the bucket list | lrh

21 - lost you for good

"What are you doing here, kid?" Kellianne asked, unsure what she should do about the new presence in her living room.

"I uh... I need to talk to—to Valentine, yeah." Luke hated himself for how pathetic he sounded, but he couldn't help it. His words came out both slurred and choked up at the same time.

"I can go get her, or you can go up and knock. She's in Mary's room."

When Luke's eyes flashed with confusion, Kellianne realized that the boy had never been inside of Mary's room, and for that she felt unbelievably thankful. She had heard of the boy more than enough times, but she hadn't met him personally yet.

"Second door on the right," she informed the blonde, and watched as he rather quickly took off up the stairs and down the hallway.

Kellianne wasted no time in texting Scout when the boy was out of her sights.

"Mom, do you need something?" Mary called back when Luke's hesitant fist gently knocked on the wooden door separating him from the girl who had been haunting his thoughts for weeks now.

"I—uh—it's actually me," he choked out, and Valentine could've sworn she felt her heart fall all the way out of her body and through the floor beneath her. She was shocked to see that she was still breathing as Mary looked to her curiously, both of them unsure of what to do.

"Hold on!" Mary called back, eyes fixated on the girl in question.

"I don't know!" she whispered low enough to make sure that the boy outside the room couldn't hear her.

"I just wanna talk to Valentine," Luke spoke again, surprising the brunette with his tone. If she didn't know any better, she'd think he sounded outright desperate. She couldn't believe that after all she'd gone through to avoid Luke at her own home, he'd shown up at Mary's anyways.

"Do you want me to make him go away?" Mary asked, keeping her voice at the same volume as Valentine's.

The panicked little girl was running out of time, and she needed to make a decision soon. She could either instruct Mary to make Luke leave, or she could just swallow her fears and confront the boy once and for all. She was certain that the former would be easier, but the latter would be more effective for her stressed out state of mind.

"I'll talk to him," she whispers, still worried that the boy may be able to hear the hesitance in her voice.

"Are you sure?" Mary looked to the girl for her answer as she lifted herself up from where she was seated, making slow strides towards the door.

Valentine couldn't muster up much more than a slow nod in response. She was a little caught off guard that the boy had even thought to come here, and she wondered how on earth he'd even gotten the address. He could only recall Mary and Luke being shortly acquainted, but they certainly didn't know each other enough to go to one another's houses.

"Can I trust you'll be nice?" Mary asked once she opened the door with a certain caution that Luke couldn't acknowledge as anything other than protectiveness.

"Of course, mom." Luke's sarcasm almost earned a little giggle from the brunette who still had her back turned away from the door. She didn't want to get too comfortable though, because truth be told she had no clue what the boy really had in store for her.

"Guest rooms over there," Mary instructed, pointing to the door on the left side of the hallway. Valentine stood from her spot slowly, taking the directions as her cue to finally look at the boy. His bloodshot eyes were a little too hard for her to focus on, so she kept her gaze down as she exited Mary's room and walked down the hall.