(Holden's POV... Friday)

I got up early so I could go home and pack my bag and tell my mom good-bye. She was leaving for her business trip and we would be staying with Luc and them until she got back or at least I would. Brook would be leaving in a week for her month long vacation. Lucky biotch. 

"Hey honey, your home early." mom said as I walked in the door.

"I am taking Luc back to our old home town today. I want to show him where I grew and maybe take him to the fair that I know is going on there right now." I said smiling.

"Just be care-full. I know you don't get along with some of the people that still live there." She said with a frown.

"I'll be fine. We might stop off at a hotel if its too late." I said.

"No funny business. You might be gay and can't get pregnant but sex still should be something you wait on.

"Mom, Luc is not ready for that kind of stuff. Plus we just started this relationship and I have already messed it up. I forgot a date to party and everything we have worked on to get him to open up has taken three steps back." I said with a sigh.

"Well, I hope that tonight you can bring him back up to where you had him. He is a sweet kid and from what you have told me his life hasn't been easy so be careful. He will get hurt easy and trust will have to be earned." She said.

"I know. I need to get packed, go to the store and fill the car up. If I need you too can you set up a hotel reservation in Sullivan?" I asked.

"Do you want me to just do that and text you the information?" She asked.

"Maybe let me talk him first. I don't want him to think I planned it. I will call you and let you know." I said.

"Good idea." She said smiling.

I packed a bag with everything I would need for two days. I had to find our small cooler so i could fill it with stuff for our trip there. Once I found it I cleaned it our really good and filled it with ice from the freezer. I loaded it all up into the car and headed for the car wash. I wanted to wash the car and clean it out before we went anywhere. It was noon by time I finished all of that. Next stop was Wal-Mart for food, drinks and music. I wanted to be at Luc's by four so I needed to get this shopping done so I could fill up the car and head over to his house. 

Shopping - check

Gas - Check

Boyfriend - on my way.

I pulled into Luc's drive way about 3:30 we weren't leaving for another hour and a half but this will give me time to put all of Luc's stuff in the car and maybe eat something. I hadn't eaten all day.

"Hey baby, do you have your stuff ready?" I asked walking in the house and finding Luc in the kitchen cooking something that smelled like heaven to me. My stomach grumbled right when I walked up behind him.

"Yes I do but you are going to sit and eat with me before we do anything else." He said setting two plates down on the bar for us to eat.

"What is this?" I asked looking down at my plate.

"Baked potato with Roman noodles and cheese on top of it." He said setting a bottle of water down next to my plate. It looked and smelled good so I took a bite. Not bad at all.

"I like it. Did you come up with this on your own?" I asked.

"Well, yeah I guess you could say that. I used to buy the noodles a lot back when I lived with my mom. One night everyone was gone and I was hungry for a potato so I hurried up and baked on in the microwave and added some of the cheese to it before heading back to my room. Every time after that if I had all the stuff available I would make it." He said.

"I like it so next time we have all of the stuff I want you to teach me how to make it." I said smiling at him. I love his eyes when he is not hiding his emotions. They are so bright and a live. Not cold and closed off.

Once we were done eating Luc cleaned up while I packed his stuff in the truck of the car. He brought his back pack out and set it inside the car when he was done. 

"We can either leave now or around five. My mom is going to call and make hotel arrangements if we need them." I said.

"Do you think we will need them?" He asked.

"I think we might if we don't want to drive all night. I can have her get a room with two beds. I am not planning on us doing anything. If and when we ever do something like that I don't want it to be in no cheesy hotel room." I said.

"Then call her and have her get us a room. I don't care how many beds are in it. I just don't want us to be driving all night to get home." He said with a hint of a smile on his face. This is what make it all worth it to me. The smiles. the laughs and my favorite thing is the blushing.

"Okay, let me call her and we can leave." I said taking my phone out of my pocket. I dialed up my mom and told her to set up a room for us anything would do as long as it wasn't too expensive.

Once we got on the road I turned on the radio for some back ground noise. I decided on something a little smooth like Train and Maroon 5 would be best to keep it to were neither one of us ended up with a headache.

The car ride there we talked about things we wanted to do this weekend what classes we were signed up to take for senior year and what we wanted to do while I was staying with him. When we finally pulled into my old town I began to wonder why I brought him here. I hate this place.

"So this is where you grew up?" He asked with an awe look in his eyes.

"Yep, I will show you my old house here in a minute but first I want to stop off and see my dad." I said turning into the cemetery.

"You could drop me off out here and I could wait." he said looking sad.

"Nope, I want you to meet him." I said smiling.

"Isn't that a little personal?" He asked.

"If we are going to be together I want you to meet my dad." I said stopping the car and getting out. He followed. We walked down a row of headstones until we came up to my dads.

Adam Holden Thatcher

December 3, 1972 - March 28, 2011

Loving Father- Husband and Son. 

"He was so young." He said.

"Yeah, cancer is one of the worst things I could think of. I hated to see him so sick all the time. And when the time came it was almost a relief. I saw him after he passed and he looked so at peace. It hurt like hell but because I knew there was no cure I was kind of glad when it was over." I said letting the memories flood me. 

"I don't think I could have handled it." He said.

