CHAPTER 20
Lucas
Cardigan – Taylor Swift
This is almost her final week. It is exactly eight days until Ivy will go back to London and our relationship will be over.
Well, it's supposed to be over. I am still determined to convince her that we can somehow make this work.
If it was anyone else, any other girl on the planet, I would probably believe that it was impossible and give up.
This girl means more to me than I can even explain. I want it to work.
I spend every night with her in my arms, most of the time with us in her room, and it's getting harder to leave every morning, knowing she will be the one leaving me soon.
I want to spend every minute I can with her but it's completely unfair.
I'm not the only one losing her in a week.
Mom invited her over again last week, Bailey spends most days off with her and as a whole group we hang out as much as possible, meaning the night is the only time I have alone with her.
Before she leaves, I will tell her I love her. I will tell her today. I have to.
“Sunshine, I'm taking you out again tonight,” I whisper in Ivy’s ear, as she holds up the bow and arrow.
“What?” she says, turning her head slightly, causing her shot to go right to the side of the target, hitting the one next to it.
“Great demonstration, darling.” I laugh slightly and continue as she picks up another arrow, “I spoke to Charlie, and he got us the evening off again. I have the most perfect thing for us to do.”
She smiles up at me with the most gorgeous smile, the one I am blessed to wake up to everyday. “Okay.” She turns her head back to the target in front of her, focusing for a moment before firing the arrow. It flies through the air and hits the centre in one swift motion.
I give her waist a small squeeze and say, “Attagirl,” before walking up to where the kids are getting ready to follow her demonstration.
We now usually have one of us showing the kids these activities and the other helps them as they do it.
In this instance, Ivy is the one showing them, because she needed practice from the first time she tried to shoot an arrow.
I think back for a moment, to when she accused me of being a show off and when I helped her shoot her first arrow that actually succeeded.
She jumped around with the most adorable smile on her face.
“Are you in love with her?” Jacob asks abruptly, as I continue to walk over to him.
“What?” I say, stunned.
“Are you in love with Ivy?”
“Why would you say that?”
“Daisy, Mila and Violet keep telling us you are and I'm starting to believe them,” he says, his attention still on the target in front of him. Time after time, he is much better than anyone else at this. It does not help Miles and Theo prefer to pretend to shoot each other with the arrows.
“We aren't together. The girls are just joking around,” I say, brushing him off.
“I didn't ask if you were together. I asked if you love her.” He's too confident. It's almost annoying. How obvious am I?
“Just shut up and shoot your arrow. If you keep asking questions, you will lose your concentration,” I say, ruffling his hair like I do Daisy’s. He just stares forward, shooting his arrow perfectly once again and gives me a smug look on his face. He reminds me of myself when I was younger.
I knock on the door in front of me and when it swings open, I am stunned once again.
“You look so beautiful.” I can barely speak, my heart beating so loud I can hardly hear my own words.
Ivy is wearing a black dress that hugs her waist and slightly flows out at her mid-thigh, where it stops.
The scoop neckline perfectly highlights her necklace and her black wedge shoes have straps that wrap around her ankle.
Her hair is down with her curls defined that makes me want to twirl them around my fingers.
Her makeup is applied a little heavier than usual and her lips are a slight pink colour that make me want to lean in and kiss her, without another thought.
As she looks me up and down, the smile on her face grows wider, igniting the warmth in my chest.
“Thank you. You look fancy,” she says brightly, fiddling with the hem of my button up shirt before pulling at it slightly to kiss me.
My hands instantly slip around her waist, feeling the smooth fabric that clings to her skin.
As we pull away, I move one hand away and the other one to take her hand in mine, pulling her down the steps of her cabin and towards the car.
“How come I've never seen you in this dress? You have been here for almost two months, and you have never worn this. It looks good on you, sunshine,” I say, as we walk to the car and the sky is starting to reveal the stars over us.
“It’s Bailey’s,” she replies, and I stop as she does.
“Darling, my feelings about you are complicated enough. Don't make it worse by involving Bailey.” She laughs and pulls me towards the car with a sweet smile across her face.
As she hops into her side of the car, after I hold out the door for her, she says, “Are you going to tell me where we are going?” I get in on the other side and start the car, driving out of the car park.
“Nope.”
“Please,” she turns to face me.
“No.”
“Please,” she says, elongating her words and clutching my arm this time. I turn to face her, and she is staring up at me, all doe-eyed and a hopeful look on her face. I think she is slowly killing me .
“No, sunshine. God, don’t look at me like that. You know I'll give in to you." I groan, forcing my eyes away from her. She laughs quietly at my words.
“That's why I do it.” She looks back at the road ahead, lifting up her thighs and crossing them, the skirt of her dress flowing over her legs.
I move my hand over to her leg, giving it a light squeeze and she turns to face me.
“Can you at least give me a hint? It's getting late so I'm guessing we aren't going anywhere indoors.”She gasps, “Are you taking me to another movie?”
“No hints. I want you to be surprised,” I say, keeping my eyes on the road and one hand on her leg.
“Okay, fine.” She connects her phone to the car and music blasts around me. It's 21 by Gracie Abrams, the song I put in her scrapbook. “Thank you for that by the way,” she says as if she had the exact same thought I did.
“Honestly, I'm not sure why I chose it.”
“I love it either way.”
We continue the drive quietly as a lyric, about being the love of her life but only in her mind, replays in my head, blocking out any other song she plays afterwards. The more it does, the more my heart races.
I know exactly why I chose that song.
Soon after, we arrive at a field packed with people and rows of lights on the ground. My nerves are building as I remember the whole reason I invited her out tonight. Still silent, I get out of the car, walk around it and open Ivy's door for her.
“C'mon sunshine, you will love this.” I extend my hand out and she takes it, getting out of the car and shutting the door behind her.
“You don't have to open the door for me every time I walk through one,” she says.
“I want to,” I say, without another thought.
“Okay but I’m just saying—”
“Ivy. I will pin you down and tickle you in front of all these strangers if you continue and I know how ticklish you are.
" I step closer to her, placing my hands on her waist, my fingers brushing over the area on it that she is the most ticklish.
She squirms under my touch, and I quickly take her hand and pull her over to continue walking towards the field.
“This is completely unfair. You aren't even ticklish which means I can never win this fight.
" She looks down, pretending to be mad and as we step on the grass, I think her refusal to look up stops her from noticing what we are even doing here.
We walk over to the bench where the paper pens and lighters are held, and I pick up one of each and only as I do does Ivy notice what we are doing here.
“Wait? We are at a lantern festival!” She squeals loudly, grabbing my arm and jumps a little.
I smile instantly. She looks probably the happiest I have ever seen her as she stares up at me before she spins around to watch everyone else and the few people who are letting their lanterns into the sky.
“Thank you so much, Lucas. No one has done anything like this for me before.” She pulls me into a warm hug, squeezing me tightly.
“Your welcome, sweetheart.” She blushes slightly but it's still noticeable in the dark. I pick up another lantern and we walk over to a blank patch of grass before sitting down.
“One each or share both?” I ask, before I move all the supplies to be placed in front of us. The light from the other lanterns mean we can see the ground perfectly.
“Let's share them.” She places one in front of us and picks up both pens, handing me one. I thank her and we start drawing on opposite sides. She covers her side with her hand, trying to stop me from seeing it. When she notices me watching she says, “I just want to surprise you for once.”
I laugh lightly and continue drawing. The pens scratch slightly against the fabric and when I look up to Ivy, she looks breathtaking. She is so focused and her whole face is illuminated by the lights around us. The corner of her lip is turned up slightly and all I want to do is kiss her.
“I'm done!” she says, placing the cap on the pen, with a smug expression.
Ivy sits up straight and I instantly peer over to her to see what she has drawn.
She has drawn stars all across the right side and ironically, I drew sunshines on the left.
She has drawn stars of all sizes and shapes, but they are all perfect.
They kind of remind me of the freckles she has.
“You drew sunshines,” she says softly, looking at where I drew.
“They remind me of you.” I stare at her, and her eyes meet mine.