My Lucky Charm (17 page)

Ten Months Later

Leah

“You’ve spent summer alone with me traveling Europe. Are you positive you want to live with me every day?” I ask, my arms draped around Bran’s neck as we stand in the living room of the house we moved into this week.

“Are you trying to kick me out already?”

“No, but you have to put up with all my clothes and shoes and make-up everywhere. I can be really messy.”

“Yeah, but I
get that troublemaking hideaway we created in the spare room and a wall of music to balance things out.”

“But we have our own
bedroom to make trouble in. We don’t need the beanbag chair,” I say.

He leans over and nibbles on my neck before I feel his breath in my ear.
“This way it feels like we’re doing something we’re not supposed to. We’ll be sneaking around, and it’ll remind us of old times,” he whispers.

“Have I told you today how adorable you are?” I ask.

“No, not yet, so you can tell me right now.” There’s that boyish grin again, the one that reminds me of all the reasons I love Bran so much. He stares at my lips before he takes hold of the bottom one and pulls it slowly through his teeth.

“You’re
too cute for words, so I think I need to show you just how adorable you are.”

He gets an excited look on his face and begins nodding. “Yes, yes I think you need to show me.”

We hear the ring of the doorbell and Bran frowns.

“
They’re early and interrupting this fine moment.”

Anthony and Sierra are standing at the door
. Once Bran and Anthony started sitting at our lunch table last fall, Gabe, Troy and Jarrod starting showing some reverse snobbery.

Unfortunately, they distanced themselves from us, but something good came out
of it. Sierra and Anthony got together. They’re really happy and make a great couple.

Bran and Anthony got football scholarships to University of Colorado here in Boulder
, so I decided to attend there, too. Sierra couldn’t afford college, so after a lot of convincing, she’s letting me pay for it. I mean
a lot
of convincing.

Bran and I moved into our own place and are excited about our future together. We’ve decided to get teaching degrees and naturally, our parents flipped. His father wanted him to become an attorney like him, and my
father wanted me to do law or medicine.

Bran wants to teach P.E. and eventually coach football. My goal is to bec
ome a school counselor, so I can encourage teens to express their individuality, and I’m also starting a foundation to provide more research and education on dyslexia.

Parker moved to Los Angeles to attend the Otis Arts and Design school for fashion, and I used my connections to hook him up with some new friends in the industry
. I already miss him since we grew close over the last year, but he’ll be home for holidays, and we Skype a lot.

I realized from his friendship
and reconnecting with Maxwell that some aspects of my old life were a part of my personality, and it was OK to embrace them, so Parker became my “billionaire buddy” as he likes to call it. He’s the one I can talk to about all things extravagant.

“You two ready for the concert?” Anthony asks.

“Yep, we just have to wait a minute for Sal. He’s going to follow us.”

The four of us are going to see Burning Midnight. They’re one of Bran’s favorite bands
. Sal is now my bodyguard but only when we’re at busy public places. I agreed to it, appeasing Maxwell Lane, OK, Dad. I’m still working on forgiveness, but it’s coming along.

Paul and my cousin Casey are already
engaged, and he’s attending University of Colorado for film study. He’ll be family soon and that’s pretty cool.

Mom’
s dating Frank. They met at the Country Club, and it’s been great for her. She’s playing golf and has made several friends. He was staying over a lot before I graduated, so it was another reason I thought it best to move out.

We park at the stadium for the concert, and once inside, I give my name to someone at
the will-call booth.

“Why are we waiting here? We have our tickets,” Bran
don says.

“You’ll see,” I reply.

After a few minutes, a middle aged man approaches us. “Ms. Lane, this way please.”

“Oh, baby. Do we get to sit close?” he asks.

“Yes, you could say that.”

We get
to a long hallway, and once we’re halfway down, the man opens a door. Bran looks at me. Inside are all the members of Burning Midnight.

“I thought you’d like to meet them first,” I say.

His arm is around my waist as he leans down and kisses my temple. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“I can’t believe you did this for us, Leah,” Sierra says excitedly.

“Yeah, you rock, girl,” Anthony adds.

Bran grins like crazy as he meets the band, and after he and our friends gather a lot of signed merchandise, we’re escorted to the center of the front row.

Sal’s at the corner
, eying the crowd around us. Bran wraps me in his arms, and we watch the concert. There’s never a day I don’t enjoy my time with him.

After we get
back to the house, Brandon pulls me to our hideaway. I can’t help but giggle the whole way.

“I find it humorous
you want to mess around in here instead of our room.”

Without a word, he picks me up and lays me on the beanbag.
We make out, and it’s heavenly like every time. We’re staring at each other between kisses, and he’s playing with my hair.

“I still can’t believe I didn’t know you were a
brunette until a month ago when we were in France, and you couldn’t get your hair done on schedule. But I like the new look. Sometimes I miss the pastels, but the dark hair and red streaks are hot.”

“
To show my support for your team, I was thinking of putting some gold in it when the games start.”

“That’
ll be cool. I have something for you.” Bran reaches behind the beanbag and picks up a tiny, white box that has a pink bow tied around it.

Grinning, I take it from him and open it slowly. I
nside is a silver locket.

“Oh, Bran.” I ta
ke it out and study it. The words “Lucky Charm” are inscribed on the front.

“I hope you won’t get angry when you see what’s in it. I thought you could put it on one of the necklaces you’ve made, or you could make a new one for it.”

I carefully pull the locket open, and underneath glass is a piece of my pastel hair. My eyes widen and water. “How did you get this?”

“One night when you were sleeping, I carefully cut a small piece underneath the back. It was right before you told me you were going to change it. I was so afraid you were going to wake up
. You would’ve freaked if you saw me holding your hair and a pair of scissors.”

He chuckles loudly before he cups my face and strokes my cheek with his thumb. He gazes at me and now looks serious.

“Since I’m a dude and will never totally understand women, it’s inevitable that I’m going to screw up sometimes. When I do, please look inside this locket and remember how much I love you.”

Giving me a sweet kiss, he smiles against my l
ips, causing my heart to race.

“I might have to peek in there
sometimes to reminisce about the day I bumped right into my lucky charm. I made her nervous, and I loved that. It gave me hope that I could win her love.

“
Her hair was pretty colors, and her face was stunning. Her blue eyes shined bright at me, and I knew I had to have her. You’ll always be mine, Lucky Charm, and don’t ever forget it.”

The End

Thank you for reading
My Lucky Charm
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