A Touch of Luke

15

"I'm so confused," Luke grumbled. "None of this makes any sense. Is this real life or are they in a dream?"

I laughed, "I couldn't tell you because I don't know what's going on either."

We all decided on watching Inception but nobody really understood what was going on because it kept switching back and fourth and it was hard to tell whether events were really happening or whether the characters where incepting a dream.

Somehow I ended up in a position where my head was on Luke's chest and his arm was wrapped around me. I didn't protest and he didn't seem to mind.

Remy was staring at the tv screen while slowly chewing on fuzzy peaches, her eyes squinted as she zoned in on the movie and tried to make sense of it while the rest of the world was drowned out around her.

Mario spent most of the movie occupying himself on his phone because he was very obviously bothered by Todd and Jamie and seeing him tonight ruined his mood though Todd had left a while ago now. Mario, my dear brother, was being awfully stupid because he was staying butt-hurt and jealous but not actually doing anything about his feelings for Jamie.

Luke brought a chip to his mouth which I quickly snatched out of his hand and stuffed into my mouth instead.

He looked down at me, narrowing his eyes. "Thief."

"What you gonna do, pretty boy?" I taunted between chuckles.

His lips twitched up in a smirk. He leaned down, his face inches from mine, lips brushing right over mine. And then in a swift movement, he leaned forward and snatched my Kit Kat right out of my other hand and shoved the last piece in his mouth.

My eyes went wide. I smacked his chest lightly, "Thief!" I was whisper yelling.

He shrugged cooly, grinning smugly. "Takes one to know one."

"Whatever," I mumbled and rested my head back down on his chest to look at the tv screen. "You're the one converting to Kit Kat so we don't have to even look at Reeses again."

Luke chuckled quietly, "Seems like this might work out after all."

I ignored my heart that was banging against my chest and decided to go back to focusing on the movie. I was just trying to avoid falling back into another trance with Luke where everything around me would go still any time I noted how close he was to me.

I realize that sounds incredibly dumb because we're basically cuddled up on the couch together but in my defence, I'm cold and he wouldn't let me pull the blanket away from him. Plus, he smelt good. And he was warm. And his arms fit around me like a puzzle th-

We get it, Marie.

Mario stood up and headed to the kitchen, not taking his eyes off his phone screen. Jamie paused for a moment before quickly standing and following after him.

"That's not going to go well."

"Jesus!" Remy exclaimed.

I looked at her with wide eyes. "Rem?"

"Oh," she mused, looking at me sheepishly. "Sorry. Tom Hardy is just one sexy man. I mean Tom Hardy, Leo DiCaprio, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in one movie is such a blessing that nobody acknowledges."

She didn't say anything else as she turned her attention back to the tv.

I let out a laugh, shaking my head at her.

"Mario, come on!" A quiet attempt of a whisper-yell was heard from the kitchen.

I sucked in a breath.

"Lovers quarrel." Luke mumbled softly to me.

I chuckled, "Maybe he'll finally come clean and confess his feelings."

"That's harder than it sounds, love." Luke murmured quietly.

The next half an hour, Remy stayed intrigued by the movie while Jamie and Mario were still in the kitchen. We could vaguely hear them arguing and bickering but they were quiet enough for us to not overhear.

Luke and I spent the whole time trying to throw food in the air and catch it without our hands or just throwing food at each and then briefly paying attention to some parts of the movie and attempt to make sense of it.

"That was f*****g sick," Remy mused as she stood up to turn the tv off after the movie had ended. "Although you guys are all very annoying people to watch a movie with. Where are Jamie and Mario?"

"Kitchen," I didn't move my head off Luke's chest, his arms still wrapped around me. I was too sleepy to move. If I shut my eyes for even thirty seconds, I would fall asleep.

Remy started laughing, "Mario is still being stupid and not confessing his feelings?"

"You know about that too?" Luke asked, surprised that Remy knew and didn't say anything to Jamie.

"Bro code," Remy shrugged. "It's clear as day. Jamie just doesn't let herself see it because they've been friends for so long that she doesn't think it means anything. She's being naive and in-denial, much like some other friends I have, who, for some unknown reason, won't get a room already."

She shot the both of a very in-sincere innocent smile.

I rolled my eyes, not bothering to move away from Luke or say anything to Remy because I was half asleep.

Luke laughed awkwardly.

