No Such Thing As Perfect Love (A Christian Romance Novel)

Would You Rather?

Chloe POV
"Oh, Olivia, you should have seen the way his face lit up while he talked about his grandmother," I gushed over the phone.
"Aww. I am so glad it worked out between you two!"
"But I still am slightly scared that he will lash out at me again. I absolutely hate it. I know I shouldn't."
I sighed, wishing my thoughts would not assume the worst about Luke.
"Once," I continued, "he almost kissed me but stopped to ask me what my own grandmother was like. Words can't explain how badly I wanted that kiss.
"When he finally kissed me at the end, I could not help but be reminded of how much I loved him. Oh! I almost forgot. I was staring at him, completely lost in thought, and I suddenly I found three words tumbling out of my mouth."
"Three words? The three words?!" Olivia exclaimed.
"I told him I loved him," I confirmed.
Olivia's squeal was so inarticulately piercing that I had to move the phone away from my ear.
"Are you done fangirling now?"
She gave another short screech then said, "Now I am."
We talked for a little bit longer until she admitted she had a date.
With nothing left to do, I searched my bookshelf and pulled out one of my favorite poetry books. Lost in the magic of words, I did not hear the apartment's buzzer right away. When I was finally snapped from my trance, I took my sweet time walking to the speaker located by the front door.
"Who is it?" I called through the machine.
"Luke," the person replied. "It's about time you answered! I must have rang three or four times."
I quickly buzzed him up and waited by the door for him.
"What are you doing here?" I asked excitedly, greeting him with a kiss on the cheek.
"Nothing. I just wanted to see you."
He kissed me on the lips as he enveloped me in his arms, protecting me from anything that might try to harm us.
When he finally let me go, I found myself wishing for more.
"Well, hello to you, too," I said, gesturing for him to step away from the door so I could close it.
Luke immediately made himself comfortable on my couch, so I sat down facing him.
"What do you want to do?" I questioned.
He shrugged in response, and I couldn't help but smile. I wracked my brain to remember Olivia's rants on her past dates. After all, she has plenty of cute date ideas. Then, I realized that I didn't know a lot about Luke. How could I learn more about him without being creepy . . . ?
"Let's play Would You Rather!" I suggested.
His eyebrows scrunched up in an adorable way as he considered my idea.
"I'll give it a try," he agreed, finally.
"Um . . . Would you rather . . . Would you rather live one life that lasts 1,000 years or live 10 lives that last 100 years each?" I tested.
He thought about it, once again let his eyebrowd scrunch up adorably. At last, he smiled.
"That depends on what you'd pick. If you chose the latter option, I would, too. That way, I wouldn't have to spend 900 years without. Or at least I wouldn't have to risk you forgetting about me."
I felt my cheeks blush slightly.
"And if I chose the first option?"
He smiled his goofy grin and replied with, "Then be prepared for 1,000 years with me."
Gosh, that was adorable.
"I choose the first option."
Instead of responding to my answer, he smiled, and I realized that I just openly told him I wouldn't mind spending 1,000 years with him.
Eh. I'm socially awkward.
"Is it my turn for the question?" Luke asked.
"Yep," I replied, popping the p.
"Would you rather have everyone be without elbows or without knees?"
Now it was my turn to have scrunched-up eyebrows.
"No elbows. That way there would be no more sports involving throwing random things at other people."
"What about hugging?" Luke pointed out.
"But think about the innocent lives that could be saved before they fall into the dangerous entertainment called physical activity. You'd still have the useful things like running and dancing, though they would be a lot harder."
Luke raised and eyebrow and questioned, "You think running is useful?"
"Well duh," I replied. "What else do you expect me to do when I see people."
He laughed and shook his head.
"I still think no knees. I enjoy hugs," Luke decided, then added, "and cuddling."
How could I not move so that I was leaning against him? He wrapped an arm around me, and I made myself a home there.
"I can't think of anymore questions," I admitted sheepishly.
"Me neither."
So I did what any person would do in the twenth-first century; I pulled out my phone.
"Here's one: Would you rather never be able to speak again or always have to say everything that is on your mind?"
"I would rather . . . not be able to speak. At least then people wouldn't be annoyed at me for interrupting them. Also, I would save myself loads of embarrassment," Luke shared.
"But wouldn't people be annoyed that you never talk to them?" I pointed out.
"Yes, but mute people deal with it, and they are perfectly fine."
"True . . . I have to say I agree with you. I never say much when in groups greater than three people, anyway. Plus, I could write out my responses," I added. "That's two we agree on, and one we don't," my boyfriend observed.
"Well, technically, we didn't full-out agree on the first one since you would have said whatever I said."
"Then, let's not be technical. My turn!"
Luke laughed and pointed to one on the list.
"Would you rather date your co worker or your neighbor?" he read.
"Or this one: Would you rather be a teacher or a student for the rest of your life?" I noticed.
"Well, teachers are basically students themselves and vice versa; teachers are always learning while students are always teaching."
"That is too true."
We scrolled through the questions for a while longer, but soon we got bored with it. Luke, of course, quickly supplied something else to do.
"I'm hungry," he complained.
"Ahh, so that's why you came here."
I pretended to be shocked and hurt.
"That's right," Luke confirmed, playing along with a defiant tone of voice.
"I thought friends were supposed to be the ones who only stuck around for free food," I said thoughtfully.
"Seriously, though, can I have food?" Luke questioned, a puppy dog look covering his adorable face.
"Let's take a look and see what I have, shall we?"
I strutted into the kitchen and threw the fridge door open. Nothing stuck out to either of us, so I moved on to the pantry. As if by magic, our eyes landed on the same items simultaneously: marshmallows and gram crackers. We turned to each other and grinned.
"I think I have chocolate bars in the cupboard by the microwave," I informed him as I grabbed the other two ingredients.
"I'm on it."
I set my treasures down on the counter and slid over just in time for Luke to turn around with the chocolate. He worked on opening the package while I turned on the oven. I had an electric stove, so there was no way to make s'mores that way, and of course we couldn't start a fire in an apartment.
The two of us worked like clockwork. Just as I finished opening the gram crackers and wanted to break the chocolate, Luke laid it down for me. Then, after I grabbed something to set the marshmallows on, I turned around to get some sort of stick, and Luke was there, alread pokig on through the marshmallows. I opened the oven door for him. From there, we took turns turning the marshmallows while we chatted lightly.
Finally, we pulled our treats from the oven and crushed them against the gram crackers and chocolate. With oven off and the ingredients away, we sat down with our snack and bit into the gooey desserts. We made four total: two for each of us. All too soon, we were licking our fingers clean.
"You . . . um . . have something right there," I told Luke, trying not to laugh while wiping marshmallow goop from his nose.
"I rocked it, though, didn't I?" Luke said, striking a pose.
I laughed gently before sitting back. My boyfriend looked at me strangley, as if something I had done upset him. I let my gaze fall down, unsure of whether or not to question it.
"I love you," Luke told me softly.
I smiled and looked up.
"I love you, too."
He grinned his goofy grin and leaned forward slowly. I waited for it to come, for his lips to meet mine, but the pace at which he was moving was making it take forever. I draped my arms around his neck and pulled him towards me, kissing him with love. We stayed there for what seemed like forever yet not long enough at the same time before we pulled apart.
"I should go," Luke murmured, his forehead against mine.
Still, it was a few minutes before he actually got up. When he did, I rested my hand on his arm and said, "You should pop in for no reason again some time."
"Or maybe next time is your turn."
I kissed him again and let him leave. Just before the door closed, I saw his goofy grin.