// cate //
She woke up to the feeling of soft lips pressing against her forehead in a kiss, and the sent of vanilla lingered rather close to her. Cate had to bite back a smile when she registered that it was Luke hovering over her, still not opening her eyes.
He tucked the blankets a littler higher over her shoulders, before leaving a last kiss on her temple.
And then Luke left, shutting the door as softly as possible behind him.
Catelynn knew they had agreed he would leave from here instead of the both of them going down to the kitchen- it wasn't as suspicious- but she still wished she could have said more of a goodbye. Luke didn't mind, though.
She snuggled a little farther into the comforter, content with the fact that he would return in only a couple of hours.
//
Only ten minutes before he was supposed to go back to the Hood's, Burt called Luke into his office again.
He assumed it was about the day before, and with a sinking feeling in his gut, Luke started to head towards the dreaded office. Hesitating, he rapped his fist on the door.
"Come in," Burt said, and Luke was confused at the note of shakiness in his voice.
Cautiously, he twisted the knob, opening the door up to see the older man sitting at his desk, a slip of paper sitting on the wood in front of him. Burt gestured to the chair across him, so Luke hesitantly took a seat.
Burt seemed unnerved, staring at the piece of paper that he eventually recognized to be a check.
The manager took a deep breath, before making eye contact with the lanky blonde seated in front of him.
"So, I know you didn't like having to be Mrs Peter's assistant-"
"That's what this is about?" Luke blurted out before he could stop himself. "Oh, fuck, sorry."
Burt raised an eyebrow.
"Shoot, shoot. Sorry." He tried not to cringe at his use of profanity, hoping Burt wouldn't go off on him again.
"Anyways, yes. That's what this is about." Burt cleared his throat. "And- I may or may not have mentioned that you would get a bonus for doing that..." here he paused, maybe waiting for confirmation or denial from Luke.
He gave a small shake of his head. "I-I don't remember, honestly."
"But Mrs Peters decided to take it upon herself to give you the bonus," Burt took a shaking hand and picked up the slip of paper in front of him, gazing at it. "So here."
As he extended his hand to the confused Australian, Luke reached out, accepting the paper.
"Don't- don't look at it here, but it's- all of it is yours."
Luke obediently folded up the paper, slipping it into his shirt pocket.
"She was very clear that you keep it."
He nodded slowly.
Burt exhaled heavily. "And- one more thing. We tried to ask that guy from yesterday about it, to see if he wanted to press charges- and he just said to drop it. Not sure why, probably has a history of some deep stuff, but there isn't any legal business about it anymore."
Luke raised his eyebrows. This was unexpected.
"You're still on probation, though."
"Understandably," he mumbled.
"You can go," Burt waved his hand, rolling out of his desk to go grab a few papers off of the filing cabinet.
"Okay, thanks, Burt. And I am sorry about yesterday, but the things that he was saying-" Luke bit his tongue. "I just- sorry, man."
Burt nodded. "Appreciate it."
Luke stood up from the wooden chair, heading towards the door.
"And Luke-"
He twisted his head back to look at Burt.
"Don't tell Autumn."
Luke smiled, shaking his head. Tugging the door back open, he stepped into the cool hallway, making sure to shut it behind him.
As he grabbed his bag from under the desk, Ashton gave him a glance. "What was that all about?"
"Ah, nothing."
He nodded. "Well, good then."
"Uh-huh."
"See you after lunch?" Ash raised an eyebrow.
"Hopefully," Luke sighed, clapping him on the back. He gave a quick smile at Elizabeth and a wave to Autumn, who was sulking at where she was tending the bar across the lobby, near the entrance to the restaurant. She just rolled her eyes, turning to the guy sitting across from her in a very nicely tailored business suit, holding an empty martini glass.
Luke had been driving the ten minutes to the Hood residence for so long now that it seemed much longer than before. Before, he had to drive half an hour, and the ten minutes seemed to go by much faster in comparison. Now that he had been driving this way for so long, time seemed to drag on and on.
