"'m mad at you," is the first thing that Noah says when the FaceTime call connects.

"Why?" I question, fixing my gaze on my reflection in the mirror and braiding the upper half of my hair in a Dutch braid to finish my hairstyle.

"Because you haven't called me in forever!" He exclaims.

I raise an eyebrow at him. "You do realize that you have WiFi in Sydney too, right? So you can call me whenever you like."

"I was going by the concept of 'ladies first'," he scoffs.

"You're right. Why didn't you call me then?" I ask innocently.

"You're hilarious," he comments emotionlessly.

"I try." I inspect my face from different angles to double-check my makeup, then I notice that my nose is too shiny and I use the beauty blender to spread the highlighter around a bit. Now I don't look like I have a lightbulb as a nose.

"Why do you look so...clean?" Noah asks. He sure sets high expectations for compliments. I feel bad for his future girlfriend.

"Luke and his family are coming over to have dinner with us," I answer.

"Why?"

"Right. You don't know," I realize. "Um...Luke and I are together."

"I beg your pardon?" He raises his eyebrows. "Carter and you are together? Like 'doing couple shit and wearing weird ass matching shirts' together?"

"Yes, I guess," I reply, unsure if this is the right way to describe our relationship.

"What the fuck happened in three months?" He unwraps a familiar looking chocolate candy and takes a bite out of it.

"You're eating cherry ripes without me?" I ask in shock, feeling betrayed.

"I missed them," he muffles out.

"I expect a whole box in my mailbox after a few hours."

"Will do my best," he pledges. "Now tell me what happened in the past three months."

"Well, sit back 'cause this is long." I explain to Noah every single thing that happened to me in the last three months which takes a whole hour and seven minutes because I got my own complex way of story telling.

Seriously, all of my stories go along the way of: pre-story prologue for "context", then the start of the story, then too many unnecessary details, then semi-related side story, going back to the main story, something that I just now remembered, losing train of thought, then the famous 'wait what was I talking about?', realizing that I've been talking for too long, wrapping the story up and finally getting to the point before ending the story and apologizing. I could never be a story teller.

"Damn," he takes a sip from his Sprite.

"Are you sitting next to a fridge? How did you even get that?" I ask him, pointing at the Sprite.

"I am, in fact." He moves his phone to the left and a silver fridge appears next to him. "Say hi to Foodella." He grins.

"You named your fridge?"

"I named a lot of things. My car, my poem notebook, my toilet, my bed, my trash bin, my six-pack, my penis–"

"Your what now?"

"My pe–" he starts to repeat.

"I heard what you said," I quickly cut him off and sigh. I'm not even going to ask.

"So, how do I look?" I stand up from my dresser's seat. I step back to let Noah see my full attire and do a little twirl in my maroon dress.

"Like you got that whole 'I'm the one who's taking your son home tonight' look," he replies, grinning proudly of his answer.

"Thank you," I say sarcastically.

"Of course."

The sound of the doorbell chimes in the house. "I gotta go," I tell him.

"Okay. Update me on what happens." Noah gives me a sympathetic smile.

"I will text you later," I confirm. "Bye, ugly."

"Bye, loser." The call disconnects after Noah sends me a salute sign and I close the laptop.

"Honey! Come down here!" My mum calls.

"I'm coming!" I take one last look at myself in the mirror, then I grab my phone and head downstairs.

I find mum chatting with Clara and looking at her stomach every now and then. Surprisingly, Emily joins their conversation some times and mum nods at her as if she's understanding. My brothers are all seated in the living room. Luna stands next to Clara looking bored out of her mind as she looks around the house and Luke scrolls through his phone with one hand in his pocket.

He's wearing a white button-up shirt and a pair of black trousers, the sleeves of his shirt are rolled up to his elbow. A pair of circular glasses are resting on his nose and for the first time, he isn't wearing his black beanie. I notice the black hair tie around his wrist and I smile giddily. Over all, he looks gorgeous. He always does anyways.

The sound of my heels clicking on the floor grabs their attention and I smile greetingly. "Hey, Emily." I hug her.

