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Reggie slammed his lunch tray on the table, letting out a loud groan. “Giving pop quizzes should be illegal.”
Alex looked up at the dark-haired boy from where he sat next to Luke and let out a scoff. “Maybe if you’d actually pay attention in class and stop staring at girls the whole time it wouldn’t be that bad.”
Reggie let out a huff, frowning and crossing his arms as he sat down next to his friends. “Not my fault I have a wandering eye,” he muttered under his breath.
Letting out a sigh, the blonde turned his attention back to his other friend, who had been awfully quiet. Luke and quiet were two words that rarely appeared in the same sentence, but the boy had barely spoken a word all lunch, actually all day, and was just poking around at his food. “Dude,” Alex spoke up, catching Luke’s eye, “What’s up? You’ve been silent all day and you’ve barely touched your food. It’s roasted potato wedges too, so I know something’s wrong if you’re not eating your favorite lunch.”
Luke groaned, letting his head roll back slightly, in place of a response. Alex immediately felt concern take over his senses. “Is it your family? Is it your mom again? Or did you and Julie fight?” He let out a gasp. “Oh my god, did you guys break up?” Alex felt his nerves picking up as his mind explored all the (worst) options.
“No!” Luke exclaimed hurriedly, the pain shooting right to his jaw. He flinched at the sensation and realized both Alex and Reggie were now looking at him with raised eyebrows. “My jaw has just been kinda sore all day and eating and talking are not helping.”
Alex’s eyes glazed with worry. Before he could get a word out, Reggie asked, “Were you crying last night? Sometimes my jaw is sore the next day if I’ve spent the previous night crying myself to sleep.”
Whipping his head to the Reggie, Alex’s face morphed into even deeper concern. “We are definitely going to address that later,” Alex turned to Luke again, “But I think I know what your issue is.” When Luke looked at him expectantly, Alex smirked. “It’s your wisdom teeth. You gotta get them out.”
Luke immediately let out a whine. “No, it’s not that.” His voice came out like a little child’s. He was terrified of the dentist - always had been since he was a kid. What kind of psychopath likes to poke sharp metal objects in people’s mouths…and what kind of people enjoy that? Alex rolled his eyes at Luke’s reaction, fully expecting it. “Look, it’s not even that bad, see?” Luke tried to make a point by stabbing a potato wedge and attempting to chew on it, but the pain that stung his jaw with every bite was apparent on his face as he winced.
Reggie rolled his eyes and interjected from Alex’s other side. “Just accept it, Luke. You have to get them out or it’s only going to get worse.”
Alex nodded in agreement. “I know you hate the dentist but you have to do this. If you don’t, we'll have to cancel practices when you can no longer sing and we both know you don’t want that.”
Groaning, Luke receded. “Okay, fine. I’ll make sure to bring it up to my parents sometime this week.” And he would, but he might it out a couple days to see how bad it would really be. As long as the three guys kept it to themselves, it would resolve itself. He didn’t want Julie to know or worry about him. As much as he knew she loved and cared for him, she had a big assignment coming up and the last thing he wanted to do was take away her time. She had had a hard year with losing her mom so a lot of her assignments were weighted significantly heavier than her peers. “Whatever you do, just don’t tell—”
“Julie!” Reggie exclaimed, the brightest smile gracing his face.
The girl sat down, waving at Reggie as she sat down next to Luke with Flynn at her other side. “Hey Reggie! Sorry I’m a little late to lunch, Flynn and I were going over my song again and lost track of time.” She leaned into Luke’s side, who instinctively wrapped his arm around her shoulder to bring her closer. “What’d I miss?”
“Ah, nothing,” Luke dismissed. “Just Reggie complaining about his pop quiz.” He made eye contact with Alex and Reggie, nodding curtly to confirm that they wouldn’t say a thing about the previous topic of conversation.
“Ha,” Flynn scoffed. “That’s what you get for staring at all the girls in class.”
Reggie groaned at the comment, going off about how it wasn’t technically his fault that other girls were attractive and that he was a young, growing boy who had needs.
Julie didn’t hear much of what Reggie said, looking up at Luke suspiciously. They had been dating long enough, and they had known each other for much longer, that she knew when he was hiding something. Luke sensed her eyes on him and he locked eyes. “What?”
“You’re hiding something,” Julie stated. She straightened up, his arm falling off her shoulder.
“Psh, no, I’m not,” Luke insisted. He picked up his fork and stabbed a potato wedge, but made no move to put it in his mouth.
