HANDLE WITH CARE
17. Happy.
L U K E
*swipe for featured song*
Annie understood Luke's undying hatred of vehicles, but in weather like this she really wished he would just allow her to call an Uber. Luke admittedly felt bad for somewhat making her wonder in this freezing, snow covered weather, but technically she was the one who broke their make out to get his dog.
She was wrapped in in a coat, scarf, gloves and a hat, and yet Luke was only in a coat, he didn't think he would be leaving Annie's house, at least not to get a dog. They had only been walking for 40 minutes and the shelter was another hour away.
Even in this time he had already felt as though his fingers were about to fall off, his ears had gone numb and his nose was brighter then Rudolph's. He couldn't help it, his right hand reached for her glove-covered one, squeezing it tightly to try and get some feeling back into his hand.
Annie shivered at his icy fingers in which she could feel through her woollen gloves. Her other hand rubs his hand in between both of hers, her feet walking a little quicker as she just wanted to get to this place.
They hadn't talked very much since the incident which occurred on Annie's couch. Annie was never speechless, she was, however, very awkward in high school, and that doesn't just go away. She wasn't that popular in high school, but she wasn't unpopular too, she was kind of irrelevant, people knew her but no one really cared about her friend group.
It didn't bother her, she loved her friends then and she was luckily to still be friends with Nina, but she did still have her awkward, shy tendencies sometimes, like now for instance.
She didn't know what to say to him, if anything, so she just stayed quiet, wading her way through the snow. After around 20 minutes of silence, Luke finally built up the courage to say something.
"Are you ok? With everything that just happened I mean..." He chattered, his lips feeling so dry and numb now, not like how they were when they were on Annie's.
"Yeah, we're just not supposed to, y'know, so it's a little weird." She commented, shrugging her shoulders as she felt his hand squeeze tighter onto her own. They weren't supposed to be doing that either, and yet here they were, walking together and holding hands on their way to get a dog, on Christmas.
"Do you think it's weird?" He asked, stopping momentarily and tugging Annie's hand so she would look at him.
"I think, ugh, I don't know what I think. I think it's wrong, it's inappropriate, it's-it's unprofessional and I don't know what to think Luke." She sighed, rubbing her eyes before dragging him forward to get out of the cold.
"Annie-" he breathed, jogging up next to her and noticing how she couldn't meet his eyes, she couldn't look at him right now. "Are you mad at me?"
She shook her head, stuffing her hands in her pockets as she continued to walk. "No, I'm not mad, let's just stop talking about it." She shrugged, shaking all those thoughts from her head and focusing on what was happening now.
"You're right..." he nodded, walking slower than he normally did so she didn't have to rush to keep up with him. "But you have to admit," he continued anyway, he couldn't help it, his mind was a constant cycle of Annie > therapist > "unprofessional" > happy > Annie, and he had no way of expressing this.
"Even if it is technically unprofessional, as you love to call it," he finally looked away from the snow below him, to in front of him where the road continued for miles with street lights being the only source of life tonight. He stopped in his tracks, not focusing how Annie continued onward for a few more steps before she turned to look at him.
Luke's head turned back to the direction of where they had come from, their footprints slowly being covered by the continued fall of snowflakes. They were blurring his vison and coating Annie's dark hair, falling onto every thing it touched and sticking softly.
Luke couldn't remember what he was talking about, or what he was even thinking, his mind had gone blank and he felt a little lost. He felt like this place was familiar, and yet he had never been here in his life before.
Maybe it was the road. That road in which his parents were driving him home, unbeknownst that this road would be the last they were to ever ride on again.
Luke shook his head, he knew that road, he knew where it was, how far away it was from his house, and how close it was to Ashton's.
"I call it unprofessional because it is, we shouldn't be doing any of this," Annie, he forgot for a moment she was here. She was here after all, with him, late at night walking in the freezing temperatures, all to make him a little bit happier.
"You have to admit," he breathed, it being noticeable as it left his mouth in a gust of pale smoke. "It feels right."
Annie rolled her eyes, it was a very cliché line for him to say, even if it was perfect for the moment. He was right, of course he was, he was a lot smarter than he gave out to be, but Annie wouldn't tell him that.
"I'm serious. Theirs no one else in the world that I'd rather be in the middle of nowhere with, on Christmas, freezing my ass off to get a dog which I've already forgotten the name of." He flailed his arms, sounding exasperated and also so passionate, as if this is what he was born to say, to bellow his love for this girl and for her to hear.
"You can't tell me this doesn't feel right. It's so far right that we're practically in Australia." He knew that whatever he was saying now could ruin absolutely everything that he had managed to fix in the past few months that he had known Annie. But he didn't care, she needed to know just how desperate he was for her, for her attention and love and affection.
A smile grew on her lips, she seemed baffled, it had been a long time since anyone had shown this type of undeniable want for Annie, she forgot what it felt like to feel so utterly wanted. When Luke saw her smile, her beautifully blinding smile, he smiled too, even wider and more bashful.
"I don't know what to say," she whispered, watching as Luke finally caught up to her. "So far right we're practically in Australia." She repeated, laughing a little at his words.
Luke laughed too, shaking his head as he took her hand in his, pulling it up to his lips and pressing a soft kiss to her knuckles. "You make me happy, Annie. Really, I'm glad I'm here with you." She dropped her head down, looking at the floor as she was deep in thought. Luke craves to know what was going through her mind, and yet if he knew he'd probably run for the hills.
