Petals and Thorns / l.h ✔️

4

~Juno's POV~

As I arrived home from school, I quietly slipped inside, thinking about the words that Reba had told me earlier this morning. She thought that I had been too hard on him and that I should give him a chance. At first, I'd been in strong disagreement with that, but now that I had had the day to think about her words, I wasn't so sure. I mean, maybe she was right. Maybe I should just give him a chance and get to know him before I decide whether or not I like him.

Convincing myself to give him the benefit of the doubt that he actually wasn't an annoying twat, I locked the front door and reluctantly walked into the living room. When I walked in, Luke looked up and his brows raised as he looked at me, Anais' small body sat on his knee. It was almost comical to see such a large man holding someone so small, so innocent. It was weirdly adorable.

Feeling awkward, I just stared right back at him as we looked at one another, saying nothing at all. His blue eyes momentarily broke away from my own pair to scan up and down the length of my body, a small smirk on his face as he looked up at me again. "What are you smirking at?" I scowled, feeling oddly self conscious. I didn't like that he had only gotten that look on his face after he had looked me over, as if there was something funny. His eyes glinted with amusement and he gave a light shrug of his shoulders, gently bouncing the leg my sister was on as his arm held her securely. "Nothing much." He responded, his voice casual as he gave me a wider smirk that contradicted his words.

My cheeks flared brightly and my chest burned with embarrassment, but I hid it by glaring at him. "Tell me!" I exclaimed, clenching my hands into irritated fists by my side. He looked only more amused by my frustration and cocked his head to the side. "I'm beginning to wonder if Anais is the only baby I'm actually here to babysit." He taunted, his words tempting me to stomp my foot on the floor out of frustration, but I refrained. He wasn't going to be catching me giving him better reason to believe that.

"Excuse me?" I huffed, crossing my arms over the chest angrily. "I'm eighteen! I don't need a babysitter!" I exclaimed, but he just smirked wider.

"You say that but you're having a little temper tantrum and you've only just gotten home." He pouted at me playfully and held Anais tighter when she began to drift off to sleep in his lap, soothed by the bouncing of his leg. "I'm about to put Ana down for a nap. Maybe you'd like to join her for one, pumpkin?" He offered, peering up at me.

Even though I knew he was only saying these things to tease me and to purposefully piss me off, I couldn't help it when I got pissed anyways. He was certainly infuriating. "No!" I snapped at him, irritated. "I don't need a babysitter or a nap! Just...shut up!" I hissed angrily, glaring at him. His smirk turned into a full blown grin. "Goddamn, it's sure gonna be fun working here." He mused, standing up from the couch with a now sleeping Anais. She had fallen asleep rather quickly, something that she never did with me. "What?" I asked stupidly, unsure what he meant by that. Why would it be fun? Babysitting surely wasn't fun enough to even be called fun.

Luke suddenly stalked closer to me, catching me off guard. I had the urge to back away so he wasn't so close to me anymore, but I forced myself to stay where I was, tilting my head back so I could look up at him. He was so fucking tall it was insane. "You're such a fun little thing to mess with, and I think I'm going to have a good time here." He said, giving me a playful wink before he bumped my hip as he slipped past, pushing me out of his way more. I stumbled and glared after him, angrily following right behind him up the stairs so I could give him a piece of my mind. "What do you think this is? You're here to babysit, not fuck with me." I snapped, stopping outside of Anais' room while he went in.

After he had laid her down in her crib, he exited the room and shut the door, smiling in amusement as he noticed I was standing there still. "For someone who complains about how much I fuck with you, don't you think it's rather funny that you just waited here for me?" He said, causing my lips to purse awkwardly. He was right, but I wasn't going to let him know that. "Besides," He began, stepping closer to me. "Who says that I can't do both?" He grinned, only earning an irritated glare from me. I clenched my jaw and nearly sneered at him, but, by some miracle, I managed to control it. "You...You are infuriating!" I snapped, glaring up at him.