Julie’s eyes narrowed. “Lucas,” she warned.
“Julie,” Luke mimicked her tone.
“What are you hiding?” Julie asked again. She could feel herself losing patience.
Luke dropped his fork dramatically. “I’m not hiding anything! I swear.” He held one hand up and another one to his heart to demonstrate his truthfulness.
Julie raised an eyebrow at him challengingly. She turned to Reggie, who was still in conversation with Flynn, who was rolling her eyes at everything that he said. Realizing that Reggie would probably not be the best plan, her eyes then landed at Alex, who was very obviously trying to avoid eye contact. “Alex?” The tone in her voice was sickeningly sweet, which she knew Alex would fall for.
Alex whipped to face Julie, smiling nervously. “Hi.”
“Alex,” she continued, her voice not losing a drop of sweetness. “What were you guys talking about before Flynn and I came?”
Alex’s eyes locked on Luke, who was glaring menacingly at him. “Um,” his voice trailed off, his pitch rising. “I don’t really remember actually. Must be my short-term memory acting up, ha.”
Julie crossed her arms and leaned forward on the table, maintaining her eyes on her target. “Does your short-term memory also forget that Willie’s in my next class? You know, the long haired boy that you have a secret crush on?” Julie knew that she was playing dirty, but she hated being lied to, especially by her closest friends.
The blonde boy widened his eyes in panic. He knew what Julie was suggesting and he really did not want to dig his grave this early in life because William freaking Covington found out he had a huge crush on him. His eyes darted between Luke and Julie, both of them staring at him with a challenging gaze. Deciding he could face Luke’s fury, he broke. “Luke’s jaw is hurting and he needs to get his wisdom teeth out.”
“Dude!” Luke nearly shouted at the betrayal of his best friend. Alex smiled sheepishly.
“Luke!” Julie smacked Luke on the chest. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Luke winced at her hitting him. As small as she was, Julie was a lot stronger than she looked. “It’s not that big of a deal, honestly. It’ll be fine.”
The look on Julie’s face kind of scared him. He knew she didn’t believe him but the inner rebel in him couldn’t let her win this. He just really didn’t want to take up her time when she should be working on her song assignment.
“If everything is fine then, why don’t you go on and finish your potatoes?” Julie challenged.
Luke gulped. Eating one of the wedges had already been painful enough, and as hungry as he was, he was not willing to be in agonizing pain just to satisfy his desire to eat. But he also really couldn’t let Julie win, so he picked up the fork that still stabbed a wedge, and slowly bit into it, keeping his eyes on Julie.
Julie’s eyes widened slightly in concern, knowing that if what Alex said was true, there was no way that eating one potato wedge, much less an entire tray, was going to feel good for her boyfriend. But she knew he had a habit of playing things down so she was determined to see this one through.
What she did not expect was for him to finish all the wedges in his tray. He had definitely winced a lot when chewing and Julie felt her girlfriend instincts almost take over to make sure he was okay. However, Julie was nothing if not persistent, so she quickly picked the tray of potatoes on her own tray and placed it in front of Luke. She watched as Luke’s eyes enlarge at the sight in front of him, slowly turning to his girlfriend with an almost puppy-like expression. Was she really going to make him do this?
At this point, Alex, Reggie, and Flynn were watching the scene unfold in front of them. Neither of them spoke a word, too eager to see how this would play out, but none of them wished for a second to be in Luke’s shoes.
Julie leaned on one of her arms, her other hand coming to rest on her face as she gazed up at her boyfriend with a loving expression once she had his attention again. “Since you’ve proven your point, and I know that these are your favorite, why don’t you go ahead and take my portion too?” She smiled a sickeningly sweet smile, but Luke knew her game too well.
He glanced down at the potatoes and back to his girlfriend. His jaw was killing him after he had finished the first tray, there was no way he would be able to go through another. He knew Julie was as stubborn, if not more stubborn than he was and under different circumstances, they could go at this all day. But the pain in his jaw was not going away the way it had earlier in the day, so he finally relented. He set down his fork in resignation and turned to Julie with a sad look in his eyes. “Hurts too much,” he pouted, dropping his head onto her shoulder.
Julie immediately softened at the contact, running her hands through his hair. “It’s okay, babe. I’ll talk to your mom, okay?” At his nod, she maneuvered to kiss his jaw lightly.
For a second, Luke felt the pain in that specific spot she kissed dissipate. He wondered if he asked her to keep kissing his jaw to make him feel better if she would do it. He knew she’d say yes in a heartbeat.
