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bluewxrld07 · 3 months ago

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Hollow (Luke Hughes)

Summary: Y/N thought she mattered to Luke in more ways than one. Yet that all changes when he makes a choice that has her feeling betrayal and heartbreak.

Warning(s): She's an angsty one, tears, starvation, negative feelings, self-doubt, bed-rotting, showing some love to our boy Ethan Edwards because he's bestie

Y/N lets out a huff as she shuts her laptop closed, rubbing her forehead as she yawns. She looks at the time to see it's almost five in the evening, causing her to jump up from her seat and pack up her stuff.

It was NHL draft day. Luke's draft year specifically. She wanted to be there on the special day to help celebrate, but he assured her it would just be low-key with his brothers and parents which she happily respected. So she chose to stay with some of the hockey boys back at the Hockey house that had to stay for classes like her, to watch the draft in the living room.

As she walked back to the house from campus she would keep checking her watch to make sure she wouldn't be late, as she promised she'd watch from start to finish.

To say Luke was nervous was an understatement. There was a probability that he'd play with Jack in Jersey, and there was a chance he would be in the top five overall picks in the first round which made him more nervous.

Her and Luke have been the closest of friends since Y/N could remember. Their families having lived next door to one another since Quinn was born, making Y/N one of the honorary family members of the Hughes group. She had seen it all.

She remembered the day she had convinced him to stick with Hockey when he was having his doubts. The day he walked out of the UMich arena because he felt like he couldn't take the pressure. She bursted into that house later that night to get his head out of his ass and show what kind of potential he held.

She was there through every single moment, and she couldn't be more proud of him.

"The party is here!" she yells out as she opens the front door, shutting it behind her and setting her backpack down.

The few boys that were there all let out hums and warm greetings, some giving her hugs as she came and sat on the couch. Rutger's girlfriend squeezed her tight as she sat next to her. "You nervous?" she asks.

Y/N shrugs. "A little, but he's got it in the bag." Y/N assures, thanking one of the boys who handed her a plate of food and a water bottle.

Her phone begins to buzz which causes her to set the stuff down and pick it up. She smiles and graciously slides to answer the call.

"You guys ready to go?" Y/N says in an exciting manner.

"Oh always! Have you met me, Y/N?" Ethan jokes, taking a sip of his soda as he pans the phone to show Duke, Jacob, Luca and Frank. Y/N frowns as she sees the background, noticing it looks a little familiar.

"Where are you guys at?" she asks, making Ethan put a finger up to signal to give him a second. "We're with the man himself, of course. Where else?"

The phone switches over to show Luke standing over by some of the other familiar faces of their friend group and conversing. Her eyes didn't miss how the one girl Luke had been off and on with was there. Y/N's stomach drops a little more.

"Oh," she says a little deflated. "I thought it'd be just him and his family." she says, not really wanting to sound as upset as she felt.

Ethan frowns at her in confusion. "Oh no he's been planning this since he found out he would be drafted. Wanted it to be a big party and what not! Jack and Us have been helping him get it put together since day one. He wanted as many of the important people in his life as he could get that weren't busy." Ethan explains, making her heart drop even more.

Had she really not meant that much to him as she thought?

Y/N tries to fight back the tears in her eyes, not knowing how to react. "I gotcha. It's just when I asked him he said he was just having it be him and his family, so he told me not to worry about coming. He said it was a lowkey thing." she admits, making Ethan stop chewing the food he was eating and look at her in shock.

"Wait what? He's been telling everyone he wanted it to be a big thing," he says, watching her face fall. "Sweetheart I'm sorry I swear I had no idea. I thought you were busy with classes otherwise I would've asked." Ethan apologizes.

Y/N just nods and puts up a fake warm smile. "Not a big deal, Eddy I promise I'll talk to you guys tomorrow yeah? Go be with the big guy." she half-heartedly jokes.

"Y/N-"

"Go enjoy the night Ethan, okay?"