Just as he was parking, his mind went back to the check sitting in his chest pocket. Curiosity got the best of him, and before he had checked to make sure he had actually turned off the car, Luke fished the folded up paper out into his hand.
Opening it, he felt his heart stop.
No, this couldn't be right. There was no possible way this was right.
Twenty thousand dollars.
Twenty. Thousand.
For being an "assistant"?
Luke was frozen.
Should he give it back to Burt? There wasn't any way he could be accepting this kind of money. She had said not to.
Was this a mistake? Did she mean to give it to the hotel instead?
But there it was, scrawled on the line in dark blue ink; "Luke Hemmings".
He could get a new apartment. He could move to a better neighborhood and not have to pay rent for months.
Eventually, after what seemed like seconds of staring at the paper that was starting to go blurry in his vision, a knock on the window startled him.
"Jesus Christ- Catie," Luke mumbled, his face forming a shaky smile when he saw it was his little girl gazing in at him. He quickly unlocked the car door, and she slid into the seat, already dressed for work.
"Hey," she said softly.
"Hey, princess," Luke replied, still very clearly dazed about something that she couldn't tell what.
"Are you okay?"
"Me? O-oh yeah, babe, I'm fine," he mumbled.
She furrowed her brow. "Luke, you don't seem fine. What's wrong?"
Shakily, he held out the check to her, watching as she took in with inquisitive hands. Her eyes scanned over it quickly before meeting his.
"Luke..."
"I don't know why she gave me that much money, I was the shittiest caretaker she could've gotten," Luke exclaimed, watching as she giggled.
Cate glanced down at the check once more, before handing it back to him. She leaned over the armrest, pressing a kiss to his cheek softly. "Well, I'm very very happy for you."
Luke knew that twenty thousand dollars didn't mean as much to her as it meant to him, but Cate knew it was a big deal for Luke to be receiving that kind of money.
"Thank you, kitten," he smiled.
With an inward sigh, Luke slipped the check into his wallet, feeling a little wary about carrying such a huge check around with him.
//
He had decided he wanted a new apartment. He could've gotten a new car, or maybe put a payment on a house- but for right now, an apartment was the best option.
Although Luke had wanted to take Catie with him to look for a place- considering she would be likely spending a lot of time there, he figured it would be best to take Calum. They hadn't hung out much as of recent, and he felt a little guilty.
So he scheduled a Saturday afternoon to go driving around with Cal to a couple different options he had picked out online.
They were all pretty cheap, about anywhere from two-thousand to four-thousand a month, which could all be easily covered for a while with Mrs Peters check.
Calum wanted to drive, and since Luke had all of the directions on his phone, it worked out well.
Calum let out a low whistle as he turned the car into the road with the first apartment. "This area looks a little rough, Lu."
He exhaled. "Well, there's still some more options if this doesn't work out."
It didn't look that bad to Luke, honestly. His neighborhood before was worse than this, and Calum had still come by to visit pretty often. This area was rough, undoubtedly, but Luke was able to handle it. However, his mind went to Catie. Luke didn't want her to feel unsafe, and if Calum didn't like it, then she wouldn't either.
The first apartment was a no go. There were water stains all over the ceiling, and the whole place reeked of sulfur. The guy showing them around had beady eyes and greasy hair, and overall, the apartment just gave the both of the men an uneasy feeling.
"Well, there goes the cheapest option," Luke murmured, slipping back into the car.
"Yeah. I- I don't want to pry," he glanced over for a moment at Luke, "but where are you getting the money to get an apartment?" Calum asked inquisitively.
"Mrs Peters gave me a check."
"What, like six grand?"
"Twenty."
"Nice."
And again, Luke had to remind himself that the Hoods were very accustomed to this kind of wealth. They didn't flaunt it, or make it their entire personality, but their reactions to such a big sum of money was a little underwhelming to say the least.
The second place was a bit better, thankfully. There was a small balcony, and bigger than Luke's current apartment. It had the same number of rooms, but just overall more spacious, which he and Calum both liked. The landlord was a woman, maybe about 5'8", who was very forward with both of them- much unlike the greasy man at the last place.
