~~~~~

About two months later, Lucas and I were hanging out in his dorm. Well, it was actually more like we were doing our own things and I just so happened to be in the same room as him.
"Lucas?" I inquired after I grew bored.
"Yeah?" He asked after a couple of moments when he had removed his earbuds.
"I'm bored." I replied. "I wanna do something."
"Okay, what do you want to do?"
"I have no idea." I shrugged. "All I know is that I'm bored and I wanna do something."
"Well, let me know when you think of something." Lucas said as he placed one of his earbuds back into his ear and resumed his work.

After a few moments of thinking, I was able to come up with something. When I had done so, I made it known to Lucas.
"Okay, I figured something out," I told him, which caused him to remove the one earbud that he had placed in his ear while he waited for me to think of something.
"What did you come up with?"
"Do you remember how you asked me to give you a piano lesson a while back?"
He nodded.
"Well, I was thinking that you could teach me a thing or two about cinematography," I suggested. "Since you expressed interest in learning about the thing that makes me happy, I want to learn about the thing that makes you happy."
"Really?" Lucas asked with a very faint smile on his face as he closed his laptop.
"Yeah, of course." I replied as I smiled back. "Plus, I've always wondered about the kind of work that goes into that kind of thing."
"Well then, if that's the case..." Lucas trailed off as he got out of bed and walked over to his closet. He shuffled through it for a couple of moments before he reterived his camera and tripod. "Let's go learn how to make a movie then."

*****

Lucas led me into the courtyard so that he could use it to give me a lesson. Once we had arrived there, he picked a spot and began setting up his equipment.
"Okay, let's get started." He said to me once he had finished setting everything up. He stepped to the side so that I could now see the camera, which was currently resting on the tripod. "Come stand right next to the camera."
I did exactly what he told me to do and waited for further instruction.
"When it comes to filming, the most important thing is the rule of thirds." Lucas said as he officially started the lesson. "Do you know what that is?"
I shook my head.
"The rule of thirds is basically a grid system that photgraphers and filmmakers use in order to frame a subject." Lucas explained. "However, this grid system is usually imaginary. It's not complicated though. All you have to do is imagine two equally spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines so that the frame is broken up into nine parts."
"I think that I can manage that." I replied as I shrugged.
"Yeah, you might have to really focus on imagining it though," Lucas said. "For a long time while I was learning about cinematography, I had to put a lot of effort into really imagining the grid, but now that I've been doing this for so long, I barely have to think about it before I can fully envision it in my mind." He paused for a moment. "With that being said, do you see that tree over there?" He pointed over to an oak tree that was a quite a ways away from us.
I nodded.
"What I want you to do is position the camera was best as you can using the rule of thirds." He instructed. "If you need help, don't be afraid to ask me."
"Alright." I said as I placed my hands on the camera and began trying to envision the rule of thirds grid in my mind. Just like Lucas had when he was first learning about cinematography, I was struggling to see the grid in my mind. However, after a few moments of focusing, I was able to see it and frame the oak tree to the very best of my ability.
"What do you think?" I asked Lucas after I had finishing framing the oak tree into the camera.
"Let me see." He replied as he took a step so that he was standing behind me. He then placed his hands on top of mine and peered over my shoulder so he could see the camera. I blushed as I felt the warmth of my hands on my own.
"Not bad for your first time." He commented as he made a couple of small adjustments. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that he was blushing as well. "This is really off topic, but your hands... they're really cold. Why is that?"
"Oh, they're cold all the time." I replied as the blush on my face grew.
"That's not good." Lucas said as he frowned a bit. "I guess I'll just have to keep my hands right where they are so that you can have some of their warmth." The blush on his face grew even more as he said this.
