// luke //
He finally persuaded Cate to come out to the parking lot with him.
She clearly didn't trust the older, unfamiliar, gruff-looking man, but when Harper saw them walking out to the parking lot together and just smiled at the two, she figured he was alright. He still terrified her, though.
6 foot something of Australian man, with something in his sharp gaze that made her want to shrink into nothing, he made Cate absolutely frightened. And for a good reason, too, she thought.
What were the marks on his face from? Did he get in a fight? Probably, if you looked as moody as he did all the time. Likely he pissed someone off just by glancing his way, and it rubbed them the wrong way.
But it wasn't like Cate to make assumptions.
She didn't want to be afraid of him, but currently that was all that she felt. Her brain kept making up wild stories about this man she didn't even know the name of, who she was following like a lost puppy into the hot summer sun to look around a parking lot for a brother who wasn't even there. If Cate was any other person, they would have been plotting about how they'd terrorize their sibling the second they got home after being forced into such an awful situation, but Cate was Cate. She thought that Calum must've had a perfectly good reason to be half an hour late to pick her up and not even text her.
"You see his car anywhere, Hood?"
The roughness of voice didn't help her fear either.
The use of her last name to address her made her feel like he was talking to someone else, someone who deserved to be talked to like a head coach of a sports team, not a timid little girl who still drank milk in her coffee and read poetry for fun.
Glancing over the rows and rows of parked cars, the sun in her eyes, Cate realized she was much too short to see anything about the cars other than the color.
There were a lot of silver and grey cars. And Calum's car was somewhere in between silver and grey.
"No," she told him, "but I'm short."
In all honesty, he could have gone in and got his phone to call the guy, but the part of this girl he had no memory of ever meeting before that didn't make him impatient was the part that made him nearly smirk in amusement. And something in him wanted to see more of that part.
"Tell me what it looks like, then,"
"Um, it's silvery-grey," she mumbled. "It's a sedan. That's all I know."
"That's it?" he asked, slightly astonished.
She just nodded sheepishly.
Sighing, he realized that he spotted at least four silvery grey sedans immediately, all at completely different parts of the lot. Just because Calum and he were mates didn't mean he knew what his car looked like either.
"Babe, there's a lot of silver-grey sedans here. Would you recognize it if you saw it?
She shivered again, despite the heat.
Babe.
Cate shrugged in response to his question.
"Do you want to try standing on a bench or something? It'd probably take a while to walk around the lot."
She looked hesitant to do so. "Uh-"
He quirked an eyebrow.
"Sure," she squeaked.
There was a bench across the porte cochere, across from the automatic hotel doors, facing away from the parking lot. It was about a foot or two off the ground, so it would make the girl's line a vision a little higher.
He gestured to the bench, her eyes following. They were very big and innocent looking. Not like Calum's, but somehow still reminiscent of the other man. Fear was currently the main emotion he could see filling her eyes, but when she blinked (and closed her eyes) you might not have guessed she was afraid.
Cate gingerly walked over, placing a foot onto the bench softly, before grabbing onto the back of it, and trying to haul herself up. She apparently couldn't do it, much to the surprise of the man, who walked over to help her. She tensed up when he drew closer, her one foot still balanced on the seat.
Running a hand through his hair with exasperation, he sighed.
"May I?"
"May you what?" Cate looked alarmed as he stretched his arms out, as if he was gesturing at what he was planning to do.
"Help you onto the bench," he furthered his previous question.
She hesitated.
"I'm not going to do anything weird, I promise," he reassured the girl, who looked a little uncertain.
"I- I guess," she mumbled.
Gently, very gently, because he knew Calum would kill him if he hurt his sister in the slightest, even though he couldn't even bother to pick her up from her first day of work, he wrapped his hands around her waist. She took a sharp breath at the contact of his rough textured hands and her sensitive waist, but allowed him to help her all the same.
He carefully, but quickly as he could, lifted her onto the bench, feeling her body grow tense in his grip. It felt wrong to be doing this, even though it was so- so innocent, just like the little girl in front of him.
Once she was on the bench, she nearly fell back in surprise when he removed a hand. Quickly, he moved to support her, making sure she was securely on her feet before pulling himself away.
After a minute or so, she made to step down, but in the shoes all the waitresses had to wear, it was quite difficult to accomplish without breaking your ankle.
He stepped forward again to help her, but she froze up.
"I- I can do it, it's fine," she stammered.
