A/N: Hey, wow- I am so incredibly sorry for the really long wait. It shouldn't take me almost a month to update, but with this chapter I had to keep re-writing since I'm not so skilled in writing certain scenes. So please forgive me for that, I hope my new (and sort of exhausting) experience is well worth the wait. Also, school has indeed wrapped up, so I'm on summer holiday. Hopefully you can expect frequent updates.
On a side note: Hype for the Michonne mini-series! So! Much! HYPE!
Kirsten sat at the empty dining table with her knife in her hand, spinning the tip of it against her finger as she drowned in guilt. The hard part was over, she told Luke what she decided. She didn't want to lack the emphasis on hard, breaking Luke like that was torture - for both of them. Now was the part where she was supposed to make someone happy, all while she wallowed in the bitter-sweetness. She debated with herself on whether it was a good idea to avoid Luke altogether, just to create some distance so it wouldn't hurt as much. But she thought it'd leave Luke thinking something else, when that's the completely opposite of what she wants. Avoiding him wouldn't make staying any easier on the both of them, it just added more strain on their relationship.
"Hey kiddo, what'd ya need?" Adrian called out as he approached the table, placing a hand on his daughter's shoulder as she looked up at him. He and Kenny returned from their run with boxes of supplies, figuring that they could be packed and ready to go when the group were about to head off tomorrow.
She glanced down for a brief moment before switching her gaze back up to him. "Just wanted to tell you I was staying, is all. Nothing too serious, I guess." She sounded like she was trying to make herself believe that. The entire situation was serious and she just couldn't seem to let these attachment feelings go. As much as survival instinct wanted to kick in and push Luke away once and for all, her mind denied her of that option.
Adrian should have felt happy about this - and he did, but guilt seemed to linger in his mouth, and he couldn't help it. Things just seemed to be beyond the two's control. He slowly nodded his head as he took his hand from her shoulder, "Alright. That... that's good. We could use the help around here," he told her with a smile.
She nodded her head and sheathed her knife before letting her arms rest back onto the table. She pursed her lips as she pushed her fringe out of her eyes, keeping her eyes on her hands. "Glad to help then," she unconvincingly said. Adrian noticed the feelings of conflict, it deprived her of her normal self. As selfish as it sounded, he was just glad tat his daughter was here with him. That's all he needed.
He furrowed his eyebrows as he moved around the table and sat across from her, "Look, I know it must be hard with them leaving. And I know you're scared about the Carver situation―"
"I'm not scared about it."
Adrian let out an exhale as he looked back up at her, "I know that you don't feel safe here because of Carver, but we'll do everything we can to keep him from getting to us if he even gets up here."
Kirsten looked up at her father seriously as she stopped fiddled with her fingers, "Whether or not it's 'us' or 'me'... He's still out for them," she told him with a stern voice.
"As long as they keep moving, they should be fine," he assured her.
"But for how long?" She asked, her eyebrow furrowed as she tilted her head. She exhaled silently as she casts her eyes low, "When we escaped, Rebecca said they'd have no idea what they'd do without me. Even if that's not true, how long are they going to last out there anyway?" Kirsten couldn't stop herself from worrying. The group were good people, her people. They didn't deserve to die at the hands of Carver. No one did.
Adrian shook his head, looking straight into her eyes. "Fighting it is only going to put strain on yourself. People die― We don't stop dying. There's no point in risking your own life so soon to protect those from what you can't fight." There it was, another truth engraved into Adrian's words. But would it count as risking her life just to prolong what was going to inevitably come? Just to spare a few more memories, ones they can hold for the rest of their short lives.
Kirsten looked down at her hands with her eyes low, tilting her head slightly to the side as she glanced back up at him with expressionless gaze.
He was right.
Walter's voice chimed as he invited everyone back to the dinner table, seemingly for the last time for the group that were leaving tomorrow.
Kirsten sat down with her group this time, knowing full and well that she'll be sitting down with her Dad and Kenny for the days to come. Clementine wanted to sit with Kenny before she left with the group, and Luke joined her just to make sure Kenny wasn't pushing his "Luke's a dork" agenda onto her. Sarita and Walter sat with the group and kicked up conversation as usual, just to get a nice chat in before they left. Adrian guessed that the storm Kenny kept mentioning would arrive sometime during the night, maybe earlier than expected since the clouds looked quite dark during the day.
