go back to picking out an outfit for her, then move on to one for me. I take out one of Luke’s shirts that I’ve never returned, and end up wearing some jean shorts with them. We get dressed, then Aunt Mel comes up, telling me that my pancakes are ready. The two of us go downstairs and talk about the last week of school, and what we think is going to happen. “Vivian?” My mother’s voice sounds from behind me. I remember that she wanted to tell Julian and I something, and all the nervousness from this morning immediately returns. I spot Julian standing behind her, looking just as nervous as I feel. I nod towards her, not trusting my voice. “I have some news,” she says, giving no hint or emotion of what the news is. I set my fork down, and give her my full attention, silently hoping the it’s good news. “Ever since Luke came over a few days ago, I have realized just how unhappy you are living with your father. Because of this I’ve decided to start the process of getting a job and an appropriate living space in order to ask for full custody of you.” she announced calmly, and I feel a rush of tears form in my eyes.“I’ve been searching and applying for jobs, and I’ve got an interview tomorrow. Your incredibly gracious aunt and uncle are going to help us pay the first few months of rent on an apartment we both like, until I able to,” I see her choke up too, and her voice cracks when she mentions my aunt and uncle. “I’m so sorry that the two of you have had to live a lie for a majority of your lives. I know it’s not much, but it’s a start to fix things, and have a normal life.” By now tears are streaking down both of our faces. I know she wants to say more, but I’m already out of my chair and into her arms before she can utter a single syllable. “I’m so sorry,” she sobs, clutching onto me tightly. “It’s okay,” I whisper, and it’s the most honest thing I’ve ever said to her. I feel an enormous weight lift off my shoulders, because I’ve finally forgiven her. “Lemme in on this,” Julian exclaims, wrapping his arms around both of us. We hug for a while, then all let go of each other. I move on to Melody, wrapping my arms around her for the second time today. “Thank you so much.” “I’d do anything for you guys,” she whispers, causing even more tears to stream down my cheeks.After we pull apart, I latch onto Alex, the two of us crying together.“You guys better go finish getting ready, we need to hit the road soon,” Julian says, and I see him wiping his face quickly. I quickly walk over and wrap my arms around his waist, resting my head on his chest like I do with Luke.“Everything is going to change,” He whispers, holding me in his warm arms. I nod into his chest, then after a few seconds I pull away. I smile up at him, then Alex tugs on my arm gently. I follow her back up to her room, the two of us making it look like we weren’t just crying like toddlers.Within ten minutes, we’re double checking that we have everything, before we head downstairs and give the adults hugs.“Have a wonderful time, and be safe,” my mom whispers when she pulls me into a tight embrace.“Of course,” I whisper back, allowing my eyes to close for a few seconds, before pulling away from her.The three of us load into Julian’s car–because he refused to let me drive–and set the GPS to where the show is. Nervous butterflies flock in my stomach when I remember Luke saying something about doing something special tonight.“Do you guys know anything about the boys doing anything special in tonight’s show?” I ask, looking from Julian in the driver’s seat, to Alex in the back.Julian shakes his head, and Alex lets out a stuttered, “N-no!”I raise my eyebrows at her, and she shrugs. I notice Julian glancing back at her through the rear-view mirror with a stern look I’ve seen him give be hundreds of times.“You sure?” I question, this time mainly looking at Alex, knowing that if they’re lying, she’d be the one to give it away.“Positive,” she replies coolly, then looks out the window. I look over at Julian, and he just nods, then reaches forward to turn up the radio.Sitting back in my chair, I close my eyes and try to get a few more hours of sleep, my curiosity not dulling the slightest.Two hours later we arrive at the venue, leaving only an hour until the show starts. We show our VIP passes to security, and are ushered to the front of the crowd, only a few feet away from the stage.I ask the security guard who led us here if we can go backstage to wish the boys good luck, but he shakes his head, and leaves. With my eyebrows furrowed, I turn to Julian and Alex, who don’t look confused at all.“What was that all about?” I question, placing my hands on my hips.Julian just shrugs, and Alex sputters something out that I don’t understand, completely avoiding making eye contact with me.I let out a huff of air, “Seriously, what’s going with you two?”