Chapter 93 | Secret meetings

Lucas:

"Go on Isabella!" Imani, Isabella's mentee shoves her forward, before peeking around my girlfriend and giggling when she sees me, her small hand covering her mouth, mischief flaring in her eyes.

I shove my phone into my pocket and quirk an eyebrow as I flick my eyes between the two. "What have we got here?" I ask, amused at how awkward Bella looks and how Imani is practically vibrating with excitement behind her.

Isabella steps forward as Imani pushes her once more. "Just go along with this, alright?" She tells me, throwing me a look as she lowers her voice.

"Okay..." I respond, curiosity lacing my voice, a little unsure of what to expect.

What I don't anticipate at all however, is Bella to bring out a ginormous card, half the size of her, from behind her back and present it to me.

The card is bright purple, the paper completely weighed down with stickers and glitter and feathers and string.

My lips twitch with greater amusement as I take the card from her and open it up, almost coughing from the amount of glitter that erupts from the inside, covering my face and hair with pink sparkles. "Oh...this is very pretty." I smile, wiping away glitter with the back of my hand, trying to seem pleased for Imani's benefit who eyes me anticipatingly as I begin to read the inside of the card.

Be my boyfrend card, made by Imani for Isabela too give too her crush.

As my eyes scan the kid handwriting laced with several spelling errors, Isabella clears her throat and speaks up.

"Ehem, Lucas, will you be my boyfriend?"

My eyes glance back onto her.

Isabella blinks up at me, but widens her eyes slightly in warning when my gaze meets hers. The look screams 'please just do this properly'

I grin and Bella immediately exhales in defeat at the look.

"Sorry?" I pretend like I didn't hear her properly, just to tease her. "What did you say? I missed that."

Isabella grumbles 'I knew you'd be impossible,' under her breath before speaking again.

"Lucas," she all but sighs, repeating her question. "Will you be my boyfriend?"

"Boy-friend?" I act like I don't know what the word means, scrunching up my face in mock confusion. "But I'm already your friend who is a boy?"

"Lucas-"

"Does that mean all this time I thought we were friends when we weren't?" I gasp and mock frown.

"Lucas-"

"Wow. All this time." I shake my head. "Thanks a lot Isabella, now I'm sad."

"Lucas-"

"Stop being so silly!" Imani cuts Isabella off, moving to stand in front of Bella with her hands on her hips, her eyebrows furrowed together, a frown playing on her lips as she cranes her neck to stare up at me. "Sorry for using a not nice word to describe you but stop joking around." She juts a small thumb back at Isabella. "Isabella is being completely, seriously, serious here!"

"Whaaaat?" I slowly raise my palms up in surrender and struggle to fight back a smile at Imani telling me off. "I just didn't know what the word meant."

"Yes you do! You-you're old! Of course you know what the word boyfriend means!"

"I didn't."

"Yes you did!"

"Okay."

"Mhm. Now say sorry please."

"I'm very sorry."

"Not to me! To her!"

I turn back to Izzy. "I'm very sorry," I say, trying to force myself to look apologetic but clearly failing.

Imani falls for it anyways. "Good!" Her face transforms into a toothy grin. "Now quickly answer her question!"

She runs back to her hiding spot behind Isabella. "Go on, ask again," she urges in a whispering voice.

"Lucas," Isabella begins for the millionth time, with no energy in her voice. "Will you be my boyfriend?"

I grin. "Yes. I'll be your boyfriend Isabella."

Izzy replies with a fake enthusiastic "yay!"

"Great! Now kiss please!" Imani jumps up and down excitedly.

"Imani..." Isabella says warningly.

"Pretty, pretty please! Only one kiss."

I shake my head in amusement but oblige to Imani's several demands, grabbing Isabella's face with my hands and brushing my lips quickly against her cheek.

However, the child simply rolls her eyes. "Puhlease, my 12 year old sister and her boyfriend kiss better than that."

I quirk an eyebrow at her as I pull away from Isabella, my hands still grabbing her face. "Oh really?"

"Yup, so kiss properly. On the lips please."