"Yeah, I guess so." I blushed more as well. I could feel butterflies in my stomach as we both stayed right where we were, aside from the fact that I had taken my hands off of his camera so that I could "absorb the warmth of his hands better" (AKA I actually wanted to properly hold his hands.) These butterflies only worsened when I felt Lucas rest his head on my shoulder.
"Ellie, can I just say that I care about you a lot?" He asked quietly as he gently squeezed both of my hands. "I care about you. A lot. I've never had a friend as caring, kind, and amazing as you. I've never had a friend who was always there for me if I needed someone in my worst moments, a friend who I could spend hours upon hours talking to on the phone and the time flying by as we did so, and a friend that actually expressed interest in my favorite hobby; making movies."
"I care about you a lot too, Lucas." I replied back just as quietly as I blushed so much that it had more than likely made my face as bright as a tomato. "You're the only person that I've ever had this kind of friendship with, and I don't want it to ever end."
He didn't say anything in response. Instead, he and I just relished in the physical contact that we currently had with each other, and it wasn't until quite some time had gone by before we were finally able to let go of each other.

"So, where were we?" Lucas questioned as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head as he realized that his face was bright red from blushing so much.
"You were evaluating how I framed the oak tree using the rule of thirds," I replied as I felt the warmth that his hands had left behind tingling on my own.
"Oh, yeah, that's right!" He quickly scrambled to get back on track of what we had set out to do in the first place. "Well, going off of that, you wouldn't really have to do much after that if you were filming someone or something and not having them move. However, if you are having them or the object move, you're, obviously, going to have to do a little bit more." He then added, "The next thing that I'm going to teach you is how to properly move the camera while you have a moving subject."
"Okay, I'm ready," I said as I placed my hands back onto the camera.
"Alright, what I'm going to do is I'm going to walk in front of the camera." He explained. "I want you to film me as I walk so that you can an idea and feel for what it's like filming a moving subject." He then walked a few feet away from me and positioned himself so that he was within the frame.
"Are you ready?" He called out to me.
"Yes!" I called back as I gave him a nod.
"Okay, ready... set... go!" He shouted, beginning to walk at a normal pace after he said, "go." I immediately hit the record button and began moving the camera as he walked so that he would stay in the frame. This went on for about ten to fifteen seconds before he stopped walking. When he did so, I hit the record button again and stopped recording.
"Let's see how you did," Lucas said to me once he had walked back over to me.
I didn't say anything as I played back the recording I had just done. I watched Lucas's facial expressions as it played back, feeling pretty good about the attempt I had just made as I did so.
"Again, not bad for your first time." He remarked once the video had ended. "But there's plenty of room for improvement." He then proceeded to give me tips for future filmmaking endeveaors, and I took a mental note of them despite the fact that I had a feeling that I probably never attempt filming after today.

*****

After Lucas was done teaching me the basics of cinetography, he began packing up his equipment so that we could go back up to his dorm.
"Thanks again for showing interest in my passion." He said to me as he continued packing up his equipment. "It felt really nice to teach you everything that I've learned over the years."
"No problem." I replied. "It was the least I could do after you allowed me to give you a piano lesson. Sorry that it took me so long to return the favor though. I've been so busy with school and all the homework that I've had to do that I've just been so unmotivated to do anything lately."
"It's okay." He said as he finished packing up and began heading up to his dorm. I soon followed right beside him. "I completely understand where you're coming from. In fact, I still have times like those."
"Thanks for understanding." I responded as I gave him a kind smile. "Although you always seem to understand."
"That's what best friends do, don't they?" He asked as he smiled back at him.
"Yep, they sure do," I said as we continued walking up to his dorm. "And I'm more lucky than words could ever express to have one of those."
"Me too, Ellie." Lucas replied while we walked inside of the dorm building. "Me too."

