October.

It was now eight in the evening and yes - I was still with Luke. We decided to get lunch/dinner at this cute little pizza parlor. Luke had suggested to go to a café but quickly dismissed the idea, because I did work in a coffee shop and thought that "I'd be tired of the food" and how it "wasn't dinner worthy." But I hadn't eaten breakfast and was too busy caught up with this marvelous boy to even think about food, until my stomach had grumbled and reminded me I was feeling quite peckish, deciding to interrupt his story telling of when he tried to go surfing in his aunt's backyard pool with a bunch of pool noodles glued together as a surfboard, and I couldn't stop laughing until I snorted by accident, causing him to erupt into barks of laughter and we both had ended up in a laughing mess. We had walked around and got to the parlor around six and finished our meals way before, now we were just sitting and chatting.

We were sitting in a booth, him on one side and I on the other (sadly), he had his third slice of Hawaiian pizza on his plate and my third slice of pepperoni on mine (which he had ended up paying for, after having a mini argument on who wanted to pay, and was quickly forgotten about when he tripped on the leg of a chair).

"So, your brothers left when you were seven. Did you ever contact them ever since?" I questioned. His eyes were sad when they looked into mine before he responded, but he definitely looked more comfortable than before, when I had seen him in the Starbucks ordering, or sitting on the bench, writing. I had yet to ask him about what it was that he wrote about in that journal of his, but decided that now wasn't the time. I had learned enough for now, and I didn't want to seem like I was prying, or forcing the information out of him when clearly he was overwhelmed by everything else around him.

"No," he responded sadly, "I don't think they wanted to see me, or even want to at this point, so no, I never got the chance to contact them. My aunt has my uncle's phone number. I never got it from her, though." The disappointment was evident on his face and I was about to say something but he spoke up again, quickly changing the subject.

"Hmm," he hummed, it was now his turn to ask me questions, and he had two left, and I had one, and we both had no idea what to ask at this point. "When's your birthday?"

"January 21st, born on the year of '94," I exclaimed in a fake Southern accent, earning a skeptical look from Luke followed by a chuckle afterwards. "What about you?"

"Well lil' lady, I was born on July 16th, on the year of '93," Luke beamed, pretending to tilt his imaginary cowboy hat towards me, causing me to giggle.

"So you're twenty-one then?"

"Yup. And you're twenty?"

"Yup."

He beamed at me. "Alright," he added, and he stared at me for a while causing me to avert my attention to the leftover crust on my plate. I tucked my hair behind my ears before looking back at him, a smirk on his face.

"Why're you staring at me?" I groaned, hiding my face in my hands before separating my fingers to sneak a peak at him, who was indeed, still looking at me with his blue eyes. And I swear you could see a faint look of adoration in them.

"Because you're beautiful," he mocked, quoting The Fault in Our Stars, making me drop my hands and laugh. "No seriously, though, you are." he remarked, quietly. I smiled wider - if it was possible at this point - colour rising to my cheeks. "I'm sorry. I'm lame. Sorry."

"Okay there, Augustus Waters, ready to go?" I asked rolling my eyes, trying to ignore the butterflies that had been refusing to go away in my stomach. He nodded, wiping his mouth with a napkin before standing up taking both our paper plates and throwing it in the garbage. We walked out of the parlor, and I caught a glimpse of his hand twitching towards mine, like he was contemplating on whether it was a good idea to hold it or not. I took his instead, feeling him relax as he let out a breath and he beamed at me, and I returned it, swinging our hands back and forth playfully, earning a giggle from Luke. He swung it along with me, not worrying about causing a disturbance, since the streets weren't as busy as before.

He slowed his walking and turned to me with the most adorable and playful grin. "I've got an idea." We were both in such a good mood for some reason, mine being that I had spent almost all day with him.

I've never seen him so happy and full of life until tonight, and I absolutely loved it. He was finally accepting himself, and sure, maybe he wasn't cured if ever, but the fact that he was treating himself like the normal human being he was, made me really happy. "What is it?" I marveled, excited that he was finally showing his true - and rather childish yet ravishing - colors instead of the façade he always put up.

He let go of my hand and picked up his pace, still giggling and so had I, when he all of a sudden put both his hands on my shoulders and stepped behind me, jumping on my back. Now, I might've been a 5'7", and he was probably a six-footer (regardless he was a giant) he leaped onto my back making me squeal, putting both my arms under his thighs as he put his arms in front of me - like he was holding the neck rope of a horse.

"To Narnia!" he cheered making me burst into fits of laughter and I started forward but slowly, since he was obviously heavier that me. "C'mon, October, faster! You're slower than a goddamn turtle, for crying out loud. Go! Depart! Forward!" He complained, waving one hand in the air, like he was holding a lasso. "Giddy up!" With that I quickened my pace (unsuccessfully almost tripping on my own feet in the process) as he cheered on. "Yay! You're doing it, good onya! Keep it up and I might just give you a carrot!" he chimed, using one of his hands to reach up to my hair to stroke it, like I was his horse and we were off to Narnia.

But I wouldn't want to be anywhere else than here, on the streets of New York City at 8:30 in the evening, with the blonde boy on my back pretending I was his transportation to an imaginary place.

