"All the times that I cried

I know you were there

Holding me tight

All of the days that I thought

That I'd never get through

Searching for answers

All along it was You

I, I found life

When I found you"

✰

"My biggest regret is not telling you that I love you three years ago."

Luke's ears were ringing the way he figured they would if he was in outer space. It was like every single sense that he had was stripped right from his body- he couldn't hear anything, his fingertips felt numb, hell even his vision was blurred.

Luke blinks to clear his vision, not even caring that the movement causes tears to fall down his cheeks. He wasn't even crying, at least he wasn't trying to. It was like his body was reacting for him and his mind had yet to catch up.

"Luke..." Her voice finally breaks through the defensive barrier he'd put up around himself. "I love you." Arlo's voice wavers with emotion and it only causes his chest to ache even more. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, I was just so- I just need you to know. I've loved you for almost four years and I don't ever want to stop."

His lips part in surprise, the fairy lights he'd strung up all those years ago blurring as his waterline continues to line with emotion. He opens his mouth to respond, but nothing comes from it. Luke didn't know where to begin.

"You love me?" He croaks out.

When his fingertips reach out for her, curling around her waist and bringing her body to his own he can practically see the relief on her face. Arlo clings to him like he might slip away, her small hands fisting the fabric of his shirt.

"I love you." She repeats.

Arlo didn't care if it was repetitive. She'd been loving him in silence for years and now that the words had left her lips she didn't know how to make them stop. It felt so good to finally be open, like a giant weight was lifted from her shoulders.

"I don't understand." Luke shakes his head in denial, sniffling as he struggles to keep down his emotion. But, Arlo had always made it hard to do that. He could never hide from her, not even if he wanted to. "If you loved me three years ago why would you say all of those things to me? Why didn't you just- Why did you let me spend three fucking years thinking that I'd messed everything up by being me?"

Arlo feels her stomach drop despite the fact that she knew Luke deserved an explanation. She balls his shirt tighter in her fist, emotion climbing up her throat that she does her best to swallow down. "I was only eighteen and I was so scared, Luke."

Luke's brows furrow and he shakes his head in denial, his mind unable to comprehend what she was saying. "It's not like I asked you to marry me, Arlo. I just wanted to be loved. That's all." He says, though his tone isn't upset in the slightest. Her boy is just confused.

"And I did love you. I still do." Arlo pleads with him, pushing down her fear that he might not say it back. "It was my own insecurities that got in the way, I promise. Everything I said that night was a lie. I was speaking out of fear-"

"Fear?" Luke asks incredulously. "Why were you so scared, Lo?"

Arlo shakes her head, her brown eyes watery with emotion as she looks into his blue ones. The fairy lights were reflecting off of his eyes, the tears in them causing them to look bluer than usual. "That doesn't matter now. All that matters is that you know that I love you and that I wish that I'd said it three years ago."

Luke swallows thickly, nearly flinching at the way his heart seemed to contract every time the words left her lips. "You love me?"

Arlo nods, taking her lip between her teeth. "I love you."

"Fuck." Luke curses under his breath, his hands cupping her jaw, fingertips tangling in her dark hair as their faces linger only inches apart. "Say it again."

Her heart is thudding in her ears, similar to the rain tapping on the glass as it storms outside. Arlo was overwhelmed in the best way, for everything that mattered to her seemed to happen in this very room. The first time she saw him, the first time they wrote a song together, the first time she admitted her feelings for him, the first time they kissed was only right outside, the first time he touched her, the first time she woke up in his arms, the first time she broke down so vulnerably in front of him, and now the first time she told him that she loves him- it all happened here.

"I love you, Luke." Arlo repeats. She didn't care how many times she had to say it, she'd say it as many times as he needed.

Luke's blue eyes are wild as his lips tremble with emotion, almost like he'd needed to hear the words fall from her lips in order to properly heal. "Tell me that you want to be with me."

Arlo pinches her eyes shut as she realizes he was going through everything she said that night. Luke was asking her to break down the wall of insecurities she'd caused him to build up and she had no problem in doing so.

"I want to be with you." She confirms, her voice nothing but sincere. "Forever.