~~~~~

"So, how was yesterday?" Dad asked me the next morning when I had sat down next to Lucas and begun eating my breakfast (no, surprisingly enough, it wasn't cereal. Instead, it was pancakes.) "You two got home pretty late last night."
"It was lovely," I replied as a huge smile formed on my face. "We both had a wonderful time."
"That's great to hear." Dad smiled back. "What did you two do yesterday?"
"We went to Hyde Park, The Golden Chippy, and, best of all, the London Eye!" It took every ounce of my self-control to not bounce up and down in my seat as I spoke.
"The London Eye, huh?" Papa questioned as he got involved in the conversation. "You know, Dad and I got married there." He then held up his left hand and showed me the golden ring that was wearing on his ring finger. A moment later, Dad also held up his left hand and showed that he had the same golden ring on the same finger.
"You made a good choice then," I said with a smile.
"Getting married at the London Eye?" I heard Lucas mumble to himself. "That's not a bad idea actually."
"Brainstorming wedding ideas over there, are you?" I teased as I reached over and ruffled his hair.
"Wait, wedding ideas?" Dad questioned as he grabbed my left hand and examined it for a few seconds before letting go of it. "Okay, I was really worried for a second there."
"Lucas and I aren't getting married, don't worry." I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that he had really just looked at my hand to make sure that there wasn't an engagement ring.
Then, I swear I could Lucas mumble, "Not yet," very faintly underneath his breath. However, since I couldn't be one-hundred percent sure about this, I just shrugged it off and didn't say anything.
"Okay, good." Dad let out a sigh of relief. He then quickly added, "Not that I'm saying that because I don't like him or anything, of course. In fact, it's quite the opposite. I think that he's a really good match for you. However, you two are still relatively young and have only been together for just over a year, so marriage isn't really a good idea right now."
I nodded in agreement. "We also couldn't afford a wedding even if we wanted to get married. All of our money's going to university right now, after all."
"Don't you mean college?" Lucas asked teasingly as he lightly punched my shoulder.
"No, I mean university," I replied with a small laugh and then told Dad and Papa that I had taught Lucas a little bit of British English since he made fun of me for saying fish and chips at The Golden Chippy yesterday."
"Well, I mean, it is kinda funny when you say it." Papa shrugged as he gave me a teasing smile. "It's funny when you use any British terms actually."
"Oh yeah?" I asked as I crossed my arms and pretended to be hurt by what he had just said. "And why is that?"
"Because you have an American accent," Papa replied. "I usually don't think that it's funny when other Americans use British terms, but it's hilarious when you say them for some reason."
"Oh, I see how it is," I said with a small smirk. "Well, I think that it's hilarious when you and Dad use American terms."
"Your dad and I hardly know American terms." Papa laughed.
"Exactly." I laughed. "That's why I said that it's hilarious."
"Whatever." Papa smiled as he rolled his eyes. "What are the two lovebirds planning to do on this fine winter day?"
"We're not too sure yet." I shrugged. "What are you two lovebirds planning on doing today?"
"Well, your dad hasn't been feeling motivated enough to put up the Christmas decorations." Papa gave him a slightly annoyed look. "So I think that by you two helping me, he'll actually be motivated to do that."
I looked over at Lucas, who, as always, remained quiet throughout my conversations with Dad and Papa. "What do you think?"
"I wouldn't mind helping." He replied with a shrug. "I think it might be pretty fun actually."
"What do you think, Ellie?" Papa asked me after I had gotten an answer from Lucas.
"Of course I'd love to help out," I said with a smile. "I love Christmas, so I'd love decorating for it."
"That's my girl!" Papa cried out proudly as he gave me a hug. I laughed and hugged him back in response. "Thank goodness you don't feel the same way about Christmas as your dad does."
"Hey, I don't hate Christmas!" Dad immediately started defending himself. "I just... tolerate it, and I'm glad that it only comes around one year."
"There was a time that your dad hated Christmas," Papa said to me as he broke off our hug. "Thankfully, those days are far behind us. The fact that he said that he tolerates Christmas instead of saying that he hates it makes me extremely happy."
"How on earth could you ever hate Christmas, Dad?" I questioned as I tilted my head slightly.
"I have my reasons." He simply stated as he stood up. "But that's not the subject at hand right now since I do believe that we have some Christmas decorating to do."
Papa smiled softly as he stood up as well. "We sure do. I'll start getting some stuff down from the attic."

