It didn't take long for Lucas and I to run into each other again.

About a week after we had first met, I was getting lunch in between classes when I saw Lucas sitting by himself while clicking and typing away on his laptop. Deciding that I wanted to see what he was up to and have another conversation with him, I walked over to the table he was sitting at and sat down next to him.

Almost as soon as I sat down next to Lucas, he noticed my presence and took out his earbuds as he looked over at me.
"Oh, it's you." He said as he closed his laptop. "How are things going? Has college been treating you nicely thus far?"
"Yes, actually." I replied with a smile. "I've been really enjoying myself, and as an added bonus, the workload hasn't been too bad."
"Give it like a month or two, and you won't be saying that anymore." Lucas said as he shrugged. "Trust me."
"I'm sure that I'll be okay." I shrugged as well. "I'm usually good with managing my schoolwork."
"You know, I said the same thing when I was just starting my first year of college." Lucas stated. "But then, things slowly but surely kept getting more and more overwhelming. These days, I feel like schoolwork is the only thing that I do, but that's probably because I don't really have anything better to do with my time."
"Really?" I asked, surprised to hear this. "You don't have friends that you hang out or family that you go and visit every once in a while?"
Lucas shook his head. "All of my friends went to colleges that were out of state, and I haven't made any new ones since I've been in college because I'm not exactly the best at the whole making friends thing. I don't even know how I managed to make the friends that I have now to be completely honest with you." He paused for a moment before he added, "As for my family, are you referring to my real family or my adoptive family? Because those are two completely different stories."
"Wait, you're adopted?" I was surprised to hear this as well. I didn't even give him a chance to answer before I added, "I am too."
"Are you really?" Lucas mirrored my surprise. "I've never met someone else who was adopted too until just now."
"Me too actually." I paused for a couple of moments before I asked him, "So, if you don't mind me asking, of course, why exactly were you adopted?"
"No, I don't mind you asking at all." Lucas reassured. "When my mom became pregnant with me, she wasn't at all ready to have a child in pretty much any aspect that you can come up with expect for physically. I wouldn't be being one-hundred percent honest with you if I didn't tell you that abortion didn't cross her mind. However, as you can obviously tell, she decided against that option and decided to go through with her pregnancy." He paused, but soon resumed speaking. "The day after I was born, my mom gave me up for adoption to her best friend AKA my foster mother and her husband because she couldn't have children of her own due to reproductive issues." He paused again. "Because my foster mother and my real mother had such a close relationship, I, unlike so many other adopted children, was lucky enough to be able to see my real mother on a semi regular basis and even develop a pretty good relationship throughout the years." He then sighed. "As for my real father, you may have noticed that there's been zero mention of him up until this point. That's because... well, there's really no easy way of saying this, but... I have zero idea who my real father is and neither does my real mother."
Before I could question him, Lucas continued with his story. "This is because... there's really no easy way of saying this either, but... my real mother was drugged and raped by my real father. Since she was knocked out at the time and ended up losing all recollection of the day that she was taken advantage of, my real mother didn't get a chance to see what her abuser looked like and because of that, my real father has been able to get away with the crime, though my real mother has always stated that she's convinced that if she were to ever encounter my real father again, everything from that horrible day would come back to her in an instant and she'd be able to confirm him at the man who sexually abused her."

I was absolutely speechless after Lucas finished telling me his story. I mean, what was I supposed to say to all of that?

Eventually, I just settled with an apology for everything that had happened to him, even though I was fully aware of the fact that it was nowhere near enough.
"No, don't apologize." Lucas replied. "None of this is your fault."
"I know, but I just can't help but feel bad." I told him. "You and your real mother deserve to know who your real father is. However, I will say that it makes me happy to hear that you have a good relationship with your real mother, especially given my circumstances."
"Which are...?" Lucas inquired. "If you also don't mind me asking, of course."