He just sighs and nods before Y/N hangs up the phone. She sets it on the coffee table in front of her, staring into space. She began to chew at her nails, a nervous habit of hers.

A nudge on her shoulder made her snap out of it and look over to see Rutger's girlfriend frowning. "You okay?" she asks, and Y/N just nods with a fake smile.

"Oh shit here it is! Let's go Lukey boy!" Rutger yells out to the side of the couch, causing cheers and howls to come out.

"With the fourth overall pick, the New Jersey Devils select, from the USA Development program, Luke Hughes."

Everyone bursts out into cheers except Y/N. She watches as they all are going ballistic, she sees the TV transition over to where Luke sat. He was sat with his brothers, parents and grandparents next to him while there was an entire large crowd behind him going crazy.

Rutger's cheers silent slightly as he looks at Y/N whom looks like her entire world had fallen apart, trying to fight tears in her eyes and biting her nails which he knew was something she did to prevent from having an attack.

He watches as she slowly gets up and walks her plate and drink into the kitchen. Rutger soon follows.

Hearing soft sobs leaving the kitchen causes his speed to rise, seeing her hands holding onto dear life on both sides of the kitchen counter. Her head had fallen in front of her and he could tell her body was shaking as she cried.

"Y/N?" He asks cautiously, causing her head to snap up and wipe her eyes while turning the faucet.

"Um ye-yeah, yeah? What's up?" she says, not turning to face him.

"Turn around."

"I'm washing my plate-"

"Turn around now."

She sighs as she turns off the water, slowly turning to face Rutger. He sees her eyes bloodshot and red, making his chest deflate.

"What's going on?" he asked as he walked over to her to pull her into a tight hug. She wraps her arms around him.

"Nothing it's not a big deal. I'm just being dramatic." she says to soften the blow.

"Clearly it's not if you're this upset. Why're you upset?"

"I just thought I mattered to him," she admits with a hiccup. "I don't get it."

He frowns as he looks down at her. "What do you mean?"

"Luke," she says. "He told me not to worry about doing something for his draft day. Said it was just only going to be him with his family and that was it."

Rutger felt his chest tighten, knowing that Luke had been boasting about wanting his draft party to be a big get together. He talked about it to the team for weeks.

"Oh Y/N," he sighs, hearing her sniffle into his chest.

"What hurts is I know that people can go from people I know to people I don't," she says. "But I never thought he would be one of them. I thought I mattered more than that."

Rutger just lets her cry and word vomit it all out, feeling her body shake in his arms.

"And I feel like shit that I'm crying over this. I just felt like I was important to him. I care so much about him, Rut. I don't even know what to do." she sobs.

His girlfriend walks into the kitchen a frown on her face as she sees her friend sobbing in Rut's arms. She hurries over and takes Y/N into her arms.

"Bring her up into my room for now. I'll come grab you guys in a bit." he mutters to her and she nods, leading Y/N up the stairs. Y/N turns back to Rutger.

"Please Rut," she begs. "Don't tell him anything. Don't ruin his big night. Do that for me please. Make sure the boys do too. I can't do it right now. Please. He deserves this big night to celebrate. I want him happy."

Rutger hesitantly nods before the girls resume leaving. He pulls out his phone, scrolling through his contacts and pressing the call button when he finds who he was looking for.

The phone answers on the second ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey it's Rut. I need some advice."

"Why, what's going on?"

"I think Luke may have fucked up," he says looking back over to where Y/N had once stood in tears. "Yeah I think he fucked up big time."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The friend group was getting worried.

It had been almost an entire two weeks since draft day, and Y/N hadn't been seen since draft night.

Once Rutger finished talking with Quinn, he had gone up to his room to see Y/N was sound asleep in his girlfriend's arms. The next morning when he went to check in on her, she was gone.

Nobody had seen or heard from her since that night, and they were all worried.

