Chapter 32.

"Surprise!"

I shrieked in terror as a dozen people leapt out at me. Seriously, whoever came up with idea of surprise parties really didn't think that through. I had basically just had a heart attack.

"Umm..." I said, not sure exactly what was going on. Why was everyone here? What was happening?

"Lilly," my mom called, wrapping me in a tight hug. "I've missed you."

"Mom? What are you doing here? What is all this?"

I looked around the room at all of my friends--Tae, Madison, Kelsey, Nixi, Cassie, Zach, Luke. What was the occasion? My birthday was coming up, but not until next week.

My mom smiled, looking mighty proud of herself. "I don't want to spoil it. But seriously, I have to say, you have some really popular friends. And you're practically a guy magnet. Luke is hot."

My cheeks flamed red from embarrassment. My mom was always really good at embarrassing me. It was like her hidden talent. Nobody was as good at it as her. Except for maybe me.

I looked at my mom, amazed at how different she was than my dad. It made me wonder how such different people ever stayed together so long in the first place. No wonder she was getting remarried now.

"You did not just say that," I mumbled, holding back a laugh. It was conversations like this one that made me miss my mom the most.

"You know it's true though," she said, narrowing her eyes at me. "You can't honestly tell me that you don't think that boy is easy on the eyes."

I smiled, laughing. She was right. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't think Luke was easy on the eyes. He was unlike anything I'd ever seen in any of the movies.

"Let's play a game," Kelsey suggested, pulling out Cards Against Humanity.

I sat next to Kelsey, who was sitting next to Cassie, who was next to Nixi. On the other side of her was Luke, Zach, Tae, and Madison. Mom said she didn't want to intrude on my friend time...even though I hadn't seen her in a while and she was the one I really wanted to catch up with.

"Where's Dad?" I asked, looking around the house.

Surprisingly, Cassie was the one who answered. "He was still at the school when I went back around 6:00 to grab some homework that I forgot about. I'm really not sure what he was doing."

"That's not unusual," I laughed. "He definitely takes his job seriously.

"No shit," Zach mumbled, shaking his head. "The past week of practice has been complete and total hell."

Mom snickered, mumbling under her breath just barely loud enough for me to hear, "No wonder he doesn't have a girlfriend. He's married to his job."

I pushed her comment to the back of my head, not wanting to think too much about it.

Luke chuckled at Zach's comment about practice. "He's been getting bad about making us run. It's like that's all he's been making us do. We haven't practiced many drills lately."

"Do you have any idea why he's going so hard on them?" Cass asked me.

I shook my head. "I think he's stressed about playoffs, but he hasn't said much to me."

Kelsey sighed. "Well, as long as you guys keep winning games, does it really matter how long and hard your practices are?"

"Yeah, we might drop dead before the next game," Zach said, adding a bit of humor to the conversation.

I laughed lightly, looking to Luke to see if he had anything to add. He just remained silent.

Mom walked over to us and shook her head, one hand resting on her hip. "Alright, it's time for you two to come clean with me. Are you dating?"

"Is who dating?" Tae asked, looking around the circle at all of us. Her eyes landed on me a second before moving on to Kelsey.

Mom looked straight at me and Luke. "You two," she said, pointing between us. "Your dad doesn't have to know. If you're dating, I promise I won't tell him if you don't."

Kelsey quickly covered her mouth with her hand to prevent herself from laughing too hard. Tae was also struggling to conceal her laughter. Cassie just made the whole situation more embarrassing by wiggling her eyebrows up and down teasingly.

Luke looked over to my mom, then smirked at me. "You got us, we're dating." He stood up and walked over to my spot in the circle, leaning down and slowly lifting me up from the ground. His hand brushed across the bottom part of my leg as he picked me up bridal style, sending shivers up and down my body.

I knew that he was just joking, but whether my mom knew that or not... I wasn't sure. Either way, it was cute of him to do this.

"Awe, that's cute," Cassie cooed, grinning widely at Luke and me. "Couple of the year award."

Kelsey smirked. "Never thought I'd see the day he grew the balls to ask her out."

Maddison snorted back a laugh. "Technically, he hasn't asked her out yet," she said, staring Luke down, as if daring him to say something.

I laughed, looking up at Luke's face to see his reaction to his ex daring him to ask me out. He didn't seem to care...in fact, he seemed to find it amusing.

"You can put me down now," I said to him, smiling.

"Can I?" he teased, gently setting me back down onto the ground.

"Let's see a kiss!" Mom hooted. I rolled my eyes. Honestly, she was as bad as any teenager.

Luke looked at Mom and shook his head with laughter. Then he turned his attention back to me, looking into my eyes questioningly. It was like he was asking my permission to actually kiss me. Guess he had no problem with PDA.

I smiled at him, grabbing onto his shirt with my hands and pulling him closer to me, catching him by surprise. Point Lilly.

"Yes?" he whispered quietly into my ear, so low only I could hear it. His hot breath on my ear sent shivers down my spine. I nodded in response and let him take over.

A smirk began to form on his face as he put his hands on my waist, pulling my whole body into his. I pressed up against him as he leaned down, our faces just inches apart. I couldn't believe I was actually kissing him in front of not just my friends, but my mom...and she had actually encouraged it to happen.

Before I had time to process anything, Luke finished closing in and pressed his lips to mine. I smiled into the kiss, and for a second it was like we were the only two people in the world.

Then the door opened, and Dad walked in. "What the heck is going on here?" His booming voice rang across the entire room, and everyone straightened up and stood at attention like he was a drill sergeant.

I jumped away from Luke in a hurry, but the damage was already done. There was no way he hadn't just seen us, and I was in for the grounding of my life.

How had things gone from perfect to terrible in .2 seconds?

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Ahh finally an update. You guys are going to hate me for this though.😁😁 it's okay, totally worth the reactions! Leave a comment on your thoughts!

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