waitress // lrh

10 // rough

// cate //

Luke was a very capable driver, Cate figured out. It was New York, so obviously driving was ridiculous. But Luke knew how to handle it, and she felt very safe sitting next to him in the passenger seat. She hadn't quite noticed when he had driven her home before, but that was due to being frozen with fear and staring out the window the entire time.

He knew just the right time to start braking, or use his turn signal; probably even better than Mali, and she had passed her driver's test after years of having her permit and practice.

Cate glanced over at him as his hands loosely gripped the wheel.

"Did you learn to drive in Australia?" she asked suddenly.

"Mm, no," he replied, offering a lingering gaze in her direction, before turning his eyes back to the road. "Your mum taught me."

"Oh. You're a very good driver," she told him softly, a little surprised that her mother was who taught him. That would make sense, though.

He bit back the beginnings of a smile from her compliment, opting to just nod in acceptance.

"Can you drive yet?" Luke inquired.

"No, I'm too scared," she giggled, a little sheepishly.

"Well, when you learn, never ever lean over to get something that fell onto the floor of the passenger side if you're on the road," Luke told her, "because you might take your foot off of the brake and hit the gas, and then- you're dead."

"Way to lighten the mood," Cate mumbled playfully. "But I'll keep that in mind." She tapped her forehead with her index finger.

"You should. No one ever told me about it when I was learning," he agreed, a wise aura to his tone.

Cate cocked her head. "Then how'd you learn about it?"

He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "One of the people at the drugstore I used to work at... she- uh, she did that."

She pursed her lips. "Oh. I'm sorry."

Luke shook his head. "It's okay." His words seemed a little hollow. 

"Still."

They eventually reached the library, a large stone building with large pillars at the entrance. Luke had only been here once or twice, but the grandness of the building was enthralling no matter what. Cate, who had definitely visited this place at least twice every single month, looked beyond giddy to be here.

She nearly leaped out of the car, swinging the door shut. Luke chuckled, following suit but with a little less energy. Cate waited impatiently for him to get to her, a playful smile on her face all the while. He finally closed his car door, walking over and slipping his fingers between her own.

She didn't protest, just using the connection between them as a way to pull him to the library faster. She wasn't even flustered. He followed without a word, just amused to see the joy brought to Catie by the idea of books.

Reaching the entrance, she excitedly did her best to drag him inside and over to a section in the back, which Luke noted held science fiction books.

"I didn't know you liked science fiction," he noted, watching her jump as his quiet raspy voice disturbed the quiet aura of the room. She looked back at him, pure happiness on her face as she took a cross-legged seat on the floor in front of the shelf.

Luke wasn't one to read a lot. He owned just about a single shelf of books, and he knew them all, cover to cover. So when Catie-cat beckoned him down next to her and whispered that he should g o find himself a book, he had no idea where to start.