After Lucas and I exchanged numbers, we constantly texted each other. There were even times where we would secretly text each other during class, especially when our professors were giving us lectures.

I found it to be remarkably strange that I was always wanting to talk to Lucas. While I had had many friends back home in England, I never talked to any of them as much as I talked to Lucas. The two of us hadn't even known each other for a month, but we were basically best friends at this point.

"Hi there!" I happily greeted Lucas as I sat down next to him after I had gotten my lunch.
"Hi!" He greeted back just as happily and removed his earbuds from his ears.  As always, he had his laptop with him and appeared to be working on his latest film project. "How are you?"
"I'm great!" He replied as he saved his progress on his project and closed his laptop. "How are you?"
"I'm great too." I smiled in response. However, my smile quickly faded away when I noticed that he still didn't have any food with him yet again.

Over these past two weeks, I've been noticing that Lucas never has any food with him when we're hanging out during lunchtime. He only ever has his backpack, his laptop, his phone, and his earbuds. And over these past two weeks, I haven't said anything about the lack of food. However, my concern for him grew every single day, and I just couldn't bear staying silent about it any longer.
"Hey, I've been noticing this over the past couple of weeks that you never have any food with you during lunchtime." I finally expressed my concern to him. "Why is that?"
Lucas's smile, just like mine had a few moments prior, faded away as well. "U-Um..." He trailed off nervously. "W-Well, I'm not all too hungry during this time, you see. That's why I w-wait until all of m-my classes are d-done for the day before I a-actually eat something."
I didn't believe him when he said this, especially since he sounded uncertain about his own statement. If he was telling the truth, he more than likely wouldn't have stuttered while telling me what he had just told me. Plus, his extremely skinny and frail figure gave me the impression that there was something going on.
"Really? Is that so?" I raised my eyebrow and made it abundantly clear that I didn't believe the explanation that he had given me for why he never had any food with him.
"Y-Yeah, of course." Lucas's anxiety grew, obviously not expecting me to catch on to the fact that he had just come up with something on the spot and hoped that I would believe him. "W-Why? Do you t-think that I'm l-lying or something?"
"Actually, yes. Yes, I do." I replied as I nodded.
"Well, I'm not l-lying." Lucas continued to assert his statement was true as he ran his fingers through his hair. "I would n-never lie a-about such a thing l-like this."
"Why are you so nervous then?" I raised my eyebrow once more, determined to keep questioning him until he caved in and told me the truth.
Lucas sighed, making me believe that I had already succeeded in the goal I had just set. However, as his statement was about to reveal, I had only partially succeeded.
"Listen, the real reason is classified information." He said. "It's very personal matters that I'd really rather not talk about." He quickly added, "But I really appreciate your concern. Really, I do. No one's looked out for me like you have, not even my own family."
"It's no problem." I gave him a kind smile. "I just want to make sure that you're okay, that's all."
"Thank you. That means a lot." He smiled back. "It really does."
"Really, it's no problem." I insisted. "Even though we haven't known each other for all that long, I still want to look out for you, and I want you to know that if you ever have anything that's troubling you, you can come talk to me. I'm always willing to listen."
"And the same goes for you." His smile grew, but it quickly disappeared and got replaced with a frown. "Although I'm not too sure how much help I'd be."
"Don't say that." I placed a hand on his shoulder as I reassured him. "I'm sure that you'd be plenty of help. After all, it's always nice to have someone to talk to if you're feeling down in the dumps."
"I mean, yeah, I suppose." Lucas's smile slowly started to return. He paused for a moment before he spoke again. "But anyway, enough about all of this sad stuff. Let's talk about happier things."
"Okay." I agreed as I gave him a tiny smile and removed my hand from his shoulder. "What would you like to talk about?"
He shrugged. "Anything really. As long as it isn't negative, of course."
"Hm, well, my piano teacher gave us an assignment to write a song today." I opened up my backpack and pulled out the sheet music that my piano professor had provided us for the assignment. "She said that we had to write about something that we've never experienced before, and we have to express how we think it feels to experience whatever it is that we chose in the form of a song."
"Oh wow, that's actually really creative." Lucas's smile grew ever so slightly. "Have you decided on what you're going to write about?"
I nodded. "I've decided that I'm going to write about falling in love."
"You've never fallen in love?" Lucas seemed surprised by the subject matter that I had chosen.
