Impossible not to like this poster by @brxanna_rp! Thank you for this and for all your hilarious comments in the past  <3

Btw, I'll go back to posting 2x a week next week - you've all convinced me!  Please vote this chapter :)

Chapter 47: Dreamlike

He opened the car door for me, and we walked towards a food truck that overlooked a pasture. There was a small collection of trucks that people had gathered around, pinned against a backdrop of the setting sun. 

"I've never been here before," I told Luke.

This was far away from our town and in the opposite direction of the beach. Luke wasn't a fancy restaurant kind of guy and I wasn't a fancy restaurant kind of girl. In a way, this was an ideal date for the two of us.

"You like tacos, right?" he asked me, zipping my jacket up for me.

It was getting cold as the day faded into evening. We had spent the first part of our date at a rehab clinic and now for the... date part. His hands released from the metal zipper on my jacket, and he brushed his thumb softly against my cheek.

Then Luke opened the trunk of his car and pulled out a thick blanket.

He nodded towards the grass. And that's when a thought - a random thought - came into my head as quickly as it disappeared:

I'll remember tonight.

I don't know why I thought that. I felt happy in this moment. This memory would stay with me long after we left high school. 

So many things in life kept moving, kept changing, but this night felt very still. His hand clasped onto mine and our fingers entwined.

We were away from home, about an hour away from school, but it felt like another world. A world where no one knew us. No one here was whispering about us, or wondering why Luke Dawson was dating me, Millie.

He was just Luke here.

**

The blanket wrapped around our bodies and my legs draped over his. Our empty taco plates lay to one side on the grass nearby.

"You have a little..." his thumb reached out and gently pressed under my lip.

He rubbed the sauce off my chin and kissed my lips. I smiled through the kiss and his hand rested against the back of my head, his fingers sliding into my hair. The blanket tumbled from around our shoulders and lay on the grass. He deepened our kiss, leaning me back until my back felt the grass. 

"You have a little there too," I pressed my thumb against his cheek where he had absolutely no sauce there.

It was an excuse to touch him.

He turned his head and kissed my hand as it lingered on his cheek. He trailed further up my arm until he reached my shoulder and kissed my neck.

I closed my eyes to feel him. His hair ruffled against my skin as he sucked on my neck. His forehead rested against my skin and I heard him sigh.

He pulled back and confessed, "You surprised me, Minnie."

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to see his expression.

"Before you came and crushed all my laptops, I was sure I knew how senior year would end," he said, holding onto me. "I never expected you."

Oh the laptops - I almost forgot about that. 

Before this summer, I only knew Luke by name... and by watching him from my bedroom window. I used to think everything came easy to him, but the real Luke was much more disciplined than I imagined. He works hard. He trains hard.

It's funny how the things people say about someone settle into one's subconscious. I felt like I knew Luke before I even met him - because of what people say, not because of what I saw.

He looked up, his arms touching my waist as his body was pressed against mine. He said, "First day we met, I had no idea how much I needed you."

"Me neither," I said honestly, "Actually, I never expected you to be... you."

He placed his hands against the grass on either side of me and asked, "Did you judge me, Millie Ripley?"

"I judged you so hard," I smiled, pushing him over so I was now on top, straddling him.

He guided me to a more comfortable position on him and looked up at me. "Have I told you how beautiful you look today?"

His hands loosened from my waist and traveled along my legs.

"You may have mentioned it."

**

I can guess what a younger Luke expected out of his senior year.  And it didn't include me. Not even a little bit.

My expectations of this year had not been as high as his. After breaking up with Kaden, I had one friend who barely wanted to see me. Turns out, that one friend was also seeing Kaden. But they deserve each other.

I hope I deserve Luke. I feel happy and I hope we won't change.

"I'm worried for you," I rolled off him, "After what you told me today, I'm scared you're ignoring your health."

"I know," he nodded as he stood up from the grass.

He offered his hand to pull me up. I accepted and brushed the grass off my trousers. He picked up the blanket and whipped it in the air to clean off any blades of grass.