Luke couldn't help but look past Kenny and Adrian and take glances at Kirsten on the other table. The table was buzzing with conversation. They'd all heard of the news by now, so the last thing they wanted was to have a silent dinner. It was the last time they were going to see her, despite Kirsten's change of attitude, she wasn't as silent as she normally is during dinner or conversation.
Although Luke wanted to join in, sit next to her and tell her how much he was going to miss her, he couldn't bring himself to do it in front of everybody. He wanted to be alone with her, the old her. He wanted her to just give him a shred of her old self before he left, and not the one who kept silent or the one who looked down at the ground during conversation. He wanted the one that smirked at him, the one who told him how much of an idiot he was when trying to impress her. The one who would maintain eye contact without feeling weird about it. The one that kissed him on impulse and giggled about it straight after.
He missed Kirsten, the old one. And he just wanted to hear her tell him she loved him before he left.
Kenny snapped the younger man out of his thoughts as he caught him staring, his voice causing Luke to turn his eyes over to him. "So, I'm guessin' you guys' plan is to still head up north. Try to find Wellington, huh?" He asked, shoving a spoonful into his mouth.
Luke nodded his head as he stared down at his food, "Uh, somethin' like that," he replied.
Adrian and Kenny exchanged looks, Luke wasn't all that cheery as he normally was. The pair noticed how distracted he seemed, even Clementine eventually caught onto it. "Well, there looks to be a storm rolling around soon. We wouldn't want your group having to go through the rain, so I suggest waiting until it's over."
Kenny's head snapped towards Adrian as he narrowed his eyes at the man, "Who knows when that'll be?" He spoke rhetorically through the food in his mouth.
"We're not sending them through the damn rain, Kenny," he forcefully replied. "Besides, it should be ending tomorrow."
Clementine placed her spoon down and grabbed onto her cup, "Do you know when?" She asked, raising it to her mouth and taking a few sips.
The bearded man looked down at her, "It don't matter, darlin'. You'll be stayin' with us in the lodge," he told her.
Luke and Clementine both widened their eyes, though Luke's were quickly narrowed at him. "Wh― Excuse me? The hell she is," he retorted. This was just perfect, wasn't it? First Kirsten and now Clementine? Though this time, Clementine wasn't obliged to stick with family― she had no family here. Luke's clearly distressed caught the attention of his group at the other table, including Kirsten's.
Clementine shook her head at the older man as she placed her cup down, "Kenny, I can't leave my friends behind. I need to go with them."
Kenny looked down at her rather shocked, he couldn't believe that she'd pick the group over someone she knew longer. Especially as he saw it as Clementine picking Luke over him. "Why would ya wanna leave with this idiot, Clem? You like it here at the lodge. You've got me, Sarita, Walt, Adrian and Kirsten. You don't gotta go back out there anymore, you've got it made for you here!" The mere mention of Kirsten's name turned Luke's stomach into a twist, and it didn't help that it was used to further Kenny's point. Though he was also appalled at the fact that Kenny put him down just to appeal to a little girl who had no intention on staying.
Adrian nudged Kenny with his elbow as he stared him down, "Are we really starting this again?" He asked him, clearly irritated.
Kirsten could just tell they were arguing about something again, only this time, it didn't sound like her name was in the mix. Rebecca tapped on Kirsten's arm across the table, catching her attention as she leaned over. "What are they going on about now?" She asked in a hush voice, trying not to alert more people as Kirsten looked over her shoulder.
The young woman sighed, looking back over to Rebecca. "Clem, I think," she guessed, standing up and stepping out of her seat. "Time to go save her from an earful," she told her as she nodded. "It'll be a challenge," she mumbled to herself as she made her way over to the table.
"You can't make her stay if she doesn't want to," Luke replied in defense. "She'll be fine with us, anyway. She's been fine with us the entire time before we got here."
Clementine looked up worriedly at the two men, "Please, stop fighting―"
"What the hell do you know about raisin' a kid?!" he retorted, his voice angering. "She'll be even better here with me!"
Luke could've thrown a low blow to his comment, going off of what Clementine told him about Kenny's kid. Though he didn't have the heart to do it, nor was he going to argue in front of his approaching girlfriend, knowing that it was the last thing she'd want before he left. Instead, Luke glanced over at the other table where Nick sat irritably, overhearing the conversation.
Kirsten stumbled into the conversation, welcomed by the arguing that Kenny and Luke never seemed to put at rest. "Clementine," she called out, catching the little girl's attention. "What's going on?" She asked her, walking around the table and taking a seat next to her.