I shook my head. "I've had a couple of crushes here and there that never ended up becoming anything more and, of course, me being as young as I was, I thought that that was what falling in love was like. But then I got older and realized that they were just dumb and insignificant crushes."
"Ah, I see." Lucas nodded in understanding. "Well, the same goes for me then."
I nodded as well. "I have a little bit of an idea on what I want it to sound like."
"Well, if you don't mind, that is, would you mind playing it for it sometime after you finish writing it?" Lucas requested. "I'd love to hear what you come up with."
"Yeah, of course." I replied with a grin. "I would love to."
"Great!" Lucas grinned back. "I can't wait to hear it!"
"And I can't wait for you to hear it." My grin widened. "Now, what about you? You're always working on something whenever we're here. Is it a project for your major?"
"Usually, yes." Lucas replied. "However, lately I've been working on a personal project in my spare time."
My curiosity piqued even more when he said this. "Is that so? What exactly is this personal project?"
"It's kinda like the assignment that your piano professor gave you." Lucas explained. "Except I'm making a short film about something that I've actually experienced and instead of expressing this something in the form of a song, I'm, obviously, expressing it in the form of a film."
"That's very cool." I said. "I always like it when different mediums are used to portray something. If you don't mind me asking, what is the subject matter that you're using for your short film?"
"I would tell you, but that wouldn't be talking about happy things." Lucas replied. "Well, actually, even if that wasn't the case, I still wouldn't tell you since it's extremely personal."
"Ah, I see." I gave him a nod of understanding. "That's totally fine. I don't want you to talk about something that makes you uncomfortable."
"God, you're so understanding." Lucas replied. "I don't think that I've ever met someone that's as understanding as you are."
"And I don't think that I've ever met someone as interesting as you are."
He was taken back by his words quite a bit. "You think that I'm... interesting?"
"Of course I do." I replied. "I've never met someone that was interested in filmmaking. I've also never met someone that was an unique as you. Unique in a good way, of course."
"Wow, you really think that?" He was still taken back.
I nodded.
"Thank you so much. That means a lot." He smiled gratefully. "Right back at you, by the way. I always enjoy meeting someone that's musically talented, especially since I'll never be."
"You shouldn't say that." I advised him. "Until I was taught by one of my dads, I thought the same thing."
"I just don't have the patience to learn, you know." Lucas shrugged. "The passion for it isn't there either. Probably because all of my passion is in filmmaking."
"That's fair." I shrugged as well. "Learning how to play an instrument is an extremely tedious process, but it's very much worth it in my opinion."
"I'm sure." Lucas shrugged again. "Anything you're passionate about is worth learning."
"Fair enough." I said. I then checked the time on my phone and realized that it was time for me to start heading to my next class. "Well, I've got to get going to my next class. It was nice talking to you as always."
"Nice talking to you too." Lucas replied. "I'll text you later."
"Alright, I'll be waiting." I smiled softly as I stood up and placed my sheet music back into my backpack before I zipped it shut and slung it over my back. "See you soon."
"See you." Lucas waved goodbye as he opened his laptop back up and placed his earbuds back into his ears.
I gave him one last smile and wave goodbye to him as well before I walked over and began heading to my next class.

*****

Later that day, Lucas texted me like he had promised.

Hey, what's up?
Nothing much. What's up with you?
I'm taking a break from the boatload of homework that I have before my brain explodes.
Oh, I just finished all of my homework...
So that means that you've finished writing the song for the project that your piano professor gave you?
Okay, maybe not all of my homework. I've made some progress on it at least.
That's good. Don't be like me and get all of your assignments as quickly and as early as possible. As a cinematography major, there's nothing worse than putting off a film project and cramming it at the very last possible second.
I did that with an assignment for my major once. I will never do it again.
I always say that, but I always end up doing it again. I'm just way too good at putting things off, I guess.
That's not really a good habit to have.
Yeah, I know. I'm sure that I'll change one day.

As I was typing my response, I got a call from Lucas. I answered it while feeling a bit confused.
"Hello?"
"Hey." Lucas said in response. "I'm just calling you because I wanted to hear your voice. I don't really know why so don't ask."
"Oh, um, okay." I shrugged. "I know that I saw you earlier today, but how's life?"
"Quite well actually." He said. "How's life going for you?"
"It's going quite well for me too."