Luke sat in the car with his arms crossed and a huge pouty expression on his face. Julie had indeed talked to his mom as promised and he was “so lucky” to get a quick appointment a few days later. Emily looked over at her son, sighing, reaching to place a loving hand on his tense shoulder. “Sweetheart, I know you hate the dentist but I promise everything will be okay. You’ll be in much less pain after surgery and after the soreness subsides.”
Grunting in response, Luke turned his body to face the window. He knew she was right, but the inner child in him was screaming for him to do something to get out of the situation - jump out of the car and roll to the side of the road seemed to be the most plausible option. He had only slightly raised his hand when his mom’s voice cut him off.
“Don’t even think about it, Luke.”
Luke let out a sigh, lifting his eyes to find that they had turned into the parking lot of the dentist office. He could already feel the nerves rising from his stomach and up his throat, his leg was shaking the entire weight of the car as Emily pulled to the curb.
“I have to stay at work a little later tonight but Dad should be home around 5:30. Mr. Molina graciously offered to pick you up and will drop you off at home since you’ll be too high to do much else. Julie should be there to take care of you too,” Emily explained to her son, who continued to stare at his hands in his lap.
He knew his mom had originally asked Mr. Molina to take care of Luke for the few hours before his dad came home from work, but Julie, being the caring girlfriend Luke loved her to be, had volunteered and stepped up to take care. While hesitant to leave his daughter and her drugged up boyfriend alone for a few hours, Mr. Molina conceded to the option when he realized he had a photoshoot to attend to the same afternoon.
As grateful as he was to have so many people that would take care of him, Luke had expressed numerous times that he didn’t want Julie to spend too much time with him with her assignment coming up around the corner. Without any other options (there was absolutely no way his parents would let Alex or Reggie to look after Luke while high), Luke gave in to Julie’s stubborn efforts.
Luke nodded at his mom’s words, stepping out of the car. As he made his way to the front door of the office, he heard his mom call his name. “Everything’s going to be okay, honey.” He turned around and saw her wave before she slowly pulled away. He took a deep breath and entered his worst nightmare.
Julie jumped out of the car the moment Ray put the vehicle into park, rushing into the office to find her boyfriend. She was well aware of how scared he was of the dentist and even though she kept telling how brave she thought he was to face his fears, she knew he was far from comforted with the idea of the surgery. She stopped at the front counter to catch her breath, the secretary looking up at her amused. “Luke Patterson? He came to get his wisdom teeth out earlier today.” Julie managed to get out once she caught her breath.
“Room 4. Down the hall on your right. He just got out so he’s going to be very loopy for a few more hours. I think the nurses are just finishing up.” The lady smiled sweetly at the young girl in front of him who dashed off in the direction of the specified room.
Julie rounded the corner into the room in a split second, her chest filled with warmth as she saw her boyfriend all snuggly in his sweater as he continued to talk to the nurse who was patiently trying to get the gauze into his mouth.
“You sh’see her,” Luke muttered, his words slurring together under the influence of the anesthetic. “She’s so pretty, she’s got beaut’ful curly hair and this cute lil’ gap between her teeth and m’gosh she’s here!” Luke’s eyes landed on Julie, who stood by the doorframe as she listened to her boyfriend rave about her to the nurse.
The nurse turned to smile at Julie kindly, motioning that she could enter while her other hand held some gauze. Julie shyly smiled back and stepped closer to Luke, who reached up to make small grabby hands at her. “C’mere, Jules. You’re so beaut’ful, I love you s’much, Julie. Isn’t she th’ prettiest?” He looked up at the nurse with hopeful eyes, and she politely smiled back.
“Of course, Luke. Now can I please replace the gauze in your mouth?” She looked over at Julie. “He’s been talking about you nonstop since we woke him up from the surgery.” She spoke as she swiftly replaced the bloody gauze in Luke’s mouth and Julie took note of how she did it, knowing that she would have to mimic the same actions for the next few hours.
The younger girl blushed at the nurse’s words, beaming at Luke who was clearly out of it. He stared at her with wide heart eyes — an expression that was coined by Alex when they first started dating — and wrapped his hand tight around hers to pull her down. “Gimme a kiss, Jules. Haven’t kissed ya all day,” he whined.
Julie tried to pull back, noting all the dried blood near Luke’s lips. That was not the most appealing thing right now. Thankfully, she was saved by the nurse’s instructions.
