Starry Eyed / l.h ✔️

29

~Elysia's POV~

"Elysia!" Mom exclaimed at me as I walked into the house, scowling. It was a little after six PM now, so I was getting home pretty late, especially in comparison to usual. "Yes?" I asked softly, sighing quietly to myself as I shit the front door behind me before she could see that Luke was only just getting home as well. Something told me, though, that it didn't take a genius to figure out where I'd been, or more so who I'd been with.

She sent me a glare, like she was even more angry at the simple way I'd responded. "It's six PM! Where have you been?!" She hissed, narrowing her eyes at me. I bit my cheek and awkwardly crossed my arms over my chest, sighing. "I—" The second I got the word out, she shook her head and stomped forward. "I know you weren't at school today." She cut in, crossing her arms over her chest angrily. My lips sealed shut as she stared at me expectantly, waiting for me to say something. A deep sigh left me. "I was with Luke." I confessed quietly, biting my cheek nervously. If she was angry before, now she looked about ready to burst into flames because of how infuriated she was.

Mom inhaled sharply and started forward, making me think that she was going to come towards me, making my eyes drop to the floor. I didn't want to meet her gaze. However, she just stormed right past me and yanked open the front door, startling me. "Mom?" I asked in confusion, furrowing my brows together. Of course, she just completely ignored me. At first, I just watched her as she made her way down the driveway, not realizing what she was doing until I noticed she had her targets set on Luke's house.

Panic struck in my chest and I ran out the door, shutting it behind me. I didn't know what she had in mind, but something told me that I didn't want to know. Something told me that it wouldn't be something good. "Mom! Mom, what are you doing?" I asked nervously, subconsciously exclaiming my words as I ran down the driveway after her. She glanced over her shoulder, glaring. "Go inside, Elysia!" She snapped, no patience in her voice. I didn't listen, though, and instead rushed after her, blocking her from going forward. "Mom, stop. I don't think you're thinking." I protested, going to grab her hand. Before I could, she roughly smacked my hand away, causing me to gasp softly as I pulled away from her. "I'm not thinking?" She asked incredulously.

I just looked at her as she stepped towards me, a glare on her face. "You're the one running around with this little atheist, who probably just wants you out of your underwear, and you're acting like I'm the bad one here!" She exclaimed in a shrill voice, wildly gesturing around with her hands to further show just how angry she was. I gaped at her, unable to believe she'd just said that to me. "You're not at all being fair! You don't even know him, and why is he even so bad to you?" I snapped, feeling angry and defensive of him. "You already know why! I don't want you associating with his kind, Elysia." She hissed, her hands clenching into fists at her side. When I saw it, I couldn't help the first little spark of fear that shot into me, but I ignored it.

"You mean atheists?" I mocked, watching as her gaze narrowed into thin slits. She looked ready to explode. "Go inside, now." She ground out, eyeing me with raw rage.

For the first time, I stood my ground. "No." I refused simply, looking down at her. She was just a little bit shorter than me, so I barely stood taller than her. "No?" She echoed, astonished with my blatant disobedience. I just raised a brow at her. "I'm sick of this, mom. You can't do this anymore. You have no place in being mad at me, not from where you sit." I said, which just visibly made her even more mad. She knew what I was getting at, but she didn't think I'd say it to her face. "Oh, really? And what does that mean?" She drawled, eyes narrowed at me. She was looking at me like I wasn't even her daughter, just someone standing in front of her. For a moment, I stared at her. "You're a hypocrite." I said simply.

"You're fucking mad at me for dating an atheist when dad is an atheist!" I exclaimed, causing her to freeze up. She didn't like to talk about that. It was as if she thought it wouldn't exist if it was never actually acknowledged.

"Go inside." Mom said in a deadly calm voice, shoving past me harshly. I blinked and turned around, spotting Luke standing on his front porch with a confused look on his face. Quickly, I ran after her and quickly slipped in front of her again. "You don't get to be mad. Stop." I protested, watching as she scowled at me. "I get to do whatever I want! I'm your mother! You listen to me, not the other way around. Now go home!" She exclaimed with a scowl, pointing back towards the house. I scoffed, finally reaching my breaking point with her being like this. "No! I don't have to fucking listen to you. This is bullshit. What is so different about Luke and I? You and dad have the same relationship. Just because you don't want him to be an atheist doesn't mean he won't be, you know!" I scoffed, and that was when she reached her breaking point as well.

The second the words left my mouth, she raised a hand and smacked me across the face without any hesitation.

I was so surprised that I just placed a hand on my cheek, my lips parted as I looked down at the ground. Only what felt like seconds later, I felt a warm hand softly grip my arm and pull me away. "Don't touch her!" Mom snapped at Luke, reaching out to pull me from him. I flinched away from her, not wanting her to lay a hand on me. "Fuck off." Luke scowled back at her, protectively holding me to his side. "Excuse me?!" She exclaimed, glaring at him. I buried my head in his chest, still unable to believe that she'd just hit me. Mom hadn't hit me before.

"You fucking heard me." He scoffed, shooting her a look of disgust. "All you care about is your fucking religion. You shouldn't give a shit if Elysia dates someone like me," He said in a mocking voice, "You should care that I love her and treat her right. You should care that you have her at all."

My mom just stared at him, her eyes lit up with a mixture of disgusted anger and surprise. I felt my heart clench as he hugged me to his chest, showing just how protective he was feeling of me. "Where the hell do you think you're going with her?" Mom scoffed as Luke began leading me across the street towards his house, causing him to stop and cast her a glare. "To my house. The fuck does it look like?" He said smartly, raising a brow at her. "She's staying home." Mom said firmly, but he just snorted. "She's 18. She can stay wherever she wants." He fired back, glancing down at me briefly. Mom let out a noise of anger. "You have no right to step in like this. It doesn't even concern you." She snapped at him, which was actually pretty ironic.

Luke laughed, though it was laced with bitterness and disgust. "The argument was about our relationship, so I think it concerns me." He retorted, causing her to alternate her glare between him and I. "You're actually going to go with him?" Mom asked me, to which I nodded curtly, refusing to look at her.

My confirmation made her scowl before she turned around and stormed back up into the house, slamming the front door shut. Luke quietly led me up his driveway and to his room, shutting his bedroom door. His blue eyes were soft as he looked my features over. "I'm so sorry. Are you okay, kitten?" He asked softly, softly brushing his fingers along my cheek, right where she'd hit me. I leaned into his touch and sighed softly. "I'm fine." I answered simply. "I can't believe that she hit me." I confessed a moment later, tears pricking my eyes.

It wasn't necessarily that I was crying because it hurt when she smacked me. It was because that was the first time she'd ever hit me and it made me upset like no other. I couldn't believe she'd done it.

Instead of trying to say something, Luke softly pulled me into his chest and picked me up, climbing into his bed with me. Even as a few tears slipped from my eyes and dampened his shirt, he just held me, my head against his chest while he softly stroked his fingers through my hair. I scooted closer to him and he slid his arms around my waist, letting out a soft sigh that sounded content, even with the series of events that'd just taken place. While I cried, his lips softly kissed me on the top of my head. "I love you." He said softly. I couldn't even stop the little smile that rose on my face when he said that, loving how sweet he was. All he wanted was to comfort me and make me feel better.

"I love you too." I said automatically, softly smiling. It didn't even take me a minute to respond. I loved him more and more every time I saw him.