Kenny looked over to the girl with a stern look, "I'll tell ya what's goin' on―!"
"Wait a sec'," Kirsten cut him off, looking back over to Clementine and leaving Kenny with an angry expression. "Clem, what's going on?" She asked again as Adrian glanced over at Kenny with warning.
Clementine's eyes switched between Luke and Kenny before meeting Kirsten's, an unsettling silence blew across the table as she cleared her throat. "Kenny wants me to stay here at the lodge with him."
"She's stayin' here if she knows what's good for her! She ain't goin' back out there and live like a fuckin' animal," Kenny growled, narrowing his eyes at Kirsten. It was as if the girl couldn't speak for herself without being influenced by Luke. At least in Kenny's mind.
"Staying here is only going to get her killed. Carver knows she's with us," Kirsten replied before looking back at Clementine worriedly.
Kenny shook his head in disagreement, "That don't matter― If you're stayin', then she's stayin' too," he stubbornly rebutted.
"This is different, Kenny―"
"How the hell could it be any different?!"
"Because it just is, okay?!" Kirsten didn't like raising her voice, at least not inside a building. But Kenny didn't seem to get it through his sturdy mindset that Clementine wasn't safe here. She didn't want to argue, let along suffer more of Kenny's angry side. She looked towards Adrian as she sighed, "Dad?" She called out as she hoped he'd somehow convince the fisherman.
Adrian uneasily glanced over at his daughter before looking over to his unhappy friend. "Kenny... she wants to leave," he told him. "She needs to leave. So let her."
Kirsten felt like nothing was as relaxing as a shower after a stressful day - despite the water being cold. The fact that she didn't want to dry her hair and use up electricity didn't help either. Nonetheless, it felt nice just to get out of her clothes for a bit. She didn't even know the showers were working until Luke sat down next to her with damp hair. She figured that he went outside in the rain but his clothes were dry, so as soon as she told her, it's as expected that she bolted upstairs.
The young woman didn't bother searching around for the clock in the upstairs hallway, she knew that it was late into the evening. Despite the lack of sleep she'd been getting, she wasn't as tired as she normally would be. Out of all the things she could be doing, like packing the group's supplies or actually sleeping, the one thing she really wanted to do was to be with Luke. The entire 'keep my distance' stance wasn't cutting it for her, in fact it was only making things hurt more. She'd rather spend her last night with him in his arms than in an empty bed, thinking about how she got in this situation in the first place.
She glanced down at the boots she held in her hand and her hair band around her wrist, noticing that she stood in front of the bathroom door for a moment, wallowing in her thoughts. She began to walk forward until she reached her bedroom door, dropping her boots just beside the door frame as she heard footsteps creeping up the stairs, sounding intentionally careful not to be too loud.
"Is the bathroom free?" A voice whispered as they approached.
Kirsten lifted her head to see her father just a few meters away from her, "Just about," she replied to him as she began to head for the stairs.
"Hey," he called out to her as he stopped in his tracks, turning towards her direction. She looked over her shoulder and peered at him. "Tomorrow is going to be hard for you, I get it... Just promise me you'll try and get a good sleep, alright?" He asked her, unintentionally leaning forward as he awaited a response.
Kirsten let her eyes drop to the ground as she turned away from her Dad. She knew he meant well, but what more could he want from her? If she couldn't get a good sleep during the most relaxing of nights, then she sure as hell couldn't get one during one of the most stressful of ones. Adrian didn't want to push her, he hated making her feel uncomfortable, no matter how much he wanted an answer. Without disturbance, he let her walk down the stairs without further question.
She let her hand glide along he rail as walked down step by step, spotting Luke and Nick on the sofa near the fireplace at the same time. As she got to the bottom, Nick's eyes immediately averted to Kirsten and all chatter seemed to end all of a sudden.
She approached the back of the sofa and looked at Nick curiously, "What? I'm not special enough to know what's going on?" She sarcastically asked, placing her hands on the sofa head as Luke cracked a grin.
Nick shook his head in dismissal, "Nothin' is goin' on here," he responded casually, raising from his seat. "Just goin' to bed."
Luke waved his best friend off as Kirsten scrutinized his abrupt departure. "G'night," he said to his best friend before glancing up at the woman above him. Nick walked up the stairs awkwardly and out of sight, leaving just Kirsten and Luke in the room.
