Spark / l.h ✔️

25

~Luke's POV~

Cora was breaking my heart over here. I wasn't sure why she did the things that she did. I didn't understand why she fucked me and then wanted to pretend like nothing ever happened in the first place.

"Please, Cora." I begged later that night, sitting beside her on the couch. We'd just gotten home from going out to eat with one another, so she was still dressed up, as was I. She had on this little cheetah print slip dress with black lace on the hem, a pair of black combat boots with a little furry bag that had cheetah print on it and her hair fell in waves. On her head was a cheetah print fiddler cap, her dark hair leading out from underneath it. She looked so beautiful.

Coralia looked over at me and her hazel eyes met mine, filled with sadness. I was losing hope at this point. I was resorting to fucking begging and I never begged, anyone. "I..." My voice broke and I saw her eyes soften, filled with guilt. "I love you, Cora. Please." I cried, losing my goddamn mind. I wanted her to be mine. It was killing me, knowing she could be with any other man and I had no say in it. She didn't seem to give a shit about me. "Why won't you understand? I...I'm no fool, my little tiger. I see how you look at me when Lexa is here, or when I talk about her." I said, staring into her eyes. She swallowed thickly, looking like she was about to cry. I knew she felt more for me than just friendship, that this wasn't purely sex. It couldn't have been.

But why wouldn't she admit it?

"I...I'm sorry." She sniffled, trying her hardest to stop herself from crying. It hurt me to see her on the verge of tears, but I wasn't sure what other way I could handle this than by directly confronting her. At first, I had hoped she'd just come to her senses on her own, but I had realized today that that wasn't the case. She was purposefully holding herself back from being with me, from loving me, and I didn't know why. "What's wrong, Cora? Did I do something that makes you not want to be with me?" I wondered, furrowing my brows. There seemed to be no other explanation.

"No!" She gasped, shaking her head hurriedly. "No, no. You've done nothing wrong." She assured me softly, letting out a deep sigh. I know that I was meant to feel better about knowing that, but I didn't. Why would she not want to be with me, then? Maybe she actually didn't love me, like I had thought? "Then...Then what is it?" I asked, confused. I just wanted the truth. I was so tired of the games. I wanted her to be mine and mine only, always.

For just a moment, she hesitated as she eyed me closely, like she was debating on whether or not she should tell me the reasoning behind this whole thing. "I'm scared." She admitted after a moment, sniffling to herself. Her eyes slid down until she was just looking at the couch, not saying anything to me at the moment. "Why?" I asked, frowning.

"When I was in the twelfth grade, I had a boyfriend. His name was Sawyer. I...thought he and I were soul mates, or whatever. I thought we'd be together forever and I thought that he loved me." She started to say after a second, delving into her story. It had me perking up immediately just to pay attention, realizing she was actually sharing something with me. "We'd been together since the tenth grade, you know. It took me a long time to be able to trust him because I was really cautious, even then. I was scared he'd...use me for sex, you know, because, I mean, it's high school. Lots of boys do that." She said, a frown on her face.

"Anyways, we were together for three years. Three fucking years. I never gave him my virginity because it really scared me at the time. So I was very limited on the things we were allowed to do, but he was always super sweet and understanding about that and it just made me love him more. He didn't even pressure me or anything, not once. He was a good guy, but..." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked down, eyeing the floor. "But shit started changing, I guess. Not on my end, but on his." She said. To be honest, I thought she was going to tell me he had cheated or something. That seemed to be the most common thing nowadays, as shitty as it was. Nobody gave a shit about loyalty anymore, they just liked to say they did. But that wasn't what she told me.

"I remember I'd woken up one morning and he'd broken up with me, completely out of nowhere. It had been like eight AM and he'd just...texted me, said he didn't love me like he used to. That the spark had died out." She said, sighing. "And I remember wondering what that even meant. So I just went ahead and gave my virginity to Romeo instead. I really had twisted my thoughts around at the time, honestly. I thought that a man wouldn't be able to do that to me again if I just slept with him. A man couldn't leave me like that or hurt me like that if it was just sex. He couldn't love me, so there was nothing to lose." She said, a hard frown on her face. After what had happened with Romeo, I was sure she knew very well how incorrect that was. "But then I kind of realized there's still that chance. Sex is intimate, but I didn't want to stop, so I didn't."

"But basically...Sawyer kind of fucked up my idea of love. I didn't like the idea of it as much. It scared me, still scares me, to think of how suddenly shit can change. To think that, while you're in love with this person completely, they could be falling out of love with you. They could just...drop a bomb like that and then leave you to pick up the pieces. It scares me to think how shifting and changing things can be. I mean, how does someone who loved you stop loving you when nothing in the relationship changed? What went wrong?" She muttered, her voice shaking.

"What I'm trying to say is..." She looked up at me and her bottom lip trembled, sniffling softly. "What if...What if you change your mind? What if your spark for me dies?" She asked softly, causing my heart to swell. She looked genuinely scared of the idea of that and it hurt me to know that. "I don't think I could ever change my mind, Cora. You're what I want." I said, frowning. I had had my fair share of girlfriends, but none of them had made me feel like this—like her. I didn't think that, at this point, there was even the possibility of me changing my mind.

Coralia stared at me for a moment, a little furrow in her brows. "You really love me?" She asked quietly, frowning. I nodded, looking at her intently. "I do. I love you. You're my little tiger." I said, causing her lips to pull up into a slight smile. I knew from simply the look on her face she was blushing under her makeup, even just a little. "Well?" I teased, crawling closer to her. I playfully grabbed her by her ankle and yanked, forcing her down onto her back. As I crawled over her, both of us were grinning like absolute idiots. "You have anything to say to me, Coralia?" I hummed playfully, earning that sweet giggle.

"I love you too." She smiled, biting her lip as she stared up at me. My heart warmed and swelled at the same time, finally having heard the words I'd been waiting to hear from her lips for what felt like for-fucking-ever. "Shit, Cora." I sighed happily, placing a kiss on her lips. She looped her arms around my neck and snickered softly, placing a kiss on my jaw. "What about Lexa?" She whispered, but I merely rolled my eyes.

"What about her?" I asked, causing her to raise a brow. "Well, what are you going to do about her?" She wondered, cocking her head to the side. I snorted and shook my head, wondering why she was so cute. "I've got the one girl I've had on my mind since I moved in. What do you think I'm going to do about her?" I shot back, earning a soft giggle from her. "Since you moved in?" She smiled, tracing her fingers down the side of my face. I loved the feeling of her hands on my skin, causing me to sigh in content. "That's what I said." I murmured, picking her up off of the bed.

"Now, how about we go to your room, so I can show you the shit I've been thinking since I moved in?" I asked, grinning at her as I carried her down the hall. A laugh left her lips and she clung to me tightly, the bedroom door left open as I entered her room and tossed her on the bed. I kicked my shoes off and began to get undressed at the same time as her, our clothes being thrown to her bedroom floor in an eager manner. Being inside of Cora, hearing how she said my name and the way she reacted to me...it was utter bliss. I couldn't wait. Even if I had to remind this girl forever on how much I loved her, I'd do it. She wasn't getting away from me, not now that I finally had her.

"Just so you know," I whispered, crawling into her bed until I was hovered over her, feeling her smooth legs around my waist. "The spark I have for you could never die out."