24 hours - Shawn Mendes

It's been now 3 weeks since Luke's incident and everything seems to be going back to normal. He spends most of his time at Sierra's, and even Petunia seems to be getting comfortable sleeping on Sierra's bed. Being busy with getting ready for tests Sierra asks him for help - his favourite tactic is promising her kisses if she answers more than three questions in a row correctly, but then kissing her after her every answer. Luke even went to London for a week for work.

Today he picks her up after she finishes her classes for a date night. The weather is so much warmer now and he knows Sierra would absolutely love a window seat in a quiet café in Dean Village. They both adore the neighborhood for its peace and quiet, for its old historical look, especially with Sierra's love for history, and medieval TV dramas.

They order food and drinks, and of course Sierra goes for alcoholic beverages because it is Friday after all. Luke can't do the same because of driving, but he'll sure catch up when they get to her apartment. Sierra starts talking about university - graduating from it, mostly. She honestly can't wait already. It's taking away all of her time, but most importantly - all of her energy. And even though Luke helps her with some subjects, she still feels like she needs to get away for a while. And dates like the one they're having right now are definitely her getaway.

The waiter brings Sierra her third drink as Luke sits opposite her, they're both looking out of the window and watching people passing by. It's getting dark and everyone's hurrying home from work, the street lights are on and they can see that it's going to rain soon. Sierra looks at her drink, then puts the straw in her mouth and takes a sip, looking Luke in the eyes. He smiles, asking,

"What are you doing?"

"Just drinking." she shrugs, but her cheeks are getting hollow again as she takes another sip.

"This is your last drink." he shakes his head, trying to avoid her gaze. He knows that her teasing is purposeful, but they are in a public place. He then sits beside her, brushing her hair away from her ear, so he can lean in, "We can drive home and have as many drinks as we want there."

Sierra chokes on her drink a bit and coughs - she's not used to Luke being responsive to her teasing. She nods at his offer and he laughs softly at her confused expression. He taps her on the back slightly and she mutters a quiet 'thank you'. After finishing the drinks and food, they get back to the car even though Luke really wants to stay outside for a few more minutes.

"My favourite weather is when it's just about to rain," Luke says when they're seated comfortably in the car, "and it feels like nature is getting ready for the storm and it's going around and around in circles trying to find a way to prevent what's coming, but it's inevitable. It's so beautiful." he turns to look at her.

"You're beautiful." she smiles - she's definitely more than tipsy. Luke just laughs at her and drives away from the café. He chooses the route that doesn't go through the city center so they can drive longer, be in the rain longer. He also likes going through small cozy streets with very few cars and people around.

They get to the building, already kissing while walking up to the flat. Sierra starts looking for her keys, but then stops in the doorway, blocking Luke from walking in,

"Maybe you wanna even spend the night with me after our date?" she teases, turning to him.

"I don't want a night, I wanna spend my whole life with you," Luke leans down and Sierra holds her breath, because of what he said and because of what he's doing. He looks her straight in the eyes, hovering his body over hers, and she thinks he'll kiss her but he reaches to the doorknob behind her and opens the door. She sighs frustrated, and he walks in smiling to himself.

"You can't do that!" she pouts at him but also stomps her foot. She started it so she was really sure she was in charge. Apparently, she's not.

"So you can tease me and I can't?" Luke laughs from across the room as he's getting undressed. Sierra follows his lead, but he continues to take off more than just his jacket or hoodie.

"What are you doing?" she asks now.

"I'm gonna have a shower," he turns to her a bit confused, "and change my clothes. You won't let me sit on your bed in my outside clothes, will you?" he knows her rules a bit too well.

"You're right, I won't." she nods slowly, following his moves with her eyes. Luke of course notices it - she's staring quite shamelessly - so he gives her a kiss and tells her he'll be back soon.

Sierra changes her clothes too and gets some wine for Luke out of her fridge. Although she really doesn't think he needs it, but it's better to be prepared. While she's deciding if she wants to put on a movie or some music, Luke comes out of the shower.

"I don't need anything." he says, walking up to her from behind and putting his head on her shoulder.

"You hate silence." she turns to him as much as she can with the space they have between them - which is almost nonexistent.

"If we're talking there's no silence."

"I don't wanna talk."

"You wanna have sex, right?" he whispers in a low voice and feels her shiver. They're both good at teasing.

"You're very smart when I'm drunk." Sierra will hide any effect he has on her because she thinks it's embarrassing. Luke likes it.