*****

As we were all decorating, Dad and Papa told Lucas and me stories of the kinds of things that they used to do around this time of year, mainly what they called 'OGDTBCE' or something like that. From what I could gather, this whole thing that was created by Papa was created to get Dad to stop hating Christmas and to help him battle his depression. Well, that's what I think that Papa was getting at, at least. It almost felt like this was a sacred thing between him and Papa and a thing that only they could understand the impact of.
"We even had a Christmas In July once!" Papa exclaimed excitedly. He was apparently so excited that he tossed the tinsel that he had been holding into the air. "Now that was truly one of the greatest times that we had together!"
"You only think that because it ended with us getting married, you big goofball," Dad replied as he grabbed the tinsel that Papa had thrown and began wrapping it around the raven-haired man.
"You call me a goofball, yet you're the one wrapping tinsel around me." Papa pointed out.
"Fair enough." Dad then gave Papa a quick kiss on the lips.
I smiled a bit as I turned to Lucas, who had been quietly sorting out fake tree branches throughout the whole ordeal, and gave him a kiss as well.
"Hey, no PDA!" Dad said to us teasingly.
"Says the one who literally just did the same thing," I replied in the same teasing tone that he had just used.
"Oh, whatever." Dad scoffed as he rolled his eyes, his smile unwavering as he did so.

*****

Eventually, our collective team effort led to the completion of constructing and putting up our Christmas tree, including putting all of the ornaments and tinsel.
Well, it was complete except for one thing; the star.
"Hey Lucas, can you do us a favor and take a picture of this?" Papa asked the dirty blond haired boy as he handed his phone over with the camera app open. "We're going to show you what Dan and I do every single year when the star is the only thing that's remaining."
I immediately knew what they were talking about and braced myself. A moment later, I felt Dad and Papa grab ahold of me and lift me up so that I was able to reach the top of the tree and put the star in its rightful place.

As Dad and Papa held me up, I placed the star on the tree and adjusted it until I knew that it wouldn't fall.
"Okay, I got it," I told them once I was done. Without saying anything, they slowly lifted me back down and gently placed me back down on the ground.
"Thanks," Papa said to Lucas as he took his phone back from him so that he could see the picture that he had taken. A moment later, a smile made its way onto his face. "Aw, this is a really great picture." He then turned his phone to face Dad and me so that we could see the picture.
"You're right." Dad smiled as well in response. "I really like that."
"It's okay I guess." I simply shrugged upon seeing the picture since all it did was remind me of how short I was.
Both of them ignored what I said as Papa reached into one of the boxes of Christmas decorations and pulled out the mistletoe.
"We have to get a picture of this too," Papa said as he ran over to the stairwell and hung the mistletoe just above it, but not before he handed his phone back to Lucas and requested him to take another picture. "Okay, now all of you come over here."
All three of us proceeded to follow his instructions and walk over to where he was at.
"Phil, what the hell are you trying to do?" Dad asked.
"You'll see," Papa said with a smile. He then pointed at me and motioned for me to come towards him. "Come here."
I did what he said and once I was close by him, he gently pushed me so that I was standing directly underneath the mistletoe.
"Stay there." He instructed me. He then pointed to Dad and motioned for him to come towards him as well. "You come here as well."
Dad seemed to understand what Papa was trying to do since he smiled and walked over so that he was on the right side of me and kneeled down.
"Okay, we're ready now," Papa said to Lucas as he stood on the left side of me and kneeled down as well. Then, they both leaned in towards me and kissed me on the cheek. A smile inadvertently formed on my face as I was taken back to the very first Christmas that we had spent together. During that very first Christmas, they had done the same thing that they were doing now, and it made me happy that we recreated not one, but two things that had happened in the past Christmases that we had spent together.

Papa thanked Lucas again as he went over to him so that he could see the picture. When he took a look at it, a even bigger smile formed on his face.
"I like this one too." Just like last time, he turned the phone so that Dad and I could see the picture. But, unlike last time, I actually really liked the picture.
"I also like this one too," Dad replied as he continued to look at the picture.
"Yeah, it's pretty great." I nodded in approval.
Papa was silent for a couple of moments before he said something to Lucas. "I feel bad for making you take pictures of us, so I'll repay you by taking pictures of you and Ellie."
"Okay." Lucas smiled as he took his phone out of his pocket. "I'd like that a lot actually." He then opened the camera app on his phone before he handed it over to Papa and walked over to me. In response, Dad walked over to where Papa was so that he wouldn't be in the way of our pictures.