"Those shoes aren't really suited for jumping, babe," he raised an eyebrow.
Babe.
"Then I'll take them off," Cate refused him in her quiet voice. Slipping her feet out from the shoes, he noticed her toenails were painted a soft pastel pink. Cute. And she had a thin gold anklet on her right foot. That seemed fitting.
She took a step off of the bench, sitting down to slip her shoes back on.
"Did you see his car?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow.
She hesitated again. "Yeah," she mumbled.
Truth be told, she hadn't. She was hurt, but she didn't want to stay any longer with this man. He unnerved her. A lot. And right now, as he fiddled with his lip ring, and stretched while waiting for her to slip her shoes back on, she could see how tall he really was.
It wasn't as if he was short when they first met, but he had been hunched over the coffee table, and he stayed slouched until they started walking.
And he was tall.
"Okay, then. I'll wait here until I make sure you're safe with your brother, and see you again whenever."
He could tell she was lying. Even knowing her for just ten, twenty minutes, he could tell that the fluster she had when saying Calum was here was a lot different than the fluster of her embarrassment.
He didn't really know why she would lie, but it was probably because he was intimidating her. She was scared of him. And thinking about it now, he would be too if he was a foot shorter and didn't look like he kicked puppies for fun.
Her face reddened again, knowing she was caught in her fib. She knew she would look stupid walking the whole way into the parking lot, and the whole way back, but she could pass it off as saying it looked like his car but was someone else's.
The issue here was she didn't want to go through all of that effort just to save her dignity. She was lazy. Not in a sloppy, messy way, but more so in a tired, sleepy way.
"It might've been someone else's," Cate mumbled, deciding to stay out, still slipping her shoe back on. "I don't think he has a sunroof."
A very lame excuse, and he didn't buy it for a second. "Mhm."
She didn't look at him.
"In that case, let's just go back inside," he suggested. "I'll see if I can find your family's number somewhere." Of course he'd find her family's number somewhere; he fucking had all of their numbers- except Cate's.
Cate didn't question it, just nodded, standing back up in the not-very comfortable-looking shoes.
He let her sit in the break room again, while he called Calum in the lobby.
"Hey, man, what's up?" His voice sounded groggy.
"Your little sister has been waiting for you to pick her up for nearly an hour."
Silence.
"Calum?"
"Oh my God," he groaned, "I completely forgot."
"Where are you now?"
"Luke, I've been at Aliyah's house since I dropped her off."
Aliyah lived thirty minutes away from his house. Forty from the hotel.
"I'll drive her home, Cal," he sighed. "But she's terrified of me."
"Thank you so much, Luke, I owe you," Calum mumbled, disregarding, or just not hearing the last part of his statement.
"Get some sleep, dude, you sound out of it," Luke told him.
They ended the call, and he slipped his phone back into his pocket, his teeth going back to biting his lip ring. He dreaded going back in to tell Cate that she had to spend another ten minutes with him. She was already scared of him enough. He wasn't too fond of her either, but he wasn't fond of a lot of things he had to do nowadays.
Running a hand through his messy hair he hadn't really bothered to clean up this morning, Luke started walking back to the hotel desk, passing through the half door that blocked the receptionist area off from the rest of the lobby. The only other clerk there was a young woman named Elizabeth, who was just out of uni.
"Hey," he greeted her, leaning his palms on the desk next to her.
"Luke, hi," she replied, smiling at him.
"Sorry to leave you here, but I'm going to clock out early; I've got to take the new girl home," he told her, his voice just above a murmur.
Her eyes widened for a second, getting the wrong idea.
"Not like that, God, her brother forgot to pick her up," Luke stopped her before she got to any assumptions.
She nodded uncertainly, still a bit confused, but marked him as leaving early anyway on their collective spreadsheet on her monitor.
Heading into the break room, Luke found Cate sitting on the floor again, her dead phone on the carpet next to her. She looked up as he came into the room, her brown eyes meeting his.
"I called, I'm just going to take you home," Luke said, his hand in his pocket.
"My brother can't- he can't get me?" She looked even more anxious, but a little indignant at the same time.
Luke just shook his head.
"I don't even know you,"
"I- I knew your brother," he told her, "in school."
That wasn't the complete truth, but it wasn't a lie either. It was just...omitting some stuff.
"A lot of people know my brother," she protested quietly.
