"Let old acquaintance be forgot..."
*SMACK*
Luke stared at the red numbers glowing on his clock. It was just after nine in the morning.
Today was the day. It was his birthday. His eighteenth birthday. He was officially a man now. And he was legal. And now, after three years, he was going to take advantage of the one thing he's always wanted.
~*~*~
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
She picked up the clock, shut off the alarm, and slammed it back down onto the night stand. It was way too early to be awake. She looked out the window, noticing the sun shining a little too brightly for January 1
st
. A new day, a new year. And this year, she vowed one thing, and one thing alone. She would get over the schoolgirl crush she had on the boy who invaded her dreams nightly.
She sat up and brushed the hair out of her face. It wasn't that he didn't find her interesting, he was just out of her league, or she was out of his. Either way, it was time to stop fantasizing about the younger man she had met in her English Literature class, in her Freshman year of college. She'd been talking with a friend when this tall, blonde guy walked into the room. She had completely stopped talking, focusing all her attention on the newcomer. He'd looked at her as well, actually blushing a little before breaking eye contact.
And things had gone smoothly. They had introduced themselves later on after class, and she had caught him staring at her breasts, brilliantly encased in a push up bra and threatening to spill out of her top. He'd blushed again when she called him on it. He'd mumbled a good-bye and hurried up the staircase. It wasn't until their third meeting, after
she
had hit on
him
, that she found out why he was so shy. He was four years her junior! Why in the world was he taking a freshman honors English course in college?!It had turned out that he was smart, bordering on genius, and so he was taking AP courses instead of the normal classes at his high school.
She had put her initial feelings aside of course. Hitting on him by mistake was one thing, but continuing to flirt with him... that would have been disastrous. Talk about robbing the cradle. Following through on anything with him would have been bordering on illegal, so she settled for friendly banter, trying to coax him out of his shell a little. They actually became fast friends, talking about common interests, movies, music. He even asked her to come watch him play football for his high school. He was one of the few freshmen who had made varsity.
And that was how their relationship had remained. He took 2 or 3 classes a semester, and they tried to have one common class so they could keep in touch. He still wasn't a very big fan of talking, so phone calls didn't occur but there had been one time that he'd come over to study for an upcoming exam, and they'd ended up ordering pizza and watching a movie instead. She'd learned more about him that night than she had in the entire year or so they'd known each other.
One other thing she'd learned that night was that those feelings, the ones from the day they met, well, they were still there. It was weird. Normally, a crush would just burn itself out, but this hadn't. He was always there, in the back of her mind. And they still spoke, mainly by email and facebook. She'd left her hometown though, traveling to the main branch of the college they'd attended to get her degree.
But now it was finally time to let those feelings and any thoughts she had about him go. Time to take on the Windy City by storm. He was a friend... but still a
boy
. She knew he was no virgin of course, their talks had revolved sometimes around sex, but she also knew that there could never be anything between them. She had finally realized that fact to be just that, a sad, sad fact. And with those final thoughts, she crawled out of bed and walked to the kitchen, grabbed a bowl out of the cabinet and snatched the box of Frosted Flakes.
~*~*~
He jumped out of the shower, and with a towel wrapped around his waist he wandered into his room to plan the perfect outfit. Sure, it was a girl thing to plan outfits, but he needed something that would make it impossible for her to say no to him. He settled for a long sleeve button down with the sleeves cuffed around his biceps, one she'd bought him last Christmas, ripped jeans that she always commented on, and striped boxers that actually kind of matched his shirt.
After dressing and making his shaggy hair look like he'd just rolled out of bed, he headed downstairs, poured a bowl of Frosted Flakes, not knowing that the girl he wanted was doing the exact same thing. His mom and family had all wandered downstairs to tell him happy birthday, and his dad had called about an hour ago. He finished his cereal and grabbed his coat, wallet and keys.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going over to see Natalie, Mom."
"I won't allow it; she's no good for you. She's older, and she'll corrupt you."
"I'm eighteen, Mom, and I'll decide who I want to hang out with." He was actually hoping for a little corruption but he didn't figure he should tell his mom that.
"You'll regret it honey, you won't be able to handle her, and she'll get bored with you. Think about it. She's twenty-one already. What do you think will happen? Do you think she's going to want some kid hanging around when she can be in bars with her friends? And don't think you can just come back here if she doesn't turn out to be what you want."
"Dad already agreed to take me in if you kick me out. I have one more semester of high school and then I'll be heading off to college. I don't know what will happen when I go over there, but I know that I can't stop myself. So, I'm going to give her a chance to finally admit that she has feelings for me."
"I knew she'd do this. That she'd dig her claws into you. That's why I kept you from seeing her as much as I could. She's just going to warp you mind."
"Mom, I'm not going to fight about this any longer. I care about her, and I want to see if something could be there between the two of us. If you care about me and you want me to be happy, well, I'm pretty sure she'll make me happy. If you don't care, then pack my shit up and I'll grab it whenever I get back."