Coincidences

Chapter 26: Beautiful

dedicated to all of my beautiful readers, enjoy babies 

a/n thank you for reading and being patient with me! please vote/follow/comment 

The coming week, as Ella strolled into school nonchalantly, she got many stares. Stares, as well as whispers. 

She casually walked to her locker, ignoring the gossip floating around her, as more and more of the student body saw her hand, looped through Luke Parker's. 

He casually whistled a tune as everyone stared at them, seemingly unfazed. She gently pulled her hand out of his to unlock her locker when she heard loud, angry footsteps. 

Ah, here they come. 

She barely had time to collect herself before Sam, Alexis, and Jessica crowded around them. 

"Ella Rosalie Bennett!" Alexis yelled.

"That's not my middle name?" Ella questioned. 

"It doesn't matter! I don't know your middle name I just needed the dramatics!" She said indignantly.

Luke chuckled but silenced when Jess directed her stare to him. 

"You're together?" Sam asked, fiercely. 

"Uh." Ella's eyes darted to Luke.

She had decided not to tell any of her friends, (except Thomas, whom she called that night), just to see how they'd react. This is exactly what she expected. 

Jess, surprisingly, hadn't said anything yet. She was texting furiously on her phone. It became apparent why, when Mike, Jake, Dylan, and Devon appeared at Ella's locker; Jess had texted them. 

"WHAT? YOU'RE TOGETHER?" Jake screeched.

"Yeah," Luke said, coolly, throwing his arm around Ella's shoulders.

"Who asked who?" Mike interrogated. 

...What? That's what they cared about. 

"Luke asked me," Ella answered. This led to collective groans from Jake, Sam, and Dylan. 

"Ella what the fuck! You let me down." Jake shook his head at her disapprovingly. 

Now Luke was confused too. "What are you on about?" He asked suspiciously.

The group ignored them, as each person rummaged through their pockets, or bags, each pulling out... money?

Ella frowned. Wait a minute...

Dylan proceeded to give $20 to Devon, Sam did the same to Jess, and Jake handed money to both Mike, and Alexis.

"Come on El. I believed in you." Jake shook his head at her. 

She eyed the money, her thoughts coming to a halt. "Did you.. did you guys bet on who would ask who?" She asked her voice deadly calm.

"Er... no," Mike said, carefully, edging away from her as he recognized her tone. Jake was not far behind him. 

And that's how Ella spent her Monday morning chasing after her brother and his best friend through the hallway, as Luke laughed, cheering her on. 

***************************

As Ella soon found out, no one was surprised by Luke and her's new relationship. This put her off, had they been that obvious? Oh well. 

He came over after school and they were hanging out sitting next to each other on her couch, as she scrolled through his Instagram. 

"Who is this?" She inquired, asking about the dog on his profile.

He sighed, his hand finding hers and wrapping around it. "My mom got me that puppy, Rex, but my dad gave him away while we were sleeping." He shrugged it off as if that was normal. 

"Luke, I-" 

"Can we go to your room?" He cut her off, clearly not interested in discussing the topic.

"Yeah." She sighed.

He pulled them up, leading her up the stairs. Only when they reached her room did she realize why this was a bad idea.

She tried rushing to her desk, to close her open sketchbook, but it was too late - he already saw, tugging her back by their conjoined hands. 

"Is that..." Luke pulled his hand away, approaching her sketchbook. "Is that me?" He asked, upon seeing the various doodles of his face from different angles.

Ella's face was red as he glanced back at her. 

"Sorry." She mumbled. "You're just beautiful. I can't help myself, I have to draw beautiful things." She was so embarrassed. He was probably going to think she was a stalker, and never talk to her again.

She stared at her feet bashfully, until she felt his fingers under her chin, pushing her face up to stare into his eyes. 

"Ella. They're beautiful. You're clearly exaggerating my looks." Was he... insecure?

She shook her head fiercely. "They don't do you justice."

She didn't let him answer, as she leaned onto her tiptoes and gently pressed their lips together. 

They kissed for a while and she wasn't sure how but they ended up in her bed with him laying down, and her body on his, with her forearms propped on his chest looking up at him. 

She wasn't sure if Luke ever got the appreciation he deserved, so she gave it to him.

She trailed her finger up to his face, tracing his soft eyelids, as she stared into his deep golden swirled brown eyes. "These are beautiful." She whispered. His eyes widened, not expecting her words.

She trailed her index down the bridge of his nose "And this." She gently kissed the tip.

She traced around the outline of his mouth, keeping her eyes on his as she pushed her finger onto his lips. "And these." She said, softly.

He was staring at her with this indescribable look in his eyes, not letting her finish; grabbing her face by her jaw and pulling her down to meet his lips. 

Ella gasped when she felt his tongue slide across her lips, as if asking for permission, She opened her lips slightly, allowing him access as their tongues met. 

He kissed her with a fiery passion. 

Only later did Ella realize the way he was kissing her, was him expressing just how beautiful he found her. 

a/n honestly a few more chapters left! 

please check out my other book based on eli from this book:

Title: Loving Carter 

Description: 

"Why were the cops chasing you?"

"Because I broke into the police station to catch a rare Pokemon on Pokemon Go." 

Elijah West is stubborn, moody, and overall dislikes other people. After Carter Sakuna (quite literally) runs into him, he finds her mysterious, bubbly, and overall super annoying. At least that's what he told himself. So then how did he end up falling in love with her?