He exhaled, trying his best to not become impatient with her. He knew she was just worried about her own safety, and while he could tell her that he knew Calum very well and would go above and beyond for the man, he figured she'd assume that was a quick fib as well. Hell, he hadn't met Cal's little sister once in the years they'd been friends, but his end of their lack of a relationship was a lot less believable than hers. Crouching down in some friendly type of manner, Luke was still much taller than her. While she was sitting with her knees folded under her, he was balancing on his toes, back bent to be more her level. With mild hesitation, he held his hand out to help her up.
"Please, just trust me, Cate."
She had never met this man in her life before. She had never seen him before today, but the way he spoke, and how he tried his best to not get impatient with her made her feel like she should. So Cate, timid little Cate, gingerly placed her tiny hand in his, letting him pull her to her feet.
//
She was still uneasy with him. The tattoos, the lip ring, the cuts on his face, the sheer difference in height, all of it terrified her. But she believed he wasn't going to hurt her, so at the very least, there was that.
He had opened the door for her and waited all the while as she cautiously climbed into his beaten-up car, letting him close the door behind her.
Luke climbed into the driver's seat, glancing over at the girl, who had already pressed herself into the corner.
"You gonna wear your seatbelt?" He raised an eyebrow.
Cate pulled it over her body, buckling it into the seat as Luke did the same, watching her out of the corner of his eye. Her long black hair wisped over her eyes, which she combed out of her face quickly.
Not wanting to seem as if he knew her family well, or at all, he held out to her his phone, opening it up to his GPS. She just looked at him.
"Your address." His voice had a hint of amusement to it, and also a bit of irritation, as far as Cate could tell. She took his phone hesitantly, noticing how cracked and battered the screen was. After entering her address, she handed it back to him, her soft fingers brushing against his rough ones accidentally, making her face flush.
The entire ride, she was pressed up against the door, chewing on her bottom lip. Luke glanced over at her occasionally; she didn't seem to notice; her eyes glued to the window. He knew she wasn't fond of him in the slightest, and they didn't even know each other, but it still was a little hurtful. He didn't like seeming scary to people he didn't want to intimidate.
But he brushed it off, since she was just the new waitress at the restaurant, who happened to currently depend on him for a ride home.
Luke zoned out while he was driving, not even listening to the GPS directions. Which is why when he made a turn he normally would on the way to drop off Calum from whatever inebriating party they'd visited, and Cate's head perked up in alarm, he knew he should have been paying attention.
"Is this a...a shortcut?" Cate asked quietly, her voice shaking slightly.
"I- I, yeah," his throat was dry.
"Do you drive around here a lot?"
There wasn't any sort of disbelief or scoff to accompany her words, which is what he would have expected from one of the richest people he'd ever met. Pure curiosity, with maybe a little bit of fear. But the Hoods were different; they were always humble.
"Uh," Luke scratched his neck nervously, "yeah, a bit."
She didn't respond verbally, just kept staring at the road ahead, her chin resting on her knees. He hated whenever people would put their feet up in his car, especially since he tried to keep at least the inside of his car clean. But knowing she wasn't thrilled with the situation and probably ready to jump out of her skin at any second, he was fine with it. Her shoes looked too clean to dirty his car anyway.
When they finally reached the Hood residence, Luke parked the car outside of her house.
It was evening, around seven o'clock. She was supposed to have been picked up around six, but she was home now, so it didn't really bother her.
Cate seemed to relax a bit more, seeing her house and other familiar surroundings.
"Thank you..." she started to say softly, but then realized she hadn't even learned his name yet.
"Luke."
She just reddened, glancing at her lap, her feet back on the floor of the car. "Thanks, Luke."
Cate thought saying his name out loud would be fine, but it just made her blush even harder, though she didn't really understand why. He scared her. Still.
"Not a problem, Cate."
Unbuckling her seat belt, she reached toward the door handle, gingerly pushing it open. Stepping out into the warm evening air, Cate glanced back in for a moment at Luke, who was fiddling with his lip ring again, staring off into the distance at the dashboard.
She shut the door, walking quickly up the drive to the house. Luke watched her reach his house and ring the doorbell. Someone opened it, pulling her inside with a hug.
He just wished he had anything like that to go home to.
- -
wow hello beautiful people 🥰
hope you all are hydrated an happy :)) please let me know if you have any suggestions or anything, or how you like their characters so far !!
i know when i switch from my usual first person POV to this i definitely use like "I" and "my" just out of habit and when i'm editing i don't see that so if you do, please like let me know !!
please stay safe and wear a mask ;)
carolyne xoxo