Lucas

I finished writing the letter I now held in my fingers as if it was made of glass, and was at risk of breaking into a million pieces at any given time.

I re-read the words I had written with a pen and paper over and over again, making sure that I was positive of what I meant once this letter was delivered.

The sound of Nicole's voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I folded the page in half as I looked up at her. 

"Hey, I saved us a table."

She looked like a teenage girl as she stood by the door frame, with a large winter coat that engulfed her petite body and her scarf tied securely around her neck that hid her grin.

Nicole spent the whole day at her apartment, only meeting me for a quick coffee once I was done for the day. When the alarm clock rang at seven o'clock in the morning she looked too peaceful as she slept and I didn't have the courage to wake her up, so I left the house quietly and earned a phone call from her around midday. 

"Great. I'll be right there." Was all I told her as she looked at me. 

"You need help with anything?"

"Nope. All good here."

I opened the small drawer on the side of my desk and placed the letter inside, closing it gently afterwards.

With my black, thick, coat in my hands and a kiss on my lips from Nicole, we made our way out of the store and, with her hand in mine, we walked to Magic Beans.

The weather in London was getting more and more chilly each day, the signs of winter approaching as the holiday season didn't take too long to get here either.

The city was already twinkling in the dark as the Christmas lights were up since before Nicole and I left for America, making the small town of Hampstead look even more warm and cozy, as the cool kids call it. 

"Thank you for letting me sleep in today." She broke the comfortable silence as I sipped on my coffee.

Nicole  grinned shyly at me and drank her hot chocolate. 

"No need to thank me. Hey, Melanie's gonna work a double shift tomorrow and I'm gonna have Lexi, she's gonna sleep at my house."

"Oh... Okay." I could tell she didn't know exactly what to say, but I let her ramble. "I'm gonna focus on my book again, I need to. I'll be at my apartment tomorrow, writing, and then-" Now I couldn't let her go on anymore.

"Hey hey, I was just letting you know." I wrapped my fingers around her tiny hands while I gave her a shrug. "You can still come by my house if you want."

"No, no... It's better this way too. I can never get a lot of writing done around you anyway." She shot me a knowing look and I knew without a doubt what she meant by that.

"It's not my fault your lips are that irresistible."

"Don't start, mister." She rested her index finger on my lips, as if she were trying to shut me up. I kissed her finger before wrapping my hand around it and before gently pulling her towards me, our lips meeting in a sweet kiss.

"Mhm." I softly moaned against her lips before pulling away. "Irresistible."

 * * * 

"I missed having sleepovers with you, uncle Luc." Her sleepy voice gave away how tired she was after spending the afternoon at the park and after ending her day painting some copies of the drawings I made after dinner.

I stood on my feet by the bed as I helped Lexi get in her pajamas, with her standing on her feet on top of my mattress.

Her words hit me differently today, though. And the worst part of it all was that I knew why and the reason caused my stomach to turn.

"Me too, sweet pea."

With her baby blue Frozen pajamas on, she got under the covers while she waited for me to join her, with her favorite book in my hands already, knowing she was waiting patiently for her bedtime story. 

"Why are you sad, uncle Luc?"

"I'm not sad."

"Yes, you are. Why?" 

"I... I'm just indecisive, that's all."

"What's that?"

"It's when you can't make a choice, when you don't know what to choose, what option to go for."

"What are the options?"

I took a deep breath as I pulled the covers on top of me and asked myself if I'd be doing the right thing by asking a five year old about a life changing decision I'd have to make. I went for it anyway.

To hell with it.

"You know how uncle Luc and Nicole went to Pixar? And I brought you all those toys?"

"The movie factory?" I couldn't help but laugh at her innocent question. She'd re branded Pixar in her own mind and to her, it was officially the movie factory. 

"Yes, the movie factory."

She nodded her head in silence and I continued. "Well, they liked my drawings. You know, the drawings I make of cartoons with... crazy hair, and three legs instead of two and with glowing, bun like tails."

"That's really good."

"Yeah... They want me to work for them. To draw cartoons for their movies." Her mouth was agape as I heard her gasp, her blue eyes opening wide while one of her tiny hands covered her mouth.

"But... that would mean I'd be moving to America. I would no longer be here, with you."

"And I'd never see you again?!" The sadness and shock her eyes carried were enough to cause my regret to surface all over again, wishing I'd never brought this up to a five year old.

"Of course you'd see me again! I'd come visit all the time, and you could go there too. And you'd call me anytime you want, we can even do the Facetime thing where I see your face and you see mine."

"Okay then. When are you going?"

"I don't know yet, I don't even know if I should go or not."

With her blue eyes looking around the room and then at me again, I knew the wheels inside her little head were turning. 

"I think you should go."

"Really? Why's that?" 

"Because you'd be making movies! That would be so cool, uncle Luc! And I could still talk to you and see you, and you'd come back here to see me and mommy."

"You're a smart kid, you know that?"

"Yes, mommy tells me that all the time." 

I chuckled at her witty answer and and tapped her nose with my index finger, causing her to giggle. I opened the book that had been in my hand for longer than the little girl had wished for, and started reading her to sleep, which at nearly ten o'clock, was a pretty easy task.

Was I going to listen to my five year old niece's advice? Yes.

Was I about to do a full one eighty with my life because of what a child told me to do? Yes.

  * * *

"Alright, I'm gonna head off. Is that okay, Luc?"

Henry grabbed his coat before putting it on and I got behind the counter, where I'd be for the rest of the day until we closed the store. 

"Sure. Just... before you go, could I talk to you for a minute?"

"What about?"

