summer love / lewis redman

day 117

Lewis looked down at the envelope in his hands as he walked back towards his flat from the store. Grocery bags hung from his elbows, but his hands were fighting with his brain which told him to wait patiently until he got home to open the newest letter he had from Lucy.

Each one was better than the next, because he could hear her voice in his head reading them to him, and each letter had a new word she'd never used before that he could imagine her lips saying. Each story made her laugh echo in his head, every single phrase came with a matching facial expression he could picture when he closed his eyes.

His phone rang in his jacket pocket. Lewis fumbled for it, his lips spreading into a grin when he saw Lucy's name on his screen. "This has to be against the rules, right? This is at least phone call number ten."

Lucy's laugh echoed around him, filling up everything like it was real, like she was right there. "I don't know what you're possibly talking about." Lucy joked back, the sound of voices in the background distracting her for a moment. "No, set that down right there." She spoke away from the phone.

"What's going on?" Lewis asked curiously, rounding the corner to his block. The street was busy, a small van parked against the sidewalk with the back doors open as a few men carried boxes out of it and towards the front of his building.

"What's taking you so long?" Luciana asked him over the phone. Lewis' forehead wrinkled, pressing the phone tighter to his ear to make sure he could hear her properly.

"What are you talking about?" Lewis asked her incredulously.

His steps slowed as he got closer to the the van, seeing that the men carrying the boxes weren't just movers, they were Ethan and Harry. "Mate, what are you doing here?" Lewis asked, putting a hand on Ethan's shoulder as he picked up one of the last boxes and added it to the pile on the front steps.

"Took you long enough! We need a key." Ethan responded, giving his friend a giant grin. 

"What?" Lewis repeated, looking around in confusion from the rental van to the stack of seven or eight boxes in front of his building. "What are you doing with those?"

"Well, we want to take them upstairs, but if you want me to live on the front steps I'm sure I can make something work." 

Lewis turned, dropping his phone from his ear. He didn't need it to hear her, not when Lucy herself was leaning against the side of the van, closing the front door behind her. His mouth fell open, turning to look from Ethan to Harry to his best mate Josh, who he now saw standing beside Tobi with their cameras held up and matching grins on their faces.

"What - Lucy." He interrupted his questions, deciding that this was more important, the girl in front of him. Lewis grabbed her, holding her so tightly that her feet lifted off the ground, her arms wrapping so tightly around his neck that he might suffocate, but die a happy man.

"Lucy, Lucy, Lucy, Lucy," He practically chanted, breathing in her smell, drinking up the feel of her heartbeat against his chest, her nose nuzzled into the side of his neck, her hair tickling his cheek. She laughed, her usual laugh, the one he'd only heard in grating echoes through the phone like she was at the end of a tunnel.

It filled his ears, loud and clear and more magical than ever. "Lewis, Lewis, Lewis." She chanted back teasingly, pulling away from him and resting both of her hands on his cheeks. "I suppose I can't call you London anymore, since I live here too now." 

Lewis's hands found hers, holding them over his cheeks tightly just to be sure she was real and tangible. "You live here now, with me." He clarified, eyes flitting from boxes to smiling faces to her.

"That was the plan," Lucy teased back, her eyes searching his nervously.

"You're here, I thought I'd never..." He trailed off, his eyes wet as he held his breath.

"I gave your plane ticket to the universe," Lucy explained, stepping closer to him so their toes touched. "The wind took it and then, last week, there it was... the wind brought it back to my front door. The universe told me I needed you back."

"I needed you back." Lewis responded quickly, sniffing quickly and letting out an embarrassed laugh as a single tear slipped out of his eye, sliding down the edge of his nose. 

Lucy laughed too, lifting on her toes and pressing her lips against his, squeezing her eyes closed so tightly as she held the world in her hands, felt Lewis' hands leave hers to hug her lower back against him as he kissed her back hard.

"Te amo," Lucy said, her nose pressed against his and her eyes baring into Lewis'.

"I love you." Lewis said back, pushing his forehead into hers and kissing her again quickly. "I love you, I love you, I love you."