brightest_lights

Luke

It's been a little while since she's come by to hang out at Luke's book store. She had finals, and then Christmas and all the craziness that comes with the holidays. After that were rampaging animals, and then...

Everything that happened with Neal. She still doesn't really know where that sits - she's got her ideas on it, but since she'd spent the time to take down her tree and un-cheerify her apartment, she realised that she's still got Luke's Christmas present-- and maybe she just wants to spend time with her friends.

Pushing open the door, the present's in her oversized bag as she scopes out if there are customers - there's one lady who looks like she's been reading for the last few years, but she also doesn't look like she's moving anytime soon, so she finds Luke with a smile. "Hey!" She's got two hot cups of coffee, and holds one out to him. "Figured I'd come hang out before classes start up again."

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"Where I come from, werewolves and vampires are supposed to dislike each other," Luke says, giving her a grin and her hands another gentle squeeze before he releases them. "I've never particularly bought into that, but I still remember how you reacted my first day here. And look at us now. We've both been told we're supposed to hate each other and we've overcome that without much trouble."

It's been rather easy, actually, to be Caroline's friend. And hopefully Neal will understand and see the good in her, too.

"Oh, I'm sure he always thinks it's dinner," he answers with a laugh, looking over at Russell who's gotten out of his patch of sun and is stretching out his long, thin body.

"It's still weird to me," she confessed. "That there are werewolves that aren't just trying to kill me, you know? But I'm definitely glad that it's not like that." She smiled wider. "I'm glad we're friends, Luke."

She moves to scritch under Russell's chin. "Well, he's not wrong. He's a cat, he's supposed to always be pampered or whatever," she said with a smile down at him, but then she remembered. "Oh! I brought your Christmas gift." She nodded to her bag on the table, and then pushed herself up to stand, then held out the wrapped present, a smile on her face. "Sorry it took me so long to get this to you, it's been a... crazy couple of weeks."

"He would like you to believe that, certainly," Luke agrees with a laugh, watching Russell stretch toward Caroline with pleasure as she scratches him. It's strange to have a cat who doesn't hate him after all this time, but he kind of likes it as well.

His expression softens when she holds the gift out toward him and he shakes his head. "Caroline," he says, still smiling. "You didn't have to do that." He still has a stocking for her, one with her name on it that he'd filled with little gifts, candy and chocolates and puzzles and warm socks, because he remembers how much Clary had liked those.

"I know I didn't have to," she said with her brows expectantly high so that he'll take it. "That makes it even better that I did. Go on," she says with a smile, and she hopes he'll like the gifts-- it's hard to know what to get someone who literally owns a bookstore - while she knows he likes to read, it's not like she has any sort of clue what books he'd want, and of course he'd have an easier time getting anything rare than her.

She'd managed to maybe figure it out, though - she got some vintage, acid free bookplates that say his name on them, and just for good measure a small felt wolf that was too adorable to pass up when given the chance.

Caroline loves giving presents, and this Christmas... it's definitely been light for her, so she's got to make it up where she can.

Luke takes the gift from her and sets it aside for the moment, then ducks behind the counter where he has the register. He comes out a moment later with the bright red stocking with her name on it and holds it toward her with a small grin. It isn't much, but he'd wanted to get something for everyone, and the stocking is stuffed with little gifts, things that had made Luke think of her.

"For you," he says before he picks up the gift she's given him and begins to unwrap it. The bookplates are beautiful and Luke smiles down at them as he turns them over, studying the details. The wolf makes him laugh and when he looks up at Caroline again, he's smiling widely.

"These are beautiful. Thank you."

"Ah!" She can't stop the exclamation of delight that pops out of her mouth when Luke reappears with a stocking, and she seems as excited as a kid in a candy store. "Thank you! This is so nice of you!" She waits for him to unwrap his-- mostly because she wanted to see his face, and she's rewarded with him laughing and it's pretty much perfect.

"I'm so glad you like them." Caroline's definitely the kind of person who chalks up how well she knows someone to if she can get them a good Christmas gift, and she's more than happy with Luke's response. Now, she finally goes back to the stocking, and it's--

It's the kind of stuff she would have gotten from her mom, and honestly, she loves it. It's clear from her face that it means a lot -- it's all the little things opened with careful fingers, and before she even thanks him she moves to give him a hug. "Thank you so much." It's less bubbly and more genuine, because honestly she misses both her parents even though her father had passed away more than a year ago. "This is just... so incredibly sweet of you."

"I wanted to make sure everyone had something," Luke answers with a smile. He'd done similar things for a few other people, made up stockings for Hild and Peter and Alec and Isabelle, but he'd taken care to make each one individual. Caroline's stocking is red, her named stitched on it in purple, and the gifts he'd gotten are things he thinks she would like. There's the usual candy and chocolate, of course, little puzzles and games and socks, but he'd also gone out of his way to find things just for her.

He smiles when she hugs him and wraps his arms around her in return, squeezing her tight.

"You're welcome," he says and he's glad to have made her smile even if only for a moment. He hopes, too, she's not worried about Neal, not right now, and that everything works out.

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Luke

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