Watch Out for Her
No one was surprised to see Luke at Marissa Cooper's funeral. He may have been a shitty boyfriend to her, but a part of him had loved her since the fifth grade and that wasn't the sort of thing you just forget because you move out of town. Slightly more surprising was the fact that he'd come with his whole family in tow, Carson and Meredith putting aside their issues to support their son and Marissa's family.
"Mini-Coop," he scoops Kaitlin into a hug. It had taken him a second to recognize the girl- she looked a lot different than when he'd last seen her, but at the end of the day he remembered the sweet little girl who'd follow Marissa around like a shadow when they were younger.
"Hi Luke," she smiled easily, "Mr. and Mrs. Ward, thanks for coming."
Luke took note in her red rimmed eyes, and he could tell they were not the result of too much crying.
"Kaitlin," he said softly, but she was halfway across the room before he even considered what he should say.
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After the funeral, before he left to head back to Portland with his dad, he pulled his little brothers aside.
"Tweedle dee," he nodded at Eric, then Brad, "Tweedle dum. I need you to do something for me."
"Sure thing," Brad shrugged, "What's up."
"You saw Kailtin today, right?" he said, and they nodded.
Eric screwed up his mouth, "She looked kinda messed up."
"Well that's what I wanted to talk to you about. I spoke to Sum, apparently Julie married her dad and Kailtin's living there, and she's starting at Harbor," he explained, "I want you to look out for her, okay?"
"Sure," Eric nodded, but Brad hesitated, "I dunno man, what if she doesn't want to hang with us? She didn't seem to talk to anyone at the funeral."
"It was her sister's funeral, dumbass," Eric reminded him.
"No, I know," he replied, "But, I mean, okay, we were friends when we were kids, but what if she doesn't want to be our friend."
"Make her," Luke shrugged, "Do her homework, I don't know. I heard you've got brains under all that hair, apparently."
His brothers nodded. In the grand tradition of Ward boys, the twins were surprisingly academic for water polo players.
"I don't care what you do," Luke flexed vaguely threateningly, "but I'm tell you I want you to befriend her and be nice to her. Got it?"
"Got it," they nodded in sync.