"You make me clueless, Luke. I have no idea how to handle you." Annie finally looked up at him, chuckling as she saw his still smiling face.
"With care, please." He answered, rubbing his thumb against her cheek, because that's what they did in movies and in movies the guy always got the girl.
Luke was wondering if he should kiss her again, he wanted to, he really wanted to but the question was whether or not Annie wanted to. She had been very mixed about her feelings and even though this moment would be perfect to share a sweet innocent kiss, he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable.
"Petunia," Annie spoke, not liking this silence that surrounded them. She didn't mind the silence between her Luke, it was just the silence of the street, the silence of the city and the night that scared her slightly. "The dogs name is Petunia."
"We should probably get her huh?" Luke scratched the back of his neck, noticing the shelter sign a few minutes ahead of them.
-
"Sign here please," the lovely ginger haired teenager spoke. Annie and Luke hadn't spent too long gazing at all the adorable dogs in the shelter before finding Petunia again.
They saw that the workers were all of similar features and Annie just had to ask if they were related, which they were, a family of seven started this shelter when they noticed the abundance of stray and abandoned dogs in California.
Annie had been talking to Georgia, the ginger mother of 5 who opened this place nearly 20 years ago, she was telling the story of why they had opened this place.
"This time next year we won't be here sadly, these poor pups just aren't getting adopted and no money is coming in to fund this place." She sighed, looking down the alley full of lovable dogs.
"What will happen to the dogs?" Annie asked, eyes watching as Luke place a pink collar onto Petunia, attaching the lead and smiling at his new companion.
"If they don't find a home? They'll have to get euthanised, we would love to adopt them all but we simply can't, theirs over 50 dogs here." She rubbed her eyes, it was clear that this was a problem that was effecting them deeply as a family. The children were doing their daily rounds of feeding and watering the dogs before bed, where they would go home over the road as Annie was told.
Luke made his way over, keeping quiet as he waited for Annie and Georgia to finish their conversation. He was too busy feeling overwhelmed with excitement for his new friend sat by his feet.
"I wish I could do something to help, give you the money or something." Annie swallowed, shaking her head as she listened to the whimpers and barks of the dogs. Luke places his hand on the small of her back, he couldn't help it, she seemed distressed and he wanted to comfort her in any way possible.
"Can I get one? I- I want to help at least one of them." She muttered, biting at the nail on her thumb as she felt her stomach drip with anxiety. Something about all of this made her nervous, scared and she felt so unsafe.
"That would be amazing! If I could possibly persuade you, I think Happy would be perfect for you," She smiled, leading Annie to the enclosure which was holding Happy, a blue pit bull with a few battle scars. "Before we found him he was used for dog fighting, he was in terrible condition, but no matter what he managed to smile that beautiful smile of his."
Annie saw the smile, he was doing it right now, wagging his tail as he let Annie stroke his head. On his flier it said he was 7, so he was getting old but Annie couldn't bare to let him live out the rest of his days in a kennel. After signing all the papers and proudly saying she owns Happy the Pitbull, she took one of the shelters business cards before wishing them a merry Christmas and leaving.
Luke was in love; with Petunia, with Happy, with this whole day and scene and Annie. He was in love with Annie, with her whole heart and beautiful soul, he was so madly smitten that just looking at her made him speechless.
"I can't believe that, I wish I had just a little bit more money so I can donate more to them Y'know? We'll have to do an event or something, like a sponsored run." Annie rambled, eyes trained on Happy as they walked their way home.
She thought Luke was listening to her, and he was, but he was also blatantly staring at the side of her face. She ignored it for now though, she was too sad to feel for Luke right now. The walk home was a lot quicker than the walk there, mostly because the dogs were dragging them along the roads with excitement.
They went back to Annie's house, laughing as Bow began freaking out with the new guests arriving. Happy seemed just as pleased, the both of them playing as Petunia seemed pretty contempt lying at Luke's feet.
"You can stay if you want... but, um, you would sleep on the couch." Annie spoke, her throat was saw and scratchy, it had been a long day.
"That's great, thank you." Luke smiled, stroking as much of his dog as he could. "Annie?" He questioned, turning his head so he was facing her.
She was rubbing her eyes, standing like a tired child in the doorway. "Yeah?"
Luke presses a button or two on his phone before the song take good care of my baby - bobby vee started to play. It was an old fashioned song that Annie hadn't heard before, but it was nice, calm. He held out a hand and Annie loosely placed her own in it, smiling slightly as he pulled her closer, placing her hands around his neck and he wrapped his arms around her waist. Annie's eyes were closed as Luke gently began to sway them, feeling as her body began leaning on his own.
"Are you tired?" He whispered against her forehead, slowly placing a kiss in that same spot. Annie nodded, her fingertips trailing along the back of his neck. "C'mere." He mumbled, sitting back on the couch and guiding Annie along with him.
He lifted her so she was lying comfortable on top of him, all of the dogs beginning to settle and sleep around them like protective guardians. Luke grabbed a blanket that was on the back of the couch, spreading it over the pair of them as he kissed Annie's head once more, mumbling a goodnight before finally closing his eyes.
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I know their hasn't been an update in awhile but it was Christmas and I was working
I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and a happy New Years tomorrow!
SONG OF THE WEEK
Better man (live) - 5 seconds of summer
This is Happy btw:
Thank you for reading!
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