waitress // lrh

40 // off limits

// cate //

"Cate?" Mali's gentle voice called, just barely audible from where she was sitting in the living room.

"In the bedroom," Cate mumbled back.

Footsteps approached the open bedroom door, and Luke and Catelynn glanced up to see Mali peeking inside.

Luke had moved back to his room after he had eaten, mainly so the eldest sibling could clean up Calum's wounds without the two men glaring daggers at each other. Cate wasn't really in favor of spending time near her brother at the moment either.

"Calum wants to talk," she sighed reluctantly, her hand resting cautiously on the doorknob. "To both of you."

Luke didn't really move.

"He's a lot calmer now."

"I don't have anything to say to him," Cate said- her tone seeming final. Luke placed a hand on her leg as if to say 'it's okay'.

Eventually, Mali and Luke managed persuade her to come and talk to Calum- even if she was just going to stand there silently.

Calum was perched on the edge of the couch, his elbows resting on his knees. He had his face in his hands and his hair looked like he had been stressfully running his fingers through it. He glanced up, though, when the three of them reentered the room, some sort of guilt evident in his eyes.

Luke kept his eyes locked with the dark haired man as he took a seat in a chair near to the sofa. Cate, however, stood grudgingly beside the blonde, a scowl on her face that Luke would have politely teased her about until she was blushing.

"Listen, man, I- I really fucked up," Calum started hesitantly. "And I'm sorry for coming in here and... and doing what I did."

Luke adjusted the ice that was pressed against his swollen lip, maybe as acknowledgement.

"But I don't understand. You know she's my little sister, Luke, and you could have any girl that you wanted," Calum rasped. "Why'd you have to go for my sister?"

Luke sighed heavily. "I don't know."

"Not everyone can replace Sky."

Cate noticed as Luke's shoulders tensed ever so slightly at the mention of his past girlfriend. She could imagine that his eyes were staring daggers into her brother, and from how Calum shifted uncomfortably in his seat, she was probably right.

"God, everyone needs to stop talking about Sky," he seethed- almost venomously. "I'm fucking aware that Catie isn't Sky! This isn't me trying to replace her with someone else. I loved Sky, and now I love your sister!"

A heavy silence immediately fell over the room. Calum's own shoulders tensed up, and his form seemed to grow a little less meek.

Maybe that wasn't the best bombshell to drop at that current time.

"You what?"

It was obvious that Luke didn't regret anything he had said, and it was even more clear by the way he raised his shoulders and stared dead into Calum's face.

"I love your sister. I love Catelynn," he clarified, aware of Mali waiting in the hallway.

Cate found herself blushing furiously, and she had to duck her face down in order to hide it.

Calum's head fell back into his hands.

"When did any of this start?" he exhaled heavily, still not looking at either of them.

Luke glanced up at Cate, who was biting her lip to contain a stupid smile that wasn't really helping.

"When- when Luke came over for dinner," she said quietly. That wasn't really true, but it was probably the safest thing to say currently.