Chapter 36.

I couldn't believe how oblivious that I had been to something that was directly in front of me. Everything was starting to click in my head, all of the pieces of the puzzle were fitting into place, and as they did, I felt stupid.

Kelsey being Dylan's younger sister made so many questions in my head, but had also answered some. When he gave Kelsey and I ride home from school I'd thought they seemed to have known each other, and he did know where Kelsey lived without asking. Plus at the football game on my birthday, it explained why the two of them were talking. My stomach twisted at the thought of how I told Madison and Cassie I thought they were dating. It was embarrassing.

My friends all knew that they were siblings and not one of them bothered to tell me. They let me make of fool of myself by saying things like accusing them of dating. Why hadn't they just told me?

I inhaled deeply, my eyes fixated on the sleeve of my shirt. "Why didn't anyone tell me?" I finally asked, not feeling brave enough to actually make eye contact with him. "I'm such an idiot."

He remained silent for several moments. His pause made me feel like he was trying to think of an excuse that wouldn't make it seem like they kept it from me like "It just never came up" or "We thought you knew".

But when he moved from the chair in the corner of my room and took a seat next to me on the bed, I was hopeful he would just tell me the truth. "Honestly?" He asked.

I could feel his eyes were on me, waiting for me to actually look at him. I bit down on my lip. "I want the truth Luke."

It was clearly something that I had missed, but I'd notice the many similarities between Luke and Dylan. Since I first met Dylan I'd sensed there was more to their rivalry than football, it'd seemed more personal. And it was. It made sense that the rivalry between them seemed to have had a friendlier undertone. The one thing that didn't make sense to me however is why no one, even though they'd been straight up asked countless times, had told me the truth.

"I can't tell you as to why, since I honestly don't know, but Dylan and Kelsey had asked not just me, but your whole friend group not to say." His tone seemed genuine, I'll admit, but it didn't make any sense. Why would they want to keep them being siblings a secret?

"Why?" I asked, looking up from my shirt to meet Luke's eyes. His lips curved into a small smile from my decision to actually look at him. An apologetic glint remained in his eyes as my eyes narrowed. "Why wouldn't they want me to know?"

"I don't know, you'd have to ask them."

I frowned. 'I don't know' was a phrase I was learning to hate. "Why did you listen? Why let it go on for so long?"

Luke looked away, breaking our eye contact. "They are my cousins," he said simply. A soft chuckle left his lips as he looked back to me. Grinning he added, "Plus I was curious how long it would take for you to find out. It's cute when you make assumptions, like when you first found out Kelsey was my cousin."

My cheeks went red. Was he referring to when I accused Kelsey of liking him? Had she told him?

"Oh gosh." I looked back down at my hands, too embarrassed to look at Luke. "You know about that?"

Luke grabbed my hand, intertwining our fingers. It brought peace to me, making me relax and feel like it didn't matter how oblivious to everything I was. "I'm sorry for not coming clean."

My heart. No matter what I tried to tell myself, I couldn't help but falling for this boy. He always seemed to say the right things and it didn't matter what mood I was in, he made me smile.

"How do you do it?" I asked, placing my other hand on top of our intertwined hands. A smile tugged my lips, reaching my entire face as I looked up to meet Luke's gaze. He had a confused expression on his face and I felt inclined to answer before he asked. "How do you always put me in a better mood?"

A satisfied smile spread across Luke's face, making my heart jump in my chest. His brown eyes sparkled as he placed his right arm around my shoulders, pulling me into him. "I believe it's one of the perks of being your boyfriend."

I rested my head against his shoulder, my mouth dry as I tried to grasp what he'd just said. Boyfriend? I didn't want to over analyze it and freak myself out, but we hadn't made anything official yet. I'd wanted him to, but he hadn't.

Despite not wanting to overthink it, I couldn't help myself, I had to ask. "Boyfriend?"

"Am I not?"

"No. Yes? I don't know, we never made anything official."

Luke chuckled, his tone gave off he was amused but he understood. "Why did you think we weren't official?"

I shrugged, keeping my head against his shoulder as thought about it. "We don't do couple things."

"You've been wearing my jersey at all of my playoff games."

"Friends can wear their friends jersey."

"We've been on dates, Lilly."

"But just friends can hangout like that too."

Luke laughed. "So just friends kiss when hanging out then?"

"We kissed."

"Yeah, and look what happened, we are dating."

My lips curved upwards. Lifting my head off his shoulder I looked at him. "But you never asked me out."

Luke shook his head in laughter, clearly amused by this. "Lilly, I've asked out on multiple dates, I drive you home everyday, you wear my jersey on game days, and I asked you to homecoming. The only thing I haven't done is say the phrase since I didn't think I needed to."

"Why not?"

"You've watched too many rom coms." He said it lightheartedly, but was he right? Had I had an unrealistic vision in my head of what dating should be?

"Sorry," I mumbled, the smile faded off of my face.

"Don't be sorry, it's me who should apologize to you for not formally asking." Luke rubbed his thumb in a circle on my hand. "I'm not just going to do it now, since I bet you're expecting it, but I will do it."

I quirked an eyebrow. "What?"

He leaned forwards, placing a soft kiss on my forehead, melting my heart. :"I'm going to officially ask you to be my girlfriend, just not now."