“Nothing Viv, just calm down, I think the lack of sleep is getting to you,” Julian replies, and Alex nods in agreement.I roll my eyes and slump down into my seat, tired of dealing with their lying. The main reason I want to go backstage is to see Luke of course, but also to find out what special thing he’s doing for the show tonight. If I’m right, I know Luke will be freaking out and overthinking everything, so I want to be there to comfort him and tell him that everything will be okay.Alex sits down next to me, pulling out her phone. I notice that she’s texting Ashton, and try to read her texts, but she notices me spying on her and exits out of her messages.For nearly a half hour I sit in the crowd, worrying about Luke. I’m about to ask what’s going on again, but before I can Ashton’s walking towards us, surrounded by guards, and wearing a beanie and sunglasses.I stand up, thinking that something has happened to Luke.“We need your help,” he says to Julian, who nods and stands up.“Wait, what’s going on?” I ask, needing some kind of information.“We just need Julian backstage for a minute,” he replies.“Is Luke okay?” I ask, desperate to see him.Ashton nods, “He’s fine.”“Can I come back and see him?”He swallows, then shakes his head, “I’m sorry Viv, but everything’s crazy back there right now, or else you would be able to.”My eyebrows furrow together, and I start to protest, but the two are already walking away. I sit back down, noticing Alex looking just as disappointed as I am.“What is going on?” I whisper under my breath.Twenty minutes later Julian comes back, looking slightly victorious.“Why did you have to go back?” I question, demanding answers.He shakes his head, “Can’t tell you that, sorry.”“But why not?!” I throw my hands in the air, feeling childish, but not caring at all.“You’ll find out soon enough,” he replies. Before I can say anything, the lights in the crowd go out and everyone starts to scream. I stand up, trying to not let my anger affect how I enjoy the show. They open up with Unpredictable then introduce themselves, then play Try Hard, Gotta Get Out, and Superhero. They talk for a little while, then Luke gets his acoustic guitar, and they play Over and Over, Beside You, and Everything I Want.I notice Luke glancing over at me a lot during Everything I Want, and I see that he’s stiff, and looks even more nervous than usual. By the time the songs over, he’s shaking. One of the stage crew members takes his acoustic guitar, and doesn’t give him any instrument back. He walks up to the microphone, looking completely nerve wracked.“S-so we’re going to be doing something different from anything we’ve ever done before. A few months ago I met someone who’s really special to me, and I just wanted to show them just how special they are. Vivian, will you come up here?” He asks, looking directly at me.My stomach flips and my heart beats faster than usual. Someone from security takes me up to the stage, where a stool is placed in the center of the stage. They gesture for me to sit on it, so I do, feeling way too exposed. I look at Luke, trying to ask him what he’s doing, but he doesn’t look like he’s in any state to answer questions.Luke disappears backstage for a few moments, and returns with a small black ukulele, which looks so tiny for him to be holding.He past me to his microphone, and takes a deep breathe before turning to me, and speaking into his microphone, “This one is for you, Vivian.”He starts to strum the ukulele,“Do, do, do, do-do-do,Do, do, do, do-do-do,Do, do, do, do-do-do,”Ashton joins in on the drums then Luke starts to sing again,“Today,I’m laughing the clouds away,I hear what the flowers say,And drink every drop of rain,And I see,Places that I have been,In ways that I’ve never seen,My side of the grass is green,Ooh I can’t believe that it’s so simple,It feels so natural to me,”He turns to me, and stares into my eyes,“If this is love,Then love completes me,Cause it feels like I’ve been missing you,A simple equation,With no complications,To leave you confused,If this is love, love, love,Hmm it’s the easiest thing to do,”I feel my cheeks heat up, but I do nothing but stare into his eyes while he sings to me.“Do, do-do-do, do, do,Do-do-do, do do,Do-do-do, to you,Feel the way that I do?Do I turn your grey skies blue?And make dirty streets look new?Hmm and the birds sing,Tweeheeheeheeheeheeheet,Tweedleedeedeedee,Now I know exactly what they mean,Ooh I can’t believe that it’s so simple,It feels so natural to me,”Calum and Michael both join in on their guitars.