The Upside of Love (17 page)

Luke

As I sat on the edge of the bed with my feet planted firmly on the floor, I sighed as I cupped my face in my hands. I picked up my phone and there were no messages. I shook my head as I got up and threw my things in the suitcase. I had slept a little too long and I needed to get to the airport. After quickly scanning the room and making sure I had everything, I went down to the lobby and checked out. I couldn’t get out of here fast enough. The valet hailed a cab for me and told the driver to take me to the airport. Since I still had a little bit of time, I decided to get something to eat before heading to my gate. I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialed Sam.

“Hey, bro. Gretchen and I were just talking about you and Lily. How are the two of you? Getting along, I hope.”

“It’s over for good, man. She decided it, not me.”

“Luke, I’m sorry. I’m going to put you on speaker so Gretchen can hear.”

“Luke, what the fuck happened? What did she say to you?” Gretchen asked.

“She said that if we were together and that every time I looked at her, I would be reminded of Callie. She said that she caused me enough pain in my life and she couldn’t do it anymore.” My eyes started to fill with tears.

“She’s an idiot!” Gretchen yelled. “What the hell is the matter with her and her fucked up way of thinking? That’s what she meant that night at Charley’s birthday party. I told her that you’re so in love with her and she said that you only think you are.”

I shook my head as I took a bite of my pizza. This was unreal to me. “I’m at the airport now. My flight will be boarding soon. I’ll talk to you guys later.”

“Take care, Luke, and we’re on your side,” Sam said.

I finished my pizza and then headed to my gate. I really thought that we’d be flying home together. I was dead wrong. My phone had ten percent battery left, so I turned it off and put it back in my pocket. As I sat down in the chair, I noticed the couple sitting across me. They were smiling, holding hands, and sharing small kisses. I couldn’t take sitting there, so I moved to the other side and sat in the corner.

****

Lily

Shit. I didn’t really know where I was. When I walked here from Central Park, I was in such a daze of confusion, that I didn’t pay attention. I hailed a cab and told him to step on it to the Trump Hotel. He looked at me strangely until I held out a twenty-dollar bill.

“It’s a matter of life and death. I need to get there NOW!”

“Sure thing, lady.”

He pulled out into traffic. Weaving in and out, slamming on the brakes, and almost getting me killed a few times. He pulled up to the Trump and the valet opened the door. I paid my fare and ran into the hotel, pressing the button on the elevator numerous times. The doors finally opened and I rode it up to my floor, with a few stops on the way up. I pushed my way through the crowd of people on the elevator when the doors opened and went right to Luke’s room. I knocked on the door and then called his name. No answer. I knocked again. No answer. I BANGED on it. No answer. I pulled my phone from my purse and dialed his number; it went straight to voicemail. SHIT.

I got out my room key, went inside, changed into different clothes, and went down to the front desk.

“Can I help you, miss?”

“I’m trying to get a hold of Luke Matthews in room 2212 and he’s not answering and I’m worried.”

“Mr. Matthews already checked out.”

“Oh.” My heart sank. “That’s right; he said something about going home earlier than planned. He was going home, right?”

“I don’t know, miss. He didn’t say.”

“Right. Thank you.”

I turned around and my eyes filled with tears. What was I going to do now? I tried to call him again and it went straight to voicemail. As I walked outside the hotel, I asked the valet about Luke and I showed him his picture. He told me that he took a cab to the airport about an hour ago. I thanked him as I hopped in a cab and told the driver to take me to the airport. I searched flights out of LaGuardia and the only flight that Luke would have been on was the nine o’clock flight. I looked at my watch. I still had time. I could make it.

“Excuse me, but you need to drive faster,” I said to the cab driver.

“Ma’am, this is New York. I’m doing the best I can.”

We finally reached the airport and I ran to security and was instantly stopped.

“Boarding pass, please.”

“I’m not flying out. I need to go and get my boyfriend. I need to tell him how much I love him and that I made a terrible mistake.”

He looked at me with irritation. “You aren’t getting through security if you don’t have a boarding pass.”

“Have you ever been in love?” I asked.

“No,” he said as he made me turn around and pointed to the ticket counter.

“I can see why,” I mumbled as I stood in line.

I was running out of time. I needed to get to the front of the line so I could buy a ticket and try to stop Luke. I couldn’t let him get on that plane. I walked up front to the next person in line. A young man. Actually, a very cute young man.

“Excuse me. I don’t have time to stand in line. I need to get to my boyfriend before he boards his plane. Can I please have your spot in line?”

“Sorry, lady, but I’m in a hurry too.”

I flashed a fifty-dollar bill at him. “Still in a hurry?”

“One more person won’t make a difference,” he said as he took the money from my hand and motioned for me to get in front of him. I looked back at him. “I want you know that your cuteness factor just went out the window.”

“Next,” the man at the counter said.

“I need a ticket.”

“To where?”

“I don’t care where. Just give me a ticket!”

He looked at me and narrowed his eyes. “You don’t know where you’re going?”

“Fine. Give me a ticket for the next flight out to LAX.”

“Okay. That flight leaves at one a.m.”

“Wait. Don’t you have a nine o’clock flight?”

“Yes, but that’s sold out.”

I sighed. “Fine, give me the one o’clock. Just hurry,” I said as I handed him my I.D. and credit card.

“Here you go. Do you have any bags to check?”

“No. I don’t,” I said as I grabbed the ticket and ran to security.

“I see you’re going on a trip.” The security officer smiled.