Luke runs his fingertips through her dark hair, trying to distract himself from the way they were shaking. He'd spent so long believing that he was unlovable- that he wasn't good enough no matter how hard he tried to give her the world and more. "Tell me you won't change your mind."

"I won't" Arlo shakes her head, her hands sliding under the fabric of his shirt to rest against his skin in the way she knew he loved. "I'll love you for as long as you give me the privilege."

"Tell me it wasn't just physical." Luke pleads, his lips inching closer to her own. "Please, baby."

"It's never been just physical with you." Arlo tells him, emotion causing her tone to waver. "I fell in love with your words, here in this bookstore before I fell for the way you touched me. I love every part of you, but it was always your words that made me fall for you."

Arlo swallows thickly, one last plead falling from her lips. "Luke, I love you."

Luke's eyes flutter shut and he rests his forehead against hers, his shoulders feeling the lightest they had since he was a teenager. It was unreal how much of his stressors and insecurities had been set free just from three simple words- but they weren't just words to Luke.

"Arlo, baby." Luke begins, his blue eyes finding hers as Arlo's heart rises in her throat. "I love you. I loved you months before I even got the courage to tell you." His thumb draws circles on her cheek, finding her parted bottom lip. "I loved you even after you broke my heart. I loved you even when I was sure that I'd never see you again. I loved you even after I was convinced you were with someone new. I love you."

No sooner than the words leave his lips does Arlo close the gap in between them. She kisses him with everything she has and Luke pulls her so close that she isn't too sure he isn't trying to crawl into her veins.

His hands tremble as they cup her cheek, but Luke doesn't care. She loves him- Arlo Abbott fucking loves him. The same girl he'd fallen for as soon as she walked through the entrance of his bookstore was in front of him and now, three years later after enough heartbreak to last a lifetime, she finally told him the three words he'd been dying to hear.

The kiss is messy and his lips taste salty from the tears spilling down his cheeks but it's fucking perfect. Arlo has never felt so utterly content at the moment and Luke's not far behind, his tongue slipping past her lips to kiss her deeper.

"I love you, Luke." Arlo mumbles against his lips.

"I fucking love you, Lo. And I'm never gonna stop."

✰

Luke was pretty sure he'd never laughed so hard in his life.

The blonde is doubled over with his hands folded over his stomach, his muscles aching from how hard he was laughing. Tears spring to his eyes and he wipes them away with the back of his hand. "I'm-" He cuts himself off with another giggle. "Fuck, I'm sorry, Lo. I'm gonna help I promise"

All Luke can hear is a muffled grunt as the mattress blocking his view of her moves- albeit barely an inch. This only causes Luke to laugh even harder and he nearly feels lightheaded from all the giggling he'd done.

When Arlo said she wanted to sleep under the fairly lights in the middle of the bookstore, Luke had no problem granting her wish. He went to get them a few drinks from the back and when he returned, Arlo was trying to drag his old mattress from the back room into the main part of the store by herself.

Only, Arlo had miscalculated how wide the doorway was and the poor girl had gotten the mattress stuck in the doorway, nothing but her sock-covered feet visible as she attempts to keep it from falling over.

"Luke!" Her muffled voice shouts from the other side of the mattress in between them. "I'm gonna drop it on me!"

Arlo's hands are braced in front of her on the mattress, her muscles beginning to burn with fatigue and making her wish she'd taken Beck's workouts more seriously. Just when she thinks she'd going to drop the heavy mattress onto herself, it's tugged successfully through the doorway.

An exhale of relief leaves her lips as Luke stands on the other side, a proud smile on his pretty lips as he tugs the mattress to the middle of the bookstore with ease. "Not so hard, was it sweetheart?" He asks smugly.

Arlo rolls her eyes playfully. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever" She says incredulously, turning on her heel to retrieve the blankets and pillows from his old bedroom.

Luke practically trips over the mattress in a rush to follow her, that same smile on his face as he watches her enter the bedroom he'd spent so long in. Everything was the same and all of his old clothes were even still there, but they were different- a good different.

A gasp leaves Arlo's lips and the girl suddenly bends down, picking up a piece of fabric from the floor. Luke groans as he sees a blue shirt with a fire station logo on it that he used to wear religiously when he was younger. Although, he quickly chokes on his breath when Arlo slides her shirt over her head.