Luckily, it didn't stay awkward for the two of us because Jamie and Mario walked back to the living room.

Now they can suffer in awkwardness. Better them than me, sorry little bro.

"Oh, the movies over?" Jamie mumbled, forcing a small smile.

Remy quirked an eyebrow as she looked between the two of them, "Everything alright?"

Jamie glanced to Mario, hoping he would say something.

"Sure," Mario mumbled, leaning against the staircase. "I'm just tired. Mind if I head to bed?"

Remy shrugged, "By all means. We can clean the mess in the morning because f**k that s**t. You and Mar can take my room, Jamie can crash with me and that leaves Luke to Reed's old room. Sound good?"

I shot up, sitting straight. "Rem, you know I will not sleep in the same room as Mario. The kid snores like a bloody train. I much rather crash on the couch."

Remy gave me a tired look, "Come on, you lived in womb with the kid for nine months. I'm sure you can deal with snoring for one night."

"Trust me," Mario spoke up sheepishly. "She won't. She will literally push me off the bed in the middle of the night and then the rest of you can wake up when you hear us arguing."

I crossed my arms over my chest, smiling cheekily. "He is not wrong."

Remy ran a hand down his face, "Fine. What do you guys want to do? I would suggest Mario and Jamie get a room but I don't support cheaters so that's off the table."

Jamie stared down at her feet to avoid Mario's gaze while his cheeks went red with a blush.

"Mario can take Reed's room," Luke spoke up. "I can crash on the couch."

"What?" Remy frowned. "No, I don't want you to sleep on the couch. You'll have a shitty sleep."

Luke shrugged, "It's one night and the couch is comfy. I'll be fine."

I shook my head, "No, it's not as comfy as it seems. And you'll probably roll off the couch in your sleep. You can take the guest with me."

"Really?" He mused, surprised.

"Really?" Jamie repeated, her eyebrows pulling together, also surprised to hear me say that.

"Well no s**t," Mario smirked.

"Finally," Remy muttered under her breath.

I rolled my eyes at how immature they all were. "Guys, we're all going to sleep. Lying next to one other is not that big of a deal, now do we really have to turn this into something more than it is because I am sleepy and cannot come up with any good comebacks right now?"

Remy shrugged, "I second that, I'm tired. Y'all do your thing. You know where the extra blankets are now sleep tight, kiddos."

"I should go too," Jamie mumbled softly, her eyes lingering on Mario for a moment before she followed Remy up the stairs.

Mario didn't say anything as he turned to leave as well.

"Hold up there, hermanó."

Mario visibly winced as he slowly turned back around to look at me.

I narrowed my eyes down at him, "What was all that about? What happened in that kitchen?"

Mario checked to make sure Jamie was gone before he sighed. "We got into a fight. She kept asking me why I was being so weird and distant. I couldn't tell her I liked her. I tried but I don't have any balls, okay?"

"So then what did you tell her?" Luke asked cautiously.

"Nothing. Instead of confessing that I was being a jealous asshole, I started going off about how Todd is a shitty person. We argued about whether or not Todd is a good guy, then she was telling me I was the one being an asshole and etcetera."

"So in conclusion, no progress?" I raised my eyebrows.

Mario shrugged. You could easily see he was distraught. "Nope. I might've just made it worse for myself."

I gave him a sad smile, "Maybe but Jamie is also really slow for not seeing it."

"Now I'm going to go to bed and figure out how I'm going to apologize to her. Walls are thin, don't be stupid. Goodnight." Mario grumbled all the words he spoke under his breath as he dragged himself up the stairs.

Ignoring his comment, I sucked in a breath. "Poor kid. He's been pining over that girl for years."

"A mystery how she hasn't noticed already," Luke's voice was distant, not looking at me as he stood up and started folding the blankets.

I watched him for a minute, seeing him start to put all the pillows back on their spots.

"What are you doing?"

He paused, looking at me. He quirked an eyebrow, "Cleaning up the mess?"

I couldn't help but smile at how cute he was. "Rem said we can worry about that tomorrow."

He shrugged, resuming picking up the empty wrappers and bags of chips. "Doesn't look nice leaving a mess for her parents to wake up to. Plus, I'd feel bad knowing I'm the guest."

I let out a breathy laugh, "You're not what I expected, Luke Carter." I stood up and started helping him pick up the garbage that was everywhere because he was right. I would have done it anyways.