We walked back towards his car and I threw our plates in recycling. The food trucks had closed down for the night and most people had left.

Luke opened the door for me and when he sat behind the wheel, he leant over the passenger seat to pull out a brown notepad from the glove compartment.

"I'm worried too," he answered with a kind of raw honesty I didn't expect.

I was used to seeing him behave so strong but it's ok to be scared. He opened the small book and I recognized his chicken scratch handwriting scrawled over the pages.

"I try to record my rehab exercises," he pointed to the date on the page and flicked through a few pages to show me.

He explained, "Quad stretches, flexibility stretches and strengthening exercises. I try to get thirty minutes in a day. Even though we warm up and cool down at practice, I need to do more than the standard because of my condition."

I guess he was trying to make up for the doctor appointments he kept missing and all the basketball games he was still playing. 

I brought my face closer to the page until my nose almost touched it so that I could read some of the words. Luke rolled his eyes at my melodrama and turned the heating on in the car.

I read out a line, "Minor interrogation?"

Who's he interrogating?

Luke looked at where I was reading and corrected me, "Minor inflammation."

Well that makes more sense.

I gave up, "No offence but your handwriting is worse than a six-year old's." 

"It brought us together though."

That's actually true.

**

When Luke drops me off after a date, I feel like I'm in a dreamlike state. I think they call it the honeymoon phase, but why do they have to make it sound so transient?

And who are they anyway?

I'm sure I rhymed in one of those lines. Maybe I should write a poem. And then maybe my English teacher will stop giving me C's. I digress. 

6 months to 2 years - that's how long the honeymoon phase lasts apparently. I'd really like to challenge them for their sources. If you've found the right person, why can't the honeymoon phase last forever?

I suppose nothing lasts forever.

**

~Preston Oakes High School~

It was the last day before winter break. The next time I would step foot in school, it would be the new year.

I felt some type of way about seeing Luke in his basketball jersey. It didn't sit properly with me anymore, watching him be fawned over for a sport that was destroying him.

But what do I know? I haven't seen the doctor's orders and I haven't been through it. All I did was spend all night googling jumper's knee.

"Hey Millie, do you want to sit with us at lunch?" Khloe asked me as I packed my bag after English class.

Jake was sitting next to me and raised his eyebrows at the question.

"That's a first," I commented, hiding my yawn.

Like I said, I spent most of last night reading. Jake chucked his pen into his bag and tried not to laugh. His jaw had mostly healed and only a cut was visible.

"Is that a yes or a no because I was only trying to be nice and I don't appreciate your tone," Khloe snapped back.

"Well you can take it as a no," I said, "I'm sure you're not torn up about it."

"I'm not," Khloe assured me, "Lexi wants Cearra back in the group and thought it would help to make peace with you."

"This does feel like an olive branch," I said sarcastically.

Jake chuckled. He was taking a long time to leave, intentionally slowing down so he didn't miss this.

"If you weren't so sarcastic, Millie, maybe it would be. I've only ever been nice to you," Khloe said, "Ever since you started dating Luke, you think you're better than the rest of us."

No. You just ignored me until I started dating Luke.

I didn't say anything, and Jake pushed his chair in so I could walk out without going past Khloe. 

Khloe was the first person I met at summer camp and that conversation hadn't gone down as politely as she remembered.

Jake and I were leaving when Yoona appeared next to Khloe and asked, "So did she say yes? Did you say yes, Millie?"

Yoona seemed nice. Out of all the LUCKY girls, she always seemed the nicest in my opinion. But then again, I didn't really know them.

"No," Khloe answered for me, giving me the once over.

Yoona replied, "That's such a shame. Would've been fun to have some girl chat."

I whispered to Jake, "Let's get out of here before more of them show I up."

He didn't need further encouragement. We headed out of the classroom and I overheard Khloe say, "I don't get how they match. Luke's so serious and she's a clown."

Jake put his hand on my elbow, "Don't react to that."

