Bubble Wrap

chapter twenty-six

THE FIRST TIME I watched Luke perform, I had been hiding the truth from myself. Scared that even for a second there might be something real between us. Something I couldn't brush under the rug and pretend didn't happen. It's different when all I can do is smile, knowing that for the last few days we've been tangled in between sheets, never leaving each other's sides.

While everyone eagerly watches him in awe, hoping that he'll pay them even an ounce of his attention, I can't help the rush of adrenaline knowing his eyes are only for me. Even from across the bar, I can see the way he watches me and it leaves me warm. Like somehow, even when he's up there, I'm the only thing on his mind. And it feels good.

He shoots me a smile as his voice coats my skin in honey.

I match his facial expression, clapping my hands as the song comes to an end. For the first time in a really long time, I'm happy. My heart beating in excitement as the next song starts. Not just any song, but our song. Dark rooms, bubble wrap and vanilla lip gloss.

The start of something I never expected.

As the night goes on, I lose myself in the music and the sound of his voice. When their set comes to an end and the crowd begins to bleed thin, I twist in my seat and turn back to the book left on the surface of the bar. The pages smooth beneath my fingertips as I open to my last chapter, scanning the page for my spot.

There once was a man.

A man who had stolen all my thoughts and taken my heart, claiming it as his own without even knowing it. Together we spent two weeks together and then that was it. He was gone. Just like that. Out of my life forever. And I was left with the fear I may never feel the same way about another person ever again.

He left me in pieces. My thoughts invaded with my heart in his hands. He blew up everything and seemingly fixed it all at once. He left me breathless.

Every day I waste time thinking back to that day and how things could have been different. If I had just told him the truth. If I had just spelt out what my heart was screaming at me to say. I love you. Eight little letters. Three small words. They held power and if I had just used them, he would have been mine and I wouldn't be left here heartbroken by his touch.

"Why am I not surprised you brought a book?" Luke mumbles as his hand smooths over the small of my back, moving his hand over my side before wrapping around my waist as he presses his lips to my jaw.

"Did you expect anything less from me?" I ask as I tuck the scraped piece of paper between the pages and turn to face him. His hand moves from my waist to cup my cheeks as he meets me halfway, my body ignited by the feeling of his lips on mine. My fingers curl into the ends of his hair as the rest of the world fades away around us.

All I feel is him.

I don't care that people can see us. I don't care that his skin is slick with sweat as he steps in between the space of my legs. I don't care about any of it because nothing else matters. I have something real and good. Something I only imagined I could have, and now that I do, I'm fully prepared to enjoy every second of it.

"Get a room, lovebirds," Jace calls out as the rest of the band makes their way to the bar counter, calling out their orders to Liz.

Luke pulls away long enough to flip Jace off before kissing me gently, his calloused fingers rough against my skin as they tangle in the hair at the nape of my neck. My lips curl up against his as he comes back to me. I trail my fingers down his chest, pinching the soft linen between my fingers as his lips move to my jaw. A bubble of laughter falling from my lips when his nose brushes my earlobe.