remember to live and let live

@luke-joplin

Maddie had been swamped pretty much the entire month of December, between her work at the bakery and then side arrangements for cookies and other pastries that others had requested. She loved staying so busy, especially when it was doing something she loved so much. However, between all the baking and decorating, wrapping presents had taken a backseat. At this point, most of them wouldn’t be done until Christmas Eve. Her stash of wrapping paper and the like had been whittled down to almost nothing, so after dropping off an order of macarons to a client, she stopped by the store to grab what she needed. Luckily it hadn’t been picked over too much, but carrying the plethora of bags, bows, and rolls of paper hadn’t proven to be an easy task all at once. It didn’t help that her parking spot had been about as far away from the apartment building as possible.

By the time she battled the stairs to her floor her face was a little flushed, breath a bit shallow, and she could barely see over the tall rolls of wrapping paper. Maddie took her steps carefully but still managed to collide into another building dweller, sending all her supplies tumbling from her hands. “I’m so sorry!” Maddie gushed, her cheeks darkening once she saw the baby blue eyes of just who she had ran into. Literally. The dreamboat she always tried to avoid. “I think I was a little too ambitious,” she modestly squeaked. 

December was, without a doubt, Luke’s favorite month of the year. Or specifically, the couple of months through the holiday season from Halloween on through right to Christmas and New Year’s. It never surprised him that this also seemed to coincide with a busy time at the fire station. Somehow the area of the country without snow still managed to be a disaster waiting to happen this time of the year, and Luke had been pulling some longer than normal shifts and was definitely feeling it today. Just a little more sluggish than usual and with reflexes slightly slower, which is why on his way out of the apartment and to the corner store he couldn’t avoid bumping into somebody at the last second coming his way with arms loaded down with wrapping paper and Christmas supplies. His own attention had been on his phone when the collision happened, and thankfully as he juggled it and managed to save the device from hitting the ground his eyes came to rest upon bluish-green eyes and an angelic face wearing the most sheepishly embarrassed expression staring back at him. Maddie Wilson was before him, managing to yelp out a few words of explanation.

Madeline Wilson, Kenji’s hottie of a best friend... at least one of his best friends. The blonde across the hall who’d seen Luke at some real low points, including the first time either had laid eyes on the other. And since that point they’d of course been civil with one another, friendly enough especially when Kenji was around, but that sure wasn’t enough to stop him from realizing this major cutie was there in the same building, same floor... and it was pretty obvious she wanted as little to do with him as possible. Since this was obviously unplanned though, Luke offered a smile as he tried not to linger too much on a stare, and then knelt down to start picking up some of the rolls of wrapping paper for her. “I’d be shocked if you weren’t trying to be,” he responded. You idiot, thinking to himself. She’s going to take that as an insult, not a compliment. “I mean, I know how much you like to tackle.” Just stop talking. Luke gathered up the rolls on the floor and stood back up. “How about I give you a couple extra hands getting home?” Sigh.