The electricity between Luke and Millie is so visible in this poster by @Niki-Chase!  If only they had super powers too.

Chapter 24: Might be Missing

Luke's bedroom was cast in a pale light from the moon outside his window. It was like an Instagram filter, something between Nashville and Moon.

He'd left the window open, revealing a clear view of the blue lake below. His lake house was giving me so many memories of our summer together, sharing Apple Cabin. He used to come out of his bedroom shirtless every morning and now...

We were in the same bedroom.

I stepped timidly inside, wearing my old PJs, and conscious of how I must look. We'd already said goodnight and maybe he didn't want me here. Some people like their alone time.

He was lying on his bed, shirtless and in sweatpants. His hands were folded behind his head as he looked up at the ceiling. I've seen that look before.

"Luke?" I asked, hesitant to disturb him.

"Millie?" he reacted with equal surprise, sitting up.

Maybe I should've knocked louder.

I tried not to stare at how the muscles on his stomach contracted from the movement. He was propping himself up on his elbows. 

His black hair was disheveled from lying on the bed, but his eyes shone bright.

"Do you have toothpaste?" I asked.

**

I wouldn't say that toothpaste was my excuse to see him again that night. It was a legitimate request. 

;)

I'd forgotten to pack my toothpaste and I obviously wasn't going to go to Jake's room at 3AM to get some.

I brushed my teeth without saying anything to Luke. I was nervous. I kept an eye on him in the reflection of the mirror as I dealt with my feelings. 

He's my friend and my boyfriend. Someone I trust with my secrets and my fears.

I don't use the word trust lightly. I haven't had a lot of trusting relationships to-date. From my family to my ex-boyfriend and ex-friends, there hasn't been a lot of trust there. 

I held my toothbrush as I stepped back into his room.

"You all brushed?" he asked, smiling at me as if he could see through my antics. 

I didn't come for the toothpaste.

"Minty fresh," I grinned like I was in a Colgate ad.

"Come and let me taste."

"Gross!" I exclaimed, as he pulled me towards him.

I stood in between his legs while he sat on the edge of the bed. His hands had me around the waist, and I looked down at him, resting my head over his soft but messy hair.

He looked up, his eyes a lighter shade of blue than the lake outside. I kissed him, feeling his lips tug at my bottom lip before our tongues intertwined. His hands wrapped tighter around me, slipping under my shirt.

I sat on his knee and it lasted a few moments before he lifted me and turned me onto the bed. I felt the light thud of the mattress underneath me and I watched him lean over me.

"Can I stay with you tonight?" I asked him, "Do you mind?"

Tipsy me is bold.

He laughed at that, "I mind if you don't."

He kissed me, his upper body pressed against mine. He used one arm to shoulder his body weight from me, and his other hand trailed through my hair. 

Mine clutched the back of his neck, pulling him closer. I felt up his arm and touched the contours of his hard chest. I pressed myself up against the bed and let us get tangled in the bed sheets.

**

I got under the covers next to him and he lay back.

Our heads rested on the pillow, facing each other. I admired his chiseled features from this close.

"It's funny you think I don't mix well with nature," I said to him, "Because it brought us together."

Cabin life last summer was what made us connect in the first place. My inability to catch anything or pack appropriately or not get stuck in tree branches... led to many near-disastrous bonding opportunities. 

Not to mention my ability to attract mountain bears. 

And this weekend has been more of the same. I may not mix with nature, but nature has been good to me.

He smiled and I warmed at seeing the sparkle in his blue eyes. It wasn't from what I was saying, but more a reflection of the moonlight.

"I'll stick to what I once told you," he smirked, "Survival of the fittest would not be kind to you."

Before I could react, he reached over and pulled me closer towards him. He wanted me to know he was teasing. He plays a lot of sports, but I'm starting to think that teasing me is one of his favorite games.

"The lake house is beautiful," I told him, now wrapped in his arms, "Thank you for bringing me here."

He whispered into my ear, his hand stroking my hair. "Do you remember the night Alicia fell into the lake?"

He was bringing the memories to life. I remembered that night at summer camp, when I had been at the dance that Luke skipped. We both came running to rescue Alicia in the pouring rain.

We had swum to save Alicia and brought her back to shore. I remember how I'd watched him come out of the lake, water dripping off his chiseled body. It dripped down his torso, carving around the hard edges of his abs.

"I wanted to kiss you that night," he told me now.

"All that wasted time."