I shook my head. "Nope, I don't mind whatsoever." I then proceeded to tell him everything from how my biological mother passed away after she had given birth to me, how my biological father became an absolute trainwreck and an alcoholic as a result of her death, and how my sister had run away from home after my father's neglect and abuse proved to be too much for her handle, noting that she was still missing to this very day, to how my biological father made the extremely rash decision to move with his girlfriend, whom he hadn't been dating for a very long time when he had made this decision, and then proceed to completely abandon me in the harsh London winter. I also told him everything that led up to Dad and Papa officially adopting me, not sparing him the not-so-happy details that I encountered along the way."

Just like I was when he had finished telling him his adoption story, Lucas was speechless when I finished telling him mine.
"Why the hell did you apologize for the things that happened to me?" He managed to muster out after a few moments of stunned silence. "I had a walk in the park compared to everything that happened to you."
"As I told you before, I apologized because I feel bad that they happened to you." I explained to him. "And, just like you told me moments ago, none of this is your fault."
"Yeah, but-"
"You just can't help but feel bad for me." I didn't bother letting Lucas finish what he was saying since I already knew what it was going to be. "I know, but everything's okay. I have not one, but two parents who love me dearly and have given me everything that my biological parents, mainly regarding my biological father since my mother... well, you know, didn't give me. And even though a lot of my life has been plagued with tragedy, I wouldn't change it for anything in the entire world, and that's because I really don't think that I'd be the person that I am today if all of those things didn't happen to me."
"I suppose the same goes for me." Lucas shrugged. "Though I wish that my biological family wasn't so caught up in stupid drama all the time and instead focused on much more important things."
"I'm sure things will get better." I said in an attempt to reassure him.
"Oh, I highly doubt that." He almost immediately dismissed my reassurance. "They've been feuding pretty much ever since I was born, and they show absolutely no signs of stopping their childish behavior anytime soon." He added, "It's gotten so bad that my biological mother, who is the textbook definition of a meditator, gave up trying to stop all the useless drama years ago."
"Well, um..." I trailed off, trying to figure out what I should say.

After spending a few awkward moments desperately trying to figure out what I should say to attempt to make Lucas feel at least a little bit better, I came to the conclusion that I had no such statement in mind.
"Ellie, it's okay." Thankfully, Lucas filled the awkward void of silence before it got even more awkward. "Really, it's okay. I'm okay. You don't have to say anything in order to try and make me feel better."
I sighed in complete and utter defeat. "B-But I want to. I feel bad that you have to go through all of this stuff and stress out about school at the same time."
"Like I literally just said, I'm okay." Lucas insisted. "I've been dealing with all of these things for years now. I know how to manage all of them all at once, trust me."
"Well, okay, if you say so..." I didn't really believe him, and I made sure that I made that fact obvious to him as I pulled out my phone in order to check the time. Upon checking it, I realized that it was time for me to start heading to my next class. "I have to get going to my next class. Thanks for chatting with me. It was nice."
Lucas also pulled out his phone and checked the time before he responded, "Yeah, I have to get going as well. It was nice chatting with you too."
I gave him a smile before I stood up and began walking away. I didn't get very far before I heard him yell, "Wait!"
"What is it?" I asked, raising my eyebrow as I walked back over to him.
Lucas closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he asked, "Can I give you my phone number? I... I really like talking to you... a lot. I don't really know why, especially since we've known each other for about a week now." He nervously continued, "I honest to God don't even know it is, but I just feel like that I can be myself around you. Like I don't have to hide anything when I'm around you, you know."
Before I had the chance to respond to the question that he asked in the first place, Lucas continued on his little nervous tangent. "It's really weird. I sometimes feel like I have to hide certain stuff around my friends, who I've known for years now, but I don't feel like I have to hide anything around the girl that I met like a week ago." I very briefly thought about interrupting him, but I immediately decided against it because... well, plain and simple, I found it to be absolutely adorable. "For instance, all that stuff that I told you about my family, my friends don't even know half all of all of that stuff I told you about." He tilted his head slightly to the side. "Seriously, I don't know what it is about you. Why do I feel so comfortable being me while I'm around you?"
Suddenly, his eyes widened as he realized that he had gone on quite the tangent. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to ramble like that. Here, let me start over." He cleared his throat. "Ellie, would you be willing to let me give you my number?"