"Do you want to get something to eat after this?" Calum asked, turning into the parking lot of the last apartment. They had looked at four, each mediocre and with not a lot of appeal.
"Yeah, that sounds good," Luke sighed, unbuckling his seatbelt.
The fifth apartment was the most expensive. Four thousand dollars a month, but it was very worth it.
Two bedrooms, a full kitchen, a living room, and two bathrooms. There wasn't a balcony, but that really didn't matter. Even Calum said he liked it. And the best part was it was it was only five minutes from the hotel.
It was the third floor, end of the hallway, just like his apartment now. Everything about it seemed almost too good to be true.
Yes, the price was a little high for Luke's liking. But it was New York. Manhattan. The suburbs. It was going to be pricey.
"Thank you, man," Luke said as they were walking back towards the Hood's house. They had spent six hours looking at apartments on different ends of the city, and they were both exhausted.
Calum had stopped at Panda Express on the way back, and they grabbed a big container of stir fry for Cate and Mali to eat when they got home.
"No problem. I know you want to get back to living on your own again, and I'm just happy you're moving out of that shitty apartment," Calum nodded, setting the bag on the counter.
He brought out his phone, typing something quickly, and a couple minutes later, Mali and Cate came down the stairs, sliding into the kitchen.
With a jolt, Luke realized something was different. Something looked very different about her.
She wrapped her arms around Calum's torso, giving him a quick hug and a thanks before smiling softly at Luke.
She cut her hair.
Not super short, but it was definitely not sweeping across her lower back anymore. It was maybe a couple inches below her shoulders.
"You cut your hair," he said softly when Calum had gone to fetch utensils from the other side of the kitchen.
"Mali cut it." She was beaming, and when Luke reached up to feel the ends, Cate giggled, pulling away slightly.
"It's different."
"Do you like it?"
"Yeah, it makes you look more mature," Luke murmured, finally bringing his hand back to himself.
"Did you find an apartment you liked?" Mali asked loudly, noting that Calum was starting to come back.
"Oh, yeah, there were two pretty okay ones, but the last one was the nicest," he nodded, aware of how Cate was watching him as he talked about the fifth one they liked. Her eyes kept flirting from his to his mouth, but eventually they stayed focused on his lips as Luke explained a couple things to Mali. He wasn't even sure what he was saying anymore.
When they finished dinner, Luke offered to clean up, but Cate said she would rather do it. So Calum and Mali left, probably sensing some sort of arising squabble between the two.
Instead, Luke picked Cate up by the waist, setting her on the island. It was too far of a jump for her, and she knew if she even tried to get down, Luke wouldn't let her.
So instead, she watched as Luke placed their dirty dishes in the sink, aware of his back muscles flexing when he settled them into the dishwasher. It was incredibly attractive, and just thinking about it made Cate blush.
Everything about him was so perfect, she wasn't sure how she had gotten so lucky.
"Baby," Luke started off hesitantly, turning to her as he wiped the water off on his jeans.
"Hm?"
"I- I want to ask you something."
She tilted her head, a little confused at how his demeanor had changed. "Okay."
"And you don't have to respond now, I just want to ask," Luke murmured, leaning closer. His nose brushed against hers, and she swallowed, fighting the urge to connect her lips to his that were only inches away.
"O-Okay."
He hesitated, before exhaling heavily. "I want to call you my girlfriend, Cate. But I need to know if you're happy with that."
Cate's eyes widened as she slowly started to process what he said, becoming more and more giddy at the thought of his words. Her throat grew dry, and she swallowed thickly.
"I- I- you can call me yours," she mumbled softly, leaning forward to throw her arms around his neck. He smiled, still a little nervously, as he hugged her back, pressing a kiss to her cheek.
"You're so special," he murmured finally, hugging her still.
I can't believe she's mine.
- -
hello y'all
i hope you like 🤟😎
got a 93 on the español final wooo
also graduation happened what how
uhh idk is twenty thousand dollars a lot for this? i have little concept of money and i feel like that's a lot but yno this is fiction
love you all kisses and hugs for everyone xx