"Mhm. What did you expect, Marie Ana Celestino?"

I tensed for only a second when he said my middle name, only used to hearing that come from my parents. I cleared my throat, "Hmm... I was expecting you to be a prick who thought he was superior to everyone else and treated everyone like they weren't good enough. Another stuck up kid."

Luke whistled. "Not subtle at all, love."

I grinned sheepishly, "Sorry but honest at least. I was proved wrong quite quickly, though."

Luke quirked an eyebrow, "I'll take what I can get. Glad to have proved you wrong though."

I laughed softly, "So am I."

And then, because my mind was half asleep and I happen to be a clumsy i***t, I tripped over a pillow that was on the ground.

In a swift movement, Luke tried to save the fall and catch me but from the way I caught onto his arm, he also ended up falling right with me.

A squeal escaped my lips. I opened my eyes to see that I was lying right on top of Luke. I couldn't help but start laughing like an i***t.

A toothy smile grew on Luke's face as he chuckled, shaking his head a little.

"Brought me right down with you, love."

I was still laughing so I couldn't manage to get any words out.

Luke laughed more as he watched me laugh, reaching his hand up to tuck a strand of my hair behind my ears.

"God, you're beautiful."

I blinked, my laughs coming to a stop.

I blinked again, just lost in his eyes as if I were in some cheesy movie.

Luke's hand lingered by the side of my face as he was just as lost as I was, frozen in the moment.

My breath hitched in my throat, not sure what was coming next or what I wanted to come next.

Seemingly unconsciously, Luke's finger traced my jawline and then my bottom lip, his finger lingering a second longer.

I swallowed the lump that had formed in my gut. My whole body seemed to be floating. I was stunned and at a complete loss, my mind blank.

The sound of something falling caused me to let out a small yelp as I jumped off of Luke and stood up straight, frantically looking around.

"Hell," I grumbled, shaking my head at myself. "It was a bloody remote." I stared at remote that was lying on the carpet after having fallen off the top of the fireplace's ledge.

Luke laughed as he stood up and brushed himself off, "You scare real easy, love."

I bit down on my lip, looking at him. "It's the middle of the night. You hear a sound. Are you going to assume it's a murderer at the door or the wind?"

Luke looked at me in awe but disbelief at the same time. "I'm going to assume a remote fell." He shot me a grin before picking up the pillow we had tripped over.

"Come on," he said after shoving all the wrappers in an empty plastic bag. "Let's go sleep before you trip over something again."

I followed Luke up to the guest room, hopping into bed right away as my body swayed with drowsiness. I could hardly keep my eyes open which was probably due to the very few hours of sleep I got the next before, and the night before that, and the one before that.

Luke smiled as he watched me wrap myself in the blanket like a burrito.

"You sure this is okay? I can take the ground."

I let out a laugh. "If I was going to make you take the ground, I would have let you taken the couch in the first place, Luke."

He clicked his tongue, "Touché." He slowly got into bed beside me, both of us lying on our backs and staring at the ceiling that we couldn't really see because the lights were off.

"Luke," I whispered after a few moments.

"Yes, love," he spoke back, his voice soft and precious.

I sucked in my bottom lip, pausing for a moment. "I... my name is Marie."

Luke paused for a moment before shifting. He turned to his side, his head resting on his arm as he faced towards me. I did the same, turning to lay on my side to face him.

"Love, I know what your name is." I could hear the amusement in his tone.

"I know," I mumbled quietly. "But I never told you what it was the first few times you asked."

"So you're telling me now," he noted.

"Yes."

"Okay, Marie."

"Don't call me that," I frowned. I sounded like a little child but really, I blame it on the very high levels of sleep deprivation and drowsiness. It really does transform you into a different person.

"What?" Luke let out a breathy chuckle. "You just..." he was confused.

"I know but I like it when you call me love."

"Why?" His voice was gentle, in a whisper.

I paused for a second, "Because it makes me feel important."

"You are important to me, love."

I smiled though he probably couldn't see considering how dark it was. I shut my eyes, the smile still resting on my face.

A few seconds later, Luke moved closer to me. He wrapped his arms around me so I rested my head in his chest.

I felt warm and secure, feeling his heart beating under my ear. I felt safe in his hold.

"Goodnight, love."

"Goodnight, Luke." I'll ya