Probably because I was still standing underneath the mistletoe, Lucas, once he was close enough to me, at least, tucked some pieces of my hair behind my ear before he wrapped his arms around my waist and leaned in towards me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned in towards him as well until our lips met in response. We kissed for a few moments before Lucas slowly pulled away and picked me up bridal style without warning. He then kissed me again, but on the cheek rather than the lips this time. We posed like this for a couple of moments before Lucas carefully set me back down on the ground and hugged me from behind, resting his head on my shoulder and smiling at the camera as he did so.

"Alright, it's time to see the pictures," Lucas said excitedly, clearly having run out of ideas for more pictures. He quickly went over to Papa, thanked him for taking the pictures, and started scrolling through all of them, his smile growing more and more each and every time he scrolled.
"Ellie, come and look at these." He beckoned me to come over to where he was. "They turned out really well."
I went over to him and looked through the pictures as he scrolled through them again and showed me. They did, in fact, turn out really well.
"Yeah, they sure did." I nodded in agreement as I rested my head on his shoulder. "I love them. I love them a lot."

After spending the next minute or so scrolling through all of th pictures again, Papa said that we should get back to decorating since we had gotten distracted by picture taking. We all agreed with his statement (yes, even Dad) and went back over to the various boxes of Christmas decorations.

*****

Once all of the decorating was finally done, I swore that there wasn't a single inch of the flat that didn't have a Christmas decoration on it.
"Phil, when on earth did you buy all of these decorations?" Dad questioned as Papa finished hanging the wreath up on the front door. "I swear that I don't recognize most of these."
"That's because I bought a lot more on sale this year at that Christmas store that I love so much," Papa explained as he closed the front door. "There were so many boxes of Christmas items on clearance. Did you really think that I was going to pass that up?"
Dad sighed. "Our attic only has so much room, you know."
Papa shrugged. "If we run out of space, we can put them in the spare bedroom." His eyes widened with excitement as an idea popped into his head. "We can turn that spare bedroom into a Christmas room so that Christmas can be around every year!"
"Oh God, please no." Dad groaned in response. "I actually go in that room to play piano, you know. The last thing that I want is to be reminded of Christmas when Christmas isn't around the corner."
"But you said that you didn't hate Christmas." Papa pouted.
"Yeah, and I don't." Dad replied. "I told you that I tolerated Christmas, not that I hated it."
"Well, if that's the case, I want a Christmas room." Papa continued to pout. "You know that I've always wanted a Christmas room."
"Yes, I do know that." Dad sighed. "Listen, how about this? I'll let you have a Christmas room when we no longer have enough room in our attic to hold all of our Christmas stuff."
"Really?" Papa's eyes lit up with excitement and the smile he had had while hanging up the wreath on the front door returned.
"Yeah, why not?" Dad said with a shrug.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Papa cried out happily as he pulled Dad into a hug like a child would when their parents gave them what they wanted after incessantly begging.
Lucas and I smiled at each other as we watched the two interact. Honestly, I'd like to think that he and I had just as loving and wonderful of a relationship as Dad and Papa had with each other and I'd like to think that he and I look at each other with an immense amount of love in our eyes as much as Dad and Papa did when they looked at each other, that he and I displayed as much love towards each other as Dad and Papa did, and that he and I made each other as happy as Dad and Papa made each other happy.

