••• 𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒩𝒾𝓃𝑒 •••

Luke

{{Smile ~ Morgan Wallen}}

As I climbed the front porch steps of my parents' house, memories of my childhood swept over me. I thought about late nights with my friends, talking on the porch until dawn, or bonfires in the backyard, where Aria would curl up in my lap. The memories stung, bringing a sharp ache and an overwhelming urge for a drink. I swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and pushed the door open.

Everything still looked the same and it made me smile. Photos of me and my parents framed the walls, along with some pictures of me and Aria. I slowly walked up to one I hadn't seen before and it was from our graduation. I had left two weeks later to Nashville and I guess they must've developed the photos after I was gone.

I stepped closer, staring at it. My arms were wrapped around Aria's waist as she grinned up at me, her hand resting on my cheek. She looked so breathtakingly beautiful, so happy. I would give anything to make her smile at me like that again. But that felt impossible now. We were so young, but it was obvious even then how much we loved each other.

God, why did I have to promise to give up drinking? I cursed at myself as I tore my eyes away and headed toward my old bedroom. I stood outside the door and my anxiety grew as I pushed open the door with a shaky hand. To my surprise, my room was completely untouched. The walls were still a light shade of gray and posters of my favorite bands, vinyls, and athletes lined the walls. I took a hesitant step into the room and I felt like I was eighteen again.

I crossed the room slowly, pausing by the bedside table. A photo collage of Aria and me sat there, the frame slightly dusty. I picked it up, smiling despite myself. There were a couple of pictures of us making silly faces, childhood snapshots, and kissing—every picture told the story of us. We'd been obnoxiously in love, and at that moment, I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry.

With a heavy sigh I set it back down on the table then walked over to my dresser and was about to open it and grab the photo album Dad wanted when my phone rang, stopping me. I fished it out of my pocket and saw that it was my Dad calling. "Hello?" I answered quickly, worried something might've happened to him in the short amount of time since I left the hospital.

"Hey, son. Are you at the house yet?" I sighed with relief at hearing his voice and continued to pull open the dresser drawer and found the photo album.

"Yeah, I'm getting the photo album right now."

"Good! Listen, don't open it until tomorrow when you're with Aria. I want you both to open it together." I raised my eyebrows in surprise as I flipped the album over in my hand and grew confused.

"Why? What's in here?" I asked and my Dad sighed.

"Lucas, just please wait to open till you're with Aria. It would mean a lot to me if you did." I sighed as I closed the drawer and headed over to my bedroom window and stared out at my backyard.

"Sure, Dad. I'll wait." I promised and noticed the trail leading to the pond I used to play in as a kid was overgrown with weeds. The memory of the last time I had gone there with Aria had flooded my mind and my heart raced as I remembered what we had done that day.

"Thank you, son. Good luck and don't mess up your date with Aria tomorrow." He said and I quickly shook my head, clearing the memories from my mind.

"It's not a date-"

"Gotta go! Doctor's coming to check on me, love ya!" He quickly hung up and I chuckled as I shook my head once more then tucked my phone in my pocket. My Dad always loved to cause trouble and I'm so glad he's still here to do it.

I noticed my old guitar sitting up against the door of the closet and I smiled as I picked it up then placed it on my bed. When I opened the case, my old acoustic guitar sat inside and was still in great shape. A picture of Aria and I when we were about ten years old was taped to the top of the lid and I found myself smiling as I stared at it. I was sitting behind her and she was holding the guitar. I was teaching her how to play simple chords and she was grinning at me after she had just strummed an A chord.

We were smiling at each other like idiots and I couldn't believe I never realized we liked one another throughout all our years of friendship. I shook my head as I picked up my guitar and sat on my bed then started to tune it. It took a couple minutes, but it finally sounded perfect and I found myself strumming a random melody. I started humming along and was suddenly growing inspired as I thought of Aria and everything I wanted to say to her.