"Good. I'm glad to hear that." He paused for a few seconds. "You know, I really enjoy having you around, Ellie. Your company is very much appreciated."
"I really enjoy having you around as well, Lucas." I felt the faintest blush creeping onto my face. "You make the college life just a little bit more bearable."
"As do you."

Lucas and I proceeded to spend the rest of the night talking to each other, even when we were both drifting off to sleep. In fact, when I woke up the next morning, I saw that neither of us had ended the call. I smiled at this, as I knew that this was a sign of a blossoming friendship.

~~~~~

Three days later, it was time. It was time for me to go back to England for the first time in two years, and I was very excited despite the fact that I had purposely gotten as little sleep as possible so that I could sleep through a good portion of the flight. Since my relationship with Lucas and my coursework kept me busy, I didn't talk to Dad and/or Papa very often.

Speaking of Dad and Papa, I was more than ready to see how they were going to react to me coming home. I was also more than ready to see them in person again since, even though I usually didn't want to admit it, there were times where I missed them really badly.

With my bags dragging behind me, I approached Lucas's door and knocked on it. A moment later, the door opened to reveal Lucas, who also had his bags dragging behind him.
"That was fast."
"I was just about to walk out the door when you knocked." He shrugged in response. "You had impeccable timing."
"I guess so." I chuckled. "So, I'm guessing that you're ready to go?"
"Yep, sure am." Lucas nodded as he stepped onto the hallway and closed and locked the door behind him.
"Alright, let's go then."

*****

Once Lucas and got onto the plane, he started to exhibit signs of anxiety, especially when an announcement that we would be taking off in ten minutes was made over the intercom.
"What's wrong?" I asked him as we took our seats.
"I've never been on a plane before." He responded and sighed. "I honestly thought that I was going to be okay until just now. Up until this point, I haven't felt anxious, and I don't understand why."
"Well, I'm here for you if you need anything," I assured him as I grabbed ahold of his hand. "If it makes you feel any better, I've been on a plane before and I still get anxious during takeoff and landing."
Lucas simply shrugged in response.
"It'll be okay." I continued to try and assure him as I squeezed his hand. "As I said, I'm here for you if you need anything."
"I know, I know." Panic was still prevalent in his voice. "I'm sure everything's going to be okay and that I'm just worrying way too much like always."

*****

When it was time for takeoff, both Lucas and I panicked. We ended up squeezing each other's hands so tightly that our knuckles turned a ghostly white, and we kept this up until we both knew that we were in the clear.
"Wow, you weren't kidding." Lucas chuckled slightly when we had both vanquished our fears and nerves. "I almost think that you were more nervous than I was."
"I told you." I chuckled slightly as well. "And to think that you didn't believe me."
"I never said that." He chuckled again. "But I will admit that I was doubting you a little bit."
"And why is that?" I asked curiously.
"I don't know." He shrugged. "You just seem so confident all the time. I figured that nothing scared you."
"That's not the case at all," I replied. "Everyone is afraid of something, Lucas."
"What are you afraid of then?"
I tensed up when he asked this. That was because my fear pertained to the secret that I was keeping from him; my real height. I was afraid of being made fun of for it, hence why I hid it by wearing high heels and not allowing anyone except Dad and Papa to see it.
"That's classified information," I replied, not ready to tell him the truth just yet.
"Oh, come on." Lucas pouted. "Why can't you tell me?"
"Because I don't want to." I was hoping that he would just give up and drop it, even though I had tried to pry into his personal matters a few days ago after I spotted a faint scratch on his cheek and suspected him of hiding something because of his odd behavior after I questioned how he had obtained the scratch.
"You know, you suspected me of hiding something just the other day, but I'm starting to think that you actually are the one that's hiding something." Lucas crossed his arms as he gave me a suspicious look.
"Oh, is that so?" For the most part, I was able to hide my nervousness, but, much to my dismay, some of it managed to slip through the cracks. "If I really am hiding something, what evidence do you have to suspect that I am other than my current behavior?" I immediately regretted asking this since I knew what he was going to say, especially since he had brought it up when I had accused him of hiding something the other day.
"The fact that you've never once taken your shoes off when you've been around me." Unsurprisingly, Lucas brought this point up right away. "Not just any shoes either. Heels."
