Five words. Statement. I. Had. A. New. Boyfriend. You see, it was 6 months now since Luke's death, and I had finally gotten over it. Sorta. I mean, Luke was probably in Eyslllum on a lounge chair drinking beer and talking to some hot new girlfriend anyways. And considering how easy it was for him to kill himself in front of me I figured it was probably easy to replace me with a new girlfriend by now too. So taking that into consideration, I had finally been able to change my status back to 'In a relationship'. I'm sorry Luke, for finally getting over your ass. Oh wait, no I'm not.
My delicate lashes fluttered open but quickly shut. I could feel my head against his chest, and I felt a small movement, telling me that Anti was up and conscious. I smirked, not quite ready to get up yet. I figured if I stayed quiet and still he wouldn't know I was awake.
I felt a soft touch on my neck, then I felt Anti's lips gently brushing against it, he knew I was up, that my peaceful sleeping was a facade. Then my rose lips turned from smirking to grinning, as I took in the faint smell of sea salt. "I guess your awake?" I said to him, jokingly playing dumb as I rolled over away from him.
Anti smirked, grabbing me by the waist and pulling me back to him. He softly spoke into my hair,"I guess your awake?" He mimicked back.
"Whatever" I said sitting up and adjusting my tank top as I heard him quietly chuckle.
"Happy Valentine's day babe" he said to me, wrapping his strong arms from behind and moving me onto his lap. My skin was so cold, but his was warm and the combination felt soothing. I slightly turned my head, kissing his cheek. Then his lips.
"Happy Valentine's day to you too Ant, so what's our plan today?" I asked him smirking. Usually I picked out what we did when we hung out as a couple. But this was Valentine's day and I was going to let him be romantic, It would've been too easy for me. But my smirk could only mask my mental problem so much. I was starting to love Anti, but I couldn't stop thinking about Luke.
"This is our first Valentine's day together" Luke said to me with a grin, his sand hair reflecting sunlight. The warm sand tickled my thighs as I sat on the camp beach with him. I picked up one of the red velvet cupcake's he had gotten, and used my delicate finger to take a sample of the frosting. The sweet cream cheese instantly melted in my mouth as my lips grinned in approval. I picked up the cupcake with a nod.
"Yeah it is, isn't that exciting!" I said distracted, trying to play it cool, but as a daughter of Aphrodite this was one of the best days of the year. I took the cupcake, about to take a bite into it when Luke smirked, pulling the blue t-shirt over his then-kept, now unkept hair. His chest was exposed, so I took the pink cupcake and smashed it into his abs instead of eating it. I pretended to think as I laughed, "Yup pink is definitely your color"
I thought he was mad for a split second, but then he mustered a devilish grin. I started to scoot back away, but Luke grabbed my waist picking me up into a big hug and spinning me around. My pink bikini and my open torso we both plastered in pink frosting. Luke's chuckled surrounded me until I pressed my lips to his, going on my tippy toes for the full effect.
"Well, I've got date night and then Aira's room" Anti responded watching my face for approval, not that my 'no' would stop him. I rested my head back on his shoulder. It sounded good, nothing super special but not bad. The dinner date was expected, and Aira's room was needed.
You know that moment in your relationship where you just know its time, and you feel like you love the person"oh so much" and that you would give it up to them if they simply asked? That was what Aira's room was for. Technically it had multiple purpose's, but mostly when you were at the time when you needed it.
I guess thats where I felt with Anti. I didn't love him, but I wasn't sure if it was because of Luke or I really didn't. Like every time I tried to get the words out they just felt metallic on my tongue. But yet, I felt like I would do it with him. Not just like causally, like in a romantic setting. It was complicated.
"Good plan, what time's dinner?" I say trying to move out of the bed again but Anti had his arms protectively around me.
"8, that gives us a few hours to eat and then the rest of the night," He seuductivly whispered into my ear.
"Good," I said in approval, 8 gave me enough time to relax a little and then get ready. "Now will you please let me go?" I whinnied to him, turning to face him with a sexy pout. One way that helped me get my way, other then charmspeak, was sheer sexiness.
"Lu-ke!" I just about squealed, trying to get away from his cupcake covered bare chest. I mean I loved being up against him but I wasn't loving the whole cupcake bikini thing.
"What? You want another one?" He laughed as if he couldn't hear me. Still holding me tight he quickly grabbed another cupcake. "Hold on hold on" he smirked before putting the red and pink cake right into my perfect button nose.
"Lu-ke!" I screamed as he let me pull away. I crossed my arms and almost stopped my foot like I did when I was six, but I stopped myself. I reached up to use my fingers to wipe off the frosting when Luke took his hand and whipped a chunk of the pink frosting off my face and into his mouth. He tried to take another taste but I hit his hand away, my pink lips still in a pout.
"Tess come on" He said laughing, I guess at sight of my cupcake covered face and the spot where his fingers trailed. I raised an eyebrow not budging, and he came over, placed his arms around me and wiped the frosting off of my soft lips with his own.