I didn't. It shows how little they knew Luke. Luke is even more playful than me. People really think they know him, when all they know is his social media.

"OK Millie, do you want to explain this?" Jake asked as we walked into the school hallway.

He showed me his phone and opened our chat.

I read out loud the last text I sent him, "When you're seventeen and don't know what your dream is."

I sent him that after my date with Luke yesterday.

"I don't know how to reply to these," Jake said, scrolling up to a few other similar messages.

"What's wrong with them?" I asked, "I'm sending you ideas I have for song lyrics."

"You've got to stop treating my phone like a notepad," he said before he read out another text, "A banana is a berry, but a strawberry is not."

"That was more for your information," I explained, "Like an FYI."

"Thanks, yeah, really needed that," he commented, "Or when you texted me that roasting coffee is like a dre-"

"Oh hey, look, a friend!" I waved at Cearra who was rushing towards us.

She ignored my wave and announced, "I've come up with a plan to get my parents to agree to Dubai, but we're going to need adult participation!"

"OK, this is where I'm out," Jake waved, mocking the gesture I had just made.

"Wait, no, aren't you coming to Dubai too?" I asked him.

Surely, Chad invited him for New Years' as well?

"No, I'm heading home in six hours," he told me.

"Dupont Ave?" I asked hopefully, already knowing I was wrong.

"Minneapolis," he said, "I'm spending the holidays with my mom."

He was already heading off down the hallway. I didn't know if this was the last time I'd see him before the new year, so I called out, "Happy holidays!"

I bit my lip, annoyed with myself. I shouldn't have said that so happily. Cearra didn't know the back story, but Jake's mother hadn't been able to keep raising him, and that's why he came here.

"Can we focus on the situation at hand or are you going to start singing carols now?" Cearra asked me.

"I wish I could sing," I said, pointing at Jake's retreating form.

"I'm not kidding over here," she said, "Have you even thought about how we're going to pay for the flights?"

"Do we have a plan?" she repeated.

"And when you say 'we', do you mean you and me?" I clarified, "Because on my end I got nothing."

"That's why I'm freaking out. We haven't even discussed outfits and are you going to be sleeping with Luke?" she saw my surprised expression and added, "In the same room I mean."

"I don't know," I said, realizing that Cearra was right. We were about to travel to another continent and I had no clue where or how. 

I hadn't spoken to Chad about any of this. I didn't know where his place in Dubai was or how many rooms it had. I hadn't even bought flights, which is the main problem, since I'm guessing they'd be very expensive right now.

"Well I can't share a room with a guy. My parents would never allow me to go on a trip like that, so I have to be rooming with a girl and if you're with Luke, that leaves Bianca..." Cearra left the words unspoken.

We both shivered. 

"And Oma!" I added, perking up at the idea that Oma would be joining us to dilute Bianca's toxic vibes.

"You need to speak with Chad," Cearra told me, "Like ASAP. I'll look into outfits and I have to grovel to my parents for the plane tickets. But this is going to be incredible. I'm hoping that New Years' eve will end up with you and Luke and me and Austin at midnight."

**

~Austin's POV~

What do I do?

This conversation's going to suck and there's no way around it. I've avoided Luke and Chad all day, but now's the end of the rope.

I walked into the parking lot and saw them near their cars. That front row parking made it an easy hangout to wait after school. 

Music was playing out of Chad's car and I wondered if his chef stocked up the mini fridge in his car-

Focus Austin.

But I'm hungry. 

And I didn't want to dampen the mood, but I needed to speak with them.

A/N:  What does Austin want to talk to Luke & Chad about? Any guesses?  Your predictions are so funny, they're better than what happens haha :)

Shoutout to @Tomholland_addict, @Eevie28 and @Niki-Chase. LOVE that you bonded over the story and that you've been here since the start <3  

Aaaand Player Next Door spotify playlist is now out.  I'll comment on this chapter with the link! There are 3 playlists for the story (PND, Coffee and Chad)

P.S. If the ^^ link is buried in comments, you can DM me on Instagram and I'll send it to you