Delilah's POV

"Delilah, can you go check on the turkey?" my mom asks for the hundredth time. I roll my eyes and quickly look in the oven. The turkey looks the same as it did last time.

I head into the living room and sit on the couch next to my brother Noah. He's home from college for the next few days.

"Look at Elmo!" my younger sister Lucy screams as she points to the balloon on TV. She's been watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade for awhile, screaming everytime a character she likes comes on.

"Yeah, cool," I mumble, seeing a car pull into the driveway. "Mom, the Hemmings are here!"

I've been dreading seeing Luke again. I know it's going to be weird to have to sit through a whole meal with him when I haven't talked to him in a month.

"Can you get the door?" my mom asks.

"No!" I yell, not wanting to be the person to greet them.

"So I finally get to meet your boyfriend?" Noah asks.

"He's not my boyfriend," I mutter, rolling my eyes.

"Not from what mom's told me."

"She doesn't even know anything."

Noah talks in a girly voice and says, "Delilah met this new boy Luke. Delilah's been hanging out with Luke. Delilah did her English project on Luke, oh my goodness, it's just so adorable!"

"Shut up!" I say, nudging into his shoulder.

Just then, the doorbell rings. I instantly become more nervous at the thought of seeing Luke again. I don't know how I'm going to eat dinner with him. He's ignored me for a month, he'll just ignore me today. I'm surprised he's even coming.

Noah doesn't get up to get the door, and neither do I. I refuse.

"You go," Noah says.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Lucy, go answer the door," Noah says.

"Noah, she's three! She can't even reach the door knob," I tell him. I reluctantly get off the couch and head towards the door. My hand stays on the knob for a few seconds before finally opening the door.

"Hi, Delilah!" Mr. Hemmings says, handing me a pie.

"Happy Thanksgiving! Come on in!" I say with as much happiness as I can. I don't want Luke to know how nervous I am.

I look over to Luke who is behind his dad. He's looking at the ground, and his feet are turned in as he shifts his weight from side to side. He quickly looks up at me before looking back down, his cheeks turning slightly red.

"Hi, Luke," I say quietly as he walks past me and up the stairs, following his dad.

He doesn't even look up at me, but I swear I saw him flinch a little.

"Who are you?" I hear Lucy ask when Luke gets into the living room.

"That's Luke," I tell her. She's has to tilt her head far back in order to look up at Luke. Luke waves a little to her, and she waves back.

"I'm Lucy, I'm three, and I like to play Barbies. Do you like Barbies?" she asks Luke.

He shakes his head and smiles a little.

"Luke, that's my brother, Noah," I say quietly. I figure I should introduce them since Luke obviously isn't going to introduce himself.

Luke doesn't even look at me when I talk. I feel like I'm invisible to him.

Does he really hate me that much?

"Hey," Noah says, reaching out to do that weird handshake boys do. Luke looks down awkwardly at Noah's hand and raises his eyebrows. "Dude, it's daps," Noah mumbles.

Luke makes a confused expression and shrugs.

"Let's just forget that happened," Noah says. I can tell he's trying not to laugh, I am too. This is already so awkward.

Next my mom and step dad come out to introduce themselves to Luke. I've already told my family about how Luke is, but I don't think they really realized what I meant. I don't think they understood how someone just doesn't talk. My mom asks Luke a ton of questions, I think she thought he would give a response, but all he does is shrug or shake his head.

We all sit down at the table a few minutes later. Of course Luke is sitting across from me. He stares down at his empty plate and moves his fork side to side until the food is ready.

It's going to be a long day.

Luke picks a small piece of Turkey and piles on a bunch of mashed potatoes onto his plate. He doesn't get anything else but those two. I wonder if he doesn't understand the point of Thanksgiving or is he just doesn't like the food.

"So, Luke, how do you like it here so far?" my step dad, John, asks.

Luke shrugs and pushes his potatoes around his plate.

"You're quiet," Lucy says.

Luke nods, and I can tell he's holding back a smile.

