Note: how would you guys feel about a possible spin-off when this story ends?

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T H I R T E E N

"THIS IS BORING AS HELL."

"Watch your mouth," Luke said in response to Vivian's complaint and I silently thanked him. Since the two of us had to play the parents for a week, he was on my side, but I didn't question Vivian's ability to spite me just in case she was better at it than I thought - which was already ranked at 'very talented.'

My big - but apparently "boring as hell" - idea was to take Vivian out shopping, retail therapy. It was one of the things I always enjoyed to do, whether I was feeling down or not, but I didn't really have a lot of money. Now that I had a job, I was able to go out and spend some of my well-earned money on clothes and shoes and it was like walking on a cloud up in heaven.

Luke seemed to enjoy the idea, because he needed to stretch his legs and exercise but he felt weird trying to sneak into Ashton's home gym or pool with Vivian in the house as an official guest. One time, she almost caught him sneaking off to the pool when she was just there for the weekend, so for her to be living here full-time made it nearly impossible.

"Well, it's boring now," I said, "but when we actually get to the mall, I swear you'll have a good time."

"Why aren't we taking a car or something," she whined. "My feet feel like they are on fire."

"I can't drive," I said with a smile - that I planned to keep wearing for the rest of the day in order to keep myself from strangling this girl. She didn't exactly take it easy on me, whereas Luke didn't seem to get in any trouble with her. "Like, I took the test and everything, but I can't exactly afford a car at the moment. So I just take the bus to get to and fro."

Vivian rolled her eyes at me, but I did nothing in order to not provoke her.

"I can't drive you around because my license was suspended," Luke said. "Let's just say I could get a little bit crazy during my frat days and I got into a few accidents."

I frowned in confusion. Luke didn't seem like the wild and reckless type here, but now that meant all of us weren't the most functional people and this would only be a recipe for disaster.

"Really," Vivian asked, and for the first time since I met her she seemed genuinely interested in something. That was a good sign, if you ignored the fact that it was about Luke having a past as being kind of a train wreck. "How did it happen?"

Luke just sighed, probably used to telling this story so it was one he approached with open honesty. "I got drunk one night and I thought I was sober enough to get behind the wheel, but I wasn't and I ended up in a bad crash that sent someone to the hospital. I didn't get hurt, but I shattered this old woman's collarbone and I had to pay her medical bills so she wouldn't press charges, but I still got in trouble. Her son still snitched on me and I had to go to prison for a while."

Casting a nervous glance at Vivian, I saw that she was thoroughly enjoying herself. I, on the other hand, didn't enjoy hearing someone talk about their criminal history. Besides, Vivian being a delinquent was the reason we were here in the first place, so hopefully she wasn't passing any judgements.

"Are you sure that you want to be talking about this right now," I asked him but he shot me a strange, one that I found hard to interpret correctly. "I mean, you don't exactly want to give this kid any ideas, do you?"

"I'm ashamed of my past and all, but I think it's important that I share this with her -"

"Yeah, he said it himself," Vivian interrupted matter-of-factly.

"- I mean, someone has to be the good example and someone has to be the bad example," he finished and by the frown on Vivian's face, I could tell it was definitely not what she wanted to hear. "I decided that you're the good one here. I'm just some frat boy who had things going for him but screwed it all up and became a security guard. I don't know where you started from, but you're a huge success and you work with Ashton. At the corporate headquarters of his company, not just the guy who sleeps three doors down from him to keep him safe at night. You're a better role model for her than I am."

He was looking at me the whole time he said it, not even sparing a glance at the other girl here. If he was trying to make me blush, then he had definitely succeeded by a long shot.

"You're the person who she should try to be and I'm the one who she should try not to be," he finished and by the look in his eyes, I could tell how much he meant every word that left his mouth.

Sure, I had failed to mention how I had originally trained to be part of a campaign staff in Washington D.C. or a political scientist and wound up at Happenstance Catering. I failed to mention how my mistakes forced Ashton to take up a relationship with Emilie Standifer which broke up her marriage or how I ended up trusting someone who seemed too good to be true and got framed for using the corporate account to pay for a spa day.

Because Luke's words made me feel good, like if everything was worth it and that it lead up to something good. Maybe it did if I was standing here on this crowded Philadelphia street with him right now.

"Ugh, get a room you two," Vivian scoffed.

Luke turned to look at her as if he had just noticed that she had been there this whole time, his eyes wide with shock. Then he turned back to face me and our eyes met. He had some of the most intense, blue eyes I've ever seen even when they were filled with humor like they were right now.

He burst out into laughter, doubling over and clutching his stomach as if the funniest thing in the world had just happened. I stood there, finding it hard not to smile as I watched him laugh. He just looked so adorable there, like if he was a kid. Vivian only looked annoyed, her arms folded over her chest.

