Sunshine || l.h. {complete}

Fifteen

wow i'm updating quicker than ever what is this trickery

but hey leave a few comments and tell me what you think? it's nice to hear feedback, it makes me want to write more :) i love you guys and thanks for reading!! x

3:12 p.m.

Saturday, November 25th, 2014

"Can you quiet down over there?!" One of Luke's 'neighbors' speaks up from across the camp, "I'm trying to take a nap!"

Belle gulps, looking up at Luke, "I-I should go..."

He shakes his head, reaching out to grasp her wrist, "No, come inside. I know it isn't much, but—"

"Okay," she wets her lips, nodding. "I'll come inside."

Luke's fingers trail down her forearm until they link at her fingers, tugging gently on her to gesture for her to follow him inside. He opens the door and keeps it open while he lets her go first and follows her in with a gentle thud as the door shuts.

She sees what crashed earlier — a little flower pot's remains are now scattered near where the driver's seat would be, save for the fact that there isn't a seat there, but a table. On the other end of the bus, where the back seats would be, there's a pallet made up of pillows and blankets and in another corner is a chair with a book sitting in it, beside it a small shelf full of clothes. Most of the things folded nice and neatly Belle recognizes as Aiden's things.

Wiping her eyes with her hands, Belle smiles weakly, "It's really nice, Luke." Her voice is still shaky from the blowout and confession of earlier, but she can't help it and doesn't feel as embarrassed as she thought she might.

"Thank you," Luke nods, a bashful grin on his full lips. "You want a drink? I have juice in the cooler." He moves the pillows around on the bed to make it more like a couch, dropping the intimacy level just a hair. She nods, "That'd be lovely."

It feels so strange to be civil with him after being angry just a few moments ago. Belle can tell he feels awkward and is walking on eggshells. His posture is rigid and his motions are robotic. She wishes things didn't have to be said that way, but that's how everything has always been with her. Belle is the human bottle and Luke is the catalyst that pushed her to breaking.

Luke's bed is softer than she would've thought, but when she looks down, there's an air mattress stacked as well. She sits up, "How'd you get all this stuff?" Luke shrugs, shutting the little cooler. "Some of it I found," he says, giving her a little box of apple juice, "especially at camp grounds. People come for holidays and then leave stuff lying around. That's how I got the chair and the bed, and the sheets and some other stuff. Um, a lot of it I got from other homeless people I've met through the years." She looks up at him with an authentically awestricken gaze, and then he tags on: "I-I refrain from stealing. It's wrong." She giggles, a little hiccup coming after she finishes off the juice box.

With a sigh, Luke runs his hands through his hair and settles down next to her on his bed, "We need to talk, Belle."

As she looks down at her leg again, she notices a trickle of blood that starts at her knee and goes all the way down to her sock, where it's darkening the black fabric. "Luke," she says calmly, "hey, um, can I—" Luke's eyes widen, "You're bleeding. Are you okay?! What happened?" She doesn't make a big deal of it, just tells him she needs a wash rag and a band aid.

"I'll go get something, stay here."

With a slam of the door, he goes to wherever it is and Belle examines her leg. She knows what it's from — when he opened the door and slammed it against her knee. The cut looks to be about three inches long, but not too deep because there isn't much blood.