"Hey, Anna," she hugs me back, then she pulls away and gives me a smile. "How are you doing, dear?"

"I'm doing great. How are you?" I question.

"I'm fine. Thank you," she replies.

"I'll be in the kitchen finishing the food until your father comes," Mum tells me and I nod.

"Would you like me to help you?" Emily asks her and I look at her with shock.

"I suppose," Mum responds and I look at her with shock. What is happening?

They both disappear in the kitchen. "Did mom and Mrs. Falls just have a normal conversation?" Luna asks.

"Maybe Anna and Luke should have dated earlier for them to communicate," Clara says jokingly.

"We should have," I agree.

"You look amazing!" Luna squeals, turning to me. "You're teaching me how to do the hairstyle." She points at my hair.

"You like it?" I turn around to fully show it to her.

"I love it! I seriously don't know how you did that. I suck at following hair tutorials."

"Trust me, you don't know what I went through to actually understand how to do that."

"Well, you're teaching me anyways," she declares.

"You really do look beautiful," Clara smiles.

"Thank you. You both look amazing," I smile at them. "You guys can take a seat there until I'm done with setting the table up." I point to the double-seat couch and Luna nods with a smile before she goes to take a seat.

"You want me to help?" Clara asks.

"It's fine, Lara. I will help Cherries," Luke tells her and she nods, then she walks to take a seat beside her sister on the couch.

Luke and I head to the dining room and as soon as Luke walks after me, I close the door of the room and turn to him.

"I'm freaking out," I tell him.

"Am I not supposed to be the one who's freaking out?" He questions.

"Are you?"

"Yes."

"Well, I guess we're both freaking out," I grin. "But don't worry, we'll be fine. Dad is actually a very nice person. He just needs to act tough to scare people."

"Alright," he nods and stares at me for awhile.

"What?" I feel my cheeks heat up under his gaze.

"You look so gorgeous," his eyes trail down my body.

"Stop that." I smack his arm, my face flaming up even more if that's possible.

"What? My girlfriend looks stunning and you're expecting me not to react?"

I cover my face with both hands to hide my wide smile at 'my girlfriend' and my non-stop blood rushing. I hear Luke laughing at my reaction and I peek at him from my fingers.

"You're annoying," I take my hands off of my face and cross my arms.

"And you're cute." He grabs my crossed arms and pulls me closer to him, then he kisses my lips; one hand holding my chin and the other resting on my hip. I place a hand on his shoulder as I kiss him back for a few seconds before we pull away.

"We should set the table up. Dad's coming home soon," I tell Luke.

"Right," he replies.

Please let dad like Luke. Please. Please. Please.

| | | |

"So, Luke, what's your plan for the future?" Dad asks him, setting his knife and fork down and connecting his hands together.

"Well, I enrolled in the University of Rome and Melbourne and I'm just waiting for them to reply," Luke responds.

"Melbourne?" Dad raises his eyebrows. "Very good.

And which field are you going for?"

"Environmental science for now, but I might switch to business management," he says.

"You will?" Emily and I ask in shock. Luke is not the type that would be up for business and all that jazz.

"I'm still not sure," he tells us.

"I see," dad comments. "What are your intentions with my daughter?"

I almost feel like sinking down my seat until I hit the floor and Luke must have noticed my distress because he places his hand on my thigh reassuringly and I start feeling better. One simple action and I'm okay.

"Anna is amazing and I really like her. I would do anything to keep her safe and treat her in a good way. I know that she deserves the best and I can't guarantee that I'm the best, but I'll do my best because she really deserves it," Luke says wholeheartedly and I smile widely, bringing the glass of water up to my lips, so I can hide my smile.

Dad must have noticed me cheesing because he sends me a look.

"What?" I ask innocently, chewing on my lip to hide my smile.

I could see dad's lips curving upwards and I thought for a moment that he's smiling before the emotionless expression appears on his face again.

"You're a good guy, Luke. I can sense that. Any boy who's got my girl smiling that hard is a good person."

"Dad," I whine embarrassingly as Luke laughs, then I look down at Molly who is lying down on the floor next to my chair and she sticks her tongue out. I smile at her and give her a piece of my steak.