I couldn't take it anymore as my stomach started to ache from laughing too hard and we got a good two -maybe three - feet before I let go of his long legs and dropped him on his feet causing him to stumble and almost fall over.

"You're unbelievable." I managed to get out between breaths and laughter, and he was having a struggle responding, doing the same.

"I am not, you're just a bad horse." He shot back, wiping under his eyes before walking next to me, headed in the direction of my apartment. It was sad that this day was ending, and that I'd have to go to work tomorrow and dread seeing the face of Bruce, but I'd see Luke again tomorrow, so, I guess it wasn't that bad after all.

We stopped in front of the stairs that led to my apartment, Luke walking in front of me rocking back and forth on his heels, the distance between us close but not that close.

"Today was great. I haven't laughed as much as I did today, October, so thank you for that." He twisted the tip of his foot around like a little child, which I giggled at, making him look up at me with the same silly grin plastered on his face and I just nodded. "You deserve it," I replied, slightly hitting his shoulder with my hand. "And I had fun, too. Thank you."

Was it a date? I don't know. But I didn't worry about that now.

We didn't say anything for a while, staring at each other with stupid grins on our faces. When I felt a wave of confidence flow through me. I stepped a little closer, my eyes still on Luke's.

"One more question," I whispered, moving closer and closer, while he stood there, eyes still on me.

"Shoot," he responded, his voice quiet.

"Can I kiss you?" I asked, barely above a whisper but loud enough so he heard me. He stared at me hesitantly, before moving in slowly.

This is it, I thought to myself. I was going to kiss Luke, the boy I was infatuated with. I shooed out my thoughts and did the same, my eyes fluttering closed, when all of a sudden he pulled back in alarm, and my eyes shot opened, his filled with panic.

"Uhm, N-no," he mumbled, backing away slightly. "Good night," he added politely, before bolting off to the streets in a fast pace and disappearing into a corner while I stood there flabbergasted, like how Luke always left me.

Damn it, I cursed. Damn it, damn it, damn it. he didn't want to kiss me. I rushed into it too fast, didn't I? Now I pushed him away, I let him go, I -

My thoughts were interrupted when a wave of the early December wind flew throughout my hoodie, reminding me that I was still standing outside of my apartment.

I walked up the steps, distracted. Why didn't he want to kiss me? I pondered as I entered my dark apartment letting out a frustrated sigh and reaching to the wall to turn on the lights when a figure I couldn't make out jumped on me, making me let out an ear-shrilling scream only to have my attacker be the one and only, Michael Clifford.

"Wha- Michael?!" I snapped, pushing him off of me and getting up on my feet, while Mike was still on the ground, laying lazily on his back. "What're you doing here? Why aren't you at work?"

"I wanted to take care of you, so I convinced Bruce to let me off early - only to find you not home." he replied, getting up and shrugging his shoulders.

"What was your excuse this time?" I asked half-heartedly. All I wanted to do was take off these clothes and curl up into a ball on my bed and think about today, and then probably cry 'cause I was so embarrassed and confused.

"Told him I had pneumonia, I was shocked at how panicked he looked. He totally bought it." He replied seeming proud of himself whereas my eyes almost burst out of my head.

"You what?! Michael, do you even know what pneumonia is?!"

"Well no, but I heard it on television and it sounded cool. Why, is it bad?"

"If you call lung inflammation caused by bacterial infection bad, then yes!" I roared, slapping the back of his head and he whined.

"Oh, oops. I'll just explain everything tomorrow, ish. Just pray that I won't get fired or some shit. So back to what I was asking, where were you?" I was about to reply when he interrupted me.

"Wait a minute - you weren't with Mr. Too Cool To Care, were you?" he groaned, as if I was the one doing the bad thing when he was the one that told our boss he had a lung disease.

"Uhm, maybe?" I pushed passed him and walk into the kitchen, grabbing a glass and filling it with water.

Michael oo'd and squealed as he gripped my shoulders, causing me to almost let go of the glass I was holding. "What happened? Tell me!"

So that's what I did, I told Michael about Luke, I told him about his disorder because I trusted Mike, knowing he wouldn't tell anyone else. And besides, he only had me as a friend, an vise versa.

I did leave out the part where I almost (or attempted to, in my case) kissed him, though. Michael didn't need to know anything about that.

"Wow," Michael muttered after I had finished. "Now I feel like the jerk for judging him. I feel bad." he pouted, which caused me to chuckle.

"I'm going to go sleep now. You staying?" I questioned, yawning and he shrugged and nodded.

"Might as well, don't want to go walk home. And besides, I need to wake you up tomorrow so you'll have to go to work and help me explain that I don't really have pneumonia." He followed me into my bedroom. We slept in the same bed, yes, but Michael was like a brother to me. That door, had closed.

I groaned, knowing I'll be pulled into the little problem Michael started, as he face-planted onto his side of the bed, probably knocked out already. I snickered and made my way into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

Once I was done, I crawled into the covers and nuzzled into Michael's chest who was now laying on his back, and I lied awake in the dark, the blonde boy with the blue eyes clear in my mind, before sleep took over me.

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Luke has been developing but not a lot, only little by little, because clearly he still has a problem with people leaving and his disorder and such but why lucas whyyy

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