Centre of His World

Chapter 5

It was a sunny day at the park. Birds chirped, rays of warm sun shined through the trees, kids played on the playground, a soccer game was going on off in the distance. Everything about this day was perfect. But, she couldn't deal with the countless times people complimented her and Luke both on Kelly. She knew it hurt Luke and Kelly wasn't hers, no matter how bad she wish she was.

Luke sighed, causing Caroline to jump out of her thoughts. "Kelly is gonna cry again, do you think we can take a break here so I can feed her?"

"Of course," Caroline said as they both sat down on the bench. Luke was on one end, while Caroline was on the other. Luke took a bottle out of the diaper bag to feed Kelly. Soon, the sounds of suckling echoed throughout the empty space.

Luke was talking to Kelly in this baby voice as Caroline sat there awkwardly. Was it right to like this man? Certainly not, but she couldn't control her feelings.

"Can you pass me the receiving blanket?" Luke asked, pointing to a yellow cotton cloth.

"Sure," she responded, reaching for the blanket and handing it to Luke. He laid it over his shoulder and laid Kelly along the blanket, gently patting her back. Caroline was amazed at how perfect of a father he was being. It had only made her like him more.

Kelly burped and Luke wiped her face with the blanket. Luke then laid Kelly back in her car seat, which was attached to a stroller. "There you go, sweetie. All better."

Caroline pondered about the name of the blanket. "Hey, Luke?"

"Yeah?" Luke asked as he adverted his attention to Caroline.

"Why do they call it a receiving blanket?"

Luke chuckled. "Because it receives the spit up a baby makes when they burp."

Caroline smiled. "And you say you're not cut out to be a father."

"I'm not," Luke said as he blushed. "Not to be a single father anyways."

Caroline looked down, feeling a sense of regret in her choice of words. "I'm sorry, Luke. I didn't mean it like that."

"It's fine," Luke smiled. "We need to talk about her, if you bring her up, I'm okay with that. I don't want to completely forget May, just forget the pain of losing her. You get what I'm saying?"

Caroline nodded. "Yeah, I do."

They continued on their walk in silence, but this time the silence didn't feel awkward, it felt right. Caroline took a glance at Luke and suddenly her heart flutter. She quickly looked away, not wanting to make things worse.

Kelly was fast asleep now. Luke smiling as he enjoyed the quiet walk, breathing in and out. It was something he definitely needed. He needed to get out of that house. He needed to make new memories instead of dwelling on the past.

Never hold onto the past, that's what Caroline always said, because once it's gone, you can't get it back. Caroline found herself easing closer towards Luke, and before she knew it, she was holding his hand. But the touch only lasted seconds before Luke jerked his hand away. Caroline blushed and moved farther from Luke.

Luke had an aggravated look on his face. "Caroline, I'm sorry, but I-"

"No, no. I'm the one that should be sorry. I shouldn't have touched your hand, let alone hold it."

Luke gave her a questioning look, but Caroline looked away. He doesn't like her. Leah had told her to dispose of her feelings before she ended up getting hurt, but every time she tries to, she falls deeper into the black hole than she already was. She wouldn't call it love, but she knew it was inevitable. Caroline will fall in love with him and will get hurt. She'll end up getting hurt, because he doesn't feel the same about her that she does for him.

"Caroline, it was an honest mistake," Luke said.

Caroline shook her head. Yeah, a mistake. "No, it wasn't. Can I just go home now?"

Luke raised an eyebrow. "No, Carol, don't leave. It's fine, really."

"You just don't understand," Caroline muttered. "I need to go home. I need to call Leah."

"Okay," Luke sighed. "You can go, I guess."

Caroline left without saying goodbye. At least it wasn't worse. She could've kissed him instead, he would have been more pissed then than he is now.

She pulled out her phone and immediately dialed Leah's number. Leah picked up after the second ring. "Caroline, this better be good, because the phone woke Nash."

"I'm sorry, Leah," Caroline apologized. "It's about Luke."

Leah didn't speak for a brief moment, probably taking in what Caroline said. "Wait, what? You're with him? Caroline, being with him is only gonna make your feelings for him get stronger and that's bad, because he doesn't like you that way."

"I know, I know. Don't remind me," Caroline said as she rolled her eyes.

"Did you sleep with him?"

"Leah! That's jumping to conclusions, don't you think?" Caroline shouted into the phone.

"It was just a thought," Leah told her.

Caroline rolled her eyes once again. "No, I didn't sleep with him. I held his hand and he freaked out, and... I don't know. I guess it just hurts, you know?"

Leah sighed. "Caroline, just stay away from him before he hurts you more than he already has. You know that he isn't aware of you liking him, right?"

"I know," Caroline said.

"Well, it's either you tell him how you feel or stray clear of him. Luke doesn't know he's hurting you. All he knows is that he's hurting, because his wife died and that you're there to help him through it. As a friend. The last thing that man needs is a girl falling for him when he's just getting over his wife. He's not gonna fall in love again for a long time, maybe never."

"But what if he does?"

"Caroline, you know damn well that you won't be the girl he falls in love with."

Caroline sighed, she'd admit it, she wanted it to be her, but knew she wouldn't be his future. "I know, but a girl can dream, right?"

"That's all you're gonna have to do, unless you tell him how you feel, which we both know you won't."

"You don't know how hard it is to tell a man you have feelings for him," Caroline said, her voice sounding small.

"No, I know. I'm married, remember. I know how hard it his to tell someone you have feelings for them. What I don't know is how hard it is to tell country music's sexiest man, Luke Bryan, that you have feelings for him. And that, I will never know."

"You're right. I just have to stay away from him, I could never tell him that I'm falling for him." Although Caroline said she would stay away and never run to him, she knew she was lying. Tomorrow, she'd be back at his house, helping him with Kelly and wishing that she could kiss all his pain away.

__________________________

A/N: I know this update is short and, hold on. "Blonde had a little too much fun! I'll be brunette." Sorry, I'm listening to Mexico. What was I saying? Oh, right. And it probably has a bunch of errors, bad grammar and typos, in it. Sorry about that. I'll have to edit it tomorrow at some point. What do you think about Caroline holding Luke's hand, but then him pulling his hand away quickly. What about Leah and Caroline's talk? I hope you liked the update! ~Kelsea