I shot him a look as I waited to go through. It was all moving pretty fast, but his plane was boarding right as of this minute. I took off my shoes, threw them in the bin, got scanned, and grabbed them as I stood and looked at the monitor to find out which gate he was at. Once I found out, I looked at the signs and, oh shit, I had to run. Of course his gate would be at the other end. I ran through the airport, pushing people, saying excuse me and almost tripping over someone’s cane. I was going to tell Luke how wrong I was and beg him for his forgiveness. Why was I so stupid? How was I so stupid? I didn’t have time to analyze my stupidity as I finally reached his gate and the doors shut. I ran up to the desk.

“I need to get on that plane.”

“I’m sorry, miss, but it’s too late; it’s closed.”

“No, no. You don’t understand. My life is hanging by a thread and the answer to that is on that plane. I need to get on that plane,” I said with a shaky voice as I showed her my boarding pass.

She looked at me and raised her eyebrow. “Your ticket isn’t even for this flight. Do you need us to call someone for you?”

Why does everyone keep asking me that?
“No. I’m sorry,” I replied as I looked down and slowly walked away.

I went to the window and looked out at the plane as the tears started to fall. I wasn’t feeling well and it was the overwhelming sickness that I might never be with him again.

Lily

I sat down in the chair for a moment to compose myself. Everything that had happened today was strange. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Did I even want to? I took in a deep breath and got up from the chair. I started to walk away when I heard my name from a distance.

“Lily?”

I stopped for a moment and turned around to find Luke standing a few feet in front of me. I ran to him and threw my arms around him as tight as I could.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry for everything. Why are you here? You were on the plane!”

He looked confused but happy at the same time. “We have to switch planes. This one was having mechanical issues. Do you believe it?”

“Yes. After today, I do believe it. I believe everything, including you. I’m so sorry, Luke. Please forgive me. I love you so much and I can’t lose you.”

He grabbed my face and smashed his lips against mine. “Lily, you don’t know how happy I am to hear you say that.”

“Yes, I do. I love you.

“I love you too, babe. God, I can’t believe this.” He smiled as he picked me up and spun me around. “What happened? Why did you change your mind?”

“We can talk about that later. Let’s go back to the hotel. We have so much to catch up on.”

“We sure do, babe. We sure do.”

****

Luke

We couldn’t keep our hands off of each other. She felt warm again. She fumbled in her purse for the keycard as I had her up against the door, passionately kissing her. She handed me the card and I inserted it as the green light flashed and I turned the knob.

“Wait,” I said as I broke our kiss.

I held the door open with my foot and I picked her up and carried her inside. She smiled as her arms were wrapped around my neck.

“Babe, I want to make love to you so bad. But we have to take your temperature first.”

“What?!” she exclaimed.

“You feel really warm.”

She sighed as I sat her down on the bed. “Fine,” she said as she stuck the thermometer in her mouth. It beeped. She looked at it and then at me.

“It’s 100.5 and I don’t care because we already mixed saliva, so you’re going to get it anyway.” She smiled as she pulled me down on top of her.

“I didn’t say I wasn’t going to make love to you. I was just saying you felt warm.”

My lips trailed her neck as she fumbled with the button on my jeans. Once she managed to get them unbuttoned, she unzipped the zipper and stuck her hand down the front of my pants. I moaned.

“You have no idea how much I’ve missed this,” she gasped.

“Kind of like I missed these.” I smiled as my hand grabbed her breast.

Her hand was stroking me up and down and I felt like I was already going to come. I stood up, kicked off my shoes, and stripped out of my clothes. Lily sat up and did the same, except for her bra. She left that on and smiled at me. She knew how much I loved to take it off of her. I climbed on the bed behind her as she sat straight up. My tongue made tiny circles around her shoulders and upper back as my hands unhooked her bra. I reached in front of her and lightly took hold of both her breasts, kneading them and pinching her hard nipples. Her moans increased as she placed her hands on mine, guiding my hands around her breasts.

“God, I love you, Lily.”

“I love you, Luke.”

She turned around so she was facing me and sat up on her knees. My hand found its way in between her legs as my fingers plunged inside her and my thumb slowly rubbed her clit. She arched her back and started making the “ah” sounds as she ran her fingers through my hair.

“You’re so wet. I think you need to be wetter, though,” I said as I brought my mouth down to her. My tongue softly circling around her swollen area was arousing her even more. She began to thrust her hips as my tongue dipped inside of her and played around.

“Oh God, Luke. Baby, what are you doing to me?” she asked with bated breath.

“Making you come,” I whispered as my tongue circled her clit and my fingers went inside her. I brought her to the edge and smiled as she released herself on me.

She pushed me back and climbed on top, but not before sucking me off for a few minutes. Her mouth wrapped around my cock was the hottest thing to me. I loved watching her. She brought her lips to mine and gently climbed on top of me. I was so hard and more than ready to be inside of her. She lowered herself onto me and began slowly moving. Looking at her full naked body making love to me was amazing. Our lips were locked tight as I thrust myself inside her. We both gasped as I nipped her bottom lip. She broke our kiss and her lips traveled from my chin down to my nipples. She licked each one before sitting up and moving her hips in a circular motion. I couldn’t get enough of her. She felt so good.

“Lily, you feel amazing.”

“So do you. You’re so hard,” she said as she leaned back and placed her hands on my legs.

I grabbed a hold of her hips and moved her back and forth on my cock. She was swelling and getting ready to have orgasm number two.

“You’re so warm inside. Lily, I’m going to come.”

“Me too!” she yelled.

She sat straight up and rode me faster as her legs tightened at my side and we both came at the same time, calling out each other’s names. She collapsed on top of me and hugged me tight. Our hearts beat rapidly together as our breathing began to slow. My hands traveled softly up and down her naked back. It felt so good to have her body near mine again.

“You need to take some Motrin,” I whispered in her ear.

She let out a laugh as she rolled off of me. “Really, Luke?”

“Yeah, babe. Really.” I winked.