I sighed softly as I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out my phone and earbuds. "Well, looks like we're both hiding something from each other. Although, isn't it pretty obvious what I'm hiding from you?"
He didn't say anything as I placed my earbuds into my ears, confirming that he was indeed hiding something from me. I sighed as I started listening to songs from the playlist that we had made together. These songs were songs that reminded us of each other, and we usually listened to them together. This time around, however, I opted to just listen to the playlist by myself since Lucas and I needed some time to rationalize our thoughts.

*****

About an hour and a half later, just as I was about to fall asleep, I felt a tap on my right shoulder. I looked to the right and saw Lucas, taking one of my earbuds out of my ear as I did so.
"What is it?" I asked him calmly so that I wouldn't end up instigating more bickering.
"I'm really bored." He responded. "I've also calmed down from what happened earlier."
"I have as well." I held the earbud I had just taken out of my ear out towards him. "Wanna listen to our playlist with me?"
"Yeah, I would love to." He smiled, accepting my offer and placing the earbud in his ear.
I smiled back as I rested my head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around me in response, which made my smile widen.

*****

Getting as little sleep as possible the night before worked me in my favor since I ended up sleeping through almost the entire rest of the flight, which was what I was hoping to do. However, unlike when I had arrived at Lucas's dorm, my timing was anything but impeccable since I woke up right as we were landing.

I looked over at Lucas as I lifted my head up from his shoulder. He had ended up falling asleep too. In fact, much to my surprise, he was still sleeping. I was fairly certain that he would freak out about landing as he had with takeoff and wake me up so that I could calm him down.

Nonetheless, I waited until the plane had landed and an announcement that we had made it to London had been made until I began trying to wake Lucas up.
"Hey, we're here," I told him as I lightly tapped him on the shoulder.
"What? Really?" He mumbled groggily as he slowly sat up and began stretching. "Did I really sleep through the landing?"
"Yep, you sure did." I got up and began stretching as well while I waited for the perfect moment to get onto the walkway so that Lucas and I could get off the plane. "I'm really surprised that you did, especially since this was your first time being on a plane."
"Yeah, me too." Lucas stood up as well and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "But I'm not complaining. That means that I had one less moment where I had to deal with my anxiety."
"You're right." I smiled softly as I grabbed ahold of Lucas's hand and quickly pulled him onto the walkway before I lost the opportunity to do so and had to wait for God knows how long for another one. "Hey, I have to call my parents and make sure that they're home. While I'm doing that, could you find our stuff and separate it into two piles? I'll come and get my stuff once I finish making the phone call. "
"Of course," Lucas replied as we walked into the London airport.
"Thank you." I planted a kiss on his cheek before I went to find a nearby seat to sit on while I made my phone call. "You're the best."

After spending a couple of moments debating on whether I should call Dad or Papa, I decided that Dad should be the one that I call, especially since Papa was much more likely to catch on to the surprise than Dad was.

Thankfully, Dad answered my call after just a couple of rings.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Dad!" I could barely contain my excitement and was smiling like an idiot. "How are you doing?"
"Quite well." I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was smiling as well, but not nearly as much as I was, of course. "Papa and I just got back from doing some last minute Christmas shopping."
"That's awesome." It took every ounce of my self-control to not blurt out the fact that I was in London right now. "We haven't talked in a while and I've really missed you guys. So, if it's okay with you, I'd like to do a Skype call with you and Papa so that we can catch each other up on our lives once I finish up this last little bit of homework that I have."
"Okay, yeah, that sounds lovely." My smile, somehow, widened as he fell right into my trap. "Just give us a call on there once you finish your homework up."
"I will," I promised him, even though that wasn't at all what I was going to do. "Bye, Dad. I love you."
"I love you too, Ellie."
"Tell Papa that I said, 'I love you.'" I requested.
"I'll be sure to," Dad promised. "Talk to you in a little bit."
I ended the call and nearly jumped up into the air because of how excited I was. They literally had zero idea that I was here and going to be at their house in, ideally, at least, less than half of an hour.

"Did you manage to get ahold of them?" Lucas asked me when I walked over to him in order to retrieve my luggage.
"Yep, sure did," I replied as I approached the pile that contained all of my bags. "They don't suspect a thing. They think that I'm going to call them on Skype because I told them that I wanted to talk to them there after I was finished doing my homework."