*****

Later that day, Dad and Papa suggested that we should all go out to dinner together. I happily agreed to the suggestion after it had been made. Lucas, however, while he had agreed on going out to dinner, he wasn't too happy about it, and he was trying extremely hard to hide that fact since he clearly didn't want Dad and Papa to know about his eating disorder since (well, I was guessing this was the case, at least) he was afraid that he would be judged by them, and the last thing that he wanted was for either one of them to think anything negative about him.
"Where would you guys like to go and eat?" I asked.
"Hm, well, since Dad and I want to treat you to something very nice, we'd like to take the two of you to The Ledbury." Papa replied with a smile.
My mouth dropped wide open when he said this and I was left completely and utterless speechless. Unsurprisingly, Lucas was very confused by my reaction.
"Well, actually, we thought of this ahead of time." Dad stated, chiming in. "A few hours ago, we called and made a reservation for eight thirty."
"B-But..." I trailed off, still quite a bit speechless. "That place is very high end and very expensive."
"Yes, we are very aware of that." Papa's smile was unwavering. "However, we want only the very best for our daughter, so the places that we take her to must be of very high quality."
I smiled brightly as I pulled both of them into a tight hug. "Thank you so much. You guys are the best."
"You don't have to thank us." Dad said as he hugged me back. "We're more than happy to take you to a nice place, especially since we haven't done anything together in two years since you've been off at university."
"I love you both so very much." I said to them as I released my grip on both of them.
"We love you too." Papa replied, his smile still unwavering. "More than you'll ever know."
I smiled brightly as I looked down at my phone in order to check the time. "Well, I suppose that we should start getting ready to go."
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Dad agreed. "By the way, The Ledbury doesn't have a dress code, but I feel like we should dress nice since this place seems like it requires nice attire."
"Alright, we can do that." I turned and began heading upstairs to my room.

"I can't believe your parents are taking us out to eat at a very nice restaurant," Lucas said in absolute disbelief once we had entered my room and I had closed the door behind us.
"I know right?" I nearly jumped up and down because of how excited I was. "It's amazing, isn't it?"
"Um, no." Lucas said in a way that conveyed that I should've known better than to suggest that something like this was anything but dreadful. "Why would it be amazing?"
I sighed, my excitement slowly fading away. "Because we're going somewhere nice with my parents. I know that you're worried about having to eat, but to try to focus on the fact that we get to spend time together."
"Kinda hard to do that when your parents are paying for my meal," Lucas said. "The pressure's on to eat it."
"I believe in you." I gave him an encouraging smile as I placed my hand on his shoulder.
"Thanks." He gave me a very tiny smile back. "That encourgament really helps out a lot actually."
"I'm glad." I continued to give him an encouraging smile. "Try not to worry about it for the time being since we still have to get ready and we don't even have to be there for a couple more hours."
"I'll try." Lucas said with a small sigh. "By the way, I don't exactly have a tuxedo to wear to this restaurant that we're going to."
"That's fine." I shrugged a bit. "Just find your nicest outfit and wear that. Besides, I don't think that my parents are going to wear tuxedos."
"Yeah, I'm going to have to do that." He said as he walked over to his suitcases and bgan searching for an outfit. "I hope that I can find something."
"I'm sure you will," I assured him as I walked over to my closet and began searching for an outfit as well.

*****

Once Lucas and I had gotten changed in my room and in the bathroom respectively (and also once I had done my makeup,) we went downstairs and met up with Dad and Papa, who were both wearing sleek black tuxedos.
"'I don't think that my parents are going to wear tuxedos.'" Lucas teasingly mocked the words that I had spoken only a few moments prior quietly into my ear.
I ignored him as I continued walking down the stairs. Once I reached the bottom, I sparked a conversation with Dad and Papa.
"Wow, you two are fancy." I remarked. "Fancier than I expected actually."
"Well, Dad and I don't get the chance to be fancy all that often, so when the opportunity comes up, we go all out." Papa shrugged like it was a no big deal, and it really wasn't. Well, to me, at least. The same could definitely not be said for Lucas, who was dressed in long sleeve dark blue dress shirt, dark brown dress pants, black loafers, black suspenders, and a yellow bowtie. While I liked his outfit quite a lot, he seemed to think that he was severely underdressed for this upcoming event.