**

We came down the next morning to a breakfast of pancakes. I had crept back to the guest room twenty minutes earlier to shower, change clothes and pretend like I hadn't been sleeping in Luke's bed all night.

It was only a half lie. I hadn't been sleeping in Luke's bed.

When I came downstairs, Luke was there. He also pretended like he hadn't just kissed me twenty minutes ago.

"Morning Minnie," he came over and gave me a one arm hug. He kissed the top of my head.

I'm liking this pretend game.

"Did you sleep well last night?" I asked, mindful to keep the act up while Jake was listening in.

"You know, not really," Luke complained and stretched.

I poked his bare chest and he reacted with a laugh.

"Someone stole the bed sheets," he whispered, before turning around and going back to the kitchen.

I do remember waking up in a cocoon, wrapped in the duvet like a hot dog.

Do I have to change my sleeping position now that I'm in a relationship? 

Mrs Dawson and Jake were both downstairs. Jake was eating pancakes and Mrs Dawson was in the kitchen making a green smoothie.

"Would you like one Millie?" Mrs Dawson offered me, "It's spinach, mango, pineapple, banana and coconut water."

"Thank you but I'll-" I pointed at the pancakes just as the sound of the smoothie machine drowned my voice out.

I joined Jake at the dining table, sitting opposite him. It felt a lot larger now when there was only two of us. It seemed Mr Dawson and Annika have already eaten this morning.

There was still a half jug of orange juice left and granola in a ceramic bowl. I helped myself to some pancakes and a healthy dose of Canadian maple syrup.

"You'll be OK here for a little while?" Luke asked me, standing next to the table with a water bottle in his hand.

Aside from the water bottle, he didn't have much clothing on. 

Shirtless, in black shorts and a pair of wave rider 10 sneakers. He was about to go running.

I nodded and Jake, whose back was facing Luke, volunteered, "I'll take care of her."

Luke looked down at him with an un-amused expression. "Don't."

Jake grinned at me with his pancake stack in front of him. He really enjoyed irritating his brother.

**

The Dawsons were an active family. It was barely noon on a Sunday, and they were all doing various activities.

Mrs Dawson was doing yoga on a mat in the porch. She had on some calming ethereal playlist and her green smoothie on the side.

Mr Dawson was working on a canoe in the shed. We heard the hammer sounds before we closed the windows.

And Luke had been running for an hour now and still wasn't back.

Jake and I were hanging out on the couch. He was writing lyrics and I was flicking through channels on the TV. Jake is the one Dawson who's on the same Sunday-morning-wavelength as me.

I felt relaxed here. At home, either Flora or my mom would usually be screaming at me for something. I'd probably be thinking about chores, errands, working at the store or studying for my SAT subject tests.

Sometimes, my guilty conscience eats at me when I'm trying to unwind. But not here. For some reason, it felt like relaxing was all one should be doing at the jake house.

The door swung open and Luke walked in, breathing heavily. Sweat glistened off his body as he took his headphones off and let them hang around his neck.

He exhaled, not wanting his sweat to get on me, "I'll take a shower and come back."

"Have you seen Annika?" Jake asked, putting his arm on the back of the couch to turn and talk to us.

"No. Why?" Luke asked.

"Because she also went out this morning on the hunting trail. She wanted to explore a bit."

"Hasn't it been a few hours now?" I asked, getting alarmed.

"We haven't heard any gun shots, so I'm sure she's good," Luke shrugged, walking towards the stairs.

He wanted his shower.

I pulled him back. He wasn't going anywhere until we figured this out. Being lost in the forest was a nightmare coming to life. Poor Annika.

"Can someone call her?" I asked, staring at Jake since he was the only one who had her number.

"I can't," Jake said, "Cell service is really sh*t out there."

"Well can you try?!"

"Yeah, of course," he nodded, wondering why I was freaking out.  He pulled his phone out of his pocket, "I already sent her a couple texts. At worst, she got a little lost, but we can easily find her."

"Millie," Luke mentioned, "Can you relax your death grip a bit?"

My right hand was squeezing Luke with all its strength, like a stress ball. I apologized and quickly let go. 

"Hello everyone, who's ready for lunch?" Mrs Dawson greeted us, walking back into the house with a rolled-up yoga mat over one shoulder.

"I am," Luke said, "Haven't even had breakfast."

He walked to one of the cupboards and grabbed a protein bar while we waited for the Annika mystery to be resolved. 

