waitress // lrh

10 // rough

He started aimlessly walking around the aisles, trying to find a genre he would enjoy. Luke knew he liked some historical fiction, but mainly it was all about American history.

Which he knew nothing about.

Zilch.

Honestly, what even was North Carolina?

So Luke just found his way back to the girl with several books sitting around her. She noticed as he made his way toward her, so she picked up the book she had taken the most interest in, carefully placing the rest back onto the shelf.

"Did you find anything?" she asked softly.

He shook his head. "Not really sure what to look for."

"What do you like?"

"I have no idea."

"Poetry?" she asked, using his outstretched hand to pull herself to her feet.

Luke pursed his lips. "I don't know if that'd be my thing." 

"I'll find a good one for you," 

"O-okay."

Cate took that as her cue to lead the much taller Australian across the library, where shelves full of aging books with yellow pages greeted him.

"It's mostly all old speech," she told him as his eyes scanned over the shelves, "which makes finding the meaning a lot more difficult."

"Old speech?"

"Like Shakespeare," she shrugged. "I have simpler ones at my house if you want, but they're all pen marked and highlighted."

Luke was about to say how he wouldn't mind seeing her thoughts, but she immediately let out an "oh!" and stepped away from him to another shelf.

He glanced at where she was standing on her tiptoes, pulling a small black book off of the bookcase. Gently, she handed it to him.

"I Heard God Laughing - Hafiz: Daniel Ladinsky"

He glanced over it.

"I- I don't know how much you'd like it, but I thought it was lovely," she blushed at his silent gaze over the book, unsure of how he felt about it.

"It looks intriguing," he told her, trying to subtly make his expression not look disinterested. He knew that's what he was portraying, but he was interested. "Thank you, Catie-cat."

Her face reddened slightly as she pinned her growing smile down with her teeth. "Do you want to go check these out?"

Luke nodded, letting the girl guide him over to the librarian's desk. The older woman standing there looked up and smiled when they saw the familiar petite seventeen-year-old, but as she let her eyes drift to where the lanky, rough-looking blonde stood behind her, she seemed to shrink back.

Ringing up the books, she took the card from Cate, her eyes still wandering back to Luke in speculation and concern from time to time, a little confused as to how the little girl in front of her was so happy and content. She'd never seen Cate with anyone other than Mali or Calum, and they did not compare in the slightest to the man waiting behind her.