Ethan and the other boys were finally back on campus as well, becoming concerned after hearing how Y/N reacted to what had been said.

When they had gone over to her dorm her roommate had said she hadn't been back in a while, causing them to worry more because they didn't know where else she could be.

They knew that she would never miss her classes, but Duke had also pointed out that most of her stuff was online and remote since there were no summer school classes she could take for teaching.

Luke on the other hand had been going insane.

After his draft night, he was concerned not hearing from her. He had received a text message from her on draft night at almost three in the morning.

So proud of you.

That was all she wrote, but she had been silent since.

He became more stressed out when all of the boys had driven out to the lakehouse, only seeing Y/N wasn't with them. She always came with them after classes got done.

"What do you mean you haven't seen her?" he asks.

"I don't know man she's been MIA. Nobody has seen her in days, her roommate said she hasn't been back at her dorm. She isn't answering anyone's calls."

Luke runs his hand through his hair, the other staying planted on his hips. "Well why would she just stop answering anyone? That's not like her at all!"

The boys just shrug, knowing that it was best not to tell him why. Especially after Rutger had told them Y/N specifically begged them to not tell him and to let it be.

"I'm gonna lose my shit." he scoffs with a half-hearted chuckle.

"I don't really think you have the right to be freaked out about this, man." Ethan slips out, getting an elbow to his stomach from Rutger's girlfriend along with a shush.

Luke whips his head around, narrowing his eyes. "What the fuck do you mean, Edwards."

"What I mean, is that you lied to her face." he says.

"Ethan no." Duke says sternly, Ethan scoffs. "No guys, I'm sick of this."

Ethan turns back towards Luke. "You lied to her, Luke. Why would you lie to her? After all, she was your biggest supporter." he admits, making Luke's entire face fall and turn white.

"What?"

"You lied to her about your draft night. You should've just had the balls to say she wasn't invited, man. Not lie and say it was family only."

Luke felt his heart drop to his ass.

He couldn't even say he forgot about that conversation with her, because she had brought up putting something together multiple times.

He didn't even have an excuse for it.

"So if you really think that that didn't break her heart, seeing all those people there, seeing how blatantly you lied to her face about it, then I don't know what to tell you."

Luke stood there silently, rubbing his hand over his mouth. "Why didn't any of you tell me?" he says softly, trying not to explode.

"She begged us not to, Lukey. She didn't want to take away from your big night. She knew how big of a deal it was, and she felt like she shouldn't be making a big deal of it." Rutger explains.

Luke scoffs and shakes his head, looking down at the floor. "She means more than someone calling my name out for a draft pick! You fucking tell me!" he snaps loudly, making the boys all flinch at his tone.

Ethan doesn't budge, but advances towards Luke with his finger pointed at him.

"Then why fucking act like she doesn't matter? Lie to her fucking face and go behind her back for weeks?" Ethan pushes back.

"You better watch yourself Eddy-"

"No, you're not gonna fucking tell me to watch myself! If I'm gonna be pissed off, I'm gonna be pissed of on her behalf because she's choosing not to be! Have some fucking balls Luke!" Ethan rages, getting pulled back from Luke who is flaring just as bad.

"I didn't fucking mean to! I don't know why I did it okay? Is that what you want to fucking hear?" Luke admits loudly, the house going quiet.

"You're a fucking-"

"Enough!"

Rutger's girlfriend shouts out, putting herself between the group and Luke.

She puts her hands up to both sides, pointing over to the group. "You boys need to get a fucking grip! She would not approve of the attack happening right now, as she told me on our way over here to specifically not do that," and she turns to Luke with a finger pointed. "You need to figure out how you're going to fucking explain yourself. I've never seen her this hurt."

Luke narrows his eyes at her. "Wait, wait, wait. You've spoken to Y/N? Today?" he calls out.

She puts her hands down and keeps her composure as she crosses her arms.

