// cate //
She woke up to the sounds of birds whistling loudly around her.
And the feeling of Luke's hot breath on her cheek.
Her eyes flew open when she realized where she was, and who she was with.
Luke's arms were wrapped around her torso securely, her smaller frame nearly fully enveloped by his. Both of her hands were resting lightly on his chest, one on his flannel and the other on his bare skin where the buttons were undone. His lips were hovering beside her cheek, gentle murmurs of hot breath fanning her face softly. His eyelids were closed, hiding away his blue eyes that she knew would've been piercing into her if they weren't. Black eyelashes fluttered gently, but his eyes stayed shut.
Cate's first reaction was to yelp and pull away, nearly forgetting how she had asked him to stay the night with her. But when she remembered, she relaxed again, her tense shoulders letting go. Over time, he had started to seem less and less intimidating to her, to the point where it was like he had never been. The tattoos that covered his arms, the small silver hoop in his bottom lip, his normally clenched jaw... they didn't scare her as much. It was a lot more meaningful up close.
The ink that had seemed to pointlessly litter his body all had some sort of thought behind it, though she figured a few were probably just as pointless and drunk as Calum's. And the small hoop that he so often toyed with in his teeth probably he'd probably gotten with her brother, remembering the night he'd come home with the piercing and their mother had just about had an aneurysm.
Cate felt she was reading too much into the man next to her. She sighed, watching as his chest rose and fell under her hands. It was odd to be literally feeling his breathing, but she didn't want to move her hands away either. Strands of blonde hair were in his eyes, and a part of her wanted to reach out and brush it away with her fingertips, but she couldn't. That was too much.
"Luke," she mumbled, painfully aware of the itch starting to form on her face that she couldn't reach. If she moved a hand to scratch it, she'd disrupt his sleep. And he looked so calm, so at peace when he slept. Besides, his chin was blocking right where she needed to itch. So instead, she laid there, hoping it would subside.
He went to roll over, nearly crushing her.
"Luke!" she yelled, her voice cracking from sleep.
His eyes fluttered open to see Cate covering her face with her hands, his body almost nearly on top of her much smaller one. His lips were parted in shock, and he took a moment to realize what had just happened.
"Oh- oh, fuck, I'm sorry," he rasped, edging off of her. She slowly pulled her hands away from her face to reveal her soft brown eyes staring up at him.
His blonde hair was incredibly, yet almost heavenly mussed, and his lips were chapped. But he was staring down at her very gently, with some type of... admiration, almost. There was no trace of the irritation he usually held.
"You okay?" Luke asked thickly, his voice deep and rasping in the confines of his throat.
She just nodded, still a little entranced by how someone could look so good first thing in the morning.
"Catie," he started off with a mumble, "what- what time is it?"
"I- uh," she glanced around, thinking to dig her hand into her pocket for her phone, "ten forty."
His eyes shot wide open. "Fuck."
She seemed to wince at his volume.
"Oh, sorry, Catie," he apologized, hoping the pet name that tumbled off of his lips had gone by unnoticed. "I have to call Ashton." Cate just nodded, giving him enough space to crawl out of the hammock. She watched as Luke stood up a bit gingerly, blushing a bit when she realized he had unbuttoned his shirt fully under the blankets.
Fiddling with the soft material of the beige blanket he had grabbed for her from the hallway closet last night, she realized how soft it was. Normally, she and Calum and Mali would just grab the hall blankets for random movie nights, and Aimee would wash them and put them back. But this one was nice. She wanted to keep this one in her room.
And maybe a little of the reason why was because it had Luke's scent of... of vanilla. One wouldn't expect someone with such a tough demeanor and outlook on everything to smell so gentle, but Cate found she loved it. She relished in the scent as he stood a few yards away, talking exasperatedly on his phone.
Once he had come back, his facial expression was a little lighter.
"The manager said I can take today off; they're almost fully staffed up front. I normally work full weeks anyway," Luke told her gently, taking a seat beside her in the hammock.
"You work all week?" she asked, a bit incredulously.
"Except Sundays, and sometimes Saturdays," he nodded. Slipping his phone back into the pocket of his black sweatpants, he leaned over and hovered his thumb above her cheek. Her face reddened slightly, but she didn't move away.
"Wh- what are you doing?"
"You have an eyelash," he murmured, very gently brushing it away with his thumb, holding it up in front of her. "Make a wish."
She looked a little confused.
He sighed- a mix of amusement and a little exasperation. "You wish on an eyelash, and then you blow it away."
Cate giggled. "Wish with me."
Luke frowned. "I don't know if it works then. The wishes might just cancel out."
"Then," Cate reached out a delicate hand, brushing a loose eyelash off of Luke's face that she had just noticed, "here."
She held up her finger in front of his own face. He bit back a grin. "Now?"
"Mhm."