'I love you,' I mouth to her and she lets out a small bark/whine, making me smile.

"What are you doing?" I hear Luke asking and I turn my head towards him. The others are busy engaging in their own conversations.

"I'm confessing my undying love for Molly," I admit.

Luke leans against the table to see Molly who stares at him and he waves at her in which she gives him her famous doggie-smile.

"I don't even get one of those smiles anymore," I say and turn to look at Luke. "What else are you going to steal from me, Mr. Carter?" I joke.

"I'm planning on stealing everything from you, Miss Falls," he responds with a grin. "Even your underwear."

"Stay away from my knickers," I laugh.

He smiles at me. "Have I ever told you that you're so beautiful?"

"I'm going to the bathroom because I don't know how to respond to your compliments." I stand up as Luke chuckles and signal for mum that I'm going for the bathroom. She nods and sends me a wide smile, then I head to the bathroom upstairs.

| | | |

"What are we going to do?" Luna beams, crossing her legs on the couch and grabbing a handful of popcorn to stuff in her mouth.

"We are going to do everything. Movie and sitcom marathons. Face masks. Paint our nails. Talk about anything. Play video games. We'll do it all," I tell her.

"Can we paint Duke's nails?" She asks excitedly and Duke's ears perk up.

"Yes, we can!"

Duke shoots up and runs towards me before he hops on the couch and hides behind me, burying his face in my side. Luna and I laugh at his reaction.

"Okay okay, we won't do your nails," I assure him, patting his head.

That's when Clara comes down the stairs and she gives me a small smile. Her skin is glowing a lot, I notice. Must be the pregnancy affecting her.

"Hey, Lyn," she greets me.

"Hey, Lara," I greet her back with a smile.

"What are you guys doing?" She leans on the couch, noticing the amount of the snacks on the coffee table and the blankets surrounding us.

"We're having a girls' day. Wanna join?" Luna grins.

"Well, I have to take a break from studying, so yeah sure." She goes around the couch and takes a seat beside Luna.

"What are we going to do first?" She questions.

"Face masks?" Luna suggests. "And we can watch a couple of episodes from The Umbrella Academy while we wait."

"Let's go." I hop up excitedly to rush to the bathroom. I think I'm the most excited one between them. I'm just happy that I get to spend time with Luna and Clara. It will be good before I head off to college.

College.

I just realized that this word means so much right now since I'm dating Luke. What's going to happen to us after high school? I hope we end up going to the same college. I don't want to let him go. Yes, I know I sound selfish, but I'm happy with him and I want him to stay, at the same time I don't want to hold him back from doing what he wants and focusing on his life. We still have three months left. We'll figure it out.

The three of us put on our masks and then we start the first episode of The Umbrella Academy. We pretty much look like three aliens stuffing their faces with chips and popcorn with the face masks. Clara has a green one on, Luna has a purple one on and I have a yellow one. Weird clash of colors I know. The girls and I wash the face masks after awhile.

Then we start playing FIFA. Turns out, Luna is very good at football, but I still beat her. We also play Resident Evil. Clara isn't a fan of video games, so she just cheers us on as we play.

We binge-watch two other sitcoms which are Friends and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. We even finish all the snacks that we got and we start complaining about how we can't fit any more food in. Exactly five minutes later, we order two, large, stuffed crust, margarita pizzas. No regrets.

We switch to movie marathons and we spend four hours watching horror movies. And well...

"Don't do it. Don't go out there, you dumb bitch." Luna peers from the top of the pillow she's currently squeezing the life out from.

"She's dead," Lara snorts.

"Annnnd she died." I toss a popcorn in my mouth and chew slowly. "Man, girls are so stupid in horror movies."

"Yup," Luna agrees, taking a handful from the popcorn and eating it.

I hear the sound of the front door opening and closing. "Girls, I'm home!" Emily's voice sounds.

"Hey, mom!" Luna greets her as Emily appears in the living room.

"Oh. Hello, Anna. I didn't know you would be here," Emily says.

"I came to spend time with the girls," I respond with a smile.