“If this is love,Then love completes me,Cause it feels like I’ve been missing you,A simple equation,With no complications,To leave you confused,If this is love, love, love,Hmm it’s the easiest thing to do,”Luke starts singing the “do’s” again, and Michael jumps up onto the platform that Ashton’s drums are on, and plays the his guitar. Calum joins him rocking out on his bass. The two run back to their microphones and sing,“Wooh ooh ooh wooh ooh ooh oooh!”And Luke says,“What is it you want, Viv?What do you want?You want the moon?Just say the word and I’llThrow a lasso around it andPull it down. Hey. That’s aPretty good idea. I’ll giveYou the moon, Viv.”A smile crosses my face, then Luke belts out,“Oooooh no,If this is love,Then love is easy,It’s the easiest thing to do,If this is love,Then love completes me,Cause it feels like I’ve been missing you,A simple equation,With no complications,To leave you confused, No,If this is love, love, love,It’s the easiest thing to do,”Then the three go into a series of“Do-do-do, do, do,Do-do-do, do,oooh this is love love love love love love,”Then the song ends with Luke strumming on the ukulele. The crowd goes wild, and I remember that I’m on stage in front of everyone. Luke walks up to me, and I stand up, looking up at him.“I love you Vivian,” he says, with no microphone on him, so only I hear him.“I love you too Luke,” I whisper, hoping that he heard me. Suddenly he sweeps me into his arms, and presses his lips onto mine. I hear the crowd screaming, but all I can think of is this amazing guy holding me in his arms.★☆★“Now you know why we had to be so secretive all day!” Julian says, bumping his shoulder into mine.I bump him back, “I know, now shut up.”He rolls his eyes, then turns back to Calum and Michael. I lean my head on Luke’s shoulder, staring up at him.“I still can’t believe you did that,” I shake my head, smiling like a fool.“Me either, I was so freaked out about it before the show, that’s why Julian came backstage.”“Really?” I raise my eyebrows, glancing over at Julian before returning my gaze to Luke.He nods, “Yeah, he helped me calm down, but I was still a nervous wreck on stage.”That was true, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. After he serenaded me though, he was fine. I was ushered back to my spot in the crowd, where Alex squealed about how romantic that was, and girls around me looked at me enviously.Once they finished their set, we all went backstage and the boys teased me about resembling a tomato for the rest of the show. We went to get some food at a local pizza joint, and now we’re at an ice cream parlor. It seems to be some kind of unspoken tradition that we get ice cream after a show, and I’m not complaining.“It was still such a crazy thing to do,” I smile up at him, pressing my face into his chest.“Good crazy, or bad crazy?” he asks, and I feel him wrap an arm around my waist.“Good crazy, definitely good crazy.”I feel him sigh, and lift my head up to peck his cheek, “I love you.”“I love you more,” he whispers back.I get comfortable in his arms, and mumble, “not possible,” before dozing off.★☆★The majority of the rest of the weekend is spent hanging out in Ashton’s basement, messing around with the instruments, watching movies, or playing video games, all of which required popcorn and lots of junk food.Luke and I did leave a few times to go to my aunt’s house and spend time with my mom, or even just so we could be alone. We went over to his house too, to help Liz grade papers, and play with Molly. Whatever we did, Luke was always trying to hold my hand, or touch me in some way. We told each other that we loved each other at least a hundred times a day. It was as if Luke couldn’t get enough of me saying those three words.He even admitted that I’d already told him that I loved him when I was drunk that horrible day. I don’t remember saying it, and I was completely embarrassed when he told me. He said it was nothing to worry about, because it was in the past, and it actually helped him get the courage to tell me. In some strange way, I’m actually glad that I got drunk and called Luke over. It strengthened our relationship not only as friends, but as a couple.The last week of school has been going by in a blur, and now it’s the very last day of school. I walk into the doors, holding Luke’s hand, not caring what people think of us. We hang out and talk to all of our friends until the bell rings, and we head to math. For the last time, we sit in our assigned seats, and wait for Mr. Hensley to hand out our grades,My stomach ties itself in knots as he passes out the papers, this time in reverse alphabetical so I’m at the end of the list. Finally he approaches me, and hands me my paper.“Good job Vivian, I’m very impressed by how much you’ve changed over the school year.I look down at the circled red letter of a B, and my eyes go wide. Without asking to, I jump out of my seat and run to Luke, showing him my final grade."Oh my god Vivian, that’s amazing!” He grins at me, then pulls me into a hug. When we pull apart, I peek at his grade, and see a big, fat A+ at the top of the page.I roll my eyes, “Of course.”He pulls his paper away, a blush crawling up his neck to his cheeks.“I’m dating a mathematical genius,” I sigh, pretending to be annoyed with it. Luke looks offended, so I give up my act and grin up at him.