waitress // lrh

34 // newspaper

// luke //

"Baby?" Luke called over the sound of the running water. Catie was taking a shower.

"Yeah?"

"Can I come in to wash my hands?"

"Mhm."

Carefully, Luke creaked the door open, walking inside. He flipped on the faucet, starting to wash off the dirt he had absorbed onto his palms as a result of offering to help Aimee and the maid with chores for the morning.

Luke was much taller than them both, which meant that there were places neither could quite reach to clean without a ladder. However, the entire family insisted many times that Aimee shouldn't use a ladder, in case she might get hurt. She meant the world to everyone- starting to include Luke as well.

So he had spent two hours already scrubbing dirt and grime off of the laundry room walls, as well as dusting the bookshelves that towered over everyone and everything in the living room.

"How much longer until you're done?" Catie asked softly, poking her head out from behind the shower curtain. Her lips pouted slightly, and Luke wanted nothing more than to press his mouth to hers.

"Maybe another hour or so; why? Is there something you wanted to do today?" He raised an eyebrow, shaking his hands into the sink before grasping the hand towel.

Catelynn raised her shoulder in a sheepish sort of shrug. "I just want to spend time with you, that's all."

He smiled in spite of himself. "I know, but I'll be done soon."

"Okay."

Aimee wanted Calum and Luke to help clean out some of the trash from the attic. It was on the fourth floor, and there was a ridiculous amount of space for what Mrs Hood dismissed as "just a dusty old cupboard".

It was dusty, though.

"When's the last time anyone was up here?" Luke asked, waving his hand in front of his face. Dust particles swirled, and Calum coughed.

"I dunno, man," he covered his mouth with his sleeve. "Christ."

Luke turned to look around for the boxes the housekeeper had described to Calum and him. Several blue bins.

He spotted them stacked up under a window, their lids haphazardly tossed over as a cover.

"We were supposed to get these ones, right?" Luke confirmed, glancing over his shoulder at Cal.

He nodded, coming over to help.

The bins were a lot heavier than either had anticipated, so after several attempts to pick the whole stack up together, the pair gave up on that idea.

"I guess we'll actually have to do one bin at a time," Calum mumbled, swiping his chin with his hand that was covered in dust. "Ah dammit," he muttered, suddenly realizing his mistake.

Luke rolled his eyes.

They eventually had lugged one box between the both of them down to the front room, before immediately getting harped on to Mrs Hood by what Luke recognized to be the law student that had visited weeks ago. She still had the same air of annoyance about her, which clearly showed by how fast she whined about the dust getting onto the floor.

"Sorry," Mrs Hood said- obviously insincere- before walking over to them. "Boys, can you just take those outside now? Laurence will be complaining about it until four hours after the fact, and I'm not in the mood for a migraine." She offered a quick, apologetic smile, going back to Laurence.

Calum and Luke lugged the box the whole way to the porch outside, setting it down with a loud thump.

The darker haired boy sighed. "How many more of these?"