"Um Imani, that's a bit inappropriate," Isabella speaks up. "We're in your school playground. There are teachers around."

"So! He's not your proper boyfriend until you kiss him! That is the law!"

"But-" Isabella begins to say before her voice is cut off and muffled by my lips gently pressing against hers. I keep the kiss closed mouth and very short, using my hand to shield as much of our lips joining together from Imani as possible to keep it PG before pulling away again.

I smile. "There. You satisfied Imani?"

"Yes," she claps her hands together, her two braids bouncing as she moves around excitedly, "now I better be going. Isabella, update me next session, kay!"

The moment Imani is out of ear shot Isabella slumps against me, resting her forehead on my chest. "God, that girl. She's the sweetest but she exhausts me." Her voice is slightly muffled as she speaks.

I hum in agreement absentmindedly stroking the back of her hair. "Do you think our kids will be like that? The two of us had twice that much energy when we were children."

"I don't remember being that energetic."

"You were the worst."

"I was not." Isabella lifts off of me, shaking her head as she gazes up at me. "And our kids huh? Who said I want kids with you?"

I simply grin and Isabella snuggles back against my chest and my arms wrap instinctively around her.

"But yeah I do hope our kids are not as energetic as that," she mumbles against me a moment later, her voice vibrating against my chest. "Can we agree to donate them to abuela if they are?"

"Of course."

+

Isabella:

"So what are you doing after this?" I ask Lucas as we walk towards his car even though I know exactly where he's going. I just need to make sure.

Lucas pulls open the car door for me. "I have a shift at the clinic for a couple hours," he answers like I knew he would, "can I come to yours after?"

I nod my head. "Yeah. What time will you be back?"

"Like 9?"

I turn to face him. "Do you wanna stay over? I know it's not Friday but can we move forward our sleepover tradition to today?" I bat my eyelashes at Lucas. "Pretty please."

Lucas grins. "Yeah sure," he responds, plugging in his seatbelt. He taps my thigh twice with his finger for me to do the same. "Put your seatbelt on please."

I do so and Lucas turns the ignition on before we peel out of the car park.

"No face mask for me this time though yeah?" He then says, frowning and pointing to his cheek, "the last one we used caused me to break out so much."

"Okay," I nod. "What colour nail theme are we going for this week?"

"How about black and dark purple?"

I raise an eyebrow. "You feeling emo?"

"Of course." A chuckle pushes through his lips as I begin to fiddle with the aux. "Also what are you gonna do whilst I'm at work?"

"I think I'm just gonna hang out with the girls," I reply, scrolling on my spotify to the playlist Lucas had made for me. I listened to that freaking playlist every day and in every car ride with him. I loved it so much.

"Cool." Lucas throws me a dimpled grin, as the quiet hum of music fills the space in the car. "Don't miss me too much."

Lifting my head from my phone, I mock sniffle and press a dramatic hand to my chest. "I'll try not to."

The rest of the car ride is spent either with periods of comfortable silence or just random chatter between the two of us. It doesn't take long to get home and once we finally pull up to our street and park, I open the door to get out the car, only for me to be pushed down in my seat and the door to be shut again. I squeak in protest as Lucas then pulls open the door for me and helps me get out.

"You know I'm perfectly capable of getting out of a car myself Luke?" I cock an eyebrow.

"I know," Lucas hums, leaning against the car door.

I giggle at his behaviour. "Thank you though." I reach up on my top toes to press a kiss onto his lips. "I'll see you late amor."

I try to pull away but Lucas pulls me back against his chest, cupping the back of my neck and pulling me in for a more longer, deeper kiss. A type of kiss that leaves me flushed, my blood thrumming through my body and my legs to feel like jelly. A kiss I also hope abuela did not see with her nosy habit of peeking through the kitchen window.

I'm almost panting for breath by the time Lucas and I pry apart. "I'll see you tonight Izzy," he presses one last soft kiss to my forehead and ruffles my hair.

I wave at him and Lucas stays leaning against the car, watching me until I've headed up my driveway and inside my house before making any movement in getting back into his car and driving off.

