I stood in the center of my room, slipping on my one and only dress. My mom had bought it for me to wear for my senior graduation, but I rejected her offer since it always stuck in my mind that Ellis never liked it when I wore dresses. Not because I didn't look nice in them, but just because it wasn't his 'taste'. I now know how stupid that sounds and how ridiculous it is that I actually let a boy have a say in what I wear, boyfriend or not.

It was a simple dress; long sleeved, pinched in at my waist with a light floral pattern. I was beyond relief that it still fit since I actually didn't think of anything else I could wear since Luke did bring me home last minute. I was lucky my mom had good taste.

I stood in front of my mirror with my back visible so I could zip it up. After a few moments of tugging and fumbling, I was able to successfully complete the task and turn back around to become face to face with myself. I scanned my reflection up and down as I pulled out a few tugs and wrinkles. A few light knocks on my bedroom door caught my attention, followed by a familiar voice.

"Autumn?" Luke's muffled voice came through the thin wood. I adjusted the dress over my shoulder and reached for the door knob, but he had already let himself in. He took a step inside and gave me a gentle smile. "I haven't seen you in a dress since we were little." He commented, eyeing me up and down once.

I looked back to my mirror and messed with the messy bun that I still needed to take down and fix. "I have a mop of hair on my head and you talk about my dress." I said as I let out a small laugh.

"I figured you would've been less offended." He replied. I shook my head at him and pushed passed him to make my way to the bathroom to actually tame my hair.

I tugged on the elastic and let my hair fall down on my back. I noticed that my once ombré hair was fading and was almost back at it's original dark color. I shook my fingers through my damp hair and was lucky enough to have it fall into the natural waves without going through too much of a hassle with it.

Luke popped up in my mirror behind me and I took a brush to the ends of my hair, throwing a little piece over my shoulder every once in a while. I parted my lips to ask him what his was up to, but he' easily grabbed my brush from my hand and slowly put it on my counter. I stared up from my white sink to my mirror, seeing Luke place his chin on the top of my head. He draped his arms over my shoulders and locked his fingers with his own.

"Why don't you wear dresses more often?" He sighed. I gave him a small smile in the mirror then looked down at the ground and started fiddling with the hem at the bottom.

"I don't know." I sighed. This was very obviously a lie and Luke could tell from the moment the syllables started falling from my mouth. I peered back up to our reflection to see his facial expression as flat as it was before. "Ellis never like it when I wore dresses." I admitted to him as I awaited his reaction.

"Well, I do." He said quietly after a pause in the conversation. "If it makes a difference." He added. I gave him a half smile which he easily returned.

"Thank you." I told him. I turned around to where I was gripping the sink behind me and Luke's tall frame stood in front of me. "And I like button-ups on you." I lightly hit his stomach once before I stepped out of my bathroom. "If it makes a difference." I repeated over my shoulder.

I heard him take in a sharp breath of air as if he was going to speak, but my mom shouting at us to come downstairs for lunch had filled our ears instead. I swiveled around on my heels to see him already walking towards my door. He opened it all the way with a hand still holding it to where I ran under his arm to get through. He chased me down the stairs, our laughter with each other mixing in with everyone else's at the table that was set downstairs.

The lunch we always had consisted of me, my sisters, Luke, and his parents. Travis used to come, but hadn't been here for the past three ones because he was always with his girlfriend, so I wasn't too surprised when I didn't see him gathering around the table with everyone else.

We had all gone through my kitchen as if it was a buffet and sat down once our plates were full. I sat near the end of the table every year with April beside me and Luke directly in front of me. Effy sat next to Luke as always and we basically just had our own side of the table for what my little sister called 'the cool kids'.

We all made small talk along with the adults trying to crack jokes and catching up, but it had fallen to a murmuring and Effy decided it was her turn to speak up.

"Hey Autumn?" Her squeaky voice caught my attention as well as Luke and April's attention. I put my glass that I was drinking out of down.

"Hey Effy?" I said back, teasing her a little. She shoved another forkful of food in her mouth causing me to have to hide back my laughter.

"Why were you and Luke late for lunch?" She asked rather loud. My parents tuned in on our conversation yet still made small talk with Luke's parents. "Were you doing boyfriend and girlfriend stuff again?" Her eye browns furrowed at her plate as she couldn't quite get that piece of ham on her fork.

"What are you talking about?" I fake laughed, peering over to Luke who had his eyebrows raised at me. It fell quiet as now everyone was listening to Effy.

"Like when I saw Luke kissing you on the couch last night." She told me. I nervously glanced up at Luke who had mouthed an 'Oh shit.' to himself as the sound of someone dropping their fork on their plate was heard. I peered over at the adults who looked rather shocked along with a mix of awkward. April hit the side of my leg underneath the table, lightly coughing to cover up the sound of the slap.

"That's not true." I calmly said to Effy, trying to cover up the fact that I was indeed lying. Out of the 8 people at the table, 4 of them knew that Effy was right.

"Yes it is!" She raised her voice even more as the pitch became higher. I looked around, giving off a small smile to hide the fact that I actually felt like I was about to get caught. "I came downstairs after I had my bad dream and saw you." She used her small hands for emphasis, hitting Luke in the arm by doing so. I looked back to Luke who was giving Effy the most evil stare which I couldn't help but laugh at.

"You probably just dreamed that then." I softly chuckled. I kept glancing between the adults to my left as they kept looking between each other. The concept of Luke and I being 'intimate' with each other had never once came up in the 12 years of being friends, so it was sure a conversation grabber for everyone in the room. It's not that it was something interesting, it was just surprising.

