waitress // lrh

17 // baby

Cate was still holding onto his sweats, which she tried to hand over to Luke once more. He looked at her, exasperation and hopelessness in his eyes.

"Do you want me to..." she trailed off, biting her lip while she waited for his response. It was a little daring of a question, especially since he had simply just glanced at her.

He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Ashton tugging Michael forcefully out of the room caught their eye.

"I don't want to sit in on this," he grimaced, shutting the door firmly behind him.

Luke rolled his eyes, turning back to Catie.

"I can, if you want me to," she said softly, feeling the soft material. She had seen him wear these a few times, like when he had returned her phone, or slept over with her in the hammock. Personally, she really liked how Luke looked with them on, especially how low they hung on his hips. Not in a sexual way, she figured, more because of how it made her heart pick up and her face flush.

"If you don't mind, yeah," he mumbled, feeling his tongue instinctively to swipe across his dry lips.

Cate kneeled onto his mattress once more, hesitantly slipping his feet into the hem of the sweatpants. He helped her slightly, adjusting his legs in a way that she could tug the material without the connection of his body with the sheets. It was a little awkward, but Cate found that she didn't feel as uncomfortable as she would've thought.

Luke painfully propped himself up onto his elbows so she could get them over his waist. With a slight catch of breath in his throat, he lowered himself back onto the mattress.

"You're too good for me," he smiled softly as she sat beside him, leaning against the headboard. He laid his head in her lap, unaware of how caught off guard the action caused her to be.

"I don't think so," she mumbled, her hands moving to play with his hair before slowly combing her fingers through his scalp. He hummed in contentment, feeling his eyes start to close.

"How's that?"

She giggled, the sight of his relaxed face so calming, despite the marks covering his skin. "Well, you do all of this hard work, and look what happened. But I- I haven't really done much to help. I've just done small things. Calum was really a lot more help."

He frowned, reaching up to take her hand from his hair. Placing it gently on his cheek, he looked up at her. "Calum told me that you were the only one to even see he had my bag. I probably would still be cooking away on that rooftop right now if you hadn't."

Cate bit her lip, still feeling like she didn't deserve the praise. If Calum saw Luke's bag almost every day like Catelynn did, he probably would have recognized it, and the same thing would have happened. It was just a matter of noticing.

"Yo, kids, you done doing the wiggly worm? Cal's here." Michael yelled through the door, making the pair jump at the loud noise.

"The wiggly worm?" Luke asked incredulously, furrowing his brow. "What the fuck, Michael?"

Cate bit back a laugh.

He pushed the door open a crack. "You two should probably stop cuddling, Calum is going to kill you," he whispered.

Reluctantly, Luke picked his head off of the young girl's lap as she gently stood up, going to pick up his lunch plate.

Despite Michael just using an expression, the words "going to kill you" made Luke absolutely shudder. He never really wanted to hear them spoken again, even in joking manner.

As Luke stared aimlessly at the boring ceiling, Cate left, taking the dirty plate into the kitchen.

Calum was leaning on the back of the sofa, Michael lying on his side as Ashton sat across them. They stopped talking abruptly as the little girl walked past them.