As I'm pulling off my shoes in the hallway, both Mia and abuela come bouncing into the hallway.

"Hurry up!" You're five minutes late to your own meeting."

"I know I know I'm sorry." I say, letting abuela half drag me into the living room.

A chorus of 'hello's' and 'your late' ring out to me as I enter the room, my eyes scanning across the space to see everyone already here. Grace, my mom and Sofia bouncing on her knee are situated on one couch and Dylan and Aidan are sprawled out on the other, scarfing down some sort of food my abuela made.

I give my apologies as Mia and Abuela take their seats and I chuck my school bag into the corner of the room before bringing forward the big flip chart in front of everybody.

I roll my sleeve up and open the huge pad of paper onto the first page and then point to the writing.

"Alright, alright, welcome to Lucas' birthday meeting," I state, trying to get everyone's attention. "Let's get started-"

"Wait no!" Dylan cuts me off, pointing wildly to the now empty plate sitting between him and Aidan. "We need more meeting snacks! They ran out!"

"Dios mio!" Abuela throws her hands in the air. "That was a whole tray of food boys!"

"Sorry," Aidan responds sheepishly, patting his stomach. "It was so so so tasty we ate it all. Your cooking the best abuela."

"Oh you and your flattery," my grandmother wags a finger in his direction, trying to stifle a smile. "I'll get you some more. But this time share!"

"I'll try," Aidan replies the same time Dylan says, "That'll be a struggle."

Abuela throws Dylan a look at that and he slumps down in is seat. "Fine," he grumbles, "I'll attempt to try and share. But I can't make any promises."

***

"Woo, that was a long ass meeting," Mia falls onto her back on the couch, bashing her head against Aidan's knee and groaning.

I take an exhausted seat on the other couch. "I know," I sigh. The meeting had taken just over an hour but it had been worth it. I had managed to explain the whole plan I'd created for Lucas' birthday and it was all ready to go next Friday.

"Children you're staying for dinner okay?" Abuela announces and before anyone can reply walks out of the living room with my mother, Sofia trailing after them.

Mia almost immediately perks up as the door shuts behind them, cutting Dylan and Aidan off from their cheers at the prospect for staying for dinner and eating more of abuela's cooking.

"Okay okay seeing as the adults are gone, lets talk about Lucas' real birthday present," she winks, clasping her hands together excitedly.

"What real present?" Grace asks, eyebrows drawing together in confusion. "I thought Bella already explained what she's getting him."

"Not that present silly," Mia waves a dismissive hand. "His real present, you know..." She trails off and the rest of us stare at her blankly.

"Ugh you guys," she groans frustratedly, running a hand through her hair. "You know, Bella dressing up all cute and sexy and giving Lucas.." she makes a motion with her hand, "glug glug."

"Oh Jesus Mia," Aidan groans, smacking the back of her head. "Is there ever a time when you're thinking horny thoughts?"

Mia pauses to think for a moment and then shakes her head. "No, I'm afraid not."

Grace shakes his head amusedly as Dylan high fives Mia.

I on the other hand scrunch up my nose in disdain. "Mi, let's take a pause on this conversation okay?"

"Alright, only a pause, I see you," Mia giggles with glee, winking again. "I'll call you later tonight to give you tips!"

"I'm sure she doesn't need any, she has plenty from her porn books," Dylan snickers.

My eyes flick towards him. "Oh Lord," I groan, my cheeks beating from slight embarrassment. "Did Lucas tell you guys that I read those?"

"Kind of," Aidan replies, stifling a laugh. "We found one of those books in his gym bag today and he got all defensive and said you packed it in there and that it's your book, but I'm kind of assuming that was a lie and he just wanted to save face."

"Gym bag?" I repeat confusedly. "I didn't pack any into his gym bag." I pause for a beat before my eyebrows raise in realisation. "Wait, he did borrow a borrow a bunch of my books yesterday..." My eyebrows raise further and I snort. "That was all him guys. They may be my books but he packed it into his bag, he was reading it."

