waitress // lrh

32 // apartments

// 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."