Chapter Twenty-One: Valentine's

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Ophelia:

It took me like, over an hour to get ready for our date tonight. I wanted to look nice and smell nice and... well, taste nice I guess.

By the time Luke's knocking on the door, I'm waxed and shaved and showered, wearing a pretty dress and light makeup. I have my hair done in soft waves that just hit my shoulders, an overnight bag packed and ready to go, and enough butterflies crowding my gut to fill an entire house.

Mom and Dad haven't left for their date yet. My entire family tries to be subtle as they hang out watching TV in the living room in full view of the front door as I'm about to leave.

When the door swings open and I catch a glimpse of him, I swear I lose my breath.

He's so handsome. Perfectly-fitted jeans and a light-blue button down and a black jacket and nice shoes, freshly-showered. His dark hair is combed into place except he runs his fingers nervously through it as the door opens, mussing it inadvertently. Tall and lean and gorgeous and... mine. How lucky am I?

His mouth falls open a little as he sees me and the way he looks at me, like I'm the only thing he can see, makes me warm from the inside out.

It's cold outside so he steps in and closes the door behind him, carrying two modest but beautiful bouquets of flowers.

"Hi," he greets softly, giving me a shy, crooked smile.

"Hi." I bite my lip and resist the urge to jump into his arms because my parents are watching and I don't think he wants my lipstick all over him just yet.

He glances into the family room and gives an awkward wave to our audience. "Hi, guys."

A chorus of polite hellos.

Luke looks a little nervous and I don't blame him. I also don't look behind me to see the curious, sulky expression on Darcy's face, or the murderous glint in my dad's eye, or... Yeah, my family is a little... overprotective.

"Oh, uh..." He holds out one of the bouquets, some pretty red and pink roses bundled with baby's-breath and wrapped in brown paper. "These are for you." Another heart-stopping smile. "Happy Valentine's Day."

Could he be any more perfect? I lean in to give his arm a squeeze and press a grateful peck to his cheek. "They're beautiful, thank you."

He scratches the back of his neck before looking towards the couch, lifting up the other bouquet, and saying, "Uh, Aunt Mel, these are for you. Happy Valentine's Day."

Yeah, apparently he can be more perfect.

Mom gets a very soft, warm, happy look on her face as she walks towards us and accepts the flowers from Luke.

"That's very sweet, Luke. You didn't have to do that. Thank you, honey."

She rests a tender hand on his shoulder and says, with a dry but playful look towards Darcy, "Even my own son didn't get me flowers."

"We can't all be as upstanding as Luke," Darcy replies with a shrug, and from the arch of his eyebrow I can't help but think that the word "upstanding" has an inappropriate double meaning.

Luke rolls his eyes good-naturedly before reaching down to pick up my small duffle bag from the ground.

"Be safe," Dad calls from the living room, focusing on his magazine instead of on us. Aw. Poor guy was pretty uncomfortable with this whole sleepover thing but thankfully he's mostly been a good-sport about it.

"Of course, Uncle Gavin."

Dad grunts, mumbles something unintelligible under his breath.

Mom's lips purse together as she looks at me before she pulls me into her arms for a quick hug, pecks my forehead, gives me a watery smile. "Have fun, sweetheart. Send me a message in the morning so I know what time you'll be back."

Thankfully they all resist the urge to add, not too much fun, to the end of their farewell.

"I will. See you. Love you."

Mom offers to put my flowers into a vase for me and then I slip my jacket on and grab my purse and with a couple final parting words, Luke and I leave.

As soon as the door closes behind us he lets out a relieved breath. "Damn, I thought one of them was gonna murder me or something."

I grab onto his hand and lean close to him as we walk down the driveway together towards his car. "I promise they love you, even if they give you a hard time sometimes."

He opens the passenger door for me, tosses my bag into the trunk before getting into the driver's side. He's just such a gentleman and I wish I had thought of another gift for him besides... what I have planned for later. I'm gonna have to try my best to make it really good for him. I have goosebumps just thinking about it.

"So, do I finally get to know where we're going?" I ask playfully as he starts driving.

He smiles. "Dinner first. The real surprise is after. You'll find out when we get there."

I don't complain about the suspense because I can tell he put a lot of thought into whatever it is and I don't wanna ruin the moment for him.

I rest a gentle hand on his thigh and say, "Luke, you didn't have to go through so much trouble. Thank you. You're... the best."