As for me, I had decided that I wanted to be a little daring tonight and wear a long strapless red dress, a bit of jewelry, and my signature eight inch heels.
"You two are quite fancy as well." Dad commented as he studied both of our outfits. "You both honestly look amazing."
"See? I told you that you looked fine." I said to Lucas as I nudged his arm with my elbow.
"Yeah, yeah." Lucas said as he rolled his eyes, a small smile on his face as he did so. "I know what you said."
"Ready to go?" Papa asked us as he pulled his car keys out of his pocket and shook them in front of us.
"Oh, I'm more than ready." I replied as I took ahold of Lucas's hand. "Let's go eat some good food."

*****

After we arrived at The Ledbury and had been seated at our table, we all sat down next to our siginifcant others and waited for the first course of our meal (which was the tasting menu option) along with our wine to be served.
"Ellie, have I mentioned just how happy Papa and I are to have you home for Christmas?" Dad asked me as we waited.
"I think you might have a couple times." I replied with a small laugh.
"Well, Papa and I are really happy to have you home for Christmas." Dad said once again with a huge smile on his face. "The past two Christmases... they just weren't the same without you here."
"And my past two Christmases weren't the same without the two of you." I replied with a smile. "I really am glad that I was able to come home for Christmas this year, especially since I know it's Papa's favorite time of year."
"It sure is." Papa stated proudly. "It has and always will be."

Just then, the waiter came back with our wine and placed a glass in front of each and every one of us. Before any of us had the chance to thank him, he was off to another table. We all simply shrugged it off and grabbed ahold of our wine glasses.
"I propose that we make a toast." Dad stated as he held his glass up. "I would like for us to make a toast to family since we're finally reunited after two long years."
"Cheers!" Papa said happily as he also raised his glass up.
"Cheers!" I echoed, speaking just as happily."
"Cheers..." Lucas reluncatly raised his glass when he realized that we weren't going to make the toast until he had joined it after just awkwardly staring at us for a couple of moments.

After Lucas had put his glass in the air, he, Papa, Dad, and I all bumped each others' glasses, hearing the clink of all of them when we had done so. We then all took a sip of the wine after the toast had been made.
"This wine is amazing," Papa remarked after he had tasted it. "I would dare say that this is one of the best wines that I've ever tasted."
"I can agree with that," Dad said after he had taken more than just a couple of sips of his wine. "I'm definitely going to need more of this at some point, that's for sure."

*****

We all talked amongst ourselves until our first round of food arrived. This course contained (according to the waiter) Chantilly Of Oyster, Tartare Of Sea Bream, and Frozen English Wasabi.
"Oh my God, that looks so unbelievably delicious!" Papa gushed at all the high-end food that was currently sitting at our table. "I need to try this right now!"
Meanwhile, Lucas stared down at his plate of food nervously. I could tell just by looking at him that a million thoughts were racing through his mind right now.
"You don't have to eat all of it," I assured him. "We've got plenty more food coming. Besides, with the amount of food that we'll be getting tonight, none of us could possibly eat it all."
"I'll just take a few bites." He mumbled as he began doing just that. I watched as he managed to put all of his fears aside and eat the food, even though his mind was telling him not to. I smiled proudly as he seemed to enjoy what he had been served. As he and I ate, I couldn't help but think about the fact that Lucas has eaten better in the very little time that we've been in London than he has since the day that I met him. I hoped that he would continue getting better about eating until the day where he could say that his eating disorder was a thing of the past came.

*****

As all of our courses gradually kept getting served to us (our second course contained white beetroot, baked in clay, caviar salt, and smoked eel, our third course was warm bantam's egg, celeriac, Arbois, dried ham, and Caesar mushrooms, our fourth course was red mullet, fennel, and lemon, our fifth course was hen of the woods, potato emulsion, and rosemary, and our sixth and final dinner course was Berkshire muntjac, endive cooked in grilled oil, red leaves, and quince. Thanks to our waiter, I was able to learn the names of the dishes that were periodically sat in front of us.,) Lucas developed a pattern of eating just enough to make it look like he had eaten a lot of the food in question when, in actuality, he had only taken a few bites of it. I was very proud to see him making a conscious effort to nourish himself since his body was in desperate need of it after being deprived for a couple of years.
"This entire meal has been out of this world," Papa commented as he happily enjoyed the final dinner dish. "I can't wait until we get to the dessert."
Dad was also happily enjoying the final dinner dish as he turned to Papa and said, "I hope you know that I'm going straight into a food coma the moment we lay down to go to bed tonight."
"That's completely fine because I am too," Papa replied with a laugh.

