Page 17 of Amore
“Kinda. I’m more excited, but also sad.”
“Things aren’t going to be the same around here.” He took a sip of his drink.
“I think you’ll manage.” I smiled warmly.
“Yeah, but who will I watch Christmas Hallmark movies with?” He grinned.
I threw my head back, laughing. “Your mom?”
Every year, I somehow managed to talk Luke—and Lucy, of course—into watching Christmas movies on Hallmark when they would premiere, starting in late October on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Luke always fell asleep, but for some reason, he still agreed to watch them with us.
“There’s only one person I want to watch those shitty movies with, and it’s not my mom.”
My heart swelled hearing his statement. Did that mean he liked me more than just friends?
I stared at him for a moment and then asked, “One more before I go?”
It was late August, so I would have to play a DVD of one of my favorite Christmas movies. It was about a retired cop who was going to visit his niece for the holidays. He met a chef at the airport who helped him find his flight. When the two guys land, the chef had another flight to catch, but that flight was canceled, so the retired cop invited the chef to stay with him and his niece. Then, you know, Christmas magic happened.
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Luke stood and came to sit on the daybed while I stuck the movie in and pressed play.
I swallowed. “I’m not sure if I’ll have time for my usual weekend movie nights since I’ll be in school. Maybe I can leave them recorded on the cloud, and when I come home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, we can binge them?”
“I like that idea.”
I looked over my shoulder to make sure he was being for real. Why would he agree when he always fell asleep?
“I can’t wait to see you in one,” he continued.
I smiled. “That would be amazing.”
It had always been a dream of mine, and once I was at Juilliard and hopefully got an agent, I could live out my dream. Well, one of my dreams. The big screen was my big dream.
“Now”—he nudged his shoulder with mine—“don’t forget me when you’re famous.”
“I could never forget you, Lucas Davenport.”
The crickets chirped in the distance as we stared at each other in silence. The fairy lights surrounded us with a soft glow, giving me just enough light to see the way Luke’s eyes moved down to my lips and then back up. I leaned in an inch to see what he would do. He leaned in too, and then we crashed our lips together. We fell to the mattress, kissing. I could taste the sweetness of the root beer on his tongue as it swirled with mine.
We made out for a long time, and several times I thought about breaking the kiss to confess my love to him.
But I couldn’t do it.
Instead, I broke the kiss and whispered, “I have a favor to ask you.”
“Anything.” He stared into my eyes.
I swallowed and took a breath. “I don’t want to go to college a virgin.”
He didn’t say anything for several seconds. “Are you sure?”
“I don’t want it to be anyone else.”
6
LUKE