As Kirsten shrugged off Nick's absurdity and walked around the sofa, she noticed her Dad's rifle sitting against the one-seater. It meant he was keeping watch and most likely spending the night on the sofa, she figured her Dad would be used to it by now given his previous career choice. She took a seat down next to Luke, letting herself lean her head on his arm as she let out a sigh, not knowing herself whether it was relaxed or stressed. She caught herself between the two.
Luke put his arm around her as he glanced down at her with a small grin, "Feels good bein' clean for once, don't it?" He asked her as she nodded into his chest.
"Feels even better being able to recognize myself in the mirror without... y'know, the dirt?" She pointed out in a soft mumble. She began to grin, "And you don't look too bad with wet hair."
He smirked down at her as she tilted her head up to him, "I guess you can say I try," he responded, earning a small giggle from the younger woman. The pair stared at the flames that lit the room, nothing but each other were going through their minds, hopelessly running in circles. It started a war of silence where one of them wanted to say something, but just didn't know how. It ate at them, wanting to blurt out anything and everything, but they could only start out so little. Luke tried to break the ice, in anyway that he could, even if he had to be full-on. "You― uh... You seem pretty hellbent on stayin', don't ya?" He questioned her uneasily.
Again, she let out a sigh. "I don't have a choice," she told him, lifting herself off of him as she looked down at the ground.
"I know," he replied, clearing his throat. "It's just... I can't see myself leavin' this place without you," he told her. As if the guilt couldn't get any worse, Luke was beginning to pour out. There wasn't anything Kirsten could do about it, no matter how much of a punch in the stomach it felt. "I can't imagine walking out of here without you by my side, pokin' fun of me or..." Luke turned to her with a smile, "Occasionally showin' your nice side," he continued. Kirsten couldn't say much, only giving off a small, yet painful smile back. He saw how much she wanted to be silent, but he hated it. He absolutely hated it. She was miserable in this position, and he wanted something out of her before this all ended. Whether it was a confession, or an apology, or just a complete out pour. He wanted anything. His eyebrows furrowed as she began to stand up, his eyes not leaving her face. "Give me somethin', Kirsten," he told her. "I need to hear somethin' from you. Just― ...Don't be silent," he pleaded, leaning forward.
She gazed down at him as she looked over her shoulder, taking an audible breath in and out. The amount of words she wanted to spill out were uncountable, but her mind could barely register them into a sentence fit enough to tell him what they meant. Though for the first time in her life, she didn't want to appear forceful or forward with her words. She wanted to slow down the moment, beat around the bush as much as she wanted just to save herself some time with Luke. Though she knew what good it wouldn't do her, time was still going to go by no matter how much she took things slowly.
Kirsten could only look at where it put her. Stuck in a situation where she only wished she showed how much she really cared. She wanted to make it up to him, to thank him. To take one last step forward before stepping out forever. It's all she really wanted.
She nodded her head as she leaned back into the sofa, turning her head to him. "I know," she mumbled. "This whole time we took things slow because of me... and I'm starting to regret that. I can't just leave you without anything but forgettable memories ― something you can let go of. You deserve more than that, something we're both okay with."
Luke didn't want to jump to any conclusions, but he was sure she was saying something he thought he'd never hear from her mouth in a million years. But he didn't want her to force herself into something she didn't want to do, he didn't want her to feel like it was an obligation. "You don't owe me anythin', you know that―"
"It's not just because I have to... I don't have to. I know that," she cut him off. Kirsten paused for a moment, her eyes following the hand that reached out to Luke's. "It's because I want to." Again, Luke couldn't understand how he managed to get himself into a situation like this ― or how he even managed to get Kirsten into his life. It was unbelievable to him, as if he was stuck in a day dream. "You've helped me. You stopped me from making stupid mistakes that I knew I'll just end up regretting later on... but you never pushed me to where I didn't want to be."
"A- And you don't think this is one of 'em?" He asked her, a hint of fright in his voice. "Another stupid mistake?"
She couldn't help but squeeze his hand. He was looking out for her ― yet again. She cornered her lips and let out a shaky breath, "A stupid mistake I'm willing to do," she replied. "As long as it's with you." Her hand slipped from his as she stood on again, only to be held out to him. He gazed at her hand, still awe-struck. She wanted him to take it so badly, he just didn't know if he could. She could see his doubt as he glanced over to her father's rifle. It seemed like such a big offer and would have most likely got caught up in her mind too if the tables were turned. She looked over her shoulder as she followed his eyes before turning back to him, lowering her eyes. "You mean too much to me to let you go, taking you for granted. The least I can give back to you, is making sure you won't forget me," she told him as she began to walk around the sofa, leaving Luke's eyes to follow her.