“I’m joking! It’s actually kinda hot how smart you are,” I whisper the last part, winking at him.He starts laughing, closing his eyes, and leaning his head back. My stomach fills with butterflies when I he looks down at me fondly. It amazes me how he can still make me blush and get all flustered, by just looking at me.Eventually the bell rings, so the whole classroom clears out, and Luke walks me to French.“Finally, it’s the last time I’ll have to deal with Trent and Kenzie for a few months,” I sigh, not wanting to go into the class.“Good luck,” Luke leans down, and pecks me on the lips, before hurrying to his own class.I walk in the door, and sit down in my regular spot, trying to ignore Trent’s gaze on me. He makes multiple remarks about how much I’ve changed, and how I’m a stuck up snob who thinks she’s better than everyone else.I laugh internally at what he says, because at the beginning of the year that’s what Ashton, Calum, and Michael thought of me, while I was friends with Trent and Kenzie, and now it’s completely opposite. I just ignore what Trent is saying, not wanting to waste my energy on getting upset because of him.Finally the bell rings, and I practically run out of the classroom. My next two classes go by quickly, then there’s a short break, which would have been lunch if it were a regular school day, instead of a half day. I find the guys and Alex, and we talk about how ready we are for summer. After a little while the bell rings again, and I head to English.Sitting next to Annie, I grin at her, and am about to say something before our teacher starts to talk.“I know it’s the last day of school, and all you guys want to do is talk, which I will let you do, but I need to tell you all how great you did on your projects. Last year nearly all of the groups did the basic things about their partners, but you guys dug deeper, and I was very impressed. I’m going to pass out your grades on this, then you all can talk.”My stomach starts to tie itself in knots again, wondering if Annie and I got a good grade on our presentations. We each did a poster on each other, and put down everything that we learned about each other. I even let her put down that my parent’s were getting a divorce, but not why. It felt so weird hearing her tell the class about what I hid from everyone, but at the same time it was so freeing. My thoughts are interrupted by Annie calling out my name and pointing to the paper, on my desk. I look up to see our teacher smiling hugely at us.“You two got the highest score in this class, you should be proud of that,” She says, then walks away to another group. I read the grade report and see an A+ circled at the top of the grading rubric. Looking over at Annie, I smile widely, and stand up to hug her.“I’m so glad that we were chosen to be partners on this assignment!” She says, hugging me back.“Me too,” I reply, and I mean it.★☆★The rest of the school day goes by in a blur. When the final bell of the school year rings, my biology class cheers and everyone rushes out of the door. I smile to myself, and follow them. Trying to find Luke in the within the crowded hallways is nearly impossible because of my height.When I’m about to give up and try calling him, I feel someone’s arm wrap around my waist.“You’re lucky you’re hair is so easy to spot out,” Luke says into my ear.I roll my eyes, but lean up and kiss him quickly. Alex approaches us, asking if we’ve seen Ashton, saying that he’s her ride to the party. Luke tells her that his last class is band, and to look in that direction. She nods and rushes off, causing me to grin like the Cheshire cat.“The two of them are so cute,” I say to Luke, and he nods agreeing. The two of us clean out our lockers, before heading out to my car.“Mike and Cal said they’ll meet us there,” Luke says, while opening my door for me.I nod, “Julian said the same thing.”We drives to my aunt’s house first, and I drop off all my things and put my swimsuit on underneath my clothes, then Luke does the same at his house. I put Charlie’s address that Annie texted me last week into the GPS, and let Luke drive us there, because he has more experience. We listen to music for the first few minutes, before Luke reaches out and takes my hand.“So I was talking to my dad last night, and he asked me if I wanted to go spend a few weeks with him this summer, helping him out in the restaurant. He told me that you’re welcome to come too, if I decide to go,” he says, glancing over at me to see how I’ll react.I process the information, and nod, “That’s great Luke, I just don’t think my father would let me, and if my mom does get an apartment I’ll have to help move, and get situated. It does sound like fun though.”“I knew you’d stay for that reason, and the band is going to have shows too, but he didn’t say a specific time of when he wants me down there, so I think I can pull the strings and help you and your mum move, then maybe we could go, if you want to of course.”I smile at him, “That could work. Of course you’ll think of a way to do it, you genius boy.”He laughs, and squeezes my hand, lifting it up to his lips, “I just want to spend as much time with you as possible.”