"I think you'll like it. I hope you like it."

Ugh, he's so amazing. "Of course I will. You know I'll love anything we do because... as long as you're there it'll be special no matter what."

And he smiles this really big, happy smile and I swear my heart beats a special rhythm just for him.

Dinner is at a cute Italian place we both love. One of us orders a pizza and one of us orders pasta and when the food comes we share with each other because neither of us could make up our minds. Kinda reminds me of when we used to swap ice-cream half-way through when we were kids except obviously things are different now.

Over dinner he tells me about how Aunty Ali's brother, Kevin, the engineer, was giving him advice about university and internships and co-ops and stuff.

Apparently, York university's engineering program lost a lot of research funding and so they've had to reduce the number of co-ops they can offer their incoming students, which is bad news for entering the workforce and getting valuable career experience, he says.

He explained that getting a good co-op during your degree, which is like paid work experience, is really important if you want a good job later on. There are lots of engineering jobs that require tons of travel away from home and he'd prefer to be able to stay in one place when he starts his career, so getting a good degree from a good school with really good co-ops and research and alumni and stuff is kind of important.

Pretty much, Luke's scratching York off the list of programs he's interested in unless it's like the only option for him. That leaves U of T and Ryerson as his top two because they're in Toronto.

Otherwise, there's Waterloo which has the second best program in the country after U of T, and Queens which is pretty good, comparable to Ryerson.

Except of course he doesn't plan on going to either Waterloo or Queens. Waterloo is in Kitchner, a city that's a an hour-and-a half drive away, and Queens is in Kingston, which is closer to three hours. Not gonna happen.

Anyways, he had really good grades, so he shouldn't have a problem getting into Ryerson or even U of T, I think.

"Luke, you didn't," I squeal knowingly when he pulls into the parking lot of a small local theatre after dinner.

"It's just a smaller production," he explains modestly, "but I know how much you love Shakespeare, so..."

I throw my arms around him over the centre console and he laughs as his hands come up to brace themselves on my back. "You... I can't even, Luke. How can I possibly say thank you enough for thinking of something so amazing?"

He runs a thumb across my cheekbone and dips down to press a soft kiss to my lips. "I love seeing you happy, Feelz. That's all I need, I swear."

I give him another effusive, grateful hug before we head inside. Oh. My. God. Romeo & Juliet? It's one of my absolute favourites.

Some people say that they think it's totally tragic and a terrible romance. Two teenagers fall madly in love and die as a result within like, less than a week. I mean, sure it's crazy but I like to think that love so pure and strong isn't just fiction, as rare as it may be.

As we wait outside the auditorium before the show, Luke says, "Uh. After you might have to give me a summary because I definitely don't speak Shakespeare."

I giggle. "Don't worry. The story will become clear as you watch it, even if you don't understand everything they're saying."

It's a small, cozy theatre and some of the cast are BFA and MFA students but I don't care that it isn't a professional production because it's sweet and passionate and actually pretty good anyways.

Luke holds my hand through the entire thing. I lean into his him, grasp his arm gently. I'm pretty focused on the performance except a couple times I look over and it looks like his attention is on me, on my reactions.

At one point the acting is so raw and earnest and sad and I can't help it when a couple tears slide down my face and before I know it he's chuckling, wiping them away with his thumb. I rest my head in his shoulder and he wraps an arm around me and it's perfect and he's perfect and I don't know what I ever did to deserve something so incredibly special.

I can't wait until we're alone later so I can show him, with our bodies pressed together and our lips touching and my hands on him how much I love him and appreciate him, because at this point I can't think of a more effective way.

"Thank you for the amazing date, Luke," I whisper against his cheek as the curtains draw shut and the lights turn back on. "It was so, so perfect."

"You're welcome, Feelz," he grumbles, smiling. "I'm glad you had fun."

And then I realize that our date isn't over yet, because he's taking me home with him and we get to spend the whole night together. My entire body shivers and burns at the thought of it.

I get to sleep next to him and wake up next to him and... I think I've honestly never been happier in my entire life.

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A/N:

Quick disclaimer that the events I mentioned related to those universities (eg York) are just fictional and related to the overall plot. Fake news, people. Don't believe everything you read on the internet.

Also, sorry if you were expecting oral this chapter. Just gonna have to wait.

XOXO Ami

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