He sat there in disbelief, the feeling wouldn't shake. He didn't know what drove Kirsten to want to do something so drastic, something he'd never thought she do ― at least not in the near future. She was drawn to the idea of survival instinct, of keeping herself alive and out of risky situations ― no matter the cost. Choosing to do this held so many risks, but she managed to turn a blind eye to all of it.
Just for Luke.
"Kirst― I..." He couldn't finish his sentence, his mouth wouldn't let him. Instead, he took a breath to calm himself. "A- Are you sure about this?" He asked, turning around to face her as she stopped behind the sofa.
She looked down at the ground before her eyes met with his. "I'm not sure about a lot of things, Luke." She quietly replied. "But this...?" She grinned, "This isn't one of those things."
Her smile was contagious, he couldn't help but mimic it as he got up from the sofa and approached her. For the first time in a while, Luke felt genuinely happy. Happy enough to press his lips against hers without caution this time, knowing that she wasn't going to feel uncomfortable. His hand reached up to her face, but she managed to pull away from him before he pushed her deeper into the kiss. Instead of continuing, she grabbed his hand and gave him yet another contagious smile. God, were her smiles so complimenting to her face. He felt like he was seeing something only seen once in a million years and that he was so lucky to witness it. She began to pull him by his hand as he lagged behind and she headed for the stairs, trying her best to be quiet as she didn't want her stomping feet to wake anybody up.
As she reached the top of the stairs, she spotted her father exiting the bathroom. She barely noticed that she managed to let go of Luke's hand almost instinctively, it was something she learned to do quite often in the lodge. He looked down at her quite nervously before she continued to walk down the hallway with Luke just behind her.
Adrian began to walk towards the stairs before he looked up from the ground and saw his daughter and Luke coming to opposite way. "You going to bed, kiddo?" He asked in a hush tone of voice as Kirsten stopped at her bedroom door, letting Luke walk past her.
She nodded her head in response as she noticed her Dad walking past his bedroom door, "Are you?" She asked as she pretended to place her hand on her bedroom door. "Everyone else is sleeping."
"Someone needs to keep watch down there," Adrian replied. "Might as well crash on the sofa too, you know?" He told her as he finally made his way to her. He gave his daughter a kiss on the forehead with a hand placed on her cheek. Luke glanced at Kirsten before he forced himself into his room, shutting the door behind him. Watching Kirsten interact with her father in such a family-oriented way made Luke think of Kirsten as a young girl. That certainly didn't help the mood the young couple were in at all. "Night, kid," Adrian said as he flashed her a smile.
"Goodnight, Dad," she replied as she smiled back. Her eyes followed his figure as he began to walk past her and to the stairs, waiting for him to get out of sight. Once he was, she took her hand off the door knob and stepped over to Luke's door.
This was it. Not only was it a giant step for the both of them, but it was the last night they were together. Sure, second thoughts never stopped flooding the woman's mind, but she forced herself to ignore them. She was tired of making mistakes that she would regret, she wanted to be able to go into a mistake as risky as this one and come out the other end not regretting it. She wanted this, and she knew she did. Hell, she didn't even want to consider this a mistake.
She took a few last glances around the hallway before pushing herself into his room and turning around to shut the door, making an effort to do it quietly. As she released the door knob from her hand and turned around on her heels, Luke already caught her back into the kiss she broke away from. To her surprise, Luke was much more rough and impatient than he usually was. Which wasn't a bad thing given the situation, it only made her want to be as rough and impatient back.
Luke enjoyed the feeling of someone playing with his hair, which made the kiss much more exciting when her fingers traveled through his hair, pushing herself deeper into the kiss. She felt his hand slide down to the arch back and push her body closer to his, filling the gap between them. They looked almost inseparable, their first time seemingly being their last. And although they knew by tomorrow nightfall, they wouldn't even be in the same building, they still felt inseparable.
He used the same hand that brought them closer to reach up towards her face and slowly separate them, his fingers moving the wet strands of her hair out of her face just so he could see her a little more clearer. He couldn't help but smile at unfamiliar look in her eyes, she felt so struck by his touch, it's as if the world around her didn't matter anymore. The biters in the forest didn't matter. The survivors didn't matter. Her own Dad didn't seem to matter right now, either.