As they both closed their eyes and made a wish, Cate thought that right before she shut her eyes, she saw Aimee standing at the back window, but she ignored it. It was probably just her paranoia getting the best of her.
Luke opened his eyes to see Cate staring expectantly up at him. He went to blow on his eyelash, and she did the same, the little things drifting away into the morning air.
"What did you wish for?" he asked, knowing exactly what her answer would be.
You can't say what you wished for...
"...because then it won't come true!"
He just chuckled, resting next to her on the hammock. She was sitting up, her legs sprawled out beside her, half underneath of the blankets.
"Luke,"
"Hm?"
"Can we...go somewhere? Since you- you're not working today," she ventured quietly.
"Where'd you want to go?" he asked, gazing up at her shy face.
"The library,"
"The library?"
"Mhm."
"When? Now?"
"Well, after I get dressed, but yeah," Cate replied, a soft smile lingering on her soft pink lips. Luke assumed the reason they looked so plump was because of her habit of biting them. She couldn't help when she was nervous, but her coping mechanism was cute to him.
"Okay," Luke said in a finalizing tone, getting to his feet. Standing up, he held out his arms towards the little girl. She took a second to understand, but when she did, she gently wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling his strong arms slip around the rest of her.
He carried her through the yard to the front door, which they found wasn't locked. Weird, but whatever. Cate giggled when he nearly bumped his head on the low-hanging light in the entryway, which he felt vibrate against his chest.
Her chin was resting softly on his shoulder as her legs wrapped around his torso. Luke had never hoped as hard as he was currently that everyone was still asleep, because he had no idea what excuse he'd have to come up with. And Catie was shit at lying.
She eventually directed them to her bedroom, and he twisted the knob to reveal the soft pink tones surrounding them.
Gently, Luke leaned over her queen-sized mattress, carefully setting her down. He just noticed that she had grabbed the blanket he brought for her last night and taken it with them.
"Do you want me to put it back in the closet?"
"Mm-mm."
Luke let it at that. He knew she wasn't going to give it up, even if he asked again. He didn't want to take it from her, either. She obviously had the right to keep it with her, it just didn't make sense, looking at the plethora of blankets on her bed.
"You stay here, I'll go get changed," she directed him, pulling herself to her feet. Walking over to her closet, she grabbed a pair of flared jeans and a t-shirt, before slipping into her bathroom.
Luke took a hesitant seat on the bed. The mattress was much better quality than his own, and all he wanted was to lie down on it. But he knew if he did, he'd fall asleep instantly.
Truth be told, he hadn't slept much the night before. Sleeping in a new setting- and outside- had never been something he could easily get used to. But at least he had Catie with him. She was so gentle and the way she curved into him when she slept was so relaxing. His brain eventually let him fall into a peaceful sleep at about four in the morning, but still, he was tired.
And besides, if he fell asleep on her bed, she would come out of the bathroom and feel awful about asking him to stay with her. Then she'd insist he sleep, and he'd feel awful about not taking her to the library.
So instead, he sat quietly on the edge of her bed, feeling very out of place in his black sweats and shitty Converse.
Cate poked her head out of the bathroom not long after.
"Luke?"
"Yeah, ba- Cate?" Jesus Christ, stop calling her 'babe'.
"Can you get me a belt from my dresser, please? With the gold buckle?"
"Yep."
"It's in the first, or maybe the second drawer? I'm not sure,"
So Luke got up from his awkward position on the edge of her bed and walked over to the light-colored dresser. Cautiously, he pulled out the top drawer, before immediately shoving it back, shutting his eyes.
Lacey bras and panties, of varying colors. Light blue, white, red, black, and obviously pink. He would have never expected anything like that from her, but he had to forget all about it before blood began rushing to the wrong places. It wasn't even eleven in the morning.
Opening the second drawer and doing his best to keep his mind blank, he found many, many belts. Choosing a medium-sized black one with a gold buckle, he knocked on the door.
"It's open," she told him.
Twisting the knob, he pushed his hand in, waiting for her to take the belt. He was confused when she didn't.
"There's- there's a different one in the drawer, it's thicker than that one,"
Oh.
Retrieving the belt she described, the blonde could hear her quiet giggling to herself.
He didn't feel as if he messed up that badly with the belts. He only had one, and he only wore it with his work attire. But to her, it probably wasn't something she ever did.
If she wanted her belt with the golden buckle, then Luke wouldn't hesitate to give it to her.
Reappearing from behind the door, now fully dressed, a beaming Cate greeted him. She had left her hair down, letting it flow over her shoulders gently.
"I have to ask Mali for the library card," she told him, so he nodded, taking a seat on her soft mattress once more.
Heading up the stairs, Cate made her way to her older sister's room. Mali barely ever went to the library, but sometimes if Cate asked her nicely, she would drive her over and they would look for poetry books together, or maybe pick out a nice novel to read.