"We didn't have a choice. Once we found out he had cancer it controlled our lives. Even after he was gone it felt like it was still there waiting for its next victim. My family now does a bunch of fundraiser for all types of cancers." I told him.

"Let me know if I can help." He said taking my hand. Just him doing that made me feel stronger.

"Okay, so Dad this is Lucas Lakes my boyfriend, Luc this is my dad Adam Thatcher." I said smiling.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Thatcher." Luc said sounding proud.

We sat there talking about my dad until it was almost dark. I decided we should head to the fair and start enjoying ourselves on this date. But before we got to the fair grounds I took him past my old house and school. Part of me wished I still lived here. I really did like this place once upon a time. But there are more bad memories and not enough good ones. And the only good ones are of my dad. 

"Wow this place is huge." He said as I paid for parking to get into the fair.

"Yeah, it's like the one thing we all looked forward too in the summer." I said pulling into the place they were waving me to park. 

"I have never been to anything like this." He said still looking at all the lights.

"Well we are going to have to start fixing all the stuff you missed out on this summer. Now leave your wallet in the car we will lock them up in the glove-box. There is a lot of pick pockets that go to these things and it is best that you don't give them anything. So phone is optional and so is your watch. But your wallet must stay in the car." I told him while I cleaned all the money except a hundred dollars out of my wallet. He did the same and then we locked them up.

"Are people okay we gay couples here?" He asked.

"Some are and some aren't. I don't care either way I am holding your hand and they can kiss my ass." I said before locking the doors. I walked around and took his hand in mine just to prove my point. 

"As long as we don't cause any trouble I am okay with it." He said walking beside me. I paid for us to get in and to get the wrist bands for the rides.

"Let's ride some of the rides before we eat. I don't want us to get sick or anything." I said walking towards where most of the rides were.

We rode the rides for about an hour before stopping and eating. I love the food at fairs it always something I looked forward too. I tried to avoid all of the people I knew but did wave to a few. I was glad that none of them stopped us.

"OMG, Holden is that you?" I heard a females voice coming from behind me.

"Sadie?" I asked looking up at my once upon a time ex-girlfriend/ best friend.

"Hey hot stuff. I haven't seen you in like forever." She said hugging me.

"I brought my boyfriend Luc back for the fair." I said pointing to a blushing Luc.

"My, my aren't you a cute one." She said to him.

"He sure is." I said smiling at him.

"My name is Sadie and me and this guy go way back." She said holding her hand out for Luc to shake it.

"Lucas Lakes, Nice to meet you." He said taking her hand and shaking it.

"So polite and everything. I like him. You better treat him right. I know you will but I want invited to the wedding." She said smirking at me.

"Well if we get married I will be sure to hunt you down and make sure you are invited." I said laughing.

"Oh honey with the world wide web out there it won't take you that long at all." She said giggling.

"True that, sister." I said making her giggle more.

"Oh how I have missed you." She said and stopped laughing. She truely looked sad.

"I have missed you too." I said pulling her to me for a hug.

"Well, enough of the mushy stuff. I have to go. My boyfriend is getting off work soon and he is meeting me at the games." She said giggling.

"Anyone I know?" I asked with a smirk.

"Levi Rudd, I don't know if he was going here yet or not while you were still here." She said.

"Name doesn't ring any bells so probably not." I said hugging her one more time before she skipped away.

"She seems really nice and bubbly." Luc said chuckling.

"Yeah that she is. Out of all of my old friends I miss her the most." I said taking his hand and headed off to the game area. 

"I can see why." He said walking beside me.

We played a few games before heading back to the rides. The place was packed and it was getting late. Once I was sure we had seen everything and rode all the rides we wanted to I drug Luc out of the fair. I wanted to take him to one of my favorite places when I lived here. The small water fall about a mile outside of town. Not to many people knew about it, it was something my dad had shown me while he was having a good day.

"So the place I am taking you too now is a place my dad showed me. I have never brought anyone out here before so it is top secret." I said smiling over at him.

"Sounds special." He said smiling back at me.

"It is. And I can't wait for you to see it." I said taking his hand in mine as we left my old town behind.

I had to drive slow so I didn't miss my turn. It was an old dirt road that lead back to the place with the waterfall. My grandparents own the land so I wouldn't be trespassing or anything. When I finally saw the road I turned and drove the mile or so back to the steam/pond. Like I said it was a small waterfall that ran down a bunch of rocks but it was my special place.

"Okay so here we are." I said turning the car so we could see the waterfall.

"It's beautiful." He said getting out of the car along with me.

"My dad grew up on this land. He used to come here when he was a kid. He brought me out here a couple times before he passed away. I like to come here when I have a lot on my mind so I can be alone. It helps believe it or not." I said.

"I believe you, it's so peaceful here." He said sitting on the rock that my dad and I used to sit on. I joined him and wrapped my arms around his waist and he leaned back into me.

"If we were to ever get married this is where i would want to do it." I said hoping I wasn't scaring him.

"It would make a lovely place to do that." He said with a sigh.

We sat there for a good hour before deciding to head to the hotel. We were both tired from a long day and part of me hoped my mom got us a single bed so I could snuggle with him. The drive was an hour long and by time we got there it was past midnight. Our room thank goodness had only one bed and once we were in it we both feel asleep.