"That's exactly why you shouldn't drink." he laughs, kissing her cheek. She slightly pouts at him again, and Luke gives in. He puts his hand on her face, turning her to him completely and placing a tender kiss on her lips. She blinks up at him silently before wrapping her arms around his bare neck and letting her fingers play with his hair.

"Oh, your hair is wet!" she puts her hands away and he chuckles.

"I did dry it with a towel so I don't drip water on you." he specifies.

"Didn't help much. You're going down." she almost commands, "I mean, not down- just lay down, okay?" her mind can't function properly when she's face to face with half-naked Luke.

"I get it, I get it. You're gonna be on top so that my wet hair doesn't touch your face." he smiles, and she nods at him.

Luke does as she asked and places a few cushions underneath and smiles to himself at how clean and fluffy they are, like they were washed just yesterday - they probably were. Sierra's not a fan of Petunia's hair all over her apartment.

Sierra gets in between Luke's legs and tries to not put on him the weight of her whole body as she's leaning in to kiss him. She can't reach his lips though - she's just that short. Her face is right in front of Luke's chest and she really tries to stretch out but his face is still too far for her.

"This is ridiculous." she starts laughing, frustrated, and sits back up. "Why are you so tall? I blame you." Luke can't stop laughing either from where he's laying.

He takes her hands and pulls them up a bit, guiding her. "Get on top of me, not between my legs." She carefully follows his instructions, and ends up face to face with him. "Better?"

"Mhmm." she smiles and finally gets him all to herself.

The kissing part is a bit too familiar to Sierra, so she tries to go further, but Luke pulls her face back to his every time. He knows that part well too, but he can never get enough of it. She often kisses him headily, her favourite trick is pausing when their lips are just barely touching, and breathing into each other. He always smiles first and she follows up with a quiet 'I love you'.

He sits up a little, wrapping his arms around her waist, with his palms exploring every inch of her body they can reach. She hooks her legs around his waist in return, and soon enough Sierra forgets - or just doesn't care - about Luke's wet curls and gets right into them with her fingers, gently tugging a few strands on the back of his head.

She takes off her shirt without even thinking, and Luke looks up at her needly before tapping his fingers on her back, unbuttoning the bra. She nods at him and takes it off completely. She has that fire in her eyes that he hasn't seen since the Valentine's Day, and he's not sure if it excites him or scares him. He kisses her collarbone raggedly going lower and lower, trying not to miss even a millimeter of her naked skin. He can physically feel her heart pounding in her chest, and the mere fact makes him feel dizzy. Luke becomes more and more aware of the friction between their lower bodies and he pulls her even closer.

He goes to sucking the skin right under her collarbone as her moans become a little bit louder - or maybe he's shut out the rest of the world and is only listening to her. Suddenly a phone rings and Sierra hesitates for a second before picking up because Luke seems to be really invested in kissing her breasts. He doesn't react when she asks him to be quieter but minimises the volume of his own moan when he hears Sierra say 'hello'.

"Oh, hi, dad!" she detaches herself from Luke's body in less than a second and he smiles at her. She has a hickey now. A few even. Sierra looks at him a bit horrified, not finding the situation even a little bit funny - it is her father after all. She tries to cover her body with something while still talking to her dad. Luke picks up her shirt off the floor and offers it to her which she gladly accepts and covers herself. The fabric is a bit see-through but Luke decides to keep quiet.

"Why would I need to meet up with her lawyer?" she asks, her voice shaky and Luke doesn't know if it's the making out or whatever news her father is telling her. "Can Luke come with me?" her eyes find his, and he nods at her without even knowing where they're going. Luke can hear them say their goodbyes and Sierra hangs up with a heavy sigh.

"What is it?" Luke moves closer to her again, taking her by the elbow. It's so strange to him how just a couple of minutes ago touching her sent shivers down both of their bodies, but now it's so caring with little to no hint of lust.

"It's my mother." Sierra looks somewhere past him. "Her lawyer called my dad and said that apparently I inherited her apartment, and if I don't sign the papers by the next week, it'll go to the government. It's the six-months' rule or something. I don't know that law stuff." she sighs, looking down and playing with the pieces of her shirt.

"And you didn't know you inherited it?" he wants to tell her that her shirt is slipping away from under her armpits where she folded it to cover her chest, but Sierra doesn't seems to care about that right now.

"No. We never knew she even had any stuff to give, you know." she looks up at him again. Her cheeks aren't flushed anymore, and the fire in her eyes is completely gone. Luke wonders if she can tell when he's aroused. She probably can. "Will you-"

"Yeah, I'll go with you, sure." he nods immediately. He notices her eyes glistening and asks, "You alright?"

