Chapter 59: Slow down I stood in the middle of a desert. Sand filled the landscape as far as I could see. A small line split the sky from sand, and it made me feel like I was one grain in trillions. One life out of billions. People have come before me and people will come after me. What am I going to do with my time? How much of the world will I see? I stared at the desert like it was one giant hourglass. I could see the group in front of me, taking in the instructor's speech. I guess I was just going to wing this. Or ask Luke. I watched him half listen to the instructor, his arms crossed over his broad chest. The sun glinted off his skin and created small shadows under the curves of his muscles. That desert heat made him hot. Made us both hot. He turned his head to look back at me and seemed surprised to catch me already staring at him. It was a cute look though, and his lips curled into an even cuter smile. I realized that he must've watched me a few times while I was staring out over the dunes. He turned his back to the instructor and walked towards me, bridging the empty space between me and everyone else. Something about the desert and today being the last day of the year made this different. The space between us and the golden ground beneath us felt like he was crossing worlds. From his to mine. I used to feel so incredibly lonely. Despite going to school every day and being surrounded by people, I felt like I was living in a desert. Which is ironic, since I am in an actual desert right now, feeling anything but alone. It sounds crazy to say, but Luke disrupted my lonely world without even realizing it. He saw me instead of seeing through me and that stunned me. I'm still stunned. He's authentic.... athletic... arrogant Luke Dawson. The person who was so different to me and yet the only person who really got me. What cringe worthy A's do I have to describe myself? Awkward and awestruck. Luke kissed me, taking me partly by surprise. His lips were smooth to touch and my eyes fluttered shut. The wind wrapped around us as the sun beat down overheard. The heat created such a dense air between us that his soft lips felt like water on my chapped ones. He tilted his head to kiss me so that his red cap wouldn't get in the way. I pressed my fingers against the tip of his cap to pull it up slightly so I could see his vibrant blue eyes even better. Strands of his black hair fell loosely over his forehead. It felt unbelievable to stare at him and have the desert landscape behind us. One year ago, I would never have imagined the two of us to be here, like this. "Smile!" Oma called out to us with camera raised to take pictures. We broke apart from our kiss, but his arms stayed around me. While she snapped a photo, we could see the instructor standing irritated behind her. Luke said to me, "You not paying attention is cute until you crash into me on your quad bike." His hand slipped into mine. "You're not paying attention too," I argued, wrapping my fingers around his hand. "I have a driver's license," he answered as we started to walk back towards the others. "So do I!" He scoffed at that. ** ~Luke's POV~ I stared at her. Sunglasses on and her hands wrapped around the handlebars, Millie was the hottest girl. She revved the engine. Her hair was in a ponytail and I liked being able to see her neck. I kept watching the end of her ponytail bounce against the cape of her smooth neck. Chad nudged me as he walked past, "You're getting too soft." Thanks for the reminder. I turned to the boys on their quad bikes. They wanted to race and were busy calling out the stakes. Chad tried to raise it to a level none of us were interested in. "Luke," Austin called me over, breaking away from Chad and Oma. I went to him, knowing I did not want to have this conversation. Austin knows me so well I can't even look him in the eye without him guessing something's up. I stood opposite him, waiting to hear whatever he had to say. "How you doing?" he asked. "I've been better." "She doesn't know?" "No and it's going to stay that way." Austin disagreed, "You should tell her man." I walked away. I didn't want to talk about it. Why did this vacation have to f*ck with my relationships? ** ~Millie's POV~ The heat was making my clothes stick to me. I couldn't wait to start driving and feel some breeze in this desert. This activity was on my bucket list. I had grown up thinking of the things I would be able to do after college, when I was finally independent and free to live my life. I had never in a million years imagined being able to come somewhere like this. I pressed my foot on the peddle and started to drive. The sound of the quad bikes made it hard to have a sincere conversation. Austin was driving in circles in front of us. But I still tried to give it a go. I brought my bike to the same speed as Chad's. "Thank you!" I told him, while he was posing for a selfie over on his bike. "No sweat," he answered, lowering his phone and driving with his left hand, "What for?" "For bringing us all here." He nodded, "Glad we made the trip happen." "I hope to return the favor one day," I promised. "MILLIE!" Cearra yelled from her bike. We drove our bikes towards each other, and she was practically bouncing on hers. "Can you believe we're doing this?" she exclaimed but was interrupted by the sound of her cell phone ringing, "Ugh! My mom has the worst timing." "Answer it," I encouraged her, as we followed the instructor. He was yelling at the boys who had started to drive out of control, out of bounds and out of the speed limit. Who knew there was a speed limit in the desert? The instructor had made it very clear he wanted us to not reach maximum speed. "Hi mom," Cearra said in a bored voice, putting her mom on speaker. "What? What's all the noise in the background? It's hard to hear you," her mom asked, hearing the engines and wind. "We're quad biking, mom. Let's speak later!" Cearra said. "Be safe! I'll call you later. Love you!"