“Luke, I told you no kissing. You can’t kiss or do any strenuous activities with your mouth and jaw until the stitches are fully healed,” she warned. She thought that the two of them were one of the cutest young couples she had seen, and if the way Luke talked about Julie was any sign, she knew they were very much in love, which could prove to be risky for the healing process.
Luke pouted as much as he could with the gauze in his mouth. “Tha’s a long time! I can’t go tha’ long without kissin’ ma girlfrien’,” he whined, not loosening his tug on Julie’s arms.
Julie turned back to her boyfriend. “We are going to listen to the professionals, mister. Let’s get you better as soon as possible, yeah?” She planted a kiss on his forehead and Luke grinned dopily in response.
It took Ray and Julie about twenty minutes to get Luke into the car, and that was with the help of the nurse. He kept trying to run around the car to escape their hold to avoid going home. It wasn’t until the nurse vocally threatened to tell Ray all the things Luke had said about Julie after the surgery was over that he finally complied and sat in the car, crossing his arms like a punished child.
They were now on the way to Luke’s house, with Ray driving and Julie with Luke in the back seat. Ray had spent the first bit relaying to Julie all the information about taking care of Luke post-operation that the front desk secretary had told him. Julie nodded diligently, making sure to take note of all the things she had to do to keep Luke as comfortable as possible. She was somewhat excited to take care of him, knowing that in his state, she would probably simultaneously enjoy and be annoyed of his shenanigans all afternoon.
Julie looked over at Luke in concern when she felt his hand tighten around hers, immediately noticing the tears pricking at the corner of his eyes. “Luke, what’s wrong? Does it hurt? Do you want the ice pack again?” She reached over to grab the ice pack from her other side when Luke spoke up softly.
“Will ya’ still love me now tha’ ’m stupid?”
Julie placed the pack on his right cheek and watched him visibly relax a bit at the sensation. “What are you talking about?” She questioned, the corner of her mouth perking up slightly.
Despite the relief from the ice pack, there was still a sad look in his eyes that tugged at Julie’s heart. “They took ‘way all m’ smarts ’n’ wisd’m. M’gonna be stupid now.” He sounded like a kicked puppy as he slurred the words.
Julie had to cover her mouth to stifle the laugh that instinctively came out of her. She let go of his hand to brush it through his hair softly, watching him lean into her hand at the contact. “Honey, you were always a little dumb. But I’ll always love you,” she reassured him.
Luke smiled, his mind not processing the tiny insult she had poked in, focusing solely on the latter part of her statement. The feeling of her hand in his hair was extremely soothing, and he let his head fall to her shoulder and slumber take over his body.
Luke felt like the car ride had been going on for hours, even though he was well aware that the dental office was only about 20 minutes away from his house. The anesthetic hadn’t worn off even a smidge, if anything he could feel himself losing his train of thought faster and all of his limbs felt heavier and heavier with every passing second.
He glanced up at Julie from where his head was now in her lap to see her gazing out the window. The sunlight was hitting her at an angle that accentuated her features and Luke couldn’t help the smile that graced his face at the sight of her angelic glow. He nuzzled his head into her thigh and Julie quickly put her hand on his head to make him stop, letting out a small squeak in reaction.
Julie glanced up to see her father staring back at her in the rearview mirror, eyebrows raised at the teenage couple in the backseat. She smiled softly to assure him everything was okay and let out a breath when his eyes returned their focus on the road.
“Psst, Julie” Luke whispered loudly to get his girlfriend’s attention.
Julie stifled a giggle that escaped her throat at her boyfriend’s less than subtle actions. Ray glanced back again in the mirror at the sound.
“Baby,” Luke dragged out the pet name, using the same hushed tone.
She ran a hand through his hair, a sweet smile spreading across her face as she looked down at him. “Yes, Luke?” She mimicked his voice, a loud whisper.
Luke shifted slightly so that his face was fully visible to her. “M’sorry we can’t kiss.” He pouted slightly.
Julie let out a small laugh. “It’s okay, Luke. We’ll live.”
“But I was thinkin’, I know th’doc said m’not allowed to kiss ya wi’ my mou’h, but I can still use my other body parts, ‘kay?” His voice was still at a relatively normal volume, but the boy was completely oblivious to the fact that Ray was well within earshot of what he said.
Julie’s face flushed red almost immediately his words, her head shooting up and her eyes meeting her dad’s. She could see the amusement in his eyes and was incredibly grateful that they could just blame this on the anesthetic because the last thing she wanted to do is have that talk with her dad.
