Taking Chances (Remember to Forget Sequel)

Chapter 19

Delilah's POV

"Luke-"

"Love you! Bye!"

"Love you too..." I mumble, even though Luke has already hung up.

I sigh and rest my head in my hands.

I have absolutely no idea what I'm supposed to be looking for. I haven't noticed anything abnormal in my room, but I haven't been looking for anything either. 

I glance quickly around my room to see if there's anything around my room, but don't notice anything. How am I supposed to find something when I don't know what I'm looking for? Is it something big that I can easily find? Or did he hide it somewhere? I'm at a complete loss. It would be a lot easier if I at least knew what to be searching for.

I smile and stand in the center of my room, thinking of where Luke could have hidden something.

I decide to text him.

any hints?

He responds a few seconds after.

nope. you'll find it :-)

I roll my eyes and sigh. Of course he won't give me any hints to make this a little easier.

It's only been a little over a day since Luke left, but it feels so much longer. A few months ago, we didn't even know each other and now I can't bear the thought of being without him. It feels so different knowing he's no longer down the street.

I'm worried Luke won't ever move back to Maine. Technically, Maine was only supposed to be temporary. He moved here to live with his dad for a little, not stay here the rest of his life. I understand if he never moves back, I guess. Australia is his home. That's where everything that he grew up with is. He was only here for a few months. Maine is not his home, no matter how much I'd like it to be.

We both kind of always knew he wouldn't permanently be in Maine. Neither of us expected him to leave so soon though. I thought he'd be here for prom, my birthday, the start of summer... And then we'd go to Australia together for the summer.

Wait, the plane tickets to Australia! Maybe that's what Luke hid! I can't believe I didn't think of that sooner.

I try to think of places Luke might've hid something. I check under the pillows on my bed. Nothing. I look under my bed. Still nothing. I check the drawers in my bureau, the shelves in my closest, the drawers in my desk. Nothing, nothing, nothing. I'm beginning to think that maybe it's not plane tickets and I could have missed what I'm trying to find.

It's been over half an hour. I sit down on my bed and try to think. If I was Luke, where would I hid something? I scan my room for spots I haven't checked, and then I see it. A giant box of Skittles that I did not buy is in the corner of the room behind my desk. I'm not sure how I didn't notice it before.

Great. A 36 pack of Skittles. Just what I needed. It's cute, but now that Luke's not here, I don't really have a need to have so many Skittles. I don't have to keep refilling his pill container with Skittles for him. That's up to him now.

The plane tickets would have been better, but it's okay. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up in the first place.

I quickly dial Luke's phone number. He picks up after a few rings.

"I found the Skittles," I tell him when he picks up.

"Is that it?" he asks.

"Uh... yes? Is there supposed to be more?" I look around my room for something else I may not have noticed. Clearly Luke's idea of hiding is putting things in obvious places, so who knows what else he could have "hid."

Luke laughs. "Did you open the Skittles box?"

"No. Should I?"

"Yeah, probably. Only if you want to, of course."

I smile. I walk over to the Skittles box and pick it up. On the side of the box that was facing the wall, Luke wrote "Open here" in his messy handwriting. The box is a lot lighter than I expected. I laugh and put Luke on speaker so I can open the box.

"Okay, I'm about to open it," I tell Luke.

"It took you so long to find that. I don't know how you didn't see it before," he tells me.

"I was looking for something less obvious," I tell him, laughing.

"Like what?"

"Like... I don't know," I tell him, not wanting to tell him I was looking for a plane ticket to Australia.

I quickly open the box. I'm not sure why I have to open it if there's just 36 bags of Skittles inside. Wow, what a surprise! Skittles inside a Skittles box!

But when I open it, there are only two bags of Skittles. 

And a plane ticket.

To Australia.

I smile and try really hard not to cry.

"Did you open it?" Luke asks quietly.

"Yeah," I whisper, running my finger along the outline of the plane ticket.

"And?"

"And I really love you. And miss you. This is the greatest surprise ever."

I can hear Luke laugh lightly. "I love you, too."

I am so insanely lucky to have Luke in my life. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed when I thought the plane ticket wasn't the surprise. I thought I wouldn't see him for a long, long time. I thought that maybe they used both tickets for their flight yesterday, and I wouldn't be going to Australia anymore. 

But now that I'm looking at the ticket and holding it in my hands, it's real. I'm going to Australia. This is really happening. Just knowing I'll be with Luke in a few months has already made me happier.

"What about the other ticket? Did you get your money back?"

"We were able to exchange it for yesterday's flight. You're okay flying by yourself for a long time, right?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I can't believe this."

"So in, like, three months you'll be here. With me. You with me. Me with you. Here. In Australia."

"Three months is so far though."

"It'll go by quickly, I promise."

We talk for a little longer until I get too tired. It's weird that it's past eleven o'clock at night here, but it's only the afternoon for Luke. Finding times to talk will definitely be hard for us. 

Once I'm off the phone with Luke, I lie in bed for awhile, just thinking. I'm exhausted, but I'm so excited. 

I have the best boyfriend in the entire world. And even though he's halfway across the world, I'll be with him soon enough.

sorry this is kinda short, but i have to go to work and study. I hope you all had a nice Halloween if you celebrate it!

don't forget about the video if you want to make one! if you don't have gmail or can't figure out google drive, you can just send me the video. I should be able to save it :)

-ashley