"Yes I have. I saw her yesterday-"

"Kayleigh why the fuck-"

"Don't start! She only wanted me knowing because she knew I'd be able to keep my mouth shut!"

"Where is she then?" Luke asks.

Kayleigh hesitated for a moment. "She's home."

"She's home??? As in she's been next door this whole time??" he bursts out, beginning to walk towards his front door.

"Don't even think about going over there right now!" she burst back, causing Luke to stop in his tracks.

"No I need to see her-"

"Luke not now," she warns. "I'm going over there with Ethan. She specifically asked for me to bring him over while you guys are all out. I wasn't even supposed to say anything today, but you gave me no choice as we see."

Luke scoffs. "So you guys are going to go out, sort your shit out as boys, and I'm going to go see her. See if she's ready." she explains before looking at Ethan.

"Let's go."

Ethan nods before following the blonde out the front door and next door.

Meanwhile, Y/N was inside her bedroom with the curtains shut. She hadn't moved, hadn't left her room since she got in two weeks ago.

Her face was puffy, yet also so hollow. She couldn't bring herself to stomach much, always feeling a sickening type of way every time she thought back to Luke.

She felt so hurt. Betrayed. Used. Depressed. She soon felt so much at once that she became numb. Her thoughts were telling her she was being dramatic, insecure, clingy. Anything to invalidate how she felt.

She hadn't changed out of her sweats and oversized tshirt she had gotten home, not feeling the need to do it since she wouldn't leave her house. The motivation to move was hard for her to do. Her hair was knotted, not caring how it looked. She didn't have anyone she cared to impress anymore.

Not that Luke would ever look her way like that.

A few knocks on her door had made her snap out of her thoughts, hearing her door creak open. "Knock, knock." Rutger's girlfriend's voice boomed in softly.

Y/N didn't move. Didn't mutter a word. Didn't show any sign of living except for the breathing of her chest.

"I brought a guest," she announced, Y/N soon seeing Ethan come into view. Y/N's eyes met his, watching his demeanor falter completely as he looked over her face.

"Oh sweetheart." Is all he has to say, causing Y/N to burst into tears that she didn't know she still had.

Ethan immediately climbs into bed next to her and holds her close as she lets out what she could. His eyes look up from Y/N's figure to Kayleigh. The look on his face showed murder in his eyes towards Luke, making the blonde nod to understand she knows.

Once the girl was calm and quiet in Ethan's arms, that was when he chose to speak. "How're you doing? Dumb question, I know." he says, trying to lighten the mood slightly. Y/N stayed still and didn't say anything, just shrugged her shoulders.

"Haven you eaten?"

She shook her head.

"Have you left your room?"

She shakes her head again.

"Have you showered today?"

She shook her head one last time.

Ethan sighs as he hugs her close before pulling away slightly to look down at her.

"This isn't good for you, sweets," he says with sad eyes. "I know you're hurting, I know." he says, rubbing her arm. "But we gotta start somewhere. He's an asshole, and I'm not going to let him ruin your days any longer. I'm going to get you up and moving. Today." he explains, making her freeze which he felt.

"Y/N."

"No."

Her voice is scratchy and rough, but he hears the fire in her voice.

"Y/N don't make me make you."

"You told me to bring Ethan over, love. You should've known he wasn't going to leave till he's got you going." Kayleigh says with a light chuckle.

Y/N huffs, not moving from her spot.

"If you don't get up, I'm making you take a bath in the pool."

Y/N's puffed eyes meet his with a glare.

"You wouldn't."

Ethan gave her daring eyes, and she just glares back at him. "Y/N I don't want him to be the reason you quit. I don't want you giving up period. I love you, but you need to get up. This is the summer before senior year. The one summer you vowed would be our best summer yet, remember?"

Y/N just looks down.

"You deserve the absolute world. I'll be damned if you let Luke's dumbass decisions get in the way of it." He says, his eyes pleading for her to give in.

