Fic: Stones Keep Rolling (Part 1)
Title: Stones Keep Rolling
Author: pirl
Rating: R for language
Disclaimer: not mine, yadda yadda
Characters/Pairings: Luke/Noah
<<<<<>>>>>
The murmur of voices melded and buzzed into an unrecognizable hum in the small room. Once in a while a voice would cut through the din to offer condolences and platitudes, maybe even a hand would be placed on his shoulder, which would feel too hot on his already prickly skin. He wanted to tell them all to go to hell, to take their bullshit words and save them for someone who would play the part of the mournful son. They came dressed in their expensive suits and designer shoes, which screamed of being so out of place in a small Midwest town like Oakdale. The flowers they spent small fortunes on to feel better about themselves burned his nose with their sickly sweet scents.
On his left sat his sister Natalie, who'd driven down from Madison two days ago and was now sleeping in her old room at the farmhouse. On his right was Faith, who had flown in from Denver with her fiancé last night. She'd told Luke that they had decided to stay at the Lakeview to give him some privacy. Luke knew it had nothing to do with that and everything to do with the growing rift in their relationship. It was yet another failure on his part, not wanting to see the writing Faith had so plainly written on the wall that Lily was cheating yet again. Now here they were, over a year since that awful fight, coldly sitting side by side at the wake for their mother while another family somewhere in New York was burying their father. Husband. Philanderer.
"Fuck him, too," Luke thought.
The accident that had killed his mother had also killed her lover, Leonard Dorset, who also happened to be her business partner. They had told everyone they were going on a trip to Atlanta for a conference, but it wasn’t until their car had spun off the road in Vail that the truth was finally, undeniably, exposed. Luke had been there when the highway patrol had called Holden, who staunchly argued with them, insisting they were mistaken because his wife was Georgia. Watching Holden endure the betrayal of their marriage as well as the loss of his long-time love was harder for Luke to deal with than the actual death of his mother. There had been a lot of closed doors and forced smiles in the house the past few days.
Focusing on the coffee straw he'd been systematically rending in his hands for the past two hours, Luke once again thought longingly of packing his bags and just getting the hell out of there. Maybe somewhere more exotic this time, like India or Singapore. Somewhere he didn’t speak the language and could get lost for good. His mind was wrapped up in silks and spices when his sister suddenly gasped next to him.
"Oh my God."
He looked up to see her staring behind him, disbelief on her face.
"Faith, wha-?" He turned around and there he was in the back of the room, standing in the doorway.
Noah.
The lead weight that had been sitting in his stomach all day was now joined with a cold burning in his chest. The perfumed air filled his mouth as he sucked in a breath.
Noah.
Luke watched as the ghost from his past gazed around the room, his eyes lingered on the casket for a moment when Holden spotted him on his return from "getting some air," before his gaze would have landed on Luke's own incredulous face.
"Noah? Noah, is that you? How are you, son?!"
Noah turned around and was enveloped in one of Holden Snyder’s trademark bear hugs. Luke watched as heads started to turn their way, all probably wondering who was being so discourteously loud at such a solemn affair. Now he mused that they were probably wondering the identity of the tall, handsome stranger in the dark suit who was talking to Holden. Very tall. And lean. Leaner than Luke had remembered. Had he always been that thin? And so broad-shouldered? And when did he start wearing glasses?
"Good lord, how long's it been?"
Luke saw Noah wince. "Eight years, sir."
"I can hardly believe it's been so long." Holden stared into Noah's face for moment while his hand still grasped the other man’s shoulder tight, worrying the fabric he found there. Sadness darkened his face for a moment before he continued. "Well, welcome back. I'm so touched you could make it. And you should know by now that you can call me Holden."
Noah smiled and lowered his head while he shoved his hands into his pockets. "Yes, of course. Holden."
The two of them exchanged a few more words, but Luke wasn't able to hear what they were saying over the new wave of hushed condolences Natalie was now receiving from her old school friends. Instead, Luke watched as his father clenched his hand one more time before finally releasing Noah's arm. He saw as Noah gestured toward the casket and shook his head ever so slightly. His vision narrowed as if he were wearing blinders and all he could focus on was his ex-boyfriend talking to his dad and looking like he'd just left Oakdale only seconds ago.