As she looked up at him, it was an almost instinctive move to have her hands fall to the hem of her t-shirt and grab onto it. She pulled it off along with the shirt underneath, leaving her in a tank top with the slight chill in the room to bite at her bruised arms from the incident yesterday. Luke began to question himself if this was really happening, something he seemed to think on and off for the past five minutes.
Luke couldn't seem to last a few seconds before capturing her lips in another kiss, although their bodies weren't as close. This gave room for Luke grab the ends of his sweater and keep her in the kiss before he broke away and pulled it off along with the t-shirt he wore underneath. As he did, Kirsten grabbed onto his hand the first chance she got and pulled him over to the bed as he threw his clothes onto the ground.
Kirsten ran her fingers through his damp hair again as she pulled him closer to her face, letting their lips slowly lock as he set himself down at the end of the bed. She pushed herself into the gap between Luke's legs in an attempt to get closer as they continued to kiss. She was both induced with excitement and relaxation, Luke both calmed her and made her feel like she was in a whole different universe all at the same time. Moments like this had them both feeling as if they'd known each other's touch, each other's taste, and each other for their whole lives.
Luke's lips began to shift from hers as it started to travel down the side of her face and to her neck. He could feel his lips press against the scratch under her jaw as she let tilted her head slightly to the side to allow him access. His tongue glided across the skin of her neck as she let out a sharp breath, followed by her fingers dragging against his neck. His hands moved from her back to the front of her waist and he grabbed onto her tank top, parting his lips from her neck. His eyes seemed glued to her body as he began to peel the tank top off of it, revealing nothing but her bare skin and bra as the chill began to bite at the entire top half of her body.
He threw her shirt on the ground before finally taking his eyes off her body, adverting them back to her face. She took his hand as he pulled her to sit on him, once again filling the gap in between their bodies as Luke's lips swept under her neck, continuing to kiss it. He felt the vibrations on his lips from the slight moans and gasps she tried to restrain herself from, and her hair falling in front of her shoulders as he could feel the strands on his face. His arms held onto her tightly as he began to let himself fall backwards onto the bed, pulling her on top of him as she readjusted herself to comfort.
As she tore away from their kiss, her hands began to unbutton her jeans before she stood up and off the bed to take her pants off. Luke rested his head against his arm as he watched her, occasionally catching a smile from her as she glanced up. He felt like the luckiest man in the world― not that there were many left. But just the sight of Kirsten had him completely awestruck, and wasn't even fully unclothed yet.
Her pants were kicked off to the side, which was enough to snap him out of the trance Kirsten unintentionally had on him. As he held out his hand to her, she keenly grabbed it and began to crawl back on top of her lover with another one of her contagious smiles. But before their lips could touch again, Luke rolled both her and himself over until he was on top of her, finding her lips again with his. She could feel her heart beating in her ears as they continued to kiss, his hands touching and feeling anywhere they could just to get a reaction out of her.
He began to move down to her neck again as he hovered over her body, for some reason she could feel his lips more intensely than before. Whether she was more into the moment than previously, she liked it much more regardless. The touch of his tongue against her skin had her gasping with her head falling back, her fingers digging into his neck ever so slightly.
As Luke readjusted himself to sit on top of her, his lips never left her neck and soon traveled back up to her own. Though she felt like this was all missing something, it felt uncompleted. Luke hated seeing her keep her head down and her words silent, she knew that. By the time she heard him fiddling with his belt, she wanted to speak up before things escalated.
"Wait," she whispered, breaking the kiss, but keeping him close. "Just― wait."
Luke looked down at her worriedly, "What's wrong?" He asked before tilting his head to hear her quietened voice.
Kirsten grinned, "No, nothing's wrong," she told him. "Can you look at me?" She asked. Luke obliged and adverted his eyes to hers, though he had to admit, there were a few distractions taunting him. She exhaled as she began to smile, "I'm glad you convinced me to stay at the cabin," she said. "I'm glad you took time to help me, to put my needs in front of yours, and I'm glad I met you at the community. You mean a lot to me and I can't imagine how shitty it's going to be without you." There it was. Luke wanted anything out of her, and that's what got. The out pour, the confession, "Also, sorry I kicked your ass when we first met." And the apology. "But I just want you to know that... I love you. Even when I thought I shouldn't, and even when you thought I didn't. I still did, and I always will."
A grin was carved out into Luke's face, his hand pushing her hair out of her face as she smiled back. "Hey," he whispered. "I love you too."