"Yes, of course." I smiled softly as I unlocked my phone, tapped on the contacts app, and handed it to him. "By the way, don't apologize for your rambling. It was really adorable."
Lucas simply blushed in response as he entered his contact information into your phone before handing it back to you. He then pulled out his phone, opened his contacts app, and handed it over.
"Here you go." I said to him once I had given him my number. "Text me anytime you like." I turned and began walking away so that I could head to class for real this time, but not before giving Lucas a smile and a goodbye wave.

~~~~~

"Wait a minute, what?" Lucas asked me in absolute disbelief. "You want me to come to England with you so I can meet your parents?"
"Well, yeah." I shrugged like it was no big deal (which, to me, it wasn't.) "We've been dating for a little over a year now, and I think it's time that they finally get to meet you."
Lucas sighed and shook his head. "I don't think that they'll like me."
"Why do you say that?" I asked him, tilting my head slightly in confusion.
"Because," He sighed again. "You're leagues above me, Ellie. You could've had any guy that you wanted, but yet, you chose me."
"Of course I did." I grabbed ahold of his hand. "The only guy that I want is you."
"But why?" Lucas asked as he slightly squeezed my hand. "I'm... me."
"Exactly." I smiled. "I love everything about you. Everything from your beautiful brown eyes to how smart and kind you are; you are absolutely perfect to me. Lucas Alexander Devereaux, I am so undeniably and unregrettably in love with you, and there's not one person in the world that I want over you."
Lucas blushed as he let go of my hand, tucked some pieces of my hair behind my ear, and pulled me close to them. "It's funny that you say that because Elizabeth Mary Howell-Lester, I am so undeniably and unregrettably in love with you too, and there's also not one person in the world that I want over you."
I winced for a very brief moment because of Lucas using my full name (well, mostly my full first name,) but I quickly ended up blushing as well and smiling so much that it made my face hurt. I then closed my eyes and leaned in towards him, feeling his soft lips meet mine just a moment later.

*****

The next thing that I knew, I was packing my bags so that I could go back to England for a couple of weeks after Lucas left my dorm so that he could pack his as well. I couldn't help but smile excitedly as I did so, mostly because I didn't tell Dad and Papa that I was coming home for Christmas this year since I wanted it to be a surprise. Even though I knew that they didn't really like surprises, I had a feeling that they would like this one, mostly because it was pertaining to me.

*****

After I finished packing, I began looking for plane tickets. As I was doing so, I got a call from Lucas, which I answered right away.
"Hello?"
"Hey..." Lucas trailed off as he let out a sigh. "Listen, I really hate to bother you this late, but I can't sleep. Can you come over and sing me to sleep? I really love it when you do that."
"Yeah, of course." I smiled softly. "Give me about five minutes, and then I'll be over."

I proceeded to put on my heels and grab my phone before I began to head to Lucas's dorm. While I walking there, I couldn't help but think about that fact even though Lucas and I have been together for just over a year, he still hasn't seen just how short I am. That's because I have always kept my heels on whenever he was around. I was fully aware of the fact that it was extremely wrong for me to do this since I wasn't being honest with him, but I just couldn't help myself. My height has (and probably always will be) my biggest insecurity, and I really do hate it when anyone other than Dad and Papa see me without my heels. Besides, Lucas has never once questioned me about the fact that I never take my heels around him, which kinda makes me think that he's also hiding something from me. However, I really don't know what that something would be.
One day. I promised myself. One day, I'll finally get over my insecurity and let Lucas see my real height. However, that day is not today and that day will probably come much later in the future.

Upon arriving at Lucas's dorm, I knocked on the door. A moment later, I heard him telling me to come in, and I promptly followed his request.
"Hello there, beautiful." He greeted me with a soft smile as he sat up on his bed and leaned his back against the bed.
"Hi." I greeted him back with a smile as a faint blush formed on my face. I then walked over to the keyboard, the keyboard that he had bought solely for times like these where he couldn't sleep and needed me to come over and play and sing a couple of songs in order to help him actually fall asleep (along with the infrequent times where I would give him a couple of lessons in playing the keyboard,) and sat down on the chair that was nearby.