Not wanting to respond to his suggestion, Julie pat her hand on his chest to settle him down, but one look at his face and she knew that he was already thinking about something completely different.
Luke stumbled into his room, Julie barely able to hold up his full weight after climbing the stairs. At the sight of his bed, he let out a small squeal and jumped onto it, immediately tangling himself in the comfortable sheets and blankets that he hadn’t made after waking up this morning.
Julie rolled her eyes at his childish antics, he did this even when he wasn’t high. She watched from his doorway that he was definitely drifting off before realizing that she had to change his gauze. She made a quick dash to the bed, shaking Luke to keep him awake for a little longer. “Luke, hey,” she whispered softly, watching as her boyfriend’s eyes fluttered open. “I gotta change your gauze first and then you can go to sleep, okay?”
Luke looked at her expressionless and Julie wasn’t super sure if she had even heard or processed what she had said. She reached in her bag to grab new gauze and eyed that the trash can was close enough that she could toss the bloody gauze away once extracted. When she turned back to Luke, he laid still in the same position, a dopey smile on his face.
“Can you open for me?” Julie asked nicely, her hands moving towards his jaw as he opened his mouth and then—
“Ow!” Julie retracted her hand, examining her fingers for bite marks. “Luke! Did you just bite me?” She rubbed at her fingers to ease the pain. That boy had alarmingly strong teeth for someone who just went through surgery.
Luke let out a giggle, exaggeratedly licking his lips. “You’re tasty,” he hummed. “Bet’cha lips are tasty too.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Can I kiss ya, Jules?”
Julie frowned, narrowing her eyes. “No, Luke. The nurse said you can’t, and you just bit me!” She crossed her arms, putting on her best disappointment look she could manage.
It seemed to do the trick, as Luke slowly started to cower under the blankets until only his puppy-like eyes were visible to the girl. “M’sorry. But I miss kissing you, please?”
An idea popped into her head and she dropped the displeased look for a smile. “How about this — you let me change your gauze and I’ll kiss you?” She had lowered her stature so their faces were closer, but immediately jumped back when Luke swung his body out from under the covers at her offer, nodding excitedly.
“Yes please!” He sat up, opening his mouth widely, and waited patiently as she dug the old gauze out and replaced new ones in. Once she finished, he closed his mouth and eyes, puckering his lips in wait for his reward. When he felt her lips press firmly on his cheek he gasped, his eyes shooting open to see his girlfriend grinning. “Hey! Th’ doesn’t count!”
Julie rolled her eyes, reaching for the covers to tuck him in. “A kiss is a kiss, babe. Now get some rest, I know you’re tired.”
Luke wanted to fight to stay up and earn the kiss that was definitely rightfully his, but he knew from past experience that trying to stay mad at his loving girlfriend took a lot of energy he didn’t happen. He let out a sigh, allowing the warmth of his blankets soothe him to sleep.
Luke felt himself come to consciousness at the sound of a soothing melody, accompanied by an angelic voice he would recognize anywhere. He blinked his eyes open slowly, taking in the sight of Julie next to him, strumming gently on her ukulele and humming along. The smile on his face was like a reflex, though he could still barely feel his jaw from the anesthetic. His mind was still foggy and his thoughts blurred together. He shifted slightly, catching Julie’s attention out of the corner of her eye.
She ceased her strumming to look at him smiling. “Good morning, handsome.” She returned his grin with her own, reaching over to brush some hair out of his face.
“S’mornin’?” Luke grumbled. He was still surprisingly tired for someone who had slept 12 hours. His eyes looked outside, his eyebrows furrowing as he only saw a dark sky.
“No, it’s only 5. Your dad is supposed to be home soon to relieve me of my duties. Are you feeling better, stud?” She retracted her hand to continue softly plucking at the strings on the ukulele, giggling at Luke’s whine at the loss of contact.
Despite the sound he made, he responded confidently. “You’re here. M’feelin’ the best.”
She let out a laugh, shaking her head in amusement. “How are you so smooth when you’re high on drugs?” Her body swayed a little bit to the music she played.
He turned his head to get a better look at her in all her beauty, absorbing the music in the atmosphere and becoming one with it. His hand crept out from under the covers to rest on her knee, squeezing gently. “What’cha workin’ on? Is tha’ a love song for me?”
“No, it’s a love song for my other boyfriend,” she sprinkled in a sense of sarcasm in her words, wanting to emphasize her joking manner but also wanting to see his reaction while still under the influence of the anesthetic.
