Mr. Hemmings | Luke Hemmings

thirty øne » the end

Four years had passed since Luke's court date, or in other words, the worst day of my life. It didn't make much sense to me then, or even now, how the jury was able to find him guilty. The only "wrong" aspect of our relationship was the fact that he had been my teacher, but apparently that had been enough to lock him up. Something about how he shouldn't be allowed to teach minors even though I wasn't a minor. Luckily his sentence was a relatively short one— only five years— but when you're waiting for the love of your life, it feels like an eternity.

I spent the first few months after the court date locking myself away in my room. Ashton, Lindsey, and Michael had tried everything they could to coax me out, but I wouldn't budge. I was mentally trapped within a cage inside my mind, and the only person who had the key to unlock me was also locked away.

Slowly, however, things started to get better. I got my own apartment not too far away from home. I also got a job working at a local diner, which surprisingly, I absolutely loved. My coworkers turned out to be some the most amazing people I had ever met, and my boss was super cool as well. I also took some college classes as well.

I saw Luke's parents often too seeing as they were friends of the family. At first I thought they hated me for being the reason why their son was in prison, but they assured me that I wasn't to blame. No matter what they said, though, I couldn't keep the nagging feeling out of my brain.

I had just finished closing up the diner for the night and started walking to the back parking lot to get in my car. It was a little chilly out, so I immediately turned the heat on, hoping it would warm up fast, but in the mean time, I pulled the sleeves of my sweater (it was actually Luke's) over my hands. Once I could feel my hands again, I put the car in drive and started home.

Once back to my apartment complex, I hurried inside and made my way up to the fifth floor by way of stairs because the elevator was out for maintenance.

As I rounded the corner and my door came into view, there was somebody sitting on the ground beside it. The person must have heard my footsteps because their head shot up, and they quickly stood up to face me.

I was frozen in place when I saw his face.

"Blakelynn," his voice cut through the silence, and that one word was all it took for me to run into his arms.

His long arms wrapped around my body and lifted me from the ground. I wrapped my legs around his waist and buried my face into the crook of his neck, my tears wetting his collar.

"Is this real?" I asked, slightly pulling away to look at his face.

Luke chuckled, and, with his voice raspy, he said, "It's real. I'm really here, baby girl."