"Can we just go to this lame mall and get this over with?"

-

THE MALL WASN'T BORING.

Of course, Vivian Baldwin was a tough nut to crack, so she fought it with tooth and nail for as much as she could, but that didn't make it not fun. We hit up all kinds of shops and were carrying tons of bags. Of course, Luke had to carry all of the heavy bags - or pretty much all of Vivian's bag because she got at least five things from every place we went to while all Luke had got was a pair of Calvin Klein boxer briefs that it was impossible not to try and imagine him in and a new case for his cellphone.

"Damn, woman," he joked from behind us, "how many places can you girls shop at?"

I just turned around and shrugged while Vivian rolled her eyes.

"Alright," he said. "It's four-thirty right now, so Ashton should be back home in an hour. I'm going to call the car right now and you guys have until four-forty-five. So that only means one store left."

At that, Vivian decided to go to Victoria's Secret and basically forced Luke to go with her so she could give him her bags and probably fool people into thinking that he was her boyfriend. Since they had went on without me, I decided to just hang back and wait for them outside.

Now that I had some time all to myself, I pulled out my phone to make a call. I wanted to ask Katie if she had any books on parenting that I would be able to borrow because Vivian needed to be disciplined in some way, shape, or form but I had no clue as to what was appropriate. She must've been busy or asleep, because the phone continued to ring and ring without her answering it. I just sighed and slipped it back into my pocket before following them into the store.

When I got inside, the cashier was handing Luke about three heavy-looking bags while Vivian was standing there looking pleased with herself. At least she got something out of this experience, because I planned for the next four days to not be as easy as they were today.

Vivian and Luke finally came out of the store, so we all walked together to the exit. There was a surprising amount of silence coming from the both of them, so I asked, "how are you guys today?"

"Remember what I told you to say," Luke said in a strained voice from lugging around so many bags in his hands. When she glowered at him, he rolled his eyes before saying, "Fiona, Vivian has something that she wants to tell you."

Vivian groaned and stomped her feet, but Luke still didn't budge. "I'm sorry if I was a bit rude -"

"And stuck up and bratty," Luke added.

"- to you today, Ms. White," she said in the most monotone voice she could muster. "I really meant no harm and you are a smart, kind lady who - do I really have to say all of it? Because I forgot the rest of it."

Because the look on Luke's face was serious, I stepped in, waving him off. "It's fine. I mean, sure, there could be some improvements. But it means so much that you actually said it, even if you don't exactly mean it. You will someday."

Vivian stuck her tongue out at Luke and I before turning for the door of the mall, to which we closely followed behind her.

"You know," Luke said as we tried to keep an even distance behind her, "I think we might make a good team. Something about you tells me that you know how to handle her, which is good because I don't. I usually just hoist her over my shoulders when she tries to sneak out and carry her back to bed."

"Well, I have a feeling that she enjoys that," I said, "no wonder having a woman start doing your job made her so pissed off. I think she has a crush on you."

Luke stopped to make a gagging noise with his mouth. "What? That's so weird. What makes you think that?"

I was about to go into it when I spun around and noticed that Vivian was gone. She had disappeared into the crowd of people heading for the door and unless we made a bolt for it, we would likely lose her for good.

Holy shit.

-

"ASHTON DOESN'T LET ME EAT HIS ICE CREAM, SO IF YOU GUYS GET ME SOME, THEN I WON'T TELL HIM ABOUT THIS."

That was the deal Vivian approached us with when we finally found her and Wallace parked in front of the mall. She had set us up for ice cream and I had to say, it was ingenious. I was definitely swallowing my speech about her apology at the moment because instead, I was helping Luke load all of the bags into the trunk of the convertible.

"This is all your fault," Luke said as he gently placed Vivian's third Sephora bag down in the trunk. "Because of you, she ran off and we could've lost her."

"Look, Luke, I'm really sorry about -" I started but the sound of his laughter had cut me off.

"I'm just kidding," he smiled. "It was just a simple little mistake, I'm not like Ashton and will yell at you."

"Wait," I said, stopping and putting down one of the bags for a second. "What do you mean? About Ashton yelling at me?"

"Let's just say I know about everything you've done at Baldwin Industries, Ashton is a bit of a chatty Cathy with Dolan on the phone after work," he said, "and while you have quite the rap sheet of troubles and scandals around the office, that doesn't mean I don't meant what I said earlier. I still think you're capable of being a great role model. I can just see it in you."

There was no point in denying it or putting it off until any longer. I really, really liked Luke Johnson. And while I thought Vivian would be the biggest problem I had here, I was definitely wrong.