I reached my hand out in my back pocket and the moment my fingers made contact with the paper I felt a tingling, burning feeling on the tip of my digits. Putting that feeling aside, I pulled the letter out and held it in both my hands.

"First of all I want to thank you. For all these years working here, for letting me have my space in the back so I could draw and create some designs. You've been nothing short of an amazing boss, and I truly enjoyed working with you."

The shock in his face was evident. "Lucas, are you quitting?" He'd asked, sounding outraged.

Not being able to say another word, this whole decision being hard enough as it is, I nodded in agreement and handed him the letter saying I'd be resigning my job. 

He read it in silence - a killer silence - and looked back up at me with the same expression of shock he had on since a while ago. 

"When are you leaving?"

"Beginning of next year."

"Just like that?"

"Henry, it is a great opportunity. And this wasn't my dream job anyway, no offense."

"None taken. Well... I guess I'm gonna have to start searching for someone new to help me out here."

"I gave you a month's notice. You'll surely find someone in no time, there are lots of college kids who'd love a part time job at a jewelry store that no one visits. They could use my back office to study and do their assignments."

"Don't make jokes."

"I'm not! Trust me, you'll find someone."

He looked hopeless, and I hated I was the reason behind the stress that'd be taking over his mind for the time being, but I had to do this. For myself. And I also hated the fact that's taken me years and a five year old's advice to come to that conclusion.

"Well, I wish you nothing but the best of luck in America. I hope you enjoy your classes and I hope you enjoy your new, big, Hollywood job."

"Thank you, I appreciate it. But for the record, it's not a big Hollywood job, the studios are not even in Hollywood."

Over shared laughs we hugged, he patted my back and I patted his and we let go shortly after, knowing this was not a a see you later, but a goodbye.

 * * *

"Hey honey, I'm home!" The genuine, and joy-filled sound of Nicole's laughter made my heart swell as I threw my coat onto the rack by the entrance of her apartment. 

"Hello you." She said with a giggle as she sucked some sauce off her thumb. I kissed her salty lips passionately before she refocused back on the food. "What are you so happy about?"

"I've just always wanted to say that. Also, I just did something."

"What'd you do?" She asked with a frown full of intrigue. 

"I... quit my job." 

I saw her let go of the spoon as she let out a loud "Ah!", and turned her head to me with her big brown eyes opened wide. "You what?"

"I just handed Henry my resignation letter. A month's notice."

"A month, uh?"

I grabbed the already opened bottle of red wine in the counter and poured us both a glass. "Yeah."

She quietly turned the stove down and picked up her glass, taking a sip, the silence killing me with anticipation. 

"So... you'll be moving to Los Angeles with me?" I could barely hear her voice. 

"If you don't want me to, I won't go." I joked and chuckled out loud as she hit my arm playfully and pulled me closer to her by the hem of my shirt. 

I could sense the smell of wine on her breath, her lips only inches apart from mine. "Of course I want you to go."

"Good, cause I'd hate to stay here while I see you go." 

Her brows furrowed in confusion again and I explained myself before she could pop the question herself. 

"And no, I am not going just because you're going. I am going because I need to. I need to chase my own dreams. And opportunities like these, they don't come around often."

I cupped her chin with my hands on either side of her face, and bent down to peck her lips. The velvet smooth lips tasted like Nicole and wine, a combination that had me weak in the knees, and I couldn't help but gently inserting my tongue inside her mouth as our mouths opened and closed in sync. Our noses rubbed against each other, our breaths mingled and our lips were swollen and red (mostly mine, due to her scarlet lipstick).

"I'm glad. I'm happy for you, for... us." 

"Me too." I could sense she was a little uptight, a little tense, and I let my hands travel to her stomach and wander around her sides before I tickled her. "Don't burn dinner." 

She squealed with laughter as she ran away from me, going to check on the food, and I followed her steps, this time not with the intention of wanting to tickle and tease her any more. 

"You're mean."

"You love it." I said, knowing all too well she did. 

"I do." 

I looked at the ingredients in the pan and moaned quietly. "You're making pasta? You're a goddess."

"Well, to be fair pasta is the only think I can actually cook, so... I went with the safe choice."

I helped her put the table, refilled our glasses with more wine, and we sat side by side while we started eating the marvelous, sweet yet salty and acid tomato sauce with the spaghetti. 

She always says she can't cook but I truly think cooking might be her hidden talent.

"So, what's the plan now?"

"Well... I'll be working at Gems of the Heath until the end of the year, then I'll be a college student again. I gotta call Pixar, and then the Santa Monica College, enroll myself."

"And I gotta talk to Diane about it. I'm not going back to her firm."

"What? Why?"

"Because you'll be in Santa Monica. And I wanna be where you are, not six hours away!"I bit my lip as I listened to her words.

"But I thought we talked this through... We'd be together no matter where in the world we are."

"And that's still true... I just don't want to be apart from you right now. I'll find something else to do in Santa Monica. And plus, we haven't talked this through but I don't really want to talk tonight."

With one hand on my leg and the other one on my neck, she pulled me close to her and kissed me. All I managed to say before we were on our way to the bedroom was, "I love you."

* * * 

Author's Note:

Hey there, lovelies! How's quarantine life treating you? I've been editing, writing, watching movies, learning some new things and this week I got so bored I went out for a four mile walk with my dog 😅

As always, vote and review, your opinion means a lot to me! Also, stay tuned cause during this next week I'll be posting character aesthetic boards each day of the week! 🤩 Those will be published on my social media so, check my bio and make sure you follow me on those platforms!

Last but not least, please stay safe! Wash your hands, try not to panic or get anxious about all of this (not easy, I know!), spend time with your loved ones, play board games, call a friend, learn something you've always wanted to learn! 💞

Xoxo, Mars