"That's genius." Lucas smiled briefly. His smile quickly turned into a frown when he added, "The time for me to meet them is really close now."
I couldn't help but sigh. "Lucas, how many times do I have to tell you that there's nothing to worry about? My parents are going to absolutely adore you."
"I know, I know, but I just can't help but worry." He sighed as well. "You know how I am. I worry about pretty much everything."
"I know you do." I placed my hands on his shoulders. "But this is something that you don't have to worry about because everything's going to be okay. I'm sure of it."
"How sure?"
"This sure." I then proceeded to give him a quick kiss on the lips.
"Okay, I guess I can believe you." He had a slight blush on his face. A moment later, his phone buzzed. He quickly took it out of his pocket and looked at it for a couple of seconds before saying, "Oh yeah, while you were on the phone, I took the liberty of calling a taxi to come pick us up and take us to your parents' house. You'll have to give the driver the address when we get inside since I don't know what it is."
"Okay, that's fine." I nodded. "Are they here now?"
"Yeah."
"Alright, well, let's get going then." I gathered up my luggage and walked out of the airport in record time. I had no idea how to properly express just how excited I was. I was hoping that this taxi drive went by quickly since I didn't know how much longer I could bear hiding the surprise.

*****

Thankfully, London traffic took mercy on us tonight and Lucas and I managed to make it to my parents' house in the amount of time that we would've liked. We quickly paid the taxi driver and got our luggage out of the trunk as quickly as possible, moving quicker than usual since it was extremely cold.

I instructed Lucas to wait by the porch steps until I told him that he could come in as I gently set my stuff down and climbed up the steps. I then walked up to the door, took a deep breath, and rang the doorbell.

A couple of moments after I rang the doorbell, I heard the door unlock and open. Just then, I saw Dad standing in the doorway.
"E-Ellie?" He blinked a few times as he looked me over, probably thinking that he was hallucinating or something along those lines. "Is... is that you?"
"Of course it is, Dad." I gave him a warm smile, a smile that was much warmer than the frigid breeze and snowfall outside.
He didn't say anything at first. He just looked me over again and blinked a few more times.
"Phil, get down here right now!" He looked away from me as he called out for Papa.
"What is it, Dan?" Papa questioned when he arrived at the door a moment later.
Dad stepped out of the doorway and pointed to me in response to his question.
Papa took a couple of steps forward so that he could get a better look and gasped excitedly when he saw me. Without saying anything, he stepped outside and hugged me tightly. I hugged him back right away.
"So, this is real, right?" Dad questioned Papa as Papa continued to embrace me.
"Of course it is!" Papa exclaimed like he couldn't believe that Dad doubted the fact that I was actually here to begin with. "Now, get over here and join in on the hug!"
Dad quickly obliged and I felt his arms wrap around me.

Dad, Papa, and I silently stayed in our group hug for a couple of minutes before I broke it up because I felt bad that Lucas was currently just standing awkwardly in the cold with all of our luggage.
"There's someone that I would like for you two to meet." I didn't wait for their response and stepped to the side so that they could see Lucas (not that it would've been necessary. Because of their heights of six foot two and six foot three respectively, they would've spotted him easily had they not gotten distracted by me. Plus, at five foot eleven, Lucas was nearly as tall as they were, making him even harder to miss.)
"Dad, Papa, this is Lucas." I motioned over to the dirty blond haired boy that I cherished dearly. "He's my boyfriend."
"What?" Dad and Papa blurted out at the exact same time.
"Yes, you heard that right." I smiled proudly as I walked over to Lucas. I then placed his hand in mine and held it tightly. "We've been together for a little over a year now, and I've loved every single second of it. This boy right here means a lot to me. He's been there for me unconditionally from the very beginning, and we're very happy together. I hope that you both can understand where I'm coming from."
They were both dead silent for a couple of moments before Dad broke the awkward silence that filled the air.
"Let's talk about this inside." He simply said.
My heart sank into the pit of my stomach. Did he and Papa really not like Lucas?

I sighed as I mumbled, "Grab your stuff and take it inside," to Lucas as I grabbed all of my bags and began taking them inside. My heart skipped a beat as I nearly slipped on one of the steps due to the fact that I was carrying a ton of bags and wearing heels. Thankfully, I was able to catch my balance before I faceplanted into either my luggage or the concrete of the porch.