Luke's bones shook as every scrap of anger, frustration, fear, and desperation he had felt the past eight years of his life erupted and struck him like an avalanche. He couldn't explain it. A chill ran down his spine and his necktie made him choke for air. He tore his eyes off Noah and before his sisters or anyone could utter a word, he ran out of the parlor like he had Death on his heels.
He exited through a side door, ran down a hallway and ended up outside at a delivery dock. He bent over, pulling at his tie to loosen it before he braced himself on his knees. Feeling his legs liquefy, he gave in and sat heavily on the cold, concrete curb. Luke shrugged out of his sport coat, feeling the cool spring air immediately caress his damp shirt. He suppressed a shiver as he forced himself to take deep breaths with his nose and exhale through his clenched teeth.
A few minutes passed and Luke started to feel his body right itself to normal again. "Whatever normal is these days," he chided himself. Normal was Oakdale. Normal was living alone at the farm. Normal was using that as an excuse to keep to himself. Normal was to maintain the status quo and prevent the boat from rocking. Normal was to hide his heart in a place where no one could hurt it again.
Wrong.
Luke thought of his mother and felt his betraying heart still beating away in his chest as if nothing had changed. But everything had once again changed, and continued to change with every shivery breath he took. So he took another.
And another.
<<<<<>>>>>
Noah saw movement from the corner of his eye. Blond. Grey suit. Pushing through mourners to exit out a side door.
"Excuse me, Holden. But I'd like to pay my respects." He gestured toward the casket.
"Of course. It's good to see you, Noah."
"You too." He found himself in another hug before he could make his own way toward the front of the room. Quiet tears and sniffles persisted around him while guilt and sadness threatened to overwhelm him as he approached Lily's casket. Reaching her side, he gripped the edge of the padded satin opening and took in her features for the last time. More of a mother figure than anyone else in had been in his life, seeing Lily like this created a deep sense of longing in him, a longing which had always been with him since he was a child. He pleaded with her in his mind. "Forgive me."
Head still bowed, Noah turned and exited the room in pursuit of the man in the grey suit.
He found Luke quite easily, sitting outside the back door of the funeral home. The heavy metal door slammed shut behind him, announcing his presence before he could do it himself.
Luke started, whipping his head around to see who had discovered him. A multitude of emotions ran across his face, but only one stood out in Noah's eye. Defeat.
Luke smirked then, shaking his head in disbelief. He let his head hang for a second before turning around again, facing away from Noah. Waiting a beat, Noah moved to sit next to him on the curb.
"You look good," was the first thing out of Luke's mouth.
"You don't," Noah countered sincerely.
"Yeah, well. Had a rough couple days."
Noah nodded, not quite knowing how to continue, but Luke saved him the trouble.
"What the fuck, Mayer?"
Noah had hoped he'd have a bit more time before dealing with this. He knew it was coming, but now that it was here he briefly regretted his choice in coming after all.
"I know. I'm sorry."
"Sorry? That's good."
"Yeah, well, you could've called or written or whatever, too. If memory serves me right you had my info for a while after I left."
"Yeah, well…"
They sat in silence for a minute more, listening to the distant traffic noises.
"I'm sorry about your mom."
Luke nodded.
"Aside from current circumstances, how are you otherwise."
"Peachy," Luke snapped.
Noah didn't know what to say. Desperate to keep a conversation going but very aware of the flippant hostility come from his ex, he just grasped for a topic. "You, ah, you still working for Grimaldi Shipping?"
"Nope." Luke seemed content with such a short answer, but he continued after glancing at Noah and seeing something in his face that made him go on. "After Damian's last disappearing act he stayed gone for good. Plane crash. Good riddance, I say. We dissolved the company after that."
"Oh," Noah said, not at all sad that Damian Grimaldi had left this mortal coil once and for all. "Ever go back to writing?"
Luke laughed. "God, no. That was the brainless dream of a naïve boy." Scorn dripped from Luke's mouth, it was a sound that was discordant to Noah's ears.
"It's too bad, you were really good."
"Yeah, whatever." Luke picked up a pebble from the curb and threw it hard toward the wall across the alley from them. "So, you slumming here for a while or are you jetting