Y/N's eyes leave his and looks at Kayleigh. She sheepishly nods. "I think he's right, honey. You deserve to make the best out of the summer. We can make it happen." she adds, earning an agreeing hum from Ethan.

Y/N starts to debate in her mind, before sighing.

"Okay."

Ethan's face breaks out into a large grin, soon perking up in her bed. "Good because now I can happily do this without feeling as bad."

"Doing what-"

Before she can argue, Ethan grabs her and throws her over his shoulder and runs out of her room. She's yelling out in protests and hitting his back, ass, shoulders and wherever else she can reach.

"Ethan I swear I will never talk to you again if you do this!"

"Oh you would never! You love me too much!"

"Ethan no! Kayleigh!" she shouts out in hopes the blonde will be on her side.

"I love you I swear, Y/N!" she sings out, earning an awe faced Y/N

Ethan opens the sliding door to Y/N's house while ignoring her protests. "Ethan no, come on! Put me down!" she shouts, Ethan adjusting her in his hold. Now he held her in his arms bridal style, running towards her pool.

"One!"

"Ethan-"

"Two!"

"I swear if you-"

"And three, in we go!"

Before she can argue anymore, she lets out a yelp as Ethan lets out a howl in excitement while jumping in with her in his arms.

As they resurface, Y/N has the biggest pout on her face along with furrowed brows as Ethan is laughing across from her. She splashes him harshly, earning a squeal from the boy as he splashes her back.

He kept splashing her playfully until he finally heard her giggles breakthrough the shouting and cussing at him, making him stop and let her whip her head back at him.

He just smiles in triumph at her. "There's the smile I know." he says before pulling her in for a hug.

Y/N freezes for a second, soon wrapping her arms around him tightly. Grateful she had friends like Ethan and Kayleigh to give her the tough love they did.

Little did she realize that a certain curly-headed blonde stood over in his own yard with a frown on his face at the interaction he watched, wishing he didn't mess up as badly as he did.

He had to think of a way to make it up to her, and think fast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Absolutely not."

"Please Y/N? Everyone misses you and has been worried sick about you. Even if it's a quick visit."

"No I'm not going over there. I can't."

Ethan sighs. "You know you're going to have to face him eventually. He's not going to let it go. He's been going crazy without you."

Y/N just looks at her lap. "I don't think I can face him, Eddy. I don't even know what to say to him."

"Look, as much as I'm absolutely ticked at him, I'm going to also back him up and say he really has been losing his mind without you around." he admits.

Y/N just shrugs her shoulder, picking at her nails. "We all miss you, Y/N/N."

"I know, and I miss you all too. It's just hard for me to walk in like I haven't been MIA."

"I'll be honest, when I went back over there I told them that if I could get you over that, that they need to not bombard you. I know you'd be more uncomfy if they did otherwise."

Ethan leans forward to look at her more seriously. She looks back up at him. "Just try at least. If you can't do it, then you can leave. No questions asked."

Y/N sits on it for a moment, fighting with her mind. Would Luke even want her there? Would he even are she was there?

"Fine. Just for a few minutes."

Ethan smiles warmly at her before helping her up and walking towards the front door to put on their shoes.

The walk over to the Hughes household was silent, Y/N taking quiet deep breaths as they got closer. She felt like her stomach dropped to her ass every step she took, unsure of how to react.

Her nails were being picked at so much in that moment, she was wondering they weren't bleeding yet.

Ethan pushes open the front door, leading her in to go first with him shutting the door shortly behind her. She could hear the soft booming of music going on in the backyard, signaling that the traditional bonfire was up and blazing.

"You doing okay?" Ethan asks, grabbing a drink from the fridge and handing it to her.

She nods slowly as they continue their journey to the back sliding door, trying to hide her shaking hands.

As they get closer to the bonfire, she can see them all laughing and chatting beside each other while roasting marshmallows. Duke is the first to see her figure, doing a double take as he took a sip of his drink. He throws his arms up in the air as he swallows.

