thin white lines | l. hemmings

28

"Shh," she giggled, pushing Luke's hands away from her despite how much she enjoyed his gentle touch. "He's gonna hear."

"Let him hear!" Luke laughed, making sure to keep his tone hushed. "I would love for your father to hear how beautiful I think you are."

"And I'm sure he'd love to hear it. But not when you've snuck into his house and are in my bed with me." She couldn't wipe the smile off her face as they laid together. He was smiling just as much as he pulled her in as close as he could get her. She happily laid her head on his chest, hearing his heart beat carefully under his warm skin.

"Yeah. I don't think that's the way I want your dad to find out about me," he said quietly, lips brushing against her hair.

"Me either. But do you think you'll want to meet him soon?"

He paused, taking her hair through his fingers. "I do. I still don't think he'll like me, though and I don't want that to affect you at all."

"What do I keep telling you, baby? You don't think anyone even likes you but everyone loves you," she reasoned with him, only pulling a sigh as the words flowed in one ear and directly out the other.

"Soon," he said simply, confirming nothing for her. But at the moment, it didn't matter. Instead, she pulled back from his chest and brought her lips to meet his.

It was a lingering peck that made him smile as she placed her forehead comfortably back on his. In the dark room, he kept his eyes shut. "I love you, Luke." She mumbled, her lips close enough that he felt her breath hitting his face.

He opened his eyes to see the way she looked. At first, the blurriness told him that it was too dark in the room for his eyes to adjust so quickly. A few blinks helped, but only to clear the blurriness. Suddenly the vague shapes in front of him seemed to melt away, and she was gone.

But not entirely. He dared not move because he swore he could still feel her in his arms. "Nadia?" he called out quietly, still avoiding her father from the other room which didn't really exist around him anymore. "Nadia!" He shouted again, realizing suddenly that her dad wasn't his biggest issue.

He blinked to realized he was no longer in the twin bed with Nadia. He was alone, still clutching empty air like she was still there. Only now he was sitting on the ground, in the middle of the street.

Cars passed by him, narrowly avoiding his body. He turned his head, looking through the spaces between cars, only looking for one person. "Nadia..." But she wasn't there. All he could find were dozens of people walking and staring at him. Eyes boring into him like their goal was to make him sure they were angry with him.

But he didn't even know a single person staring so hatefully at him.

"Nadia, I love you too," he whispered so quietly. Not expecting her to hear, because if she was close enough to hear him yelling if he yelled, he would've already seen her. He was more so just putting it out into the universe. Making sure that he himself knew he tried his best to tell her.

He had the chance to tell her. But he didn't until it was too late.

He gasped coming out of his sleep. The whole night he was aware he was living through a dream and that it wasn't real. He just wasn't able to wake himself up until then. That's always how it always seemed to go went with his dreams.

They tried to trick him. His own mind was working against him to convince him of things that never even happened. He and Nadia had never said they loved each other, and he didn't think they ever did was pretty sure they never did love each other. They were too young to really know.