"Well, that's very nice of you. They do need friends," Emily jokes and I chuckle.

"Hey!" Luna pauses the horror movie and turns to her mum, her face filled with fake offense.

"Thanks, mom," Clara replies, chuckling slightly.

"You know, I love you guys." She kisses her daughters' heads, then she turns to me. "You're staying for dinner, Anna?"

"Oh no, I don't want to intrude or anything," I wave my hand dismissively.

"Dear, you're family now. You're not intruding. Besides, I know that Lucas would love it if you stayed."

"Tell her how much he talks about her," Luna says.

"Oh, a lot. He can go for ages," Emily nods her head.

"Bet he loves you," Luna nudges me.

"Bet," Clara agrees.

"Guys," I cover my face shyly and I hear the three of them laugh.

"Speaking of Luke, did he go to the doctor's?" Clara asks her mother.

The doctor's?

"Not yet. He booked an appointment for tomorrow," Emily replies hesitantly, glancing at me.

"Is he okay?" I frown.

"He's fine. He's just been coughing a lot lately and he hasn't been eating very well," Emily clears her throat as if she doesn't want to talk about the subject, but she gives me a smile nonetheless.

"Don't worry, dear. It's probably a fever or a cold," she reassures me and I nod, smiling.

"I'll go prepare dinner," Emily announces, walking to the kitchen.

"Do you want any help, Emily?" I ask her.

"No, it's fine, Anna. You have fun with the girls," she responds loudly so I can hear her.

"Okay, let's go back to insulting girls in horror movies," Luna unpauses the movie.

Once the movie finishes and Luna ends up burying her face in the pillow, the sound of the front door opening creaks in the house and I know it's Luke. My heart almost leaps out of my chest in happiness. Okay, ew, too sappy.

"I'm home," he announces and walks in the living room.

"Hey, honey!" Emily greets him from inside the kitchen and Luke replies with a greeting too.

"Hey, loser," Luna tells him.

"Hey, shortie," he responds.

"Be nice to your brother," Clara says.

"Um, hello? He called me a shortie when he's only a couple of inches taller than I am!" she exclaims.

"Both of you, be nice to each other," she orders them.

"Yes, mom," Luna and Luke reply sarcastically and I laugh.

"Were you feeding the entire neighbourhood?" Luke gestures to the amount of food surrounding us.

"No, we were feeding ourselves," Luna tells him.

"I'm not surprised," he chuckles, then he comes from behind to put his arms around me. "Hey, baby," he kisses the top of my head.

"Hi," I smile up at him.

"Luke, you may leave now since this is a girls' day," Luna says, smiling sweetly.

"Nah, I'm staying," he smirks. "My girlfriend is here and I like annoying you."

"Jerk," she mutters. "Let's do our nails."

Soon we're painting our nails and Luke heads upstairs to change and take a shower before he comes back downstairs. All of that in eight minutes and fifty seconds. I don't know how is it possible, but he did it. Guys have superpowers, I swear.

I huff frustratingly for the third time when another strand of hair falls in my face, while I put the nail polish on. Due to me having really straight hair, the hair tie doesn't hold it up for long and it ends up escaping from it. That's why I leave my hair down most of the times, but now this is the worst decision ever.

"Luke, can you-" I point at my hair.

"Got it," he cuts me off before I can continue. He bunches up my hair and holds it up, then he tucks the short loose strands behind my ear before he places a small kiss on the side of my neck.

I quickly do my last two fingers and I stretch my hands out so my fingers can dry off.

"Do you want me to braid it? It will be easier," Luke offers.

"You know how to braid?"

"He knows a lot," Clara says.

"Yup. Dutch braids. French braids. Normal braids. Space buns. Half-up, half-downs. We taught him well." Luna places her hand on her chest in pride and Luke rolls his eyes.

"Do it!" I turn around excitedly (and carefully), so Luke can do my hair.

He chuckles and kisses my cheek quickly, then he starts braiding my hair as I blow on my fingernails.

"And done," Luna checks off 'Painting our nails' of the list that we made earlier.

"We did it," she holds up both of her hands and Clara and I highfive her.

| | | |

❀