"Heyyyy the party's here!" he jokes, knowing that was her go to line whenever she walked in somewhere.

Everyone soon turned around and stared directly at her, soon hearing cheers and warm welcomes coming in as a few of them hurried up to hug her tight.

She smiled a real smile as they all came to hug her tight, her insides not going a million miles a minute anymore. As she goes to sit down next to Kayleigh, the girl side hugs her tightly before returning back into conversation with Duke's girlfriend.

Rutger walks in front of her and squeezes her arm with a relieved look on his face. "So happy to see you again, Y/N/N. Truly." he says with genuine emotion behind his words. She squeezes his hand.

"Missed you too Rut."

He squeezes her arm one more time before walking over towards Ethan and Tyler.

Y/N takes a deep breath before turning her attention to the two girls next to her whom had her join into the conversation, happily beginning to take part in it.

Luke's eyes never left her figure, as it's been taking everything in him to not run up and hug her and tell her how sorry he was. He knew how she was when she needed space. The last thing he wanted to was overwhelm her when Ethan finally got her out of her house for the first time in days.

So he just watched as she interacted with everyone, seeing the longer she stayed, the more comfortable and less tense she became.

He was snapped out of his daze when a hand smacked onto his shoulder, seeing Ethan looking down at him as he took a seat. His eyes going over towards Y/N.

He nods towards her direction as Luke's eyes don't take long to follow. "She's a mess, man." he says softly. "That's the worst I've ever seen her. She wasn't anywhere near that way when Fantilli broke things off with her."

Luke sighs silently. "I don't even know where to start." he says in defeat.

"Admit you messed up. Be honest with her. Own your shit, Luke." he says. "She cares so much about you. That girl is a ride or die type of situation. You don't let girls like her go." he says, slightly pointing towards her.

Luke huffs. "I know. I just don't know if there's any fixing. I think I took it too far."

Ethan shook his head. "She still wants you around. She may want her space right now. But it doesn't mean she doesn't want you trying."

Luke looks at the ground. "I really do care about her. A lot more than I have ever admitted."

"Oh we know. Trust me dude, you're not slick about it." Ethan chuckles. Luke chuckles lightly too, Ethan slapping his back. "Are we good though?" Luke says, and Ethan hums before nodding slowly.

"Yeah we're good," he says, patting Luke's back once more before look at him. "But just know now thing."

Luke looks at him. "Know what?"

"If you don't finally get your head out of your ass," he starts. "I'm swooping in and going after her."

Luke swears his heart stops for a second. Ethan just nods. "Take care of her when you get her, man. When you get her, keep her. Don't try doing anything that may hurt her. She deserves everything life offers." Ethan says as he looks over at Y/N.

She was laughing at something Kayleigh had said, making Luke's heart warm at the sight of seeing the genuine glow in her eyes again.

Luke nods, clenching his jaw. "I got it. I promise I'll take good care of her." he says, Ethan nodding with a pause smile.

"I know you will."

The night carries on, Y/N feeling a little more at ease being around her friends.

She soon gets up from her spot with a long stretch, bending over to the girls. "I'm going to go to the bathroom real quick and get another drink. I'll be back."

The girls nod at her before she walks back up to the Hughes household, the house looking a little different in her eyes. Once she's inside and walks down the hall, she feels her chest going slightly tight again.

As soon as she's finished freshening up she heads over to the kitchen, opening the fridge doors and skims over the drink selection trying to find what her next drink will be.

"Pineapple high noons are in the drawer behind the Coors," a voice perks up. "I hid them because I know how annoyed you get when Duke takes them." Luke says softly, as if he's afraid she's going to disappear.

Y/N just nods while grabbing one, shutting the fridge and turning around.

Luke is leaning against the kitchen island across from her, his hood up on his head, eyes looking tired and a little bloodshot. "I know you like your space," he says as he clears his throat. "But can I just say something? You don't have to say anything or even listen if you don't want to."