I let out a few heavy breaths as I set my stuff down in the lounge. The weight of my luggage and the cold had really worn me down. It appeared to have the same effect on Lucas, who was also breathing heavily.
"Both of you come and have a seat on the couch," Dad said nonchalantly as if he hadn't just implied that he didn't like the fact that I had a boyfriend, let alone the fact that I had brought him back to London with me.
Lucas and I gave each other worried looks as he removed his snow-covered shoes. Meanwhile, mine, of course, stayed on, despite the fact that the snow that had gotten onto my leggings was making my feet even colder.

"Good, we're finally out of the cold," Dad remarked as Lucas and I sat down next to each other on the couch.
A moment passed before I questioned him. "Wait a minute, you just wanted us to get out of the cold?"
"Well, yeah, of course I did," Dad replied, his tone making it seem like he was shocked that I didn't know that that was what he had meant in the first place. "It's cold as hell out there. I didn't want to make the two of you stand out there any longer than you had to."
I let out a huge sigh of relief. "The way you told us to come inside made it seem like you didn't like my boyfriend."
"I never said that I liked your boyfriend," Dad replied with the same tone that he had used while we were outside. He quickly smiled and added, "I'm just messing with you. I wanted you two to come inside so that we could properly meet each other." He then looked over at Lucas and extended his hand towards him. "It's good to meet you, Lucas."
"Good to meet you too." Lucas smiled shyly as he shook Dad's hand.
"Phil, you've been awfully quiet." Dad remarked as he looked over at Papa. "Come introduce yourself to our daughter's boyfriend, would you?" He laughed.
"Shut up, Dan." Papa laughed as well and lightly punched Dad on the shoulder before he also extended his hand to Lucas.
"Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too." Again, Lucas smiled shyly and shook Papa's hand.

"So, tell us about yourself, Lucas," Dad said to my dirty blond haired and brown eyed boyfriend.
"Well, I like to make movies," Lucas began. "That's why I'm currently majoring in cinematography at our college. I also like watching movies, obviously." He paused for a moment. "Let's see... I've never been outside the United States until I made this trip to London, I was born right in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and..." He paused again, but for a few moments this time around. "I don't have a third thing. There's really not that much to me."
"I'm sure that's not true," Dad said. "I mean if that was the case, Ellie wouldn't call you hers, trust me. She's a very special girl that only involves herself with people that are special too."
"See? I've told you in the past that you're incredible." I smiled as I wrapped my arm around his shoulder. "Now that you've heard it straight from my dad, maybe you'll actually believe me."
"Maybe," Lucas replied with a small smile and faint blush on his face. "Just maybe."

A couple of moments went by before Papa broke it by saying, "Well, I'm sure the two of you are tired from traveling all day, so we won't bother you anymore and let you get some rest."
"Actually, Lucas and I slept through the majority of our flight, so we're pretty much wide awake at the moment." I laughed a little. "I know it was a bad idea, especially since London is five hours ahead of Winston-Salem and we have to get used to that for the next couple of weeks, but we just couldn't help ourselves. There was no way that we were going to be able to entertain ourselves for nearly eight hours."
"Wait a minute, you're saying for a couple of weeks?" Papa asked as he raised his eyebrow.
"Oh, yeah, that's what we planned on." I frowned, hoping that he and Dad were okay with this. "We both packed enough to stay for a couple of weeks, but if you want us to leave sooner, we can."
"No, no, it's totally fine if you would like to stay that long!" Papa quickly reassured me. "It's just the fact that your arrival was a complete and utter surprise to your dad and me, and now you've managed to surprise us even more by telling us that you'll be staying here for two weeks."
"That was the plan all along, Papa." I laughed again. "This surprise has been in the works for a few months now since my college workload has finally lightened up a little bit."
"Well, I would be thrilled if you surprised your dad and I like this more often." Papa smiled brightly as he stood up, walked over to me, and gave me another hug. "Words can't even properly express how happy I am to have you here during my favorite time of year."
"I'm happy to be here too." I happily hugged him back. "I've missed you guys so much."
"And we've missed you too, Ellie." Dad chimed in. "It's so quiet without you being around anymore. You filled a void that we never knew existed in our lives until we met you, and ever since you've been an entire ocean away from us, that void has returned and it has gotten bigger and bigger each and every passing day."
"Dad, stop. You're going to make me cry." I smiled as I hugged him tighter.