The dinner continues like a normal family dinner. Luke continues to not acknowledge my existence, and I stay pretty quiet. I feel extremely awkward, and I don't know what to say or do. I just listen to everyone else talk, and I sometimes add to the conversation, but not much. Everyone now and again, I catch Luke look up at me, and he blushes every time.

After dinner, Noah, John, and Mr. Hemmings go watch the football game. I help my mom with dishes since I have nothing better to do. Lucy wanted to show Luke her room.

"Luke is interesting," my mom says.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"What happened with you guys?"

I stop drying the plate and put it down on the counter. "What?"

"Well, for awhile you two hungout. And today you won't even look at each other. Is there something I should know about?"

"No."

"Delilah, you don't have to be embarrassed to tell my about your relationships."

I widen my eyes. "Mom! Do you think I dated Luke?!"

"Well, yes, I mean-"

"Mom, no. We were friends, if even that. Whatever it was is over."

"If you say so. I see the way you're looking at each other today though."

"Mom, stop! I'm done with this conversation. Goodbye," I say jokingly, leaving the kitchen. I can hear Lucy in the living room, and when I walk out into the hall, I see her sitting with Luke. They're both cross-legged on the floor. Luke looks so large compared to Lucy, it's cute. I stand there quietly and watch.

"How old are you?" Lucy asks.

Luke holds up one finger, and then seven.

"You're seven?"

Luke shakes his head and does it again.

"17?"

Luke nods.

"You're old. I'm three. Did you know that?"

It's about the tenth time she's told him how old she is.

I like how Luke is acting with Lucy. It's cute how he's willing to sit with her, and he's the only person he's actually smiled at today.

"Wanna hear a story?" Lucy asks, reaching out and grabbing Luke's hands. "I can tell you're a good listener because you don't talk." She puts her palms face down on Luke's, and they're barely big enough to fit into his palms. Luke doesn't pull away like I thought he would, he just looks at Lucy with a smile on his face. The look on his face is relaxed, and he looks happy.

"Come on, lean close. It's a secret story," Lucy whispers, but it's loud enough for me to hear. Luke leans closer to her, and she puts her hands around his ear. She whispers something that I can't hear.

Luke smiles widely, and he laughs.

Luke laughs.

He quickly puts his hand over his mouth, and it's like everything is frozen. He stops moving, and his eyes widen. His eyebrows furrow together, and I can sense his panic.

I can't believe he actually laughed. I don't think he believes it either.

He finally notices me standing in the hallway, and he stares at me with wide, shocked eyes. I smile meekly and walk into the room.

"Hi," I whisper, sitting down beside him and Lucy.

"I told Luke a secret," Lucy says. She looks over at Luke and says, "Shhh."

He nods and looks over at me. Luke looks like he's about to cry, but he starts to smile.

Then, he laughs a little again. We both start to laugh, until we're laughing for no reason at all.

I like the sound of Luke's laugh. It's light and quick. It's weird to hear Luke making an actual sound, but I like it. His dimples are deeper than they've ever been, and his eyes squeeze shut as he laughs.

Luke wipes at the corners of his eyes once he's done laughing. He shrugs like it was no big deal, but it was.

He doesn't stop smiling for a long time.

He takes his phone out of his pocket and quickly types something. He passes his phone over to me, and I read what he's written.

"I'm sorry."

I look up at him. "It's okay."

He smiles a little and tilts his head to the side. He reaches out to shake my hand.

It's like we're starting all over.

I feel like things between us are going to get better now.

i feel like this was slightly rushed but it's 10 pm and i just wrote this all. i might edit it tomorrow if you think i should?

i wanna thank you guys for tweeting #lukefollowashley. he didn't follow me but it literally meant the world to me. I had at least 200 tweets, i love you guys so much. i don't think you realize how much each of you mean to me. you make me feel so loved and happy. :)

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT LUKE LAUGHING?

tweet me your emotions or whatever you'd like @singsongash

(also even though i put it in a lot of chapters you guys ask what my instagram and youtube is so instagram is trulyluke, youtube is callmeashley98)

-ashley