"Why would I dream about a gross thing like that?" She crossed her arms and huffed at me.

"That's enough, Effy. That didn't happen." I said through partially gritted teeth.

"I saw-" I stopped her by kicking her leg underneath the table which immediately made her stop talking. She stuck her tongue out at me which I easily returned with a glare.

We all finished the lunch without saying more on the topic. I was surprised my mom hadn't butt into it and stirred it even more. Luke and I kept exchanging glances and a few words since we were both worried that our parents would actually believe Effy, even though she was telling the truth.

I was the first one to finish as I felt a tension coming and it began to make things a little uncomfortable. I picked up my dish and carried it to the sink, turning back around to see Luke walking towards me.

"What was that?" Luke asked. I took the plate from his hands as I shushed him, not wanting anyone to hear him in the fear that it would spoil it.

"I don't know." I honestly replied. I looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was coming or eavesdropping. "I didn't think she would just spill all of that out in front of my parents." I whispered as I washed the plates, careful not to clang them together.

He came up to the left side of me and leaned over the counter so I was in range of his quiet voice. "Well obviously." He raised his eyebrows at me as I looked over at him with an annoyed expression.

"It's nothing to be worried about." I sighed, pulling a paper towel off of the roll in front of me and drying my hands.

"And what happened the last time you said that?" He trailed behind me as I walked to the trashcan and tossed my paper towel out. I knew he was referring to April seeing and then embarrassing us about it beyond belief.

"Hey, you're the one who kissed me against your car." I whispered, still trying to keep my voice low. We were now standing in the middle of my kitchen, face to face with a foot in between us.

"You went along with it." He narrowed his eyes at me as he took a step towards me. I rolled my eyes, not wanting to talk about this right now. I knew he was joking around, but with my family right around the corner.

I took my own step to him and put a single finger to his chest. "Yeah, but you-"

"No throwing punches in my kitchen." My mom sing-songed, cutting off my words. She set a few dishes in the sink, not worried about the possibility of breaking them.

"We're not going to punch each other, Mom." I crossed my arms over my chest as I let out a light laugh.

"At least not yet." Luke added on as he nodded his head to me. I smacked the side of his arm, earning an unhappy glare from him.

My mom looked between us for a few moments, making us both rather uncomfortable. "What was up with Effy's story?" She chuckled as she shook her head. I relaxed my shoulders that I hadn't realized were tense and walked over to sit down on one of the barstools.

"I don't even know." I told her, trying my best to make my self sound convincing. "I think she just dreamed about it, but she did come downstairs while we were watching a movie." I pointed out as I didn't want to make Effy's story seem completely crazy. I watched as Luke walked over to my mom and put and elbow on her shoulder.

"I was probably laying on her." He joked as he locked his free hand with the one that was dangling from her shoulder.

"Yeah." I agreed, grinning at my mom.

"Probably." She sighed. She moved out from under his arm and near the doorway. "Even I wouldn't believe it if I saw it."

"Don't worry, Mom. I don't plan on kissing Luke anytime soon." I commented, gently tapping my fingers on the counter. She waved me off and I made sure she was out of the room before looking back over to Luke. His expression was displeased as he was most likely offended by my words.

"What?" I quietly giggled. He swayed his arms as he walked over to me.

"'I don't plan on kissing Luke anytime soon.'" He mocked, making his voice higher pitcher in an awful attempt to match mine.

"Oh, come on." I whined as he sat down next to me. He slid himself around on the stool to where his knees hit mine and he sat directly in front of me. I flicked between his eyes, waiting for him to say something.

Instead, he put his hands on my knees and scooted a little closer to me. He let out a deep sigh, a faint smile tugging at his lips.

"So how soon is your soon?" He questioned, his voice noticeably deeper.

"Soon as in not now." I replied with a raised eyebrow. I grabbed his wrists and pried them off my knees which he swiftly turned his hands over and grabbed my forearms, pulling me to him.

"Come on, Autumn." He stuck out his lips like a little kid and tried to kiss all over my face, but I wasn't having it. I struggled to get away from him and it surely wasn't working.

"No!" I whisper shouted at him. "Someone could walk in." I tried to tug my wrists away but his grip grew tighter.

"Just one." He keep trying to get to my lips and I fought against him and soon our laughs were beginning to come out. "Autumn, stop." He laughed. To my surprise, I did what I was told and stopped wriggling in my seat.

Before I could do anything, Luke kissed me quickly and released my arms so he could grab the sides of my face. My eyes fluttered shut for a mere second, and when they reopened after he pulled back I was looking right at April in the door way who looked rather unhappy.

"We eat in here you know." She stated as she walked to the sink. I glared at Luke who had a faint pink tinted across his cheeks from being caught yet once again.

"It wasn't anything bad." I said in defense. April turned around with a hand on her hip as she looked directly between us.

"You guys better be careful." She warned. "You know mom and dad would freak if they caught you." She shook her head at us, well more at the idea of us being caught.

"I know, I know." I sighed.

"I'm just looking out for you guys. I know she would kick one of you guys out of that apartment faster than you would think." She leaned against the counter, making sure to be as quiet as Luke and I were before.

"That would be me." Luke clarified. April stared at us for a few moments before looking like a mix of cringing and getting the chills.

"It's so weird see you two together like this." She confessed. I felt Luke's hand search for my own and soon wrapped his hand around mine. I discretely looked down at our intertwined fingers, over to his cheeky expression, then back to April. I lightly shook my head as I let out a soft laugh.

"You have no idea."

-

A/N:

SORRY IF THIS WAS BORING IT'S MORE OF A FILLER CHAPTER

thanks if you're reading, i luv u :-)