A.N// yes, i know it's been a while...way too long in fact, and i hate myself for it but i hope you enjoy anyway..
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Kate's POV

After Calum ate the breakfast that I cooked and Luke had seconds, I went upstairs so I could change. We'd all just sat around the island in the middle of my kitchen and made light conversation, just to catch up a little.

Luke and I were silent for the most part, and we just let Calum do all of the talking because his life events seemed to be way more exciting than ours during the past couple weeks. Every now and then, I would add in my commentary and Luke would just nod along, but that was mainly it.

Luke had planned to take me to his house to pick up my Christmas presents from he and his family. After I opened them, the guys were planning on going to a beach about thirty minutes from Luke's house. Calum was going to go once we left my house, but Luke and I were going to meet them there.

Once we were done at the beach, all of us were supposed to head back to Luke's house for a Christmas dinner. Joy, Calum's mom, was going to be helping Liz cook. I didn't even have to question that because I knew that if they were both pitching in, this would be an excellent dinner.

I had a short mental debate on whether I wanted to stay and help the women cook or not. On one hand, I wanted to offer my help whenever I could, but I also wanted to hang out with my friends and have a chill day.

It wasn't that hard of a decision to make, but I ultimately ended up picking the beach. I hadn't been in a while, and it looked like the perfect day outside to go.

As soon as I got to my room, I went to my closet to find something to wear. I quickly decided on just a pair of denim shorts and a plain grey shirt, simple enough. I pulled out some tan and grey sandals to go with and I slipped those on quickly.

Then, I went over to my vanity and I spent a solid five minutes in the mirror trying to figure out if I wanted to put my hair into a ponytail or just leave it down. After the short debate, I chose down, and I brushed out the few tangles that were lingering amongst the strands.

I opened one of the drawers to get out a swimsuit for the beach and I found a decently sized tote bag in my closet to put it and a beach towel in.

As I was looking for some sunscreen, I heard a light tap at my door. I knew it could be one of two people.

"Come in," I called to whoever was on the other side of my door. It opened about a split second after to reveal Luke. He came in and took a seat at the edge of my bed.

"Are you almost ready?" he asked, a hint of nervousness behind his voice. I just nodded, continuing to pack the bag I was going to take to the beach. I assumed that Luke would just take me home afterwards so I was only getting enough for the beach.

"Do you want me to take my car so you don't have to drive back to my house after dinner at yours?" I questioned, looking straight into his eyes. They darted around the room, trying to focus on anything except me. He was back to being timid.

"Um...I thought you would want to spend the night at my house. If you don't, that's fine too and you can just take your car as well," Luke explained. I pondered over his offer for a second, not exactly knowing what I wanted.

I wanted to spend as much time with him as possible, but i also wanted to make sure I wasn't moving things too fast. Even so, it was basically harmless to sleep in the same bed as him, as long as we weren't doing anything. Somehow, we always ended up getting ourselves into something, and most of the time, the resultant wasn't as amazing as I'd expected it to be.

I just looked at him for a moment before saying, "I guess staying over for one night won't hurt. Plus, I miss it...and you."

Luke looked up at me and finally made eye contact, giving me a shy smile as well. He was awfully cute, and often times I felt like I didn't deserve him.

"I miss you too," he confessed before standing to his feet. I grabbed a few more clothes to stay the night at his house, and I put them in the bag. It was highly possible that I would be wearing his clothes to sleep anyway, but I decided to pack some of my own just in case. I was also planning to shower after the beach so I wouldn't go to bed feeling grimy and disgusting.

Once I was all set, I grabbed my phone off of the nightstand and his hand before shutting off the lights and closing the door to my room. Luke trailed me down the stairs, and we found Calum in my living room, still messing around with Luke's new guitar. He was singing one of their songs, and it sounded beautiful.

As soon as he noticed us standing behind him, he seized his actions and put the guitar back in its case.

"Are we all ready to go?" he asked to confirm. Luke and I both nodded, so he said, "Great. Michael, Ashton, and I are going to head to the beach in about half an hour to give you guys time with the Christmas gifts," and started heading for the door.

Luke grabbed the guitar in the case, putting the strap over his shoulder and he grabbed his keys from off the coffee table. We both walked to the front door and I let him out first so I could lock up.

Once I got to the car, he'd already started it and put his guitar in the bag seat. I placed my bag back there as well, and we were all set.

He backed out of my drive and started our route towards his house. Like normally, it took about 10 minutes, and when we arrived, he pulled into his driveway and parked the car. He got out first, grabbing the guitar and my bag.

I followed him to the door in the garage so we could go inside. Since hair was already unlocked, he twisted the knob and pushed it open, letting us in. We were met by the loud welcomes of his brothers, them clapping like he'd just won a grammy.

"Luke, where've you been, mate?" Jack asked curiously. I knew there was only a matter of time before they realized I was standing behind him. The case on his back was completely covering me.

I didn't think it was a big deal that he was at my house last night, but I also didn't know how much of the story that his brothers knew. I couldn't help but feel like they would judge me for decided to continue my relationship with Luke even after what he did.

I knew they just wanted me to be happy, but they were also going to make sure nothing or no one hurt me in the process.

"Yeah, and what's that you've got on your back?" Ben followed. Luke turned to the side, preparing to answer both of their questions, but also revealing me. The room went silent for a few seconds, the other two boys making sure I was actually there before they said anything else. "Kate?"

"Hi," I said shyly. It wasn't like me to be this restricted in front of them. They were practically my second family for crying out loud. It just so happened, though, that the more they stared at me, the more I wanted to crawl back into my shell. I felt so uncomfortable.

"Are you guys okay?" Jack asked, concern filling every feature on his face. I just nodded, not entirely trusting myself to speak anymore.

"Yeah, we are. We just came so I could give Kate her actual Christmas present. Then, we're going to hang out at the beach with Cal, Mike, and Ash for a little bit. We'll all be back later for dinner," Luke explained. Both of the guys just nodded along in understanding.

"I'm glad you guys are back, bro," Ben said excitedly. Luke smiled, and so did I.

"Thanks," Luke replied simply, grabbing my hand and leading me upstairs to his room.
Before I could get completely away, Ben tapped my shoulder. I let go of Luke's hand, and he pulled me aside. Luke looked at me questioningly, but I just  told him to go on without me.

"Is something wrong?" I looked at Ben, my eyebrows knitted together in worry. He shook his head.

"No actually," he started. It was my turn to look at him in question. I was thoroughly confused.

"Everything's just fine now," he claimed. I just continued to stare at him blankly.

"So..."

"I'm so glad you and Luke are back together. You don't understand just how good for him you are. He's so happy when he's with you and miserable when he's not," he started explaining. "I sort of wish you could've seen him this past week. He was so awful, I only saw him a couple times and he lives here. He never left his room, and in the middle of the night, if you listened really hard, you could hear his soft cries. You could hear him mumbling to himself about how much he regretted what he did and how he was so sorry, but of course you couldn't hear him. All he wanted was for you to forgive him."

"Seriously?"

"Come on, would I really make up something as serious as this?"

I thanked Ben quickly and hugged him before asking, "Will you excuse me?" He just nodded, and I turned around before running off up the staircase.

Once I was outside of Luke's door, I gave it a light tap so he was aware of my presence.

"Give me a second," he called. Of course I waited like he asked, and after a few minutes, the door finally swung open.

His room was just as I remember it, dark carpet and curtains, light walls, and just big enough for an extra person. The only different thing was the fact that he'd changed the sheets and duvet.

I'd always loved the mellow mood his room created. It wasn't dull, but it wasn't overly bright either. It set just the right tone for anything you might've wanted to do.

He had a few pictures of us on his bedside table, along with his songwriting book, a glass of water, and a few loose sheets of paper with notes written on them.

I looked around the room for a few moments, just to take in my surroundings. Then, I took a seat on the edge of his bed.

"Now you may be wondering why the hell it took me so long, but I swear I have a good explanation," he started. He then walked over to his closet and opened the double doors.

Luke pulled out more that one thing. One had an odd shape that I couldn't quite make out from where I was sitting, another was in a small box that was wrapped in gift paper, and the last box was bigger than the first and also very neatly wrapped.

"What are those?" I asked curiously. I obviously knew they were my Christmas gifts, but I wanted to know exactly what they were.

He handed me the obscurely shaped item first, and it had a cover over the front. I lifted the veil, and it revealed a medium sized, heart shape, collage of photos. All of them were of Luke and I, from when we were younger, all the way up to most recently from the last date we'd had.

It looked like he'd taken all of the time in the world to hand pick his favorite pictures of us and individually glue each one down, wherever he wanted them to go. And it was the most thoughtful gift, by far, that i'd ever received.

The small bits of the background that you could see and of course the entirety of the back was a very pretty red color. There was also a soft pink that'd seemed to be mixed in and swirled with this eye-catching red.

I looked up at him, and he motioned for me to keep going because I still had a few boxes left. At first, I thought he was going to let me open them in whatever order I wanted, but he handed me the larger of the 3 boxes first.

I didn't want to completely obliterate the paper, but I wanted to uncover the secrets that were lying beneath it. Not so carefully, I unwrapped the gift, and it was a polaroid camera. My first reaction was confusion. I didn't know why Luke got me this, but for some reason, I was naturally drawn to it.

My eyebrows were drawn together as I scanned the item, and he noticed after a moment. He titled my chin up with his finger, and his eyes quickly skimmed over my face.

"Whats wrong?" he finally asked. I shook my head, trying to play it off, but he wasn't going to drop it that easily. "Tell me."

"Why'd you get me this?" I questioned, purely out of curiosity. I didn't not like the camera, I was just confused by the meaning behind it.

"Because," he started. I continued to look at him expectingly, so he explained, "I've noticed how many pictures you keep of the ones you love on your walls. It's so nicely decorated and it looks like so much thought is put into it. I only want to enhance your creativity and motivate you to keep that going because you're good at it and it'd be amazing to see what else you can do with it."

To say I was speechless was the bare minimum. I couldn't believe he'd put so much thought into these gifts, and it baffled me to know just how much more he noticed than I thought he did.

"How are you so thoughtful?"

"Because I want to give you the world, and if that means that I have to expand my boundaries, then I'll do just that," he confessed while passing me the next, smaller, box.

I opened it quickly, and it was just extra film for the polaroid. I nodded, agreeing that extra film was a good idea.

Finally, he gave me the last box. It was the smallest one of them all, and it was wrapped it in a different paper. I wasn't sure if that was on purpose or just because he might've ran out of paper by the end and had to switch to a new roll. I decided to just stop overthinking one small detail and carry on with the gift opening.

I took a deep breath and tore the wrapping paper away. It was a small, navy blue box that was only about three and a half inches on each side and an inch and a half in depth. I removed the lid, and there lied a silver, chain bracelet with two charms.

The first was of a vintage looking camera, which fit the theme of his Christmas gifts, and the second was a heart charm. It was a little bigger and more thick than I thought heart charms would be, but as I was inspecting it, it popped open.

On the inside of it was a picture of Luke and I from a while ago. It seemed to be right before we started the lessons. There were small crystals bordering the perimeter of the inside of the heart that seemed to make it sparkle in the reflection of the light.

I closed it after looking at the picture for over a minute, and I continued to study the charm. I found an inscription on the back. It read, "Lessons can create a forever."

I knew exactly what he was talking about, and I knew it was deeper than what met the eye. Not only was he referencing the sex lessons he provided me at the very beginning of our relationship, but he was also referring to all of the lessons that we've learned together over the course of our relationship that have tested us, broke us apart, caused us to reflect, and have ultimately made us stronger.

I knew from this small gesture that he was, in fact, planning for us to be together forever, and I was completely okay with that.

Without me noticing, tears had began to well up in my eyes, and in any moment I knew I was going to start crying. It didn't happen though, they just kept filling up my eyes, blurring my vision.

I looked at him, and he knew. I didn't even have to say anything, he just knew, and he opened his arms wide, inviting me in. I practically leapt into his arms, knocking him to his back, as he engulfed me into the most emotional embrace that we've had in a long time.

"I love you so much, Luke." I just let the words fall out of my mouth, and for once since his secret reveal, they didn't leave a weird taste on my tongue or a painful thought in my mind.

"I love you more babe," he replied. He sat up with me still in his arms and just held me until I decided I was okay again. A few minutes went past, and I finally untangled myself from him.

Sometimes, I just felt like it was nice to be held, so I wanted to take some time and do just that. "Are you ready to go?" he asked. I nodded and was the first to stand. He followed and grabbed my hand. I led us out of his room and to the staircase.

Just before we took the first step, I stopped abruptly. "Wait."

"What's wrong?" he asked, confusion spread across his face. I shook my head.

"Nothing, we just haven't changed yet," I pointed out. He nodded, agreeing, and turned back around.

"You can change in here and just meet me in the car," he instructed. I told him that was fine, as I twisted the knob to open his bedroom door. He came back into his room and grabbed what looked more intricate than his normal pair of swimming trunks, but I didn't question it. I assumed he was just going to go to the bathroom and change.

I quickly took off literally everything and reached into my bag to get my swim suit. It was new and Luke hadn't ever seen it before. I was looking forward to his reaction to it, which I knew was going to be absolutely priceless.

I changed into the new apparel, and coated myself with a decent amount of sunscreen. I decided to put my clothes from before back on, just as a cover up and I grabbed my towel out of the bag before leaving the room and closing the door.

I went downstairs and said goodbye to Luke's family before making my way to the car. Just like he said, he was already there waiting for me. Everything looked normal, except for what Luke was wearing.

He was in a wetsuit.

"Um...why the surfing gear?" I asked, a genuine question because I had no idea he had an interest in surfing at all.

"Beside today, Ashton and I are going to try our best to figure it out, and what better way than to be clad in surfing one-oh-one..a wetsuit?" I just sighed and laughed at him.

Luke appeared to be able to do a lot of things that he actually couldn't, so I was expecting to have a good laugh later on today.

"Luke, while you may look like you can surf, I'm pretty sure you can't," I told him, and he pretended to be fake offended. He scoffed and put his hand over his heart like I just stabbed him there. I just continued to laugh.

I closed the door to the passenger side, and Luke backed out of the driveway before driving in the direction of the beach. We had our ways to go, but two minutes into the trip, Luke finally said, "Watch and learn baby," and put his hand in its usual spot on my upper thigh.
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A.N// jfc i'm sorry

um, if i were to try to explain my absence, that would be an entire additional chapter long, so if you have any questions, ask them in this line and i'll make another q&a to answer them all

a lot has happened since we last saw each other and when i say a lot...i got arrested ಠ_ಠ so yk, how about those questions

i just wanna say i love you guys and if you're still here reading after my like 6 or 7 (???) month disappearance, you're loyal af and i appreciate you x1000

i hope you enjoyed this and i'm gonna try to write another one soon since this was supposed to be longer but i decided to split it into 2 chapters instead

this was low on dialogue, and i have no idea why but it included a lot more thoughts and details i guess but yeah

oH yeah i almost forgot, while i was gone i finally got an instagram like so many of you were begging me to since ik a lot of you don't have snapchat, so..

instagram: trashcamx
snapchat: camisnotonsnap

^follow if you wanna^

again i love you guys and i'll see you soon. bye,
cam :)