"No keyboard tonight." Lucas said to me almost immediately after I had sat down. "Just singing."
Right after he said that, I knew that he was having one of those nights where he was struggling to fall asleep more than usual. "Okay." I nodded as I cleared my throat and began doing my vocal warm-ups.
"No, come here." Lucas beckoned, clearly still not satisfied.
"What is it that you want?" I asked him gently as I walked over to him.
"I want you to cuddle with me as you sing me to sleep." He grabbed ahold of my hand once I was close enough to him. "I mean, if you don't mind doing that, of course."
I was (pleasantly) surprised to hear this. All this time, Lucas had not once asked this of me. It was always either me singing and playing a song or two on the keyboard or me singing a capella, so, while I didn't mind doing the whole sing-to-him-so-that-he-could-fall-asleep thing for him, it was nice to change things up a little bit.
"No, I don't mind at all." I reassured him as I got onto Lucas's bed and laid down next to him. I then felt him wrap his arms around me and pull me close to him.
"It's close to Christmas, so sing me our favorite Christmas song." He whispered as he tucked several strands of my hair behind my ear.
I nodded slightly as I reached up and ran my fingers through his hair and began singing none other than Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. I closed my eyes as I sang to Lucas, feeling him relax more and more as the song went on until, eventually, not only he, but I fell asleep by the time the song ended.

*****

The next morning, I woke up in Lucas's dorm. At first, I was confused as to why I had done so, but I quickly remembered that I had gone over to help him fall asleep, which had succeeded, but it had also put me to sleep until the very next day.
Shit. I thought to myself as I realized what I had done and as I sat up. I'm not even supposed to go over to his dorm past a certain time, let alone spend the night with him in it. How the hell did I manage to fuck up? I've literally never done this until now.

Just then, Lucas began to stir and, just like me, he seemed to be confused as well, but, unlike me, it wasn't because he had woken up in his dorm.
"Ellie?" He questioned groggily as he looked up at me. "You're still here."
"Yeah." I replied, a hint of grogginess in my voice as well. "I accidentally fell asleep after I finished singing to you, and I didn't wake up until a couple of minutes ago."
"Oh, no wonder I slept much better than usual." Lucas said as he smiled softly. "It's because you were here."
"That's sweet and all, but we could've gotten into serious trouble." Even though I was extremely flattered by his comment, I didn't allow it to distract me from the possible consequences he and I could have faced. "I risk a lot every single time I come down to your dorm to help you fall asleep since it's always when you're no longer allowed to have a person of the opposite sex in your dorm. I'm really fucking lucky since the RA hasn't caught me yet. Key word; yet."
"You could've just told me that you didn't like coming over after hours." Lucas frowned. "I would've understood."
I sighed as I came back to my senses. "It's not that I don't like coming over after hours. In fact, I've always agreed to come over without a second thought and always enjoy it. It's just... this is the first time that I've fallen asleep in your dorm, let alone sleeping through the night in your dorm." I sighed again. "I'm just scared of getting caught and getting into trouble. You know how much of goody two shoes that I am."
"Yes, I do know that." Lucas sat up and grabbed ahold of my hand. "But in this case, if you do end up getting caught, the least that they'll do is let you off with a warning since you have no history of being a troublemaker. I promise." He then added, "And if there ever is a time where I ask for you to come over and you don't want to, please don't be afraid to let me know. I swear you won't hurt my feelings by doing so."
"Well, okay, if you say so..." I trailed off, hesitant about everything he had said. I was one of those people where even the mere threat of getting into trouble scared me, so, from now on, I was going to be extra careful during my after hours visits to Lucas's dorm.
"Ellie, everything's fine." Lucas continued to reassure me as he placed his hands on the sides of my face and looked directly into my eyes. "You aren't going to get into trouble, and that's because I'll take the blame if you get caught by the RA because I'm the one who asks you to come over in the first place."
"Yeah, but I'm the one who agrees to come over." I pointed out.
