The Art Of Love / l.h ✔️

25

~Fae's POV~

I laid in bed with Luke on Saturday, his warm body against mine in my very small bed. There wasn't a lot of room, but we made it work. It was either my bed or his, and both of us seemed to prefer mine, even with the size differences between my bed and his.

His long legs were entangled with mine, lightly rubbing his fingers up and down the length of my bare arm. I rested my head on his bare chest, listening to the steady thumps of his heartbeat beneath my head, my arm across his abdomen. My hair was sprawled behind me across my pillows, the dark strands quite the contrast to my all white pillow cases and my white sheets and blankets. "Hey, little dove?" He murmured suddenly, the sound of his voice causing me to look up at him. "Mhm?" I hummed, curious as to what he could want.

Because it was late at night, nearly one AM actually, I had my bedroom lights turned off, however the fairy lights that I had strung up along my walls were turned on to provide some light. The white light casted a pretty glow over the room and I felt my stomach twist as I surveyed how the light looked as it lightly washed over his features. His beauty astounded me.

"How come you have a shrine of sea shells in the corner of your room?" He muttered, the words causing me to giggle softly. I knew he was talking about the shells that I had in the upper left corner of my room, displayed on the shelves, but I wouldn't have said it was exactly a shrine. "It's not a shrine." I pouted, knowing he was only teasing me. His full lips pulled up into a grin and he raised a brow, twirling a strand of my hair around one of his fingers. "Then what is it?" He hummed, curious. My lips pulled into a little grin and I glanced down at his lips briefly, connecting our eyes again just a moment later. "That's my collection of shells, not my shrine." I corrected, lifting a hand to brush a stray curl of his out of his face.

A soft chuckle left his lips and he lightly ran his fingers through my hair, pulling me closer to him. "Okay, your collection, then. My bad." He grinned, amusement glimmering in his blue eyes. "What's the deal with your collection of shells?" He rephrased his question, raising a brow curiously. I smiled a little and trailed my fingertips up his bare chest, my nails softly scraping against the smooth skin. "I like shells." I answered simply, shrugging. "Those are all the shells I've collected over the years. Most of them are ones I've found, but some I bought. That one," I said, pointing at the biggest shell on the shelves. "Is the biggest and I actually managed to find it on my own, somehow." I said proudly.

"How long have you had them?" He murmured, trailing his fingers from my shoulder and down the length of my arm. "Well, I first started collecting them when I was eleven, but a lot of them were gotten at different times. The last one I got was when I was seventeen." I answered, causing him to blink. "I've just realized I don't even know your birthday." He pouted, furrowing his brows. I snorted, finding it funny that that was what he found so important that he actually looked to be upset. "My birthday is April ninth." I said, brushing my nails along his collarbone. "When's yours?" I asked, looking up at him. "July sixteenth." He answered, his eyes scanning over my face until he reached my lips. "So you're seventeen." I assumed, but he shook his head and hid an amused smile. "Eighteen. I started school late." He corrected. I hummed softly and stroked a finger up his neck, feeling his stubble underneath my fingertips when I reached his jawline. "Oh." I whispered back.

Luke tangled his fingers into mine, swallowing my hand in his. "What made you want to collect sea shells, of all things?" He muttered a moment later, bringing up the topic once again. I bit my lip, hiding the smile that threatened to break through. "Well, I've always really loved the beach. The ocean. It's calm and peaceful, and it reminds me of when I was a kid, when we used to go to the beach a lot. We haven't been in years, but collecting shells kind of makes me think of those days. I guess collecting them is kind of like my way of keeping the ocean with me." I explained, feeling his hand squeeze mine while the other played with my dark hair. He smiled at me and placed a light kiss on my hand, hugging me closer to him.