It made my heart happy to know he cared enough to ask and didn't just completely laugh at me like I was stupid. I knew I naive when it came to dating, but I wanted my first real boyfriend to be special, like I knew Luke was.

I smiled, removing myself from Luke's arm so I could stand up to face him. "You know it's already 12:00, and we have that dance to get ready for."

"The dance can wait a little longer."

As Luke pulled me onto his lap, I didn't protest. It'd been a few days since I'd last felt his lips on mine, and I was suddenly craving it. The rush I felt from being with him, the taste of lips, I wanted it.

I raised my hand up to his face, tracing his jaw with my finger. Fear began to creep into my mind, and I paused. Most of our kisses were short and simple, nothing too physical. What if I wasn't good enough for him?

He frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I lied. I bit my lip, stroking his cheek again, "Just wondering how I got so lucky." Luke's face softened and I forced all of the negative thoughts out of my head. I smiled, and changed my position so I had a leg on either side of Luke.

"You sure your okay?" Luke asked, a concerned tone to his voice.

I nodded, leaning my forehead against his. My eyes flickered shut as I titled my head, "Just kiss me."

Without a second thought I pushed my lips up against his softly. The kiss started out sweet and put a warm, giddy feeling in the pit of my stomach. His arms snaked around me and pulled me closer to him, sending a shiver up my spine. Our lips moved together for a few more moments before I pulled away, feeling breathless.We both sat for a second, catching our breath.

Luke lifted his hand up to my face, gently tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. His eyes stared into my eyes, then drifted down to my lips and I grinned, granting him permission to lead. As his parted lips crashed into mine I melted into him. I'd never kissed someone like this before and it was dangerous, I wanted to adventure further- try something new. His tongue slipped into my mouth, making my heart race furiously inside my chest. I wrapped my arms around his torso, attempting to pull us closer. The kiss came to an end when Luke pulled away, breathing deeply.

My chest rose and fell just as quick, and I couldn't help but smile as I rested my head against his shoulder. "Wow."

---

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for your homecoming court to make their grand entrance!"

The gym fell quiet as the spotlight pointed to the entrance. Kelsey nudged my side, a grin on her face. "Bet I know who wins homecoming king."

Austin, who was Kelsey's date and was standing on the other side, laughed. "I don't know, I think it'll be close."

"Yeah," Tae added, a similar grin to Kelsey's on her face. "It'll close between Luke and Zach."

"I think it'd be cute for Cassie and Zach to win it, since they are such a cute couple," Madison commented, joining in on the conversation.

I didn't have a preference on who won. Either way it didn't affect me in any way. Luke, Zach, Fred- it made no difference.

Abby, the head of the homecoming court, came over the intercom again. "Alright alright, who's ready to meet their 2016 homecoming court?"

Everyone cheered as the first pair of seniors stepped into the doorway, striking a pose. "Amanda Donaldson and Nate Isaacson."

I clapped along with everyone else. I'd recognized Nate from seeing him around and Amanda was on the cheer team, so I felt inclined to be supportive.

"Cassie Williams and Zachary Brady." The gym roared in excitement as the power couple stopped in the doorway, striking a pose just like the two before them. I grinned, judging by the reactions of the crowd, I'd say they were probably the winners.

"Lucas Carters and Courtney Andes." A large smile spread across my face as I watched him and Courtney stop in the doorway. My heart skipped a beat as his eyes met mine and he winked, before taking Courtney's hand and walking down to the end of the gym.

The homecoming court continued walking down two by two until they were all at the front of the gym. "Give it up for the 2016 homecoming court!" A few hoots and hollers erupted from the crowd as they all clapped.

The principle handed Abby a white envelope that she took with a smile. "You ready to find out your king and queen?" More cheering as Abby tore open the envelope. "And your homecoming queen--Erin Mills!"

I quirked an eyebrow, looking at my friends in confusion. The name didn't ring any bells and I was fairly certain I'd never seen her before. Madison noticed my confusion first, explaining. "She's the volleyball captain." I mouthed an 'o', turning back to the front of the gym.

"And your 2016 homecoming king-- Ben Tomlinson." I recognized Ben as one of the defensive players on the football team.

Everyone began clapping and cheering as the two stepped forward, both looking as equally excited. The two shared their dance and as the song came to an end, everyone clapped..again.

Luke started in my direction after they removed the spotlight and I couldn't help but feel all tingly inside. This was really it. I was at homecoming with the star senior quarterback. It was like a dream come true.

"Care to dance?" Luke asked with a cheeky smile on his face. He stopped in front of me, offering me his hand.

Smiling I nodded and let him take my hand, pulling me out onto the dance floor. He placed his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. My smile grew as I wrapped my arms around his neck. "This is perfect."

"Just like you," he said cheesily and I rolled my eyes.

"Don't even start with that cheesy stuff."

Luke grinned, "You know you like it." He was right, I did actually enjoy the cheesiness of all of it.

Our bodies moved slowly with the music. I rested my head on his shoulder, continuing to move with him. This had felt right, it made up for everything that had happened between us leading up to this point. It was all worth it to be able to be here with him.

To be able to call Luke, my boyfriend.

--

Another brand new chapter that wasn't in the original! What you guys think? 

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