Petals and Thorns / l.h ✔️

10

~Juno's POV~

Finding out that Luke was going to be moving in with us was a complete and utter shock to me. It was certainly the last thing I would've expected my mom to tell me. I mean, she had grown to like Luke quite a lot because of how good with Anais he was, but it still was a surprise.

Weirdly enough, I felt a little bit...excited about the idea of him moving here, even if I was very nervous and overwhelmed by the thought. Luke and I were still trying to get more familiar with each other, but I admit that I had certainly been the one that was making it hard. All I wanted to do when he got close was touch him and kiss him, to have his arms around me or his hands on my body. I needed to get my emotions under control so that he and I could actually begin to get to know each other more. Hell, I hadn't even known he wasn't in college or that he was starting next year. Clearly you could say I had been more preoccupied getting to know his lips than anything else about him. It made me feel a little bit guilty, but I was glad that I knew he really didn't mind it too much at all.

I ran a hand through my hair as I stood in my bathroom, trying to smooth my hair up in a neat bun before Luke arrived. Today was the day that he was supposed to be moving in and I obviously was required to help move his things up to our guest bedroom. I wasn't sure what things he was going to be bringing, but I hoped they weren't heavy. When I finally managed to put my thick hair up in a bun, I sighed in relief and dropped my achy arms, noticing that the bun was a little bit messy and yet unable to find it in me to take the bun out and try all over again. Instead, I decided to just leave it as it was because I didn't think it looked that bad at all. With my outfit, it looked nice enough.

My tank top was light gray and I wore a red flannel over the top of it, leaving the buttons undone. The black denim shorts that I had on were distressed and fit me rather well, hugging my figure tightly. I had my feet in a pair of black combat boots because I knew I'd obviously have to go outside to bring in boxes, and it wasn't like I wanted to step on anything.

Today I hadn't felt up to doing my makeup, so I decided to just leave my face bare, spritzing a little bit of my perfume on myself after I left the bathroom. Being that I had already put deodorant on, I had nothing more to do and simply went downstairs, not surprised to see my mom sitting on the couch with my dad. I headed into the kitchen to find something to eat, hearing Anais' cooing growing quieter as I left the living room. After a moment of searching for something to eat, I decided to make myself two slices of toast with strawberry jam and also some eggs, as I was feeling rather hungry. When my food was finished being made, I happily ate it all while I sat alone at the dining table, bouncing my leg absentmindedly. When I finished eating, I put my plate in the sink of dirty dishes and exited the dining room and kitchen area to return to the living room where the rest of my family still was.

As I went to sit down on the other end of the couch, there was suddenly a knock on the front door and my parents both looked at me immediately, wanting me to answer it. I grunted in disapproval and got up quickly, walking out of the living room and towards the front door. Like I expected, Luke was stood there patiently when I opened the front door, his hands buried in the pockets of his tight pants. They were so snug on him that I wondered how he could even get his hands in the pockets at all.

The moment his blue eyes met mine, a big grin formed on his face, mischievous delight in his gaze. "Oh." He purred out playfully. "If it isn't pretty little Juno." He teased, making me cock a brow up at him. Was he expecting somebody else? "Yes." I answered simply, looking up at him. "I've said it once and I'll say it again: How odd for you to find me in my own home." I teased back, opening the front door more. He chuckled and smiled in amusement as I slipped past him out the front door, leaving it cracked open. "I'll never get tired of that sass." He tsked, following me down the porch steps. As much as I tried not to, I giggled and glanced up at him over my shoulder, our gazes briefly meeting. "Somehow I doubt that." I grinned, waiting for him to pop the trunk open on his car.

He chuckled and pushed the trunk open after he popped it, having to duck down a little so he could stand under the raised trunk door. I grabbed two stacked boxes and he grabbed two more, following me up to the porch and then into the house. When he entered, I gently kicked the door shut and led him upstairs, not acknowledging my parents presence in the living room. We headed to the guest room he'd be staying in, gently pushing open the bedroom door with my hip and allowing him to follow me inside. "Well, this is going to be your room." I chirped to him, setting the boxes in my hands down on the ground, closer to the wall.

Luke set the boxes in his own hands down beside the ones I'd set on the floor, his clear blue eyes glancing around the room, surveying his new surroundings. "My new room, huh?" He hummed, running a hand through his curls. "And yours?" He said suddenly, pinning my gaze with his. I cocked a brow up at him and tilted my head to the side slightly, confused. His lips twitched and he crossed his strong arms over his broad chest, peering down at me with a little glint in his eye. "Where's your room, pumpkin?" He asked, clarifying his question for me. Realization dawned on me and I nodded my head, gesturing for him to follow me as I turned around to leave his bedroom.

The two of us headed down the hallway and towards my bedroom, of which the door was shut at the moment. I felt him very close behind me as I reached the door and then stopped, turning to face him. "This is where my room is." I said, gesturing behind me to my door, not bothering to open it. To me, there wasn't really anything exciting to see about my room, so I simply didn't bother in opening the door and just left it shut. However, that didn't seem to be what he wanted because he reached behind me and grasped the doorknob, swiftly shoving the door open with a quick movement of his wrist. I blinked in surprise and looked up at him as he grinned cheekily at me, his smile pretty enough to make me swoon at the sight of it. Was it even fair for one person to be so effortlessly charming?

When he gently slipped past me, I didn't even bother trying to stop him, and instead just let him by. I turned around, standing in the now-open doorway as he walked in and began to look around curiously.

Having him peer around my room like that, looking at all of my things, felt oddly personal to me. This was my bedroom, the place where I spent probably most of my time aside from school or the kitchen. I mean, I really didn't go out, so I spent much of my time here in my room, and it certainly reflected that. The blankets weren't made and my lamp was still turned on even though it was daytime, with a candle burning on the nightstand next to my bed.

I thought that he maybe would have made some teasing remark about the fact that my bedroom wasn't the tidiest it could've been, but he didn't. He just glanced around and then plopped onto the edge of my bed, looking over at me while I stood in the doorway, and I noticed the tiniest smile that sat on his lips.

"Your room suits you." He said, making me furrow my brows. I wasn't exactly sure what that was supposed to mean, but I decided to just leave it be and not ask. When I realized that he was just going to sit on my bed and not get up yet, I walked into the room and joined him on my bed, sitting next to him on the edge. The bed dipped further under the weight of our combined weight and I scooted away just a little to avoid our thighs touching, peering up at him.

For a while, we sat with each other on the bed, his eyes looking down into mine before he broke the silence. "You have freckles." He murmured softly, making my cheeks flush slightly. I had been bare faced in front of him before, but not as close as he and I were now, so he had never actually seen them. They were so light on my already pale skin that they were probably hard to see if not up close. "I do." I replied quietly.

Luke's lips twitched up and he brushed his finger along the bridge of my nose and then across the skin of my cheek below my eyes, touching the freckles. "And a mole." He added just as quietly, ghosting his fingers over my cheekbone, right where the small brown mole was at. I couldn't help but to smile, finding it cute how focused he seemed to be. "Have you never seen freckles before or something?" I teased, a smile flirting on the edge of my lips. He snorted and grazed his touch down the side of my cheek, shaking his head. "Of course I have." He grinned, eyes glinting as he dropped his hand close to mine.

Our hands didn't touch, but I knew we both wanted them to by the way we both inched our hands slightly closer. "But freckles have never looked so beautiful on someone as they do on you." He murmured.