Pure of Heart / l.h ✔️

5

"Sorry about earlier, by the way. W-When you just...had to listen to me and Carmen talking about something you had no idea about." I apologized awkwardly, pursing my lips as a hot blush crept up my neck. I was still pretty embarrassed about it, but I was sure he could very easily tell that much.

A small smile rose on his lips as he shrugged his shoulders. "It's no big deal. I really didn't mind." He assured, his blue eyes scanning my features closely. I looked away, not used to having to look people in the eye. Keeping eye contact with someone was something I simply could not do. It was just too intimate.

"You're in your senior year, I'm guessing?" He assumed, eyeing me with curiosity, to which I just nodded my head. "What's your favorite class?" He asked, still trying to get to know me even though I wasn't really responding much. Like I said, I wasn't very good at making new friends. "Math." I answered, fiddling with my fingers. "What was yours, when you were in high school?" I asked, glancing up at him again. "Mine was the same, actually." He smiled, his blue eyes glinting under the kitchen lights. It was then that I truly realized just how attractive he was. I really liked Enzo, and I thought Enzo was very attractive, but man...Luke was a different level of handsome. He was beautiful. Carmen was lucky to be able to have someone who was pretty outside and, as far as I could tell so far, inside as well.

He was very tall, over six foot, and had broad shoulders with strong biceps. His jaw was sharp and littered with stubble, with full, pink lips that had cute, straight nose above them. With those sparkling blue eyes, too...well, it was no wonder Carmen had ranted and raved at me about how handsome he was.

"What did you major in? In college, I mean." I asked, curious. He walked a little closer, leaning against the counter. I was naturally very soft spoken, so he probably had a hard time hearing me. "Electrical engineering." He answered, surprising me. "Wow." I whispered. "You must have gotten good grades in school." I assumed, peering up at him. He was so much taller than I was, his tall frame easily towering over me. And he was so broad that even with how curvy I was, I knew his figure blocked mine quite a bit. "Yeah, I did." He said with a tinge of pride. "Got straight A's." He added. I couldn't help but to smile, glad to know that he was intelligent as well. Carmen deserved someone handsome, intelligent and kind.

"Did your family come to see you when you graduated?" I wondered, almost a little uncertain if I should be asking questions that had to do with his family and personal life. We didn't know each other and I wouldn't be too receptive if someone I didn't know asked me questions about my personal life.

Luke paused. "My mum did, and my brothers." He nodded, and I wanted to ask about his dad, but I decided against it. "Well, that's nice." I smiled, turning to the stove and turning the stove off. I grabbed the pot and drained the potatoes, grabbing the potato masher from our drawer. I began to mash them in a bowl on the island, Luke's large frame appearing beside me as I did so. "How many brothers do you have?" I asked, glancing up at him briefly. His eyes were locked on my hands, closely watching my movements. "Two." He answered. "I've always wanted a brother." I frowned. "But I got stuck with Carmen, so I guess it's close enough." I sighed, laughing softly when he nudged my arm in a playfully reprimanding way for teasing her.

We both fell quiet again, this one just a little less awkward than the last, though still awkward nonetheless. "Did your mom teach you to cook?" He asked, to which I snorted and shook my head. "Oh, no. I taught myself to cook." I responded with pride, smiling. It had taken practice, of course, but I was pretty good at it now. "How'd you do that?" He wondered, but I merely shrugged. "Well, when I was fourteen, mom got promoted and was gone a lot, so it was up to either me or her to cook. Carmen refused to cook, so it was left to me to take care of." I answered simply, shrugging. "It's really not as hard as people make it out to be." I added.

Luke snorted. "That makes sense. Carmen tried to make me food once for dinner and, well...it caught on fire." He told me, making me laugh. "She did that with me, too. I told her one night I was tired of being the one cooking, and she tried and when she tried to make me spaghetti, she burned her hand on the pot and then caught the garlic bread on fire by trying to cook it directly over the stove." I said, giggling at the memory. She'd started screaming like a banshee at the top of her lungs and dropped the bread into the pot of water and noodles. It had been an absolute disaster. "So I decided that I'd be the cook from then on." I hummed, finally finishing mashing the potatoes.

"Shit." He chuckled, the use of the cuss word not unfamiliar to my ears, but I had never let it slip from my lips. "I wish I'd have known that before. I'd have just told her never to even bother cooking." He muttered, watching me add the last few ingredients before everything was done.

"Well," I smiled, walking over to one of the cabinets and pulling out the plates. "Now you're living here, so no more having to eat Carmen's failed attempts at food." I said, handing him the plates. His lips twitched up and he watched me as I grabbed the utensils as well, calling Carmen's name so she knew that dinner was ready. Not even a second later, I heard her steps racing towards the kitchen and I smiled. Even at twenty four, she still came running for my food. It was nice to know that some things hadn't changed at all.

Carmen came running into the kitchen, a smile on her lips. "It's ready?!" She gasped, causing me to giggle and nod my head. "Mhm. Knock yourselves out." I said, setting the silverware on the island counter, two knives, forks and spoons. She took a plate from Luke and did exactly that, piling some of the food onto her plate before she grabbed some silverware, got a cup of water, and then left. I rolled my eyes and shook my head, heading to the sink to wash my hands. Behind me, I heard Luke shuffling around to get food over the noise of the running water, which I turned off after my hands were washed. I dried my hands and turned around, blushing when I realized that Luke was scarfing down the food like a beast. I'd never seen someone eat with so much vigor.

"Goddamn, this tastes so good." He mumbled his praise out through his bites of food, making my lips softly tug up. It felt nice to have someone voice their appreciation for my food. Carmen didn't really do that. "You can have as much as you want." I said quietly, putting the rag in my hands down on the counter. His eyes flickered up to me and I sent him a tiny smile. "Goodnight." I bid him, turning to leave. It was only a little after eight PM, but I was really tired now. Today had been quite the day for me and I was ready to go crawl into my bed with Chester. But before I could disappear, he spoke again. "Wait, you're not going to eat?" He asked, setting his already half empty plate down on the counter as he looked at me with confusion.

"I'm really tired. You guys can have all of it, I don't mind." I answered, causing him to frown slightly. "Oh. Okay, then." He muttered and picked up his plate, walking towards me. "Well, goodnight, then. Thanks for making dinner." He smiled appreciatively, but I merely shrugged and picked up Chester when he began clawing at my calves to be picked up. "Night." I smiled, turning and leaving towards the stairs.

Still holding Chester, I walked upstairs and down the hall to my bedroom, gently kicking the door shut. Chester ran over to his little area I had for him in the corner, whereas I crawled directly into my bed and got comfortable under the blankets. Knowing Chester would probably come up here at some point in the night, I made sure my other long pillow was out for him and then rested my head on my pillow, curling up under the covers with a sigh of content.

I was out within minutes.