Lucas sighed in defeat. "Fine, how about this?" He didn't bother to wait and see what my response was. "We'll cross that bridge if we ever have to. For now, let's just take solace in the fact that we're here spending time together right now."
"You've got yourself a deal." I smiled as I planted a kiss on his cheek. When I did so, I noticed that there was a small and faint mark on it. It appeared to be a scratch, but since it was fairly faint, it could easily be something else.
"What happened to your cheek?" I questioned him as I pointed to the mark.
Lucas seemed confused at first, but his eyes widened when he realized what I was talking about.
"Oh, that darn thing?" Lucas scoffed nervously. "My dumbass ended up scratching my face so hard that it left that mark."
"You scratched your face with just one of your nails?" I questioned him again. While I knew that some people relieved their itches using only one of their nails, Lucas always used more than one to relieve an itch when he had one. Because of this, if his statement was true, he would've left behind several marks rather than just one. (By the way, yes, I know that I was extremely weird for knowing something like this, but I was one of those people who paid way too much attention to little things about people.)
"Y-Yeah." Lucas stuttered. "W-Why are you so worried about? There's n-nothing to worry about. You worry way t-too much."
"I'm not worried." I shrugged. "I was just simply asking what happened to your cheek."
"Well, nothing h-happened to my cheek." Lucas stuttered again as he got out of bed.
"Why are you acting so weird?" I raised my eyebrow in suspicion.
"Me? Acting weird?" Lucas awkwardly laughed as he began heading towards the bathroom. "No way. Maybe you're the one who's acting weird."
"No, I'm pretty sure that it's you." I shook my head in disagreement. "You seem like you're hiding something, Lucas."
"Says the girl who never takes her shoes off." He almost immediately fired back. "Her heels nonetheless. Who's to say that you aren't hiding something?"
I didn't say anything since it was true that I was hiding something, and that something was my height, my one and only insecurity.

Before I could even begin to try and formulate a response, Lucas disappeared into the bathroom and closed and locked the door behind him.
I sighed softly as I pulled out my phone and began looking for plane tickets again. I had planned on finding and ordering them last night, but as we all know by now, I had gone over to Lucas's dorm in order to help him fall asleep and ended up accidentally falling asleep as well.

As I scrolled through all of the options that I had, I heard the bathroom door unlock and creak open slowly. As it did so, I spotted Lucas emerging from the bathroom. He left the door slightly ajar and walked over to the bed before he sat down next to me and let out a heavy sigh.
"Sorry for my outburst earlier." He apologized. "I just... there's a couple of things that happened in the past that I'd rather not talk about."
"It's okay." I put my phone face down on the bed and looked over at him as I accepted his apology. "I completely understand that. For the longest time, I didn't like talking about my past either. It took me so long to finally be able to openly talk about it."
"Thank you for understanding." Lucas gave me a soft smile. He then wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close to him. "God, I am so unbelievably lucky to have you."
"You know, I could say the same about you." I smiled back at him as I rested his head on his shoulder and looked up at him. When I did so, I noticed that the mark on his cheek was completely gone.
"Hey, the mark on your cheek is gone." I immediately became suspicious of him again, especially since he had locked the door behind him when he had gone to the bathroom.
Lucas sighed, clearly annoyed by my statement. "We're not talking about this anymore, Ellie."
"Fine." I grumbled in annoyance as I picked my phone up and looked for plane tickets yet again. This time around, however, I was determined to not let anything else distract me until I got the tickets once and for all.

*****

"Alright, so, we leave for England in three days." I informed Lucas once I had bought our plane tickets once and for all. "Have you started packing yet?"
"No, not really." He responded. "Have you?"
"Yeah, I'm actually completely done with packing." When his eyes widened in surprise, I explained, "I'm one of those people where I have to do all of my packing at once or else it'll never get done."
"Ah, I see." Lucas nodded in understanding. "Well, I'll be all packed up and ready to go in three days' time, don't worry."
"I hope that you would be." I laughed a little. "Otherwise, we'd have to leave your stuff behind so that we wouldn't miss our flight."