It took quite some time before I was able to pry myself away from Dad.
"Enough about me. Let's talk about you and Papa." I said as I looked between the two of them. "How have you two been?"
Dad and Papa looked at each other for a moment before they looked back over at me and spoke at the same time.
"Lonely."
"I had a feeling that you would say that." I couldn't help but sigh upon hearing their response. "Well, have you two been sticking to your word?" I hadn't forgotten about the promises that the two of them had made to me the day I left for North Carolina, and I hoped that they hadn't either.
"Yes, of course." They spoke at the same time once more as they both smiled proudly.
"I'm learning how to love myself a little bit more each and every day," Dad said, describing how he was fulfilling the promise he had made to me. "I also never lose sight of who I am and have refused to change who I am just for the sake of other people."
"Good." I gave him a proud smile before I looked over at Papa. "What about you, Papa? How have you been sticking to your word?"
"Well, while I had a relapse not long after you left, I managed to recover in a fairly short amount of time with the help and support of Dad." Papa also described how he was fulfilling the promise he had made to me. "But since then, I haven't had a single drink. Also, as a side note, while I'll live with my condition for the rest of my life due to there being no care, I've physically gotten much better these past two years."
"That's wonderful!" I smiled brightly. "I'm so proud of both of you!" I pulled them both in towards me for a brief embrace.
"What about you?" Papa asked, pointing directly at me. "You made a promise to Dad and me, you know. Have you fulfilled it?"
"Why, yes, I have," I replied proudly. "I'm here safe and sound, after all."
"Fair enough." Papa smiled. "Well, Dad and I won't pester you and your boyfriend anymore. We'll let you get settled in and relax for the night."
"Oh, don't worry. You weren't pestering us." I assured them. "Well, you weren't pestering me, at least. I can't speak for Lucas." I chuckled.
"No, no, I wasn't bothered at all!" Lucas quickly stated, obviously fearful of Dad and Papa having any sort of negative feelings towards him.
"Relax, I was just messing with you!" I chuckled again as I ruffled his hair.
"H-Hey!" He exclaimed as he rushed to fix the damage that I had done.
Dad and Papa chuckled as well and Dad said, "Ellie, I'm assuming that Papa and I can trust you to share your room with your boyfriend without getting into trouble, right?"
I picked up on what they were implying and smiled as I rolled my eyes. "Yes, we'll behave ourselves."
"Great." Dad smiled as well and stood up. "Since Papa and I were admittedly selfish for not helping the two of you carry your things inside, we'll help you carry it up to your room."
I thanked them and led them over to where Lucas and I had set our bags after coming in from the cold.
*****

After Lucas and I got completely settled into my room (and by that, I mean after we unpacked all of our stuff,) we got onto my bed and pulled the covers over ourselves. Upon doing so, the exhaustion of having spent the whole day traveling hit us like a brick despite the fact that we had slept a fair amount. However, I pushed my exhaustion to the side and started a conversation with Lucas.
"See? I told you that they were like you." I gave him a smile that said, 'I told you so.'
"Yeah, you were right." Lucas smiled softly. "And you know what? I like them too. It made me feel good to see that you were adopted by two people that truly love you."
"Yep, I sure was." I grinned in agreement. "I'm so lucky that I was too. I wouldn't be the person that I am today if it wasn't for those two."
"If that's the case, I'm even more glad that you were adopted by them." He replied as he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close to him. "Though did they really think that if we stayed in the same room, we would... you know..."
"Yeah, they did." I shrugged. "I'm not surprised though. Most people our age that are in relationships do that kind of thing."
"I know." Lucas sighed. "I'm sorry for not being ready. As you're somewhat aware of, I have demons that I fight off pretty much every single day, much like one of your fathers, demons that inhibit me from quite a lot of things."
"It's okay," I replied. "I completely understand. Besides, I don't want to make you do something that you're not comfortable with or ready for."
"Thank you for understanding," Lucas whispered as he planted a kiss on my forehead. "I'm so lucky to be in a relationship with someone like you who's so understanding and so compassionate."
"And I'm so lucky to be in a relationship with someone like you who's there for me through all the ups and downs," I whispered back as I also planted a kiss on his forehead.

From that point on, Lucas and I talked quietly amongst ourselves until we had fallen asleep just the way we liked to; peacefully and in each other's arms.

~~~~~