"Oh my God he's never gonna hear the end of this," Dylan cackles excitedly, mischief flaring in his eyes. He scoots forward on the couch and rests his hands under his chin, suddenly looking very eager. "Tell me in exact detail the plot of the stories he borrowed from you, I need details as ammo to bully him."

"Dylan just wants to hear about the sex bits," Grace points out.

Dylan nods unashamedly. "That too."

***

After a chaotic but fun dinner, the gang all leave with containers packed with leftover food from dinner, food that I'm sure Dylan already devoured on the drive home and around an hour and a half later Lucas pulls up to my house after work. My mom, abuela and I sit with him whilst he eats and he tells us about his shift and we all talk about mundane, sporadic things until he's done.

The two of us then head up to my room where Lucas falls flat onto my bed, his arm covering his eyes. "I am exhausted," he says with a, said, exhausted groan.

"You had a really long day huh?" I reply in sympathy. "Wanna get in our pjs and get comfortable?"

"I'm too tired to move." He huffs. "Can you help undress me?" I see the smirk form on his lips as he brings down his arm and pops one eye open. "Pretty please?"

I smack his knee, "C'mon Luke get upppp."

"Noooo," he whines, continuing to make no movement to get up.

I poke his knee. "C'mon up up up."

As time passes and he still hasn't moved I poke his knee again. Well, I try too but before my finger even gets to make contact with his leg, Lucas' arm shoots out to grab my hand and he yanks me forward. I fall on top of him with an oomph, all oxygen gushing out of my body at the impact and Lucas pulling me tight against him.

"You're suffocating me," I mumble against his chest where my face is smooshed against, his scent enveloping me as I take a deep inhale.

"Good," he replies, only tightening his arms around me.

I try to wiggle out of his iron grasp but every time I make a movement, Lucas only holds me tighter. I only shortly after give up because it actually is very comfortable being in this position.

Lucas rubs lazy circles with his thumb against my lower back where a bit of skin has been exposed from my shirt riding up and presses a gentle kiss to the crown of my head. "You smell nice," he murmurs.

"So do you," I reply quietly, turning so that my ear is pressed against his heart, the steady beat of his hurt lulling me.

Lucas falls completely silent after this and only a moment later I hear him softly breathing, telling me that he's fallen asleep.

The gentle sounds of his beating heart and breathing almost send me into the depth of sleep as well, but I'm wearing jeans so my level of comfort unfortunately isn't at its peak.

I make my attempt to wiggle out of Lucas' arms when I'm sure he's now deep in his sleep, being very careful not to wake him up with my movement. In his sleep, I notice his eyebrows scrunching together from me not being in his embrace anymore but I quickly place a dolphin teddy in his arms in replacement for the time being, before grabbing my phone and snapping a picture of him because he looks adorable.

I send it to the group chat and immediately Dylan and Aidan screenshot the photo and Mia makes it our group chat profile picture.

I then slowly trek over to my wardrobe to change out of my jeans into a pair of sleep shorts and snag one of Lucas' t-shirt's from his overnight bag to wear, lifting the neckline of the shirt to my nose and inhaling the lovely, comforting smell.

After turning off the light, submerging the room into darkness, I crawl back back into bed, replacing the dolphin teddy with myself in Lucas arms and pulling the duvet over the two of us. Lucas instinctively reaches out for me in his sleep, pulling me flush against him. He burrows his head against my chest and I smile at the subconscious movement, running my fingers through his hair, caressing the soft strands as Lucas gently snores against me. Shortly after, I doze off too.

—

AUTHORS NOTE:

hey so omg seeing as wyc is almost done i wanted to show u guys more diary entries from when i was 10 hehe because they're entertaining af

my first ever entry <3

(context: he didn't like me (his best friend did tho 🤪🤪🤪) and the bitch pretended to have a girlfriend🙄🙄🙄🙄)

(context: my friend catfished me on kik as riley from the next step (ffs who let me on social media at age 10))

last time i posted a diary entry a lot of ppl didn't think it was real cos of my good handwriting 😩 but i pinky promise that they are, i just have always had decent handwriting like look at it now

(sociology vibez)

kk byeee this a/n is all over the place oh lord anyways ily all so much bye bye - mai xx