"o you still take photos?" I ask Luke, changing the Fiona topic.

"Yeah," he replies, then he reaches for a black camera bag and opens it. He gets a dark green Fujifilm instax mini 8 Polaroid camera out of the bag and holds it out for me.

I take it from him carefully, so it wouldn't slip and fall, then it's going to break and he will probably sue me (too dramatic, I know). I turn it around, admiring it then I look through the lens and turn around towards the window to catch a perfect view of the midday sky in the lens. I turn back around, still looking through the lens.

Luke appears in it, his features glowing in the camera. His eyes hold this jade green color around his slightly dilated pupil with sea green at the edges blending in with it, like the way that a color-stained paintbrush blends in with the clear water. His eyelashes are long and thin–feminine compared to the rest of his well-structured features–and I find myself in awe of his features. God really decided to spend more time on this one.

I put the camera down. "This thing gets amazing views," I tell him, acting as if I wasn't just admiring how he looks. "When did you get it?" I hand it back to him.

"Mom got it for me on my thirteenth birthday," he replies, observing it. "I want to buy the mini 9 one though. Don't get me wrong, I love this and it means a lot to me, but I prefer the newer one."

"Why don't you buy it then?" I ask him.

"The money that mom and I collect are for the house and for our necessarities. I don't want to waste our money on a camera. I want Clara to be able to buy an apartment later on. I want Luna to get in a good college," he explains, turning the camera in his hands. "I want them to be happy."

"That's really nice of you," I smile, locking my hands together. He smiles back softly and puts the camera back in its bag.

A knock comes from outside the door and it opens, revealing Clara with a small beagle in her arms. For a moment I think it's Molly and I wonder how did Clara get Molly, but then I realize that Molly doesn't have a golden collar tag shaped as a bone with the name 'Duke' on it and I also realize that this is Luke's dog.

"Hey," Clara greets us. "He missed you, so I decided to bring him to you," she tells Luke and places the dog down on the floor then it runs to Luke.

I would run to him too if I was you.

"I'm going to the mall with Aaron. Do you need anything?" Clara says to Luke.

"No," he replies. "Have fun."

"Will do. Bye," she waves before she closes the door again.

Duke nudges Luke's leg with his nose and whines softly before he notices me and he stops his affection fest to stare at me. I could tell that Duke is so much calmer than Molly. The difference is obvious when Molly met Luke and when Duke met me. She's crazy and he's not.

Luke and I watch as Duke walks closer to me and starts sniffing my feet. I crouch down, then I hold my palm out to him and he sniffs it. He licks my hand and basically jumps on top of me.

I let out a squeal as I fall on my back and the dog gets on top of me. "Shit," Luke curses. "You okay?" Then he goes forward to pick Duke up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry," I assure him, holding up my hand.

Duke then licks my cheek and my face and I laugh slightly. "Okay then." Then he gets off of me and tugs on my jumper as if he's trying to make me sit up. I sit up and physically and mentally get ready for standing up, but Luke helps me up which I certainly don't mind.

"How is your dog so calm?" I ask, watching Duke jump on top of Luke's messy bed and lie on it, resting his chin on his front legs.

"I don't know. I guess it's because he always sees me reading or sleeping, so he's just used to the calmness," he answers.

"You're meaning to tell me that Molly's crazy because I'm crazy?" I question.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Luke replies.

"Well, Melanie Martinez said that all the best people are crazy, so–" I stick my tongue out at him.

"Melanie Martinez; the same person who sang about sex as if it's cake?" He asks, raising one of his eyebrows.

"It's a descriptive...metaphor and it has a very deep meaning."

"It's about sex," he insists.

"Please don't say it so openly like that," I tell him, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

I mean, I'm talking about sex with the guy I like. That's not okay.

"So, you are a virgin," he concludes, smirking.

"You know just because I'm not comfortable with talking about sex doesn't mean I'm a virgin, that's very judgy of you," I tease him with a small grin.

"To be honest, I was just looking for a way to ask you," he admits, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Curious about me, aren't we?" I tell him and he shrugs in response. "Yes, I'm a virgin. I was never really ready to...you know–with Seth. I mean, I was fifteen. If my mum found out I had sex with my boyfriend that young, I'd be disowned."

