Falling fast

Chapter 2

-Sharon-

When I finally reached the plush black velvet box, I bit on the corner of my upper lip. As soon as I realized it was jewelry and something I could retain and appreciate, I could hear my heart beating rapidly in my ears. I flashed him a grin before lifting the cover, and my mouth dropped open in shock when I realized what he had purchased.

A small oval gold locket hung from a fine gold chain and was found within the box. On the front, there was a pattern that looked like swirls, and in the centre of that pattern was a tiny diamond. It was just stunning.

"Luke, let me explain-" I let out a gasp since I was at a loss for words to express the lovely thing that he had bought for me.

He gave me a friendly smile before taking the box from my grasp, turning the locket over, and presenting it back to me once more. When I glanced at it, my heart turned into a puddle and I felt like crying. On the back, he'd gotten it etched with the information.

"Real love endures to the end of time,"

Always and eternally yours,

Luke x'

My eyes started to well up with tears. I was still at a loss for words and couldn't come up with anything to say. I was at a loss for words to adequately express how amazing this present was and how much it meant to me that he had gone out of his way to find something so stunning specifically for me since he knew how much it would mean to me. "Thank you very much, it's..." As I stared at him in astonishment, he gave me a gentle kiss on the cheek.

He leaned in close to my mouth and murmured, "You're welcome." "Even so, you truly enjoy it, right? In that case, I'll purchase something different for you." It seems that he was experiencing some uncertainty regarding his decision.

I gave a furious shake of the head and clenched the small box to my chest in a defensive position. I told you the truth when I said, "I love it, and I love you."

He grinned. "I love you too, peach." He indicated the box that I was clinging to for dear life with his finger. "I tried looking for a good image of us to put in it, but I couldn't locate one that was tiny enough," she said. We'll need to have one photoshopped or come up with another solution."

I couldn't help but grin as I took hold of the locket and pulled the tiny catch to open it, only to discover that a poorly cropped photo of the two of us had been placed inside. Because he made such an effort, it made my heart flood with gratitude. He must have gone through a huge number of pictures only to locate one that partially fit in there, but the top of his head and my chin were both missing from the picture.

"I'll figure something out," I stated emphatically. Put it on for me, will you? I questioned him while extending the package towards him. I stood there as he removed the delicate necklace from the box, and as it came into contact with my chest, I couldn't help but giggle.

I had my hair pulled back over one shoulder. When he was finished, I took it from him and looked back at him, smiling smugly because he was mine. I gripped it in my hand. "Shall we discuss the other present at this time?" I attempted to seduce her by lifting my eyebrows and smiled alluringly.

He flashed a grin and pounced on me, which caused me to chuckle and cause me to tumble backwards into the cushions. The temperature was rising quickly when all of a sudden there came a knock on the door. I let out a squeal and shoved him off of me at the exact moment that he jerked back in surprise and fell out of bed on his bottom, groaning as the top of his head made contact with the floor.

I couldn't help but clench my teeth and gaze anxiously in his direction. "You okay?"

When the door opened, I quickly pulled the covers up to my shoulders to hide the fact that Luke had removed his shirt from me only a few seconds before the interruption. The door opened, and there stood my mother, beaming broadly as she carried a tray in both hands. When my mother entered the room, I quickly shifted my gaze to the floor on the opposite side of the bed and noticed that Luke had reclined himself in order to conceal himself from view.

"Good morning, and have a wonderful birthday!" She chirped, totally unaware of the fact that I had brought my lover into the house when everyone else was asleep the night before.

“Hi, er… Thanks?” I mumbled, fighting back the want to flush.

"Are you planning to get up in the near future? "I'm making a birthday breakfast," she proudly said, brimming with excitement. I gave her a friendly grin and a receptive nod. The mornings of our birthdays were always the nicest, because my mother would make virtually anything we desired.

The breakfast I had was always the same: blueberry pancakes topped with whipped cream. She made my goofy twin brother a fried meat filled mess, and my dad usually went for chocolate chip pancakes, but Mom had to burn his for some reason because he was a little strange like that. She made a mess of it.

"Heck yeah! I'm just going to, er…" I frantically searched for an alibi that would allow me to spend a few minutes in my room so that Luke could get dressed and I could secretly lead him back out the front door.

She gave me a snide grin before setting the tray on top of my dresser. "Here, have some coffee that I made. She shrugged while maintaining her cheerful expression and continued, "Breakfast will be ready in about fifteen minutes, so that'll give you time to drink it."

She smirked as she teased Luke and pointed to the empty space where he was hiding down beside the bed. "And Luke, the next time you sneak in, make sure you park your car more than two houses away," she said to him.