To no surprise, Luke pouted at her words. “Your otha’ boyfriend?” He gasped. “It’s Reg, isn’t it?” There was a slight sadness to his realization that Julie couldn’t help but chuckle at.
“Oh my god, you’re so dumb,” Julie breathed out.
A few moments passed as Julie continued to go through the progression of chords she had been working on, humming different renditions of a similar melody to find which one fit the best.
“Am I your only boyfriend?” Luke asked softly.
When Julie looked over at him, his eyes were all big and brown and puppy-like that she couldn’t resist but tug at him a little more. She leaned over, pausing her playing briefly to plant a soft kiss on his cheek. Pulling back slightly, she locked eyes with him, softly whispering. “You’ll never know.”
After Mitch came back from work, Luke had fallen back asleep under the spell of Julie’s lulling melodies. The older man knocked lightly on the doorframe as to not scare the girl or disturb the sleeping boy. The sight of Luke’s dad being home relieved Julie, and she smiled sweetly as she gathered her things quietly, kissing Luke on the forehead before she slipped out of his room and headed towards the front door. She knew that Luke would probably be asleep for the rest of the night, but knowing that he would have to take tomorrow off as well, she confirmed with Mitch her plan to return after school with some cold sweet treats to help soothe the bored boy.
The next day, the anesthetic had completely worn off, leaving Luke in a lot of pain even after taking Tylenol. Even though his parents were both gone at work, he knew better than to test the limits and go out unwarranted. Instead, he passed time playing the guitar to discover new songs, eating two of the three bowls of jello his mom had left for him in the fridge, and watching television in his boxers.
By mid afternoon, Luke was laying in bed, playing on his phone when he heard the front door open downstairs. He didn’t bother to get up and check, figuring that it was probably his mother returning home early from work. When he heard soft footsteps ascending the stairs and approaching the door, he reached over to slip on a shirt, wanting to be decent for his mother.
When he managed to work his head through the hole, he was surprised to see Julie back at his residence, grinning mischievously as she held a plastic bag with pints of ice cream inside. “Did you miss me?”
Luke couldn’t help but beam at his girlfriend, even though the expression pained his jaw the slightest bit. He was happy to have company, but even more ecstatic to spend more time with his girlfriend. Quickly scooting over to make room for her, he opened his arms wide to hug her before letting her get situated comfortably.
She pulled out a pint of mint chocolate chip (her favorite) and moose tracks (his favorite) ice cream, handing him a spoon and his respective pint. They sat and discussed their days, digging into their ice cream and momentarily trying to steal some of the other’s. When Julie started to talk about her song assignment coming up at the end of the week, Luke froze, remembering that he had taken up a lot of her precious time just because of his surgery.
Julie tilted her head at Luke’s reaction, stopping mid-sentence to address him. “You okay? Is it your jaw? Do you need more Tylenol?” She turned and put down her ice cream on his nightstand, making a move to turn and get out of bed to retrieve medication.
Luke quickly grabbed at her leg, stilling her as he shook his head. “No, I’m fine. It’s just, I’m sorry that you had to spend so much time taking care of me yesterday.”
She looked at him incredulously. “What do you mean you’re sorry?”
Shrugging, he answered. “Your huge assignment in Harrison’s class is this week and you were here with me instead of practicing and—”
“Are you saying I need practice?” Julie interrupted him with a challenging tone, though she knew that was far from his intention.
“No! No,” Luke sputtered, trying to correct himself. He set his ice cream down on the nightstand on the other side of his bed, using his free hands to grab hers. “I just want you to do well and I know that this is really important to you.”
A kind smile graced her face, her eyes softening at his gesture. She squeezed his hands back. “You’re important to me too.” She leaned forward and pressed a short peck on his lips. “How about we kill two birds with one stone and I practice now?” Nodding her head towards the door, Luke’s eyes landed on the ukulele she had brought yesterday and apparently today. He bit his lip, looking her up and down before letting out a slow smile.
He watched as she slipped out of bed to grab her instrument, quickly making her way back in his arms. As she pulled out her phone to look at her notes for the song, Luke couldn’t help but stare at her. He knew that they had only been together for a year, but having known Julie his entire life, it was near impossible to picture his life without her. And maybe it was the way she was willingly to sacrifice some practice time to take care of him, or maybe it was the way his heart fluttered when she told him he was important to her. From the moment they met, Luke knew he was a complete goner for her.
Her eyes locked with his, silently asking if he was ready. He smiled, leaning back to watch her start, her ethereal voice filling the space around them.
“The truth is finally breaking through.”