"You told me I was done with when I threw away the letter." Here come the tears. "Why is she in my life again?" she whines. He pulls her into his hug, and her shirt falls down completely, leaving them to feel each other's bare skin. A few of her tears drop on his stomach, so he rubs her body to calm her down. He doesn't know if it's the exhaustion, their making out session, the alcohol or his warm embrace, but several minutes later he becomes absolutely certain she's asleep.

He silently carries her to bed, and he knows she'll get mad at him in the morning for not putting any clothes on her, but he doesn't want to wake her up. He simply wraps a blanket around her hoping it stays like that till the morning, and carefully lays down next to her, falling asleep eventually.

Sierra doesn't get mad in the morning, in fact, she thinks that sleeping half-naked will help them feel more comfortable around each other in terms of sexual activities. They have a lazy morning together, laying in bed as long as possible and cooking breakfast - or probably lunch already.

By the time they get out of her flat to go meet the lawyer, it's already far past afternoon so they need to hurry a bit. The weather is still not to Sierra's liking, but Luke enjoys it a lot. The sky is quite grey and the wind messes up his curls. They drive in comfortable silence until stopping at the traffic lights,

"Do you want this apartment?" Luke turns to her. He understands that she's upset, but getting an apartment is usually something people are happy about.

"My dad says it's better if I take it. I mean it's free. He can't pay my rent forever, so I guess I'll have to take it." she shrugs, not really answering his question, but he doesn't push it.

Sierra keeps checking if she has all the needed documents, because even though she's got everything she still feels very uneasy. She's glad to have both her dad and Luke by her side today. She knows that her dad wants what's best for her and will give her the kind of advice that would be in her favour completely. She's also aware that Luke will support her any decision.

They walk up to a glass office building, a bit surprised at how many people still come to work on Saturday. Elijah, Sierra's father, is already waiting for them by the door of the lawyer's office. Sierra runs into his hug just like she did as a kid and he picks her up a little. Luke smiles at them, coming up with his hand out to greet the man.

"Good afternoon, Mr Deaton." they shake hands.

"Luke, please, we've been past these officialities since the day my daughter laid eyes on you." Sierra blushes next to him immediately, and Luke locks eyes with her, smirking.

"You knew too?" he gets back to him. The man smiles at him wholeheartedly, showing a few wrinkles on his face.

"I know love when I see it. I'm really glad I watched you two grow up and now make each other happy." Luke nods at him, smiling, and then shifts his gaze to Sierra's neck - to the hickey on it, in particular. She senses him looking and pulls up the crewneck of her sweater higher as a few vivid pictures from last night pop up in her head. Yes, they make each other happy, but her father doesn't need to know in what ways exactly.

They all enter the office, greeting the lawyer. It's a nice woman and her office seems to be comfortable. It's obvious she specializes in family stuff - there are even several toys for kids of different ages. The woman explains the situation in detail to Sierra, showing her exactly what she'll be signing.

Everything seems to be alright - there's no debt under her mother's name, which is surprising to Sierra. Her mother wasn't poor, but she was a quite irresponsible woman. She would deal with life by spending tons of money on unnecessary things, but never on her daughter. Nevertheless, as a kid Sierra would always hear how much of a financial burden she was to her mother.

Sierra is holding the pen tightly and soon enough her name appears on the papers. She forcely smiles at her dad and finds Luke's hand under the table. The keys of now her apartment are placed in her palm, and at this moment she realises how much she doesn't want this. She hasn't seen this exact set of keys in such a long time, and she never actually wanted to see them again. She still remembers them landing on her forehead as her mother took the anger out on her daughter. Sierra instinctively touches her temple - it's like she can physically feel the bump that was there more than ten years ago.

Luke squeezes her hand two times and she's brought into reality again. They all stand up, thanking the woman and leave the office. The outside is dark already, and Luke offers to give Elijah a lift, but the man declines. Unlike Sierra, he fancies such weather and prefers to have a walk. Sierra hugs him goodbye and they part ways.

"We need to go to that apartment," Sierra turns to Luke, showing him the keys, "now."

"Why is it so urgent?" he doesn't mind driving there, but he didn't plan on it, so the question comes out naturally.

"I need to decide what to do with it. If I don't go there now, I'll never go. I know it." she says quickly without glancing at him, already getting into the car. She keeps looking at the keys in her hands. A memory of her locking the front door so that her mother wouldn't bring any men in the apartment appears in her mind and she tries to shake it off.

