Last Christmas- Hope and Lightning

Author's Note: Hello again readers! Finally after a lot of thought and trial and error drafts, I've finished the romance scene between Hope and Lightning. At the request of a friend, I've separated the love scene from this in an attempt to…starve you. No I'm just kidding; nearly 3000 words for a single chapter is no longer my style so I'm separating it. Besides, it's a bit of a cliffhanger if you think about it! This chapter is again for everyone to enjoy but the next one I promise is rated M.

"Is everything ok?"
"Yeah, I'm getting through my classes just fine,"

Hope leaned against his doorframe and held a small cellphone to his ear. He couldn't be feeling any happier.

"I can't believe you turn twenty tomorrow,"
"Neither can I,"

He moved to his bed and lay down.

"I miss you so much…"
"I do too,"

He knew that she was feeling lonely ever since he left after those two weeks with her. Lightning called him every three days to ensure that he was fine while he was gone in school. Three months passed and not a single argument passed between them. They however didn't get to spend much time together due to Lightning's job as a pharmacist and Hope's holiday homework as an engineering major was not something to free up time either.

"I have a surprise for you tomorrow,"
"Really? I wonder what that is,"
"You'll see, I know you'll like it,"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Ok I'll take your word for it,"

He heard her laugh softly in the background.

"Ok I'm going to finish some work I'll talk to you tomorrow,"
"Ok,"
"I love you,"

He heard her took in a sharp breath of air as if she was shocked to hear him say that.

"I love you too…"

It wasn't long before class began and Hope got lost within the work. As smart as he was, the honors classes were beginning to pile up on him and he decided to take a rain check on calling Lightning until the next day. He spent the day working on everything as much as he possibly could. By 4:30 am, he was already asleep on his desk.

"You're out of your mind if you think we're going to continue,"

Tears welled up in his eyes as she sat down in front of him, a very serious look on her face.

"I know you've been really good to me, but you're just not the kind of man I'm looking to spend my life with,"
"But why? I've done everything right haven't I?"
"No, you've been nothing but a little wimp, you're always trying to do everything to please me, have you ever once considered yourself?"

He looked down at the floor. She seemed to be right for the present moment.

"I can't stand someone who doesn't look out for themselves as much as they do others, that's not healthy at all Hope,"

He looked back at her.

"We're through,"

She turned around and walked away.

"What happened to giving my heart to someone special?

She turned around and looked at him. He could see the sadness in her eyes.

"You're not the one…goodbye"

"Hope…"

He began to shuffle.

"Hope, wake up,"

His eyes shut tight and his breathing picked up.

"HOPE!"

His eyes opened wide and he jolted so suddenly that he fell out of his chair. He looked up to see someone he would never expect in a million years to be there: his father, Bartholomew.

"Dad? What are you doing here?"
"Checking up on you,"

He got off of the floor and sat down on his bed. Bartholomew looked at the desk and smiled.

"Been working hard I see?"
"Yeah…"
"Maybe a bit too hard?"
"How do you know?"
"I assume that the entire pile of papers with the due date being the day after tomorrow is what you did all night and judging from the pile size, a normal human being couldn't even begin to imagine doing all of this in a single night,"

He looked and saw that his dad was right; every single assignment that Hope had to do was due the day after tomorrow and he finished them all in a single night.

"What time is it?"
"12,"

He slapped his forehead.

"I missed both of my classes today…"
"No you didn't, I had a chat with the professors and told them that I was taking you back to Palumpolum today for a family gathering and they already gave you the leave,"

He looked at his father.

"Why are you taking me back to Palumpolum?"

His father smiled at him.

"I'm not taking you anywhere, instead I'm just here to give you something for your birthday,"
"What is that? You probably drove about six hours to get here Dad, it better be a good reason to cause me to miss two classes,"
"Oh? So I'm not a good enough reason?"

The voice sent adrenaline running through his veins. Around the corner came the woman he wanted to see the most, Lightning.

"There's your present son!"
"You two planned this?"
"Of course we did, I knew you lived alone and that you only had two classes today and I figured that you would be the "good student" and try to do all of your work in one go and it turns out I was right,"
"How the heck did you know that?"
"You're my son Hope, you're a chip off the old block,"

His father winked at him and Hope scratched his head nervously with a smile; even though he was slightly angry that his father appeared completely out of the blue, he brought the one thing Hope would've given just about anything to see: his girlfriend.

"Well, I think my work here is done, you two take care now,"

His father turned to leave.

"You're not taking her back?"
"I'll come for both of you on Sunday, you forgot that today is Friday?"

Hope slapped his head again. His lack of sleep made him forget his favorite day of the week because it was the day where he got to sleep the most. His father walked outside and gave Hope a brotherly thumbs up. Moments like this made Hope glad to have him as a father. He shut the door and Lightning turned to him before smiling. Hope was still shocked that she was here.

Best birthday ever…period.