He lets out a chuckle. "It doesn't matter, you know?"

"What doesn't?" I frown in confusion.

"If you're a virgin or not. I just wanted to know, but it really doesn't matter," he says in a serious tone.

"Yeah, I know," I look down at my feet, moving my left foot around. It mattered a lot to Seth.

"Anna." Luke states, almost as if he knew.

"What?" I mumble out, still keeping my eyes on the ground.

"Look at me," he orders in a firm voice and I feel him moving closer. I finally look up at him, noticing how kind of close he is. "What did he do?" He asks, taking another step closer.

"He didn't do anything, more like said," I reply honestly.

"What did he say?"

"He said that I should do it with him because being a virgin is 'too unusual' for a girl that has a boyfriend and I should just loosen up," I answer in a low, small voice.

This was exactly before I saw him kissing that girl, the first time he cheated. I kinda dislike bringing up the whole Seth thing because I know how much of an idiot I was, but still I was fifteen back then. I did a lot of stupid crap when I was fifteen.

"Fucking bastard," Luke murmurs under his breath. "Anna, I know you already know this, but don't ever listen to that asshole, okay? A virgin or not, this is your life and other people's opinions don't matter, alright?"

"I know," I nod. "Thanks, Luke," I give him a smile.

"Anytime, Cherries," he gives me a small smile back.

Luke checks his phone before slipping it in his pocket. "We should probably go." I nod in response.

"Let's go." He slings the camera bag on his shoulder.

"Can I put my backpack here and get it later?" I ask him.

"Sure," he nods and I place my backpack on Luke's desk after I take my phone and my money out and slip them in my pockets.

"Bye, buddy," Luke tells Duke, scratching him behind his ear. "I'll be back soon." The dog barks and licks Luke's face in response and Luke chuckles, before standing up.

Luke and I leave his room and go downstairs, exiting his house and getting in his car before he drives off to wherever the place that he talked about is.

Hopefully, it's not an abandoned house.

| | | |

"I love this place!" I smile, enjoying the smell of sea water that flows in my nose.

Pier 39 is possibly one of my favourite places here in San Francisco after the Golden Gate bridge. Even though, the memory of the beach and the sea always made me feel sick and anxious, the pier makes me calmer and in peace. It's usually crowded, but it isn't that crowded today maybe it's because today is colder than usual and people saw that as a big no-no.

"Where are we going first?" I ask in excitement.

"The aquarium," Luke replies.

"Well, what are we doing standing here? Let's go!" I usher him before I basically run to the entrance of Aquarium of the Bay. Luke joins me five seconds later (the perks of having long legs) and we stand in the line, until our turn comes.

"Two tickets," Luke tells the guy in the cubicle and I get out my money to pay for the ticket, but Luke already beats me to it and pays.

"I could have paid," I say.

"Cherries, I'm the one who invited you, so I'm the one who pays," he replies logically.

"Fine, but I'm the one who will decide to hang out the next time and I will pay," I declare.

"Deal," he replies and I smile in satisfication. Luke grabs the tickets before we walk inside.

Darkness falls over the place as we walk further inside until we reach a tunnel made out of glass with aqua blue water on the other side of it. Sea creatures swim above and beside us, flopping around in the water. A group of sliver fish huddle above us for a moment before they swim away, then a medium-sized sea turtle paddles beside us sideways before it turns back on its stomach and continues paddling.

"This is so beautiful," I comment in awe and I see Luke nodding in agreement.

As we pad down the tunnel, Luke captures photos and the Polaroid picture slips out of the top, but before Luke can grab it, I snatch it and take a look at it, but all I see is a white background.

"There is something wrong with your camera," I tell Luke.

"You have to wait for at least ten minutes before the picture appears." He takes the picture from me and holds it out as we wait before blue ink starts appearing at the bottom of the photo.

"I knew that," I lie, crossing my arms.

"Of course, you did," Luke replies, sarcastically and he looks back down at the white slip as the blue ink in the picture continues appearing, showing the water and the fish.

"Can we take pictures with it?" I ask him.

"I was just doing that five minutes ago," he responds.

"I meant, pictures of us, idiot." I roll my eyes.

"Yeah, sure," he agrees. Finally, the picture fully appears and I admire the beautiful photo.

"It looks so pretty," I comment, looking down at the Polaroid and smiling.

"It does." Luke nods his head and I look up to give him a small smile.

I grab the camera from him. "Come on, let's take a picture."

Luke and I take about four pictures; two of them are me doing silly faces while Luke just smiles in them. He's a very boring person, but at least he's smiling. I'd choose smiling Luke over emotionless Luke any day. The four pictures fully appear and Luke gives me two while he takes the other two.

"Do you remember like three months ago when you were staying at my house and you told me not to tell anyone that you're staying at mine's?" I pipe up, turning my head to look at him after I remember that situation. I don't know why, it just suddenly popped up in my mind.

He turns his head to look at me. "Yeah," he nods.

"Why did you tell me not to tell anyone?"

"You didn't want anyone finding out that 'practically a criminal' is staying at your house," he does air-quotes.

"Luke, I literally have three friends and I don't talk to anyone else unless they're family. I didn't care. Besides, you're the one who brought up the topic first," I say with a grin.

"Yeah, I was just messing around with you. I don't care either. I just wanted to see your reaction when you find out that I knew about you being in a band," he gives me a lazy smile.

I come to a halt stop in front of him and stare at him. "That's mean," I tell him. "Even meaner than me and I'm considered a nice person."

"You're not, they all lied," he snorts and I send him an offended look in response.

"Also," he leans in as if he's being secretive and I'm a bit shocked by the sudden action, but I lean in too. "I'm going to be honest with you. I really liked annoying you so we can maybe this time actually be friends. I don't know what the fuck happened in fourth grade."

I laugh and smile at him. "You wanna know something?" He nods in response.

"I really wanted to be your friend too," I inform him and he gives me one of his beautiful, wide, genuine smiles, then he leans back up and I fall into step beside him as we continue walking.

"I didn't know that Clara had a boyfriend," I say as we stroll down the pathway; Luke looking around with his hands in his pockets and me walking beside him.

"Yeah, they've been in a long-distance relationship for awhile now," he replies.

"That actually works?" I question in surprise. From what I heard and read about, long-distance relationships barely even work. They only have a 58% success rate, so I'm surprised people still try to get involved in these type of relationships.

"It does," he answers. "They've been dating for two years and a couple of months now."

"That's a lot," I say, watching as a small clown fish swims around a coral and follows its family as they swim in a coordinated line. "What about the whole pregnancy thing and college?"

"She's graduating in June, then she's probably going to move in with Aaron in an apartment here in California," Luke replies and he brings up his camera to take a shot of a dark green fish and a yellow one that are swimming next to each other, sticking close by.

"Does your mum know about her being pregnant?" I question, observing the white slip that comes out of the camera.

"She does. She's really looking forward to being a grandmother," he says, his lips curving upwards a bit.

I smile. "What about you? Are you excited to be an uncle?"

"And make her or him grow up to be a badass? Hell yeah," he agrees.

"I already feel bad for the baby," I laugh.

"You will see, I'll be the greatest uncle anyone has ever had," he tells me confidently.

"Of course," I reply, raising an eyebrow unconvinced.

"Like I said, they lied when they said you were nice," Luke retorts.

"Shut up," I laugh loudly, pushing him away and he barely stumbles as he lets out a small chuckle.

Continuing our trek down the dark tunnel, we proceed on with watching the sea creatures and talking about different topics. Occasionally, Luke would take pictures and I would stop walking to watch the fish and gush about how adorable they are. I even see a dolphin and I literally just stand there, staring at it. I consider myself more of a kid than a teenager. I'm sure I'm still going to be like this in three years.

Soon, we head out for the exit because Luke has to leave for his and Jennie's date. Although Jennie and I are like friends now, I'm still jealous from her because of the whole her dating Luke thing and I feel awful thinking about it, but that's deep down, like way deep down, maybe six feet deep down.

I mean, the being jealous part, not the feeling awful one.

Of course.

| | | |

❀