"Lo-" Luke chokes out as she kicks off her skirt as well leaving him with nothing but a fleeting glimpse of the light blue lace covering her body before she slides his old t-shirt over her head. "Are you trying to fuckin' kill me?"

Arlo shrugs innocently, resuming the task of picking up the blankets and pillows she'd left behind. "This one was my favorite."

Luke merely shakes his head in disbelief, watching in awe as his girl begins dragging the blankets into the front of the bookstore, tasking him with the pillows. He feels as though he's living in a dream as he watches her spread the blankets across the bed and takes the pillows from his hands.

Arlo crawls into bed, a pretty smile on her face as she waits for him to join her. It takes Luke a moment to snap himself out of his daze, for she looked like a fucking angel sitting in the mound of blankets with nothing but the warm glow of the fairy lights to illuminate her tan skin.

He couldn't stand not having his hands on her skin any longer so, Luke crawls into bed next to his girl and finds her hips, using a gentle grip to pull her on top of him. Luke lays with his head on the pillows as Arlo straddles his waist, his hands running lazily up and down her thighs.

He doesn't know how long they stay like this, taking in the sight of one another- just focusing on how good it felt to be in love and loved in return.

"If you could build your dream house and have anything in it, what would you pick?" Arlo asks suddenly, her fingertips gently tracing over his face from the curve of his lips to the slope of his nose. She just liked knowing he was real- having her hands be on his skin.

"You." Luke answers instantly, his lips puckering to press a kiss against her fingertip as she lightly traces his cupid's bow.

Arlo rolls her eyes, though it's undeniable how her cheeks flush. "I meant like structurally."

"Structurally." Luke reiterates, a lovesick look on his face. "I want a welcome mat with your name on it- with our names on it. And probably a mug with our initials, but you use the "L" mug and I use the "A" mug because we're fuckin' funny like that." Luke rambles, causing her cheeks to flush. "Probably one of those yearly Christmas ornaments too, you know the ones that'll slowly get more and more chipped as the years pass."

Arlo feels her stomach flip in the best way as she braces her hands on his chest and leans down to kiss him. "I love you."

Luke smiles lazily up at her, his fingertips continuing to trace up her thighs until they make a home on her hips, resting underneath the fabric of her t-shirt on her smooth skin. "I love you endlessly, sweet girl." He responds instantly. "Now tell me, structurally, if you could have anything in your dream home, what would it be? Need to know so I can make it happen."

"A cat." Arlo answers with a grin, taking her bottom lip between her teeth. "Preferably an orange one-"

"No fucking way." Luke shakes his head, narrowing his eyes at his girl.

"You said anything!" She reminds him, a pout on her lips. "They're so cute, c'mon Lu." Arlo pleads.

"One; I said structurally." Luke narrows his eyes, teasingly tightening his grip on her hips. "And two; the cats' not going to be cute when your fuckin' throat swells up and you die."

"Allergy shots exist." Arlo rolls her eyes, a playful smile tugging at her lips.

"Not when you're deathly allergic." Luke says sternly. "You trying to give me a heart attack, Lo? C'mere and kiss me." He pouts his lips as he waits for her to lean down and claim them.

And she does, instantly, just like he knew she would. It's a lazy kiss, but Luke is more than content, humming tiredly as she presses her lips to his own. When she pulls away he opens his eyes hazily. "What about a goldfish? They've got 'em for twenty cents at the pet store. That's five for a dollar"

"A goldfish Really?" Arlo asks incredulously, narrowing her eyes at her boy. "Their lifespans are too short. I'd get too attached and then it would die and I'd be really upset." She says a slight pout to her lips.

Luke smirks lazily, tugging her to lay beside him rather than straddling him. She molds her body into his side, slotting perfectly under his arm as he pulls her closer. "Guess I'll have to do then."

Arlo gives up with a huff, her eyes already beginning to flutter shut. "You're lucky I love you, like a lot."

"Mhm." Luke hums, his chest filling with warmth at her words and he doesn't even try to deny it. "You're right about that, baby."