“Me too,” I agree.We arrive at Charlie’s house within twenty minutes, and I’m amazed at how huge it is. Easily three stories, the house is bigger than my fathers, and looks way more sophisticated. The driveway is circular, and there are cars parked all over. Shrubs and trees line the green grass, with blossoms scattered around all of them. I hear music coming from the house, and can’t help but grin to myself that I’m going to a party of real friend’s, with my boyfriend.Half a year ago if someone told me I would be best friends with four boys, living with my aunt, have lived with Luke, have a boyfriend, and my parent’s would be divorced, I would have laughed in their face. I never thought my life would change from being miserable living in a house of lies, having to pretend that my life was perfect and I was happy, to actually being happy, forgiving my mother, trusting people, and making real friends.Once we find a parking spot, we make our way to the house. I’m even more amazed by the decoration than I was by the outside of the house. With a mixture of modern and classic, the whole house looks incredibly sophisticated.“Vivian, Luke! I’m so glad you guys made it! The rest of your crew is out back in the pool.” Annie tells us, giving me a side hug, because she’s soaking wet.We nod at her and say thanks before heading the direction she pointed. We get lost a few times before we find it, and are greeted by tons of people in an enormous pool surrounded by pool chairs and a pool house to the back of the pool area.“Vuke!” Michael yells, waving at us from the pool.“Did he just say ‘Vuke’?” I ask, looking at Luke.He closes his eyes and nods, “Yes, he did.”“What does that even mean?”“It’s our boat name or something like that, our names combined,” he explains.“Oh, like Livian?”He looks at me with his eyebrows raised, looking amused, “Yeah, but I like Vuke better.”I nod in agreement, “Me too.”I notice Ashton and Alex sitting very close to each other on the edge of the pool. Calum and Michael are playing water volleyball with a bunch of other kids I notice from school. Then I see Julian standing next to Kelly Garcia, looking at her fondly as she talks avidly with her hands flying everywhere. I grin at all of my friends and relatives enjoying themselves, then grin up at Luke.“Cannonball contest?” he asks, causing me to grin.I shrug, “Why not?”We both strip down to our bathing suits, putting all of our stuff on a couple of empty pool chairs. I notice Luke staring at me, and internally high-five myself for grabbing my purple bikini with white polka dots. Walking up to me slowly, and swaying my hips, I lean up to his ear and whisper, “You first.”Then with all my strength, I push him into the pool. When he emerges from the pool, he’s glaring at me, and I’m smirking wildly.Suddenly two sets of hands grab me, causing me to shriek, then they throw me into the pool. I quickly swim back up to the surface, and see Calum and Michael high-fiving.“But you two were just over there!” I say, pointing to the volleyball net set up on the sides of the pool.“We are stealth ninjas,” Michael says, striking a ninja pose. I laugh at him, and turn around to find Luke right in front of me, looking unhappy.“That was completely unfair.”“You got me back,” I shove his bare chest playfully.He shrugs, “I guess so.”“Let’s play some volleyball,” I say, pulling him over towards the game.“Okay, but I’m on your team, this way you can’t use your boobs to distract me and win.” He says quiet enough that people don’t hear him, but I still turn as red as a beet. I splash him with water, and he starts to laugh.“Oh babe, come on,” he whines as I splash him even more, “It was just a joke!”I narrow my eyes at him, and start to swim away, when he pulls me towards him, kissing me quickly. I immediately melt into his arms, and kiss him back. When we pull away I’m breathless.“I’m sorry,” he whispers, staring into my eyes.I sigh, “It’s okay. But you can’t always just kiss me and be forgiven.”“Whatever you say,” he grins, then kisses me again.“Hey, lovebirds, are you playing or what?” Calum calls out, and the two of us pull apart.“We’re playing,” Luke calls back pulling me towards the game.We play a few rounds before the two of us get bored. We mess around in the water, splashing each other mainly, for a few hours, before we get out and dry off. We sit on our chairs talking about random things, then walk around and socialize with everyone around the pool.Luke gets hungry after a little while so we go inside and eat some snacks, before we go back outside. Annie and Charlie come over to talk to us, asking how we got together. As Luke tells the story he laces his fingers with mine, smiling down at me every once in awhile.I get to know Charlie better, finding out that her dad is this amazing doctor and her mom is a lawyer so they’re family is very wealthy. She has two older sisters and a younger brother a year younger than Alex is. We talk for a while about her and her boyfriend before she has to go get more ice for the drinks.