Luke stood up from where he had been sitting, looked at her in a guilty manner, and rubbed the back of his neck. This caused my mouth to drop open in shock. He mumbled something along the effect of "Yeah, sorry about that, Riley," while wincing. I did nothing but sit there and blush as I saw my mother shake her head and roll her eyes.

"Amateurs," she sarcastically remarked. She laughed to herself as she made a joke to herself, saying, "Don't let Clay or Alex catch you in here, you know they'll hurt you."

Luke instantly nodded his head in response to my giggle. That was correct, and I knew that my parents and brother wouldn't take too kindly to the news that my lover had spent the night here without their knowledge. Luke nodded meekly and mumbled, "I won't, thanks."

She gave a friendly grin before turning around and heading back towards the entrance. "Here, have some coffee that I made for you too, Luke." She made a dismissive motion with her hand toward the tray.

The moment she shut the door, Luke and I looked at each other and immediately started laughing out loud. He pressed his almost nudist body against mine as he grinned at me in the semidarkness while he pushed me down into the bed and pulled the blankets over our heads. While he was caressing my cheek, he remarked, "Your mother is very cool."

I nodded in accord. It's safe to say that I had the best mother possible; not only was she kind and encouraging, but she also never passed judgment on anything I did. When I was ready to proceed to the next step, she drove me to the pharmacy and helped me start taking the pill.

She completely understood my choice to have s****l relations with Luke a year ago. She had made everything simpler for me, and for that I was grateful and loved her. Although Luke was not permitted to spend the night at my place, I managed to sneak him in on numerous occasions, such as birthdays and valentine's days.

When it came to my parents, I had a lot of luck. Both of my parents were wonderful people, but my father had a tendency to be overprotective, which could be annoying at times.

But I suppose I could understand that; after all, I was his little girl. In fact, I was a total daddy's girl, so I was spoiled rotten most of the time, so it mostly worked out in my favor too, considering that.

I said to him, chuckling as he winced, "You'd better get dressed and leave before my dad catches you in here though." He complied with my suggestion.

My father did not have a problem with Luke specifically; however, he would probably treat any boyfriend I had in the same manner. He enjoyed testing Luke and teasing him to ensure that he would not run away and hurt me in any way. After one year and seven months, you'd think that he would have finally given up and accepted the fact that Luke wasn't going away though.

"Yeah, fantastic idea."

After giving me one more kiss, he slowly pushed himself out of the bed while still displaying some signs of reluctance to go. I couldn't help but grin as I watched him pull his jeans up over his head while simultaneously searching for his T-shirt, which he'd ripped off of me in the heat of the moment and flung somewhere.

I smiled to myself as I gestured to it while giggling when I saw it sitting on the sideboard on the opposite side of the room. He then gave me a grin and put it on, after which he reached for my hand and pulled me out of bed so that I could get dressed as well.

While I was rushing to get into my pajamas, I could feel him keeping an eye on me. As I tucked my arms into my robe, he murmured to himself, "You know, I think you look even hotter at eighteen than I thought you did when you were seventeen."

As he attempted to put his arms back around me, I giggled and gave him a light slap on the chest. I grabbed his hand and led him towards the entrance of my bedroom, where I made the suggestion, "Come on, let's get you out of here."

After easing the door open, I put my head out and looked about to make sure that there was nobody nearby who could pose a threat. It was a stroke of good luck that my bedroom was located just at the top of the stairs, while the front door was located directly below them. After he descended the thirteen steps and passed through the narrow entranceway, we didn't have to worry about anything else.

When I looked around the room and realized that no one was there, I reached for his hand and pulled him out of the space so quickly that we were almost running down the stairs.

As I down the last flight of stairs, I caught a glimpse of a blond head poking its way through the opening of the kitchen door. I was startled and lost my breath as I skidded to a stop, and Luke plowed into me from behind since I had come to a stop so abruptly. While both of us gazed up with wide eyes, he instantly wrapped his arm around my waist to prevent me from falling on my bottom as we both stared up.

Oh no, please be Alex rather than Dad in this situation!

It was my father, of course, so I shouldn't have been surprised to see him, but he didn't see me because he was looking at the newspaper as he came in the front door. I felt terrible. My mother went up behind him with a smile on her face, and all of a sudden, her eyes widened as she must have seen Luke standing behind me.

I pleaded with her in a hushed voice for assistance with my eyes. Almost instantly, she grabbed my dad's hand and gave it a light pull before walking away. As she put her arms around his neck and kissed him, he turned his back on us and faced her instead, turning his back on us as he did so. I sputtered, a little repulsed by the thought.

However, I really should have gotten accustomed to it by now because whenever they thought they were alone, they would constantly kiss passionately like they were adolescents. No matter how many times you were forced to observe it, it never became any easier to see the parents kissing each other in front of their children.