"Can you chop wood for the fireplace?" his mother asked as she started prepping a salad, "I think we're running low."

"Not right now," he answered casually, "Annika might be dead."

"What do you mean?!"

Jake hung up the phone and looked at all our expecting faces. "OK, bad news. No cell service. I don't know if 'track my iphone' still works out here, but we should probably go find her."

Flying squirrels! This is not good!

I inwardly told myself to calm down. Me in panic mode has never helped anyone. I become a liability. A crazy mad woman, to put things mildly.

"I don't watch many horror movies but a cabin in the woods is a terrifying setting if anything goes wrong," I blurted, "Who knows what's happened to her?"

"It's alright," Mrs Dawson said, "We often get a little lost in the forest but it's easy to find the way back. There really aren't any dangerous animals in there-"

"Except for wolves," Luke said.

"He's joking," Mrs Dawson calmed me down, "Look, Luke, why don't you go after Annika? Help bring her back. She's only been gone a couple hours, so she may not even be lost."

Do the Dawsons bring innocent guests to the cabin as a human sacrifice?

"Are you feeling ok, Millie? You look a bit worried."

All that noise and hammering coming from the shed may not be Mr Dawson working on 'a canoe' after all.

"Minnie."

I shook out of my crazy thoughts and saw Luke standing in front of me. For some reason, he led me downstairs to their basement. Again, I tried to calm down the crazy thoughts rising up in my head again.

The only reason I wasn't associating a basement with horror movies is because of Austin's grotto parties.

Everything had gone so wonderfully this weekend and I was paranoid that it was all going to change.  As if there needed to be an equilibrium.  For all the good, comes the bad to keep things in balance. An unhealthy thought.

I followed Luke, not quite sure what the plan was.

The basement was pretty cool, I'll admit. There was a pool table, some mountain bikes and arcade games. He led me to a bookshelf that had black boxes on them. He took the lid off one and handed me a-

"Walkie talkie?" I asked, holding the black-and-yellow brick in my hand.

"This will work in the forest. You're freaking out and I don't want you to," he answered, pulling out three more.

"Maybe we should've given Annika one of these before she left," I said.

"Hindsight's 20/20," he commented dryly. "And we weren't the ones babysitting her."

"But I'm not coming with you," I pointed out. 

"You're definitely not," Luke agreed, too enthusiastically, "I'm giving this to you so we can stay in contact."

That's nice.

"So do you know how to use it?" he asked, "Press this button to talk. That'll turn off the receiver and turn on the transmitter. Only one radio can transmit at a time, so you'll be in receive mode unless you press the button."

'Press the button' is all I understood, but that's probably enough.

"Roger that," I said, pressing the wrong button to talk.

Luke didn't respond. I made him cringe.

**

We walked back upstairs and Luke gave his mother and Jake walkie-talkies as well. Mrs Dawson placed it on the kitchen counter as she continued to prep lunch. She clearly thought this wasn't a huge emergency.

Am I overreacting?

But maybe it's because I don't have a cabin in the woods and I don't like to go on three-hour walks. What do fancy people call them? Promenades.

Maybe she's eaten some mushrooms and is out frolicking in the pastures.

"I'll go out looking too," Jake volunteered, putting on his sneakers by the front door.

"That's generous," Luke said sarcastically, "Considering it's your girlfriend I'm going out to find."

"Two pairs of eyes will be better than one," Jake said glumly, grabbing his coat.

"You'll need your glasses then."

"They're reading glasses," Jake glared, "I can see fine."

Luke threw open the front door. "Try to keep up. I'm not slowing down because you're out of shape."

"I don't work out fifteen hours a day but I can f*cki-"

"Language!" Mrs Dawson called out. 

Poor Jake. Luke has been really ripping into him lately.

"Minnie," Luke lingered at the doorway, while Jake was already walking down the front steps, "If I don't come back..." 

He pointed at Jake suggestively and then winked.  

Finally, the boys walked out the front door.

Peace at last.

I couldn't help shake off the feeling that not everything was right. 

Maybe something happened to Annika... and maybe the boys were about to walk right into it.

A/N: Heyooo this was a long chapter so please vote if you liked it!  

A big thank you if you voted on the Instagram poll (@NatalieInACorner). 94% voted Millie should stay in Luke's room overnight.  Sorry for the 6% who didn't want her to!

The comments on the last chapter were so creative.  Millie's going to walk into Jake's room or Luke's parents room or walk in on Luke making out with Annika or Bianca broke into the house...