Y/N doesn't say a word, she just looks down at her drink and fidgets with the rim.

Luke takes that as his signal to start.

"I want you to know that I never meant to hurt you. Ever. That's the absolute last thing I'd ever want to do to the one person whose opinion I care about the most."

Y/N stays silent. Luke continues.

"I know that based off of my actions, it may seem like the opposite. The truth is I have no excuse as to why I did what I did. I truly think my mind just thought you'd still come regardless. But I was dumb to not make sure you were there. No excuses for it. I wanted you to be the one I ran to hug, to share the moment with. But you weren't there and that's completely my fault. I can sit here and say I wish I could go back in time to change it, but it's too late for that. I can't change what I did, and now I will sit here day after day owning that how I chose to go about this was wrong. It wasn't fair to you after everything you've helped me through."

Luke has slowly made his way closer to her, ever so cautiously.

"You were the one who dragged me by my ear back into that rink when I wanted to quit playing at UMich. You were the one who came and made sure I was awake even if I snoozed my alarms. You were the one who stayed up late with me in the rink to make sure I got the skill right. You were there for it all. And I am the fucking stupidest person for not making sure the one person I needed by my side the most was not there. Party or not." Luke says, tears in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Y/N. I will spend every single day in regret for not fixing my mistakes."

Y/N sits there quietly, biting onto her lip to keep it from quivering.

Luke slowly lifts his hands up to cup her face, his hands shaking as he holds her jawline like it's glass. He lifts her face to look up at him.

"Don't ever think that you don't matter to me. You matter more than words can describe. This isn't how I wanted to start our summer, and that's my fault for creating that divide between us." he says, his face falling at seeing how tired mentally she looked.

"I want to spend it taking you on dates, spending it holding you close by the fire, sitting with you on that boat, getting to tell you how hard I've fallen for you," he admits, her lip quivering. "But now I will spend this entire summer, proving to you how much you matter to me. Proving how much I care that you are in my life. Because not having you here the last two weeks, not having you be there when I called or came back to the Hockey house, seeing what it was like not having you exist in my life is something I don't want to experience again."

Luke was sobbing at this point. He was hoping, praying that this wasn't the end of their path. Their story. He looks back and forth between her eyes, pleadingly and in hopes that she will give him a chance to prove himself that he wanted her. Needed her.

Y/N wasn't sure of how to react. He spilled a lot that she didn't know he felt, let alone knowing he had fallen for her. There were so many emotions running through her mind, she didn't know how she wanted to react.

She was so deeply in love with Luke Hughes, and she wanted to give in so quickly. But her body was fighting it, knowing she needed to still give herself some space to ease back into their routine. She didn't know what to do in that moment.

"I don't know what to say Luke," she whimpers out, her voice not feeling steady. "You cut me deep. I'm hurt."

He nods quickly. "I know. I know I did, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." he mutters to her, seeing her internally battling her thoughts. "Just give me a chance. Give me one chance to prove to you." he begs.

Y/N couldn't just let him go after everything. Everything they've been through together since day one. There are things that they have dealt with that nobody else knows about. She felt so deeply for this boy. The way he looked at her like nobody else was in the room, the way he would never fail to make her laugh, or the way he'd always find a way to help her with her presentation for student teaching. There were the big things and the littlest of minimal things he has done that she knew there was more to their story.

Y/N slowly brings a hand to his cheek, wiping the nonstopfilowing tears that were falling. He lets his face burrow into her touch.

"You have a lot of redeeming to do, Luke," she starts. "But I'm willing to try and give you a chance to prove it."

Luke feels like his chest could breathe again. Like she was the one giving him the air in his lungs. He nods continuously, pulling her into a hug.

"I promise, Y/N. I promise." he whispers to her. Y/N didn't have to ask him what he was promising to her.

She just knew.