Knocking gently on the door, she waited for Mali to answer.
"Come in."
A little timidly- she wasn't sure why, she opened the door to see her older sister sitting in the midst of her summer classwork for college. Just because of the amount of work and reading nonfiction that Mali had to do fully stopped Cate from ever wanting to go into the medical field.
"What's up?"
"Do you have the library card?" she asked.
Mali leaned over to where her purse was hanging on her bed frame, slipping out her wallet. After digging through it, she produced the little grey card, handing it to her.
"You need a ride?"
"Um,"
Cate hadn't thought about whether or not Mali would care if Luke was here. She knew that he got along well with her older siblings, but she wasn't sure how they'd feel about the rough-looking guy with the bruises and cuts staying the night with their baby sister.
"Someone from work is taking me," was what she decided was a suitable excuse.
Mali just nodded, thankfully not asking questions, returning to her studies with a sigh.
Luke was still waiting in Cate's room when she came back down. He had tried taming his blonde locks in her dresser mirror, but it didn't quite do much. So he had to settle for the mess. As always.
Her beaming smile greeted him, a little grey library card tucked in her hand.
"Ready?" Luke asked, trying to contain the smile that threatened to surface at the sight of Cate's cheery face.
"Mhm," she affirmed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Luke let her walk in front of him, staying close behind her.
Her room was on the second floor, while the other two siblings either had third or fourth-floor bedrooms, so being caught wasn't really something Luke was that worried about as they left the house.
However, when Cate froze up only a few feet in front of him, about to descend the stairs, he figured someone was out there.
"Cate? That you?"
Calum.
Taking Luke's hand, she pulled him silently back to her room, closing the door as softly as possible.
His towering stature over her and his rather tight grip made her stomach flutter nervously. She wasn't sure why since she had realized she was no longer afraid of him. It wasn't the same type of anxious feeling she had when they had first met, it was different.
Finally dropping her hand back to her side, Cate looked at Luke with disappointment.
"Babe-"
Babe.
"-we can still get to the library. We'll just have to wait for Cal to go upstairs," he reassured her, not wanting to see the little girl upset.
She sighed. "He takes forever to eat breakfast."
"It's nearly noon."
"He sleeps in," Cate shrugged. "I normally do too, but I can't anymore because-"
"Because you now have a one p.m. job?" Luke chuckled, amused.
She pouted playfully. "It's not funny, Luke."
He bit back a grin, ducking his head down. Cate giggled, her fingers lingering on a button he had missed when he buttoned his flannel back up.
She gently placed her other hand on the edge of the material where the holes were, and popped the little brown circle into place. Luke reached up, his hands wrapping around her dainty wrists as she hesitated.
"Did I- did I do somethi-"
"No," he shook his head, keeping his voice soft. "I- it's fine, Catie."
She still looked a little unsure, so he offered a small smile, a giggle escaping his lips as he loosened his tight grip on her small wrists.
As footsteps passed her room, before backtracking and whoever it was knocked gently on the door.
Luke froze, his eyes widening.
Cate bit her lip nervously, before lightly shoving him into the bathroom.
"Cate?" Calum's voice called from outside her room.
"Just a minute!" she replied hurriedly, closing the door to the bathroom.
Luke stood against the bathroom door, his heart pounding. Thank God that the Hoods were polite and knocked before entering, usually, because he did not want Calum to barge in to see his little sister's hands on his best friend's chest, standing mere inches apart from each other.
As Calum had a conversation with the clearly flustered Cate standing feet away on the other side of the door, Luke did his best to ignore his racing heartbeat.
Maybe he should splash water on his face or something.
Or- after realizing how creaky bathroom floors could tend to be, he pulled himself back against the door.
Taking a sharp breath when his back collided rather harshly with the door, he inwardly cursed out himself, knowing he just put Cate in an even more awkward position.
"What- what was that?" Calum asked.
"Ah- it does that, some... sometimes," Cate fibbed. "You- you know, when your door just... just does that thing," she laughed, but Luke could hear the nervousness in her voice.
"Okay," Calum replied, a little confused.
Luke could hear the bedroom door swing shut before the bathroom door was opened. He glanced down at Cate's nerve-wracked face, her lips pursed.
"Luke," she whined softly.
"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I didn't mean to make a noise."
She sighed, the tiny breath making the strands of hair in front of her face flutter. "It's fine."
"You sure?"
"Yes, it's fine."
"Do you still want to go to the library?"
"Of course," she giggled.
Peeking out into the hallway, she made sure the coast was clear before beckoning for Luke to follow her. He checked to make sure he still had his keys tucked into his front pocket before darting after the girl with angelic laughter and the doe eyes he couldn't get out of his mind.
- -
i was unintentionally listening to Adele so sorry if it's a bit sad or too touchy feely way too fast pfft >>>
this is what happens when you watch random romance movies
cal xx :))))