The panic is slowly waving over her mind as well as her body, and Luke puts his hand over hers. But she brushes it off,

"No, no, drive carefully."

Luke doesn't argue - knowing that she's safe in this car is probably the only thing that calms her down at least a little. They walk out of the car and Sierra sighs deeply. Luke reassures her again that they can do it any other day, but Sierra is really determined to do it right now. They walk up to the flat quietly as she notices the staircase where her mother shouted at her for not being dressed properly when they were on their way to the dentist - her jeans were too short because she grew up.

They unlock the door and Luke walks in first, turning on the lights. Her first instinct is to go to her old bedroom but she decides to walk around the flat first. Here's the kitchen where she found a used condom under the dining table when she was 11. Here's the corridor where she would always get yelled at as soon as she got home from school. And here's her mother's bedroom where Sierra once saw an unfamiliar naked man sleeping.

She walks in. The anger from all the memories takes over her and she starts destroying the room. Little by little. She starts with the shelves - all the books and statuettes are now on the floor. The pictures on the walls? Now they're on the floor. All the clothes in the wardrobe? On the floor. She comes up to the windowsill, ready to sweep everything out of there too, but stops for a second noticing a familiar handwriting. It's barely visible because of how sunburnt the papers are. It's her old drawings, the ones she made for her mother when she was still in kindergarten. Her mother kept them all. On a fucking windowsill, so now there's not a single thing that can be made out in these drawings.

A new wave of emotions overwhelms Sierra - it's like she is getting betrayed by her mother all over again. A picture of her mother on the bedside table catches her eye, and it's like she's watching her. In a creepy ghostly way. Sierra picks it up and throws it at the wall,

"You're dead already, why do you keep ruining my life?!" she cries out as the glass frame breaks into pieces. She looks around at the mess she's made and her knees give in. She's about to drop to the ground as she feels her face become wet with the tears, but Luke, who heard the glass-breaking noise, gets into the room and on his knees in front of her, catching her. She would've fallen into the broken pieces of glass, and he can't let that happen - he'd rather it be him.

His arms wrap around her and she clings to him with her whole will at once as the pieces of glass are sinking deeper and deeper into his skin. He starts rocking them back and forth as if not noticing the pain, and a few minutes later he can only hear her sniffs, not cries. The whispers of "I don't want this" that she was repeating over and over again for the past couple of minutes, have now stopped.

"Let's get out of the room?" he whispers against her hair and she nods. Luke doesn't really know where to go - he's very aware that every single room in the flat is a trigger for Sierra. He leads her into the kitchen, watching her take a seat, and sits on the floor in front of her again - as always he needs to be shorter to show her that the conversation is about her. Back in the bedroom he tried to shake off the glass from his knees, but he can still feel a few pieces going deeper inside, and he's glad his jeans are black - Sierra won't see anything.

His thumbs wipe away the tears from her cheeks as she says, "We need to renovate it. Completely." she looks around, "Start over. I don't want a single thing in here to remind me of her or of my childhood here. I want everything gone." her eyes find his again.

"Okay, we'll do it as you wish. It's your place now." he nods, still wiping her face - the tears just won't stop. She traces his face and movements with her glance, trying to make him look her in the eyes, but he's too focused on her crying. His fingers feel really tender to the touch, and she closes her eyes, letting the last few tears roll down.

"Will you move in with me?" she opens her eyes.

"What?" he freezes and finally meets her gaze.

"I want to live with you. Here." she covers his hands on her cheeks with her palms and looks around the room. "After we renovate everything."

"Do you think we're ready?" he doesn't know how relationships work. He's never been this far.

"I don't know if we're ready but I do know that I want this." she whispers. "Plus you basically live in my bedroom anyway." seeing her smile at him makes Luke sigh in relief.

"Are you sure you want to do this? You won't be able to get rid of me." he smiles back.

"I don't want to get rid of you, I want to be closer." she leans to him, joining their foreheads.

"I'd be happy to move in with you."

"Really? You will do that?" she gets up, and her eyes are starting to fill in with that sparkle.

"Of course, I want this just as much as you do." he gets up too, not showing any signs of being in pain. "I think if you asked me really nicely to run away with you, I'd go easily."

hi hi hi, I'm so excited about this chapter, I'm gonna be honest - it's probably one of my favourite ones. hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, so let me know!! thank you for reading and please don't forget to vote in the end xx