“She’s really nice,” I say to Luke as we walk back outside.He nods, “She went to the same elementary and middle school as me before I moved by you, and she is a really nice person. She met Edward in sixth grade and they’ve been inseparable ever since.”“Aw, that’s amazing,” I sigh, imagining the two as little kids.Luke nods, then smiles down at me, “I think our story is pretty amazing.”“It is,” I smile up at him, and kiss him for a few seconds before pulling away.The sun is about to set, and I see nearly everyone around a bonfire, roasting marshmallows. Luke and I hurry over and make two s'mores each, before walking around just with each other. We find a bench that gives an amazing view of the city, and all of it’s lights.Leaning my head on Luke’s shoulder I think about how lucky I am to have him. After a few minutes of silence I look at Luke, and feel tears filling my eyes. He turns his head to me, and his eyes widen.“What’s wrong?”I shake my head, “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong, because of you. If you didn’t find me crying the library that day, everything would be so much different. If you didn’t keep trying to be my friend, and help me, when I was so horrible to you, I’d have no one. Because of you I have real friends, I trust people, I’ve stood up to my father. Because of you I have a good relationship with my mom. Because of you my life is so much different than it was before, and there’s no way I could ever thank you enough for everything.”Luke looks down at me seriously. He places his hands on either side of my face, wiping away my tears with the pads of his thumbs, “I may have been there, helping you out and refusing to give up on you, but I’m not the reason your life is different, Vivian, you’re the reason. You let me in, and let me help you. You stood up to your parents, and you’re the reason things are better. You’ve been so strong through it all, and you’ve pushed through all the bad things that have happened with your head held up high. You have no reason to thank me because you’re the one who’s changed everything, and I love you so much for being so strong through it all.”I smile up at him, letting more tears stream down my face, “I love you too Luke, and I’ll always love you.”He leans down and places a gentle kiss on my lips, “I’ll always love you too, no matter what.”I close my eyes and rest my forehead against his, “No matter what.”★☆★Author’s note:There it is guys, the last chapter of Dollhouse. I don’t even know what to say, except for thank you. Thank you all so much for sticking through the many, many times that I’ve had writers block, or was too busy to write.It’s been nearly a month since the last update, and I’m sorry. I wanted it to be perfect, and long, and amazing, just for you guys. Plus school and home was busy, but that’s always going to happen.I’m happy how this ended, and I hope you guys are too, because I will not be writing a sequel.If I were to write a sequel I’d have to put Viv and Luke through more bad things, and I think that they’ve both been through enough, don’t you? I think they deserve to be happy just how they are.Speaking of sequels, those of you who’ve read my Calum fic #7 want a sequel, and I’m sorry to announce that I won’t be writing one. Mainly because I have so many ideas for other fics and stories, and secondly because that was my first fic, or long(ish) story ever, and it’s not very well written, and I just don’t want to have to go back to that format of writing and everything.However, I will be posting one more part, and it’s going to be a list of things that would have happened in a sequel, so keep an eye out for that.My next order of business is an exciting announcement, that I hope many of you are happy about:I am bringing back Forgotten Memories!I discontinued it because I didn’t have very many ideas, and I was stressed out about writing it and this, but now that this fic is finished, I’m going to finish writing that one! It’s going to be a short-story like #7, but I’m not for sure about how many chapters there will be, we’ll just see as we go.I added Andy into the last chapter because I missed her and wanted to write about her before I started that series again, so that’s why she was in there, and that scene that she’s in at the arcade will not be in FM, or have any influence on the story, I just wanted to sort of reintroduce her to you guys.I’ve made an 8tracks playlists of all the songs from here, and some that I didn’t have the chance to use, so here is the link to it.I’m still writing Big Changes, I just went on a little break so I could get this finished, so please keep reading it and voting for it, I’m really excited for how it’s going to turn out.I think that’s all I needed to talk about, so I’ll go now.I love you all so so so so so much, please remember that.Hugs & Kisses-Hannahxx -- source link

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