Anti stole a kiss on my cheek before unwrapping his arms from me. "Go ahead," he said to me letting me go. He gave me a look, like he was pretending to be hurt by my action of leaving him. But this was Anti, and petty things like that wouldn't hurt his wittle feelings. My ice blue eyes rolled to the top of my head as I climbed out of bed and into my dressing room to get ready for the day.
Looking around my thousands of options I felt as if my closet was empty. Because today was an important day, I needed to find out if I loved him or not. So what do you wear on a day like this? I let out a long, dramatic sigh as I kept filing through my clothes. I had absolutely nothing to wear. I sat down in one of the plush chairs looking at my clothes as I began to drift into another memory.
I had to admit it was quite the scene. We were sitting in a little boat in the lake by camp and it was gorgeous outside. I mean like, the sunset had a beautiful mix of pink orange and purple and the water was so clear you could see yourself in it.
I looked over to Luke who was sitting on the other side of the little boat we were in together. It was weird, because he was looking at me. I mean I guess it wasn't weird he was looking at me...we're boyfriend and girlfriend and all. But the way he was looking at me it was something different. Almost like the way I looked at him the first time I saw him.
The wind started blowing a bit, and I got a little cold. That was abnormal for me, because my god-mother was the goddess of ice and I had ice powers so me and cold usually went well. It was the summer heat I couldn't stand. I had a weird feeling my mom had something to do with this. The whole freezing cold romantic scene. Nevertheless, I rubbed my arms in the chill because I was wearing nothing but a pink sparkly string bikini. Not my best choice. Luke laughed, watching me shiver and looked around for a jacket to hand me but we both realized we left his jacket on shore. "Way to go Luke" I teased to him, not like it was his responsibility to keep a jacket for me at all times, but hey I needed someone to blame for my coldness.
Luke rolled his eyes. "Way to go wearing just your bikini on the boat" he countered. And I laughed because it was true. But what else was I supposed to wear, sweatpants and a jacket? Not going to happen. Plus I knew he was enjoying the view.
So we kept drifting around in the water, even know it was cold and we actually didn't have any purpose for sitting here. It was Valentines Day and those kinds of things were romantic. So I scooted closer to Luke so that we we were almost on the same side of the boat. And the wind blew harder and the chills got colder. I snuggled close to Luke, and I rested my head on his shoulder as we looked at the beautiful sun setting.
"It's really pretty. I mean like beautiful" I said to him marveling at the colors blending. "And I don't say that about many things."
Luke chuckled as he used his hands to rub my shoulders. Then he stopped rubbing, and let out a deep sigh. "Not as beautiful as you" he said.
And I laughed, because I knew it was true. And because I knew I was probably the prettiest thing he'd ever sceen. But the way he said it didn't seem like he was saying it like a fact, but more like a compliment.
I gave him a small smile as we continued to rock. Then Luke made a noise like he was about to say something, but then he didn't. "What?" I asked him, not sure what he was choosing to keep from me.
"Nothing, nothing" he said as he started to laugh.
I gave him a little tickle. "What Luke, tell me! TELL ME!" I said followed by a cute laugh. I mean I hated it when people wouldn't tell me things, I mean all I wanted was to know. I didn't get why he wasn't going to tell me.
Luke laughed in protest, then wrapped his arms around me. "Telll meeeeee!" I whined.
Then Luke took a breath and it was quiet for a moment. "Tess i...i think I l-"
Then as he was about to finish in sentence the wind took another blow and suddenly I was submerged in water. I came up above the water, my hair drenched, and I was shivering in the cold February air, wondering why again we boating in mid-winter. I looked over to Luke who was laughing as I swam over to him. We started treating water as I looked to him. Part of me was mad that I was covered, and surrounded by water. And my hair was so disgusting and wet. But part of me just didn't care because it was funny and I was with Luke.
"Are you gonna tell me now?" I asked him softly as I swam a little bit closer.
We faced each other in the water treading for a moment.
"Tess, I love you" He said to me. And thats when I knew that was it. That was the moment I knew we were going to be together forever and that my 11 year old fantasies of our big wedding and our millions of perfect, beautiful children wasn't just a fantasy. It was going to become a reality. Because he loved me and he said it for the first time right there. In the water.
"I love you too Luke" I laughed back to him. Though it didn't feel like the first time. It felt like I had known it forever.
I went back to harsh reality. I guess that was my problem now. I had known I had loved Luke from the second I laid eyes on him. But when I first saw Anti well, I thought he would maybe be a summer fling. So, at this moment my problem right now was that I wasn't sure what I was feeling. I wasn't getting the click I felt when I looked at Luke. And even know I said I was really, truly over him. That I was moving on and loving my new boyfriend, I was wondering if I was just saying that to convince myself that I was over it. But I really didn't love Anti the way I loved Luke and I really never could love anybody else that way. And I guess that's where I was now. How could I convince myself to love Anti, if I was still madly, deeply, truly in love with Luke.