Petals and Thorns / l.h ✔️

5

~Luke's POV~

I arrived at Juno's house early on Monday morning, as I did every day. I knocked on the door and waited patiently until the door was swung open by her, her blue eyes peering up at me as she huffed and crossed her arms. She was already annoyed and I had only just gotten here. I hadn't even spoken yet.

"You're late!" She frowned at me, causing me to raise a brow at her. "I'm only five minutes later than I usually get here." I responded, amused. Juno just rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her long, silver hair and stepped to the side. "Whatever. Just hurry up and get inside." She demanded angrily, so I immediately slipped inside as she had said for me to. She was such a bossy, feisty little thing. It was funny, watching someone so short and adorable looking get so riled up.

She shut and locked the front door before she turned around to me and peered up at me, having to tilt her head back to even meet my gaze. "Anais is asleep upstairs, I'm assuming?" I guessed, curiously raising a brow at her. She nodded her head and played with the straps of her backpack, her lashes fluttering with each blink.

"Yes. She was awake for a while, but then she fell back asleep about twenty minutes ago, so she might be asleep for a few hours. Hard to say how long, so be sure to check up on her regularly." She said, her voice soft and worried. It was clear how much she really loved and cared about her sister, which something I actually admired about her, even if I hadn't told her that. I thought that it was sweet.

"Calm down, Juno." I chuckled, trying to appease her. "I'm not going to just ignore her the whole time I'm here. She's perfectly safe with me and you know it." I said, causing her to huff. She lightly nodded her head and a strand of her icy silver hair fell into her face, which she quickly pushed back. "Right." She muttered, biting her cheek. It was clear she still wasn't sure what to make of me, or of how she felt about me, but I was sure that even she knew I wouldn't do anything to neglect or harm Anais. Anais was a good kid and she was pretty sweet for being in her terrible two stage. I actually liked her a lot, far more than the other kids I had had to babysit before, not that it was many. This was only the third family I'd ever babysat for.

Juno sent me a glance and inhaled deeply, letting out a heavy sigh. "Okay, I should go to school, then." She said gently, leaving me behind and walking out the front door. I locked the front door behind her, hearing her car engine rumble to life outside and then disappear in the distance as she drove off.

Now left alone, I sat down on the couch and turned on the TV, surfing through the channels. It was nearing seven AM, so it wasn't like there was really anything even on to watch. I kicked my feet up onto the coffee table and decided to watch Spongebob Squarepants, since it was the only thing that was on right then. There weren't many options now.

For about thirty minutes or so, I stayed downstairs watching TV until I decided I needed to go and check on Anais, so I headed upstairs and quietly slipped into her room. Because Juno had told me that she had fallen asleep just a little before I'd arrived, I had expected that maybe she'd be asleep still, but I was surprised to find her awake. She was laid on her back, slightly kicking her legs as she looked up at me with wide blue eyes and one hand waving in the air while she chewed on her fingers.

The sight of me made her coo and I smiled, reaching down to pick her up in my arms. "Hey, Ana." I cooed, knowing that she couldn't exactly respond me and speaking to her anyways. She wrapped one arm around my neck a little and clutched at my shirt, looking around the room with curiosity. I was pretty sure that the height she could see from when I held her must have fascinated her, judging by the wide look in her eyes. It was adorable.

I headed downstairs with her in my arms and set her in the baby activity jumper so she could play while I went to get her something to eat, not wanting to leave her in a place that she could get hurt. When I returned with a jar of baby food and a bottle of milk, I found that instead of playing with one of the little choice activities that was attached to her jumper, she was bouncing while she watched Spongebob. I sat down on the couch behind her and gently pulled the jumper over to me, taking the lid off of the baby food and beginning to attempt to feed her.