*****

Then, after eagerly waiting for what felt like an eternity, Papa got what he had been wanting since stepping foot into this establishment; the dessert course. With brown sugar tart and stem ginger ice cream (though Papa only had the brown sugar tart since he was lactose intolerant,) while it wasn't what he had been expecting, Papa still ended up enjoying it, and so did the rest of us (yes, even Lucas.) In fact, Lucas actually ended up finishing all of his dessert. Not only that, but he had also ended up finishing our fourth dinner course, meaning that he had finished not one, but two different things in the same meal. Needless to say, I was ecstatic about this and extremely proud of him. I made a mental note to myself to tell him this when we got home and started getting ready for bed.
"Okay everyone, let's share what our favorite and least favorite food that we had tonight was," Papa said. He then proceeded to go first. "My favorite was the first course and my least favorite was the fifth course."
"My favorite was the third course and my least favorite was the final course." Dad shared.
"My favorite was also the third course and my least favorite was the dessert." I shared. Papa's eyes widened when I said that the dessert was my least favorite of the night, and I couldn't help but laugh.
"My favorite is a tie between the fourth course and the dessert and my least favorite was the second course." Lucas shared.
"Wow, you all had very interesting opinions," Papa said once we had all shared what he had asked us to share. "I'm honestly surprised by all of your answers. I thought that I had each and every one of us figured out, but I ended up guessing everyone's favorite and least favorite completely wrong."
"Well, I guess that you really don't have us all figured out." Dad laughed.

*****

After the check had arrived, Dad and Papa paid it off and we left the restaurant after they both had placed a tip on the table for the waiter. I happened to glance at the table as we were leaving and saw that they both had left a fifty-pound note, meaning that the waiter had received a very generous tip tonight.

"Thank you for dinner," I said to Dad and Papa as we got into the car so that we could head home. "It was very good."
"Yeah, thank you." Lucas echoed. "We both enjoyed it immensely."
"We're very glad to hear that," Papa said with a smile as he began making the drive home. "Especially since we enjoyed getting to spend time with the two of you."
"We enjoyed spending time with you too," I said with a smile. "It really was quite a fun time."

*****

After Lucas and I had gotten home and changed into our pajamas, we turned off my bedroom light and began getting settled in for the night.
"You know that moment where we had that toast?" Lucas asked as we were laying in my bed all wrapped up in each other's arms. He didn't bother waiting for a response and instead elaborated on his question straight away. "It made me feel really good that I was included in that. Your parents actually called me family."
"They sure did," I said with a faint smile on my face. "And to think only a few days ago you were all nervous that they weren't going to like you."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Lucas replied, a faint smile on his face as well. "I really do feel part of this family, you know."
"That's because you are." I ran my fingers through his hair as I spoke. "Oh yeah, I'm really proud of you for finishing not one, but two parts of your meal tonight. That's absolutely huge. You've been making real progress, you know, and I hope that you only continue to get better and better."
"Yeah, I'm trying to better my eating habits every single day." He gave me a smile that was full of pride. "I'm really glad that you've been noticing my efforts."
"I sure have." I smiled back at him as I continued running my fingers through his hair. "Just keep bettering yourself every single day, okay?"
"Okay." He whispered tiredly as he let out a yawn.
"Why don't we get some sleep, sleepyhead?" I teased, even though I also let out a yawn (which I blame him for since yawns are contagious.)
"I like the sound of that." He whispered as he closed his eyes. "Good night, Ellie."
"Good night, Lucas," I whispered as I closed my eyes as well. Not long after, I felt myself completely drifting off to sleep.

~~~~~