"Wow, I see how it is." Lucas laughed a little as well. "You'd sacrifice me not having my stuff in order to catch our flight in time, even though I should've been prepared to begin with since you gave me three days to get my shit together?"
"Yeah, pretty much." I laughed again. "Don't worry, if my parents like you, I'm sure they'll let you borrow some of their clothes."
That's when Lucas's smile turned into a frown. "If they like me? Are you saying that even you're uncertain about whether or not your parents will like me?"
"No, no, that's not what I meant!" I reassured him. "I was just messing around. I think that they'll like you quite a lot."
"Well, I don't think that they'll like me a lot." Lucas sighed. "In fact, I don't think that they'll like me at all. I mean, look at me." He motioned to his body. "I'm so frail and skinny. A gust of wind that's strong enough could probably get the best of me."
"So the only reason that you think that my parents won't like you is because of your appearance?"
"No, it's not the only reason." Lucas shook his head. "But it's definitely one of the main reasons."
"In that case, I can confidently assure you that they won't care about your appearance." I smiled in order to attempt to reassure him a bit more. "They won't care about what you look like. They'll care about who you are as a person. That's why I'm so certain that they'll totally love you."
"I sure hope they do." Lucas sighed again. "I don't want to have to break things off with you if they end up not liking me because I really, really want to be with you, Ellie."
In response, I placed my hand on the side of his face, made direct eye contact with him, and said, "Even if the extremely slim outcome of them not liking you occurs, I'm still going to want to be with you too, and that's because they'd be wrong for disliking you. You're incredible in so many different ways, and my parents would be unbelievably blind if they wouldn't be able to see it."
Lucas didn't say anything. Instead, he grabbed ahold of the hand that I had on the side of his face along with my other hand and placed both of them on his neck. He then wrapped his own arms around me and rested his head on my shoulder.
"Thank you." He whispered as I kept my arms wrapped around my neck.
"For what?" I whispered back.
"For seeing the good qualities in me when no one else could, even myself." He responded as he tightened his grip on me.
"You don't have to thank me for that." I told him as I began rubbing his back. "I always try to find the good qualities in people." I allowed a few moments to pass before I asked, "Are you hungry? Because I am. I'm more than ready to get some lunch."
"You should already know the answer to that question." Lucas simply responded.
I let out a sigh. "Lucas, can't you at least eat a little something?"
"I mean, yes, of course I can because I'm perfectly capable of doing so." He replied. "But I have zero desire to do so."
"Can you do it for me then?" I begged. "I won't make you eat a lot; just a little something."
He didn't respond.
"Please." I begged again. "I really don't want you to go to the emergency room because you didn't eat anything for a little over a month again."
Lucas let out a sigh of annoyance. "I'm really not-"
"Yes, you are!" I insisted, not bothering to allow him to finish what he was going to say since I already knew what it was going to be. "I've heard your stomach growling on a few occasions, so I know that you're hungry, but you choose to ignore it!" I could feel tears forming in my eyes as I begged him one last time. "Please. I just want you to eat something, even if it isn't a full meal. Can you do that for me?"
Lucas lifted his head up and his expression told me that he ready to snap at me. However, he saw the tears that threatened to spill from my eyes at any second and his expression softened as a result. He stared at me for a couple of moments before he finally responded.
"Fine, I'll eat a little something." He sighed as he finally caved into my begging. "A little something though."
That was when the tears that had been forming in my eyes finally spilled out and quickly rolled down my cheeks. That was also when I gave Lucas the biggest hug that I've given him in quite a while.
"Thank you." My voice cracked as I said this to him. "You have no idea how much that means to me."

It took me a few moments before I was finally able to pry myself away from Lucas.
"I know that eating is really difficult for you and it's a battle that you have to fight every single day, but we can get through this together, I promise. We just have to take things one day at a time."
Lucas smiled brightly and stood up as he replied, "Well, in that case, let's go out onto the battlefield then." He then held out his hand towards me.
I happily placed my hand in his and allowed him to gently pull me down off the bed. "Sounds like a plan."

With that in mind, after I quickly brushed my hair, Lucas and I grabbed everything that we needed and then headed out to face today's battle.

~~~~~