Ella's pov:

"That was a good movie!" I smile as I follow Luke out of the movie theatre, throwing all of tissues into the garbage can.

"Didn't you cry for most of it?" He raises his eyebrow, but I only scoff.

"It was only the ending."

"You were sniffling for a whole fifteen minutes."

"That's pretty stalkish.... you know?"

"You aren't the quietest person... you know?" He mimics me, while I stick my tongue out.

"I am very offended."

"Why? Because you cried at the too long of a happy ending?"

"It was an emotional time okay?!" I whine while he laughs, shaking his head at me in the process.

"If you say so."

"What is that suppose to mean?"

But he only smirks and bumps my shoulder, "Nothing."

I roll my eyes at him, and look up at the sky to see it was already almost evening.

Which meant only one thing, I look up at Luke who already knew what I was about to say.

"Yes, I know you are hungry. No I am paying! To bad! I don't care if you feel bad. You are in the mood for Olive Garden? Okay let's go." He says monotone, not even sparing me a glance, but I only glare.

"So you wait until now to tell me you are a mind reader?!" I have joke, half say seriously.

"What can I say? I know you better than you know yourself." He grins.

"Sure you do." I grin back, but he nods his head.

"Ask me any question, and I bet I can answer it correctly."

I think for a second, "Fine... but let's make a deal."

"What kind of deal?" He questions as we make it to his car, getting in.

"How about this, only ten questions. If you get more questions right than you do wrong, you have to pay for the meal, and if it's the other way around, I get to pay."

He squints his eyes at me, "How do I know you won't make the questions impossible to answer?"

I hold up my hands in defense, "I won't make them that hard."

He nods his head and I instantly start to think of questions that are more basic, but harder to answer.

I mean he's right, what can I say, he's literally best friend, what doesn't he know? I tell him everything.

Well... almost everything.

That I don't want to be just his friend anymore.

That I am scared that he will once again break my heart.

I hate that I still think about it. Even after I try to push the thoughts out of my head, they come back to haunt me.

Will he leave me again?

He did it once, he can certainly do it again... right?

I want to tell him how I feel... but I'm afraid.

The last time I tried to... well, you know what happened.

I want to believe him when he said that he has changed, but the fear of getting hurt consumes me.

But then again, just by looking at him, I feel safe.

Like there is a part of me that makes him home.

Yes, home.

When people ask where home is, we reply with the town, but lately I've been starting to realize home isn't anything other than someone giving you a reason to stay.

Home is that person who makes you feel secure. The person that reminds you, whatever it is you're going through, you aren't going through it alone. That person that gives you something to want to come back to.

"Ten questions?" Luke asks, breaking me out of my trance.

"Yeah, sorry I was thinking." I smile sheepishly.

I quickly think of the most random questions I can, having one goal in particular.

To not lose at something.

Again.

"When I was little, what did I want to be known for?"

At this, he laughs at my first question, "You wanted to discover the worlds first unicorn."

"Wait you remember me saying that?"

"How could I forget?"

What? I had big dreams as a child.

...

Don't judge me.

"What was the name of my first pet?"

"Willie, the fish that you killed you murderer."

"It was from the carnival!!! I did not kill it, it died in less than a day!!"

"Sure." He grins.

Willie was a great fish.

He just had trouble....

Surviving.

"How do I take my coffee?"

"Trick question, you really don't drink coffee, you just like the creamer."

"How long was my longest sleep?"

His silly grin falters, as he struggles with the answer, "fifteen?"

"Nope, eighteen."

"Lazy much?"

"Very, have I ever broken any bone?"

The question was easy, but he takes an unexpected deep breath, "I'm just going to say it.... I don't care that you broke your elbow!"

He laughs out loud, holding his stomach in the process from his own joke quoting vine.

While I on the other hand internally cringe on somehow hurting my elbow that bad.

Let's just say I am not the best at....

walking down the stairs in the dark.

I have so many regrets.

"If I could go anywhere in the world, where would I go?"

"Disney."

"If I opened a restaurant, what kind of food would I serve?"

"All food because we do not discriminate!!"

"Who is my favorite super hero?"

"...Superman?"

"No, marvel over D.C.. always."

"Should have known, is it Spider-Man?"

"That's correct but you still got that question wrong."

"But I'm winning anyways."

"Shut up."

"Never."

"What is my favorite cereal?"

"Lucky charms you marshmallow."

"I thought you finally stopped calling me that?!"

"What a disappoint."

"Okay final question... how old was I when I had my first kiss?"

I watch as Luke's eyes widen in surprise, as he leans in closer to me, "What are you talking about?"

I grin, "You heard me."

Luke fidgets in his seat, but he held an unreadable look on his face. "Who was it?"

"I don't know."

"I don't know my ass, who was it? When was it?"

"Not important." I laugh.

Why did I laugh? Because I clearly never had my first kiss before.

Why do you think I have such an obsession with Netflix romanizes?

"What do you mean 'not important,' can you just tell me?" What took me off guard was his tone. It was different. He almost seemed angry.

"His name is.... nonexistent. It was a joke dummy, I am starting my life as a official cat lady remember?" I grin, but he doesn't smile back.

Instead of looking at me, his gaze was fixed on the steering wheel, as he almost seemed in a daze.

My grin falters as I tap his shoulder, "Earth to Luke, anyone in there?"

I first poke his shoulder, then the side of his head, and then eventually the side of his nose.

Why? Because I can.

He scrunches it and looks at me, "Let's go to Olive Garden." He turns on the car engine, his jaw was locked and he kept his eyes in front of him, not even sparing a glance.

Before he started to drive though, I quickly grabbed his wrist with my hand.

"Wait, why are you so upset all of a sudden? It was a joke, and it was funny because of how unrealistic it was."

It wasn't like Luke to get so upset when we joke around with one another.

I just couldn't understand why this was particularly different.

"Yeah, funny." Is all he says, as he pulls out of the parking space.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sitting across from Luke at Olive Garden was one of the most awkward dinner experiences I've ever had in my whole entire, almost eighteen year old, existence.

And that is saying a lot because I can't even count all of the silent, awkward meals I've had with my family.

It usually ended with me wanted to hit myself in the head...

With a frying pan....

Repeatedly.

Usually when Luke and I would go out to eat, it would be us just talking, or laughing, and just being ourselves.

But this was different. As much as I tried to make conversation, Luke would just shrug his shoulders, or barely saying anything, not even looking up to make eye contact.

I just didn't understand. I knew it was because of the joke, but why was he so offended by it?

If you really think about it, I was openly dissing myself on becoming a cat lady and dying alone.

I wouldn't have said it if I knew he would make such a big deal out of it.

I watch as the waitress comes by and gives us a check. Luke grabs it and pays while I sit there silently, like I have been doing for this whole entire dinner.

We walk back to his car, again, not even a single word being said. But once we reached the car, I had enough.

"I'm sorry if you got offended by my joke." I say, as he finishes clicking his seatbelt in.

His brown eyes quickly flick to me, and his shoulders that seemed stiffed, now are dropped.

"No you don't have to apologize for anything, nothing is wrong-.."

"Really? Because you couldn't even look at me in the restaurant."

He runs a hand through his hair, resting it on the back of his neck, "Can we just forget about it?" He starts to search for his keys that were sitting in the cupholder between us.

But as he goes to grab it, I quickly pick them up and hold them behind my back.

"Ella what are you doing-..."

"We are not leaving until you tell me the truth."

"I did-.."

"No you didn't. I don't even understand why you got so upset. It was just a silly question about a first kiss."

"Ella stop-..."

"And so what if I had my first kiss? Instead of not making eye contact would you just ignore my whole entire existence?"

"Ella seriously stop-..."

"What if it wasn't a joke, what if-..." but before I could finish, the sound of a seat belt being unsnapped was heard and suddenly both of my wrists were pushed against the coolness of the leather seat as Luke's frame hovers over mine.

Unknowingly, I let out a sudden nervous breath at how close he was to me.

"What are you doing?" It came out as a whisper, one of his hands leaving my wrist, as it slowly travels to the side of my face.

"Do you really want to know why I got upset?" His voice was low, and steady. I couldn't look anywhere else but his eyes.

I slightly nod my head, knowing my voice would somehow give out on me.

"Because I couldn't even think about someone else looking at you like I do, someone touching you, someone kissing you." His thumb that was on the side of my face, slowly made its ways to the corner of my lip.

"Because I couldn't imagine someone calling you theirs..." His eyes flicked down to my lips, and back up to my eyes.

"When you can only be mine."

The swirls of emotion I saw there made me gasp. Want, desire. However, before I could ponder about it further, he pulled me to him and with one swift motion, he kissed me.

At first, I was was frozen in my place, not being able to process what was happening.

It felt like I was walking on air. It was magic, the way his lips connected with mine. Even in the moment I couldn't believe what was actually happening.

That not just my bestfriend, but the person I have fell for was here, kissing me.

Him.

It was perfect.

Slowly, he detaches his lips from mine, and moves his thumb that was still on the side of my lip to a loose strand of hair to tuck behind my ear.

I didn't know what to say.

I didn't know what I could say.

It was almost like I was in a fairytale.

But it was real.

"That's why I couldn't look at you before. Because when I look at you, all I want to do is be yours. I want to hold your hand, hug you, kiss you. I want to be there for you when you are happy, when you are sad, or angry. I want you to trust me. I want to be the reason you smile. I want to be there for you when times are bad. I want to be the shoulder you cry on when you are sad. I want to make you never feel alone again. Although I couldn't be your past, I want to be your present and future. And you might not feel the same way-.."

"Shh." I hushed him, before moving my hand and pressing it against his cheek, giving me more support to push myself towards him and connect our lips again. My lips were firm against his, but the kiss remained soft, gentle, and slow.

We held it for a few seconds, before our lips began to move perfectly in sync. I exhaled through my nose, not wanting to let go.

My entire body had been taken over by the overwhelming feeling of relief.

Slowly, I detach my lips from his, resting my forehead against his, a light smile forming on his face as all I could do was stare at his profound face features.

"Thank you." The words slipping from my mouth unknowingly.

"For what?" He questions, taking both of my hands in his.

"For being my everything."