Chapter 19 - Alexia

I loved him.

I know it was probably too soon to say, but oh my god I loved him.

You know those quizzes online, where they say Rate These Desserts And We'll Reveal What Type Of Guy You Prefer? Well, every time I do one (which is not really often) it always says that I attract nerds.

Well, Luke is kind of a nerd. A hot nerd. Plus, he is so sweet. So, yeah, he's kind of my perfect match.

It's funny, I only realized that at dinner. He was talking about his childhood and his past life as if we were old friends. I find that really important in a relationship: to be able to talk without any embarrassment. For me, it was a turning point: I just couldn't help it. I loved him.

The morning after our date, I woke up but didn't have the strength to open my eyes.

"Good morning," a soft voice said.

I slowly raised my eyelids to find a handsome guy, just standing next to my bed.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said. "Honestly, I was walking by when you stirred."

"Oh," I said. "Okay. What time is it?"

"It's about nine o'clock," he answered.

"What?" I said, shocked. I had never woken up later than eight-thirty. What is wrong with me?

I slipped out of bed and quickly changed. When I got out of the bathroom, Luke was staring at me, smiling.

"Why are you smiling?" I asked.

"Look outside."

Curious, I walked over to the window and opened the drapes. Everything was white. Why was everything white? Wait…

"Wow. Okay, I guess we have our day planned," I said.

"Yep."

It was all snow. I didn't say anything to Luke, but I actually thought snow was only in the mountains. I know that's stupid, but with global warming and stuff, I didn't think snow could reach water level.

"I'll get my gloves."

"Wait, don't you want to eat?" Luke asked me.

"Oh, yeah. Where should we go?"

"Well, there's a cute bakery ten minutes from here. And near it is a nice place to start a snowball fight."

"Awesome."

We asked Julia if she could take us to a place called Pregassona. She gladly agreed. We both bought a chocolate croissant (yum) and walked to the location where there would be a lot of snow.

It was awesome. We stayed there for like two hours, making a snowman. By the way, Luke told me the funniest joke the other day.

What's the difference between a snowman and a snowwoman?

Snowballs.

I swear, I was laughing so hard my stomach hurt.

As I have already said, there was a lot of snow, and I dare you not to do a snowball fight when you're covered in the stuff.

At one moment, I accidentally hit Luke in the face with a snowball. My expression went from laughing to absolute horror. I ran over to him and started saying, "Oh my gods, I'm sorry!" over and over. He was covering his nose with his hands, groaning. Suddenly, he took a handful of snow and threw it in my face, laughing.

It was freezing cold, but it was burning hot. Can someone explain that to me?

I then fell onto him and we rolled in the snow, laughing and trying to stuff snow in weird places.

Needless to say, we had fun.

We decided to walk back to the hotel. It was half an hour walk, but it was nice. Luke had his arm around my waist. I honestly still couldn't get over how comfortable it was to have someone holding me tight. Sure, my mom sometimes did that too, but with Luke… it was different.

I honestly wasn't sure how to call Luke at this point. Was he my boyfriend? We hadn't really talked about it.

"What are we?" I asked him as we walked.

He didn't even flinch. "That's actually something I was hoping to ask you."

Suddenly Luke stopped me and kneeled down in front of me. At this point, I was starting to panic. But he took my hand and said five simple words. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

"Yes!" I answered instinctively. "Yes! Of course, yes!" I hugged him tightly. He stood back up and kissed me softly on the lips. We broke apart and he looked at me straight in the eyes. "I love you."

I smiled brightly and answered. "I love you too."

He was so happy he lifted me up and spun me around. I laughed. He put me down and we stood there, just hugging.

The silence broke when someone started clapping. We both turned around to see an old lady sitting on her front porch, applauding. Luke laughed and bowed as if finishing a show. I followed his example and then we walked back to the hotel. We went out and ate lunch at a restaurant with Julia, then went back to the hotel and got our bags ready. We would be leaving the next day, and I was sure I was going to miss the place.

By the time we were done packing, it was 4 o'clock in the afternoon, so we stayed in and relaxed.

Luke and I were in heaven. We passed the rest of the afternoon cuddled on the bed watching TV. I couldn't believe how much had changed in only five days. It was probably a little too fast, but I didn't realize it at the time.

The next day we had to wake up at seven. Our flight was at 12, and it took about an hour to get to the airport, so I guess it was about right. We changed quickly, grabbed a bite to eat, and left the hotel.

To save you some time, I'll skip over this part of the story, 'cause it was pretty much the same as before.

It was 4 o'clock in the afternoon when we arrived. It seemed so strange. It was like we traveled back in time. Sort of.

It took about two hours to drive from LAX to Santa Monica, and since I didn't have anything else to do, I read the whole time. Finally, Julia pulled over in front of my house.

"Here we are," Julia said, looking at me from the front seat.

I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the door. As if on cue, my mother came running out of the house, Tom close behind.

"Wexia!" my brother exclaimed.

"Hey Tommy!" I screamed back.

He ran towards me and slammed against me. I wrapped my arms around him and lifted him up in the air. For a moment it reminded me of the moment when Luke did it to me.

I put Tommy down and turned towards my mother. She smiled, then came closer and hugged me tight.

"I missed you," I whispered in her ear.

"Me too," she answered.

In the meantime, Luke had pulled out my luggage, and then just stood there to stare at me as I greeted my family. I know, creepy.

I broke the hug with my mom just as she spoke. "Do you want to come inside, Luke?"

"No thanks," he said calmly. "I think we'll just go home and sleep."

"Okay," my mom said. "By the way, thank you so much for taking care of my little girl."

"No problem," Luke said. He looked at me. "Bye Alexia. See you tomorrow."

I walked over to him and gave him a peck on the lips. "Bye."

He got in the car and drove off as Julia waved at us. We waved back and as they disappeared behind the corner, my mom turned to me.

"Are you and Luke a thing?"

I blushed. "Maybe."

She put a hand on my shoulder. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about. I like him, he's a really good guy."

"Thanks mom."

"Now, c'mon. Let's go inside. I want to know everything."

And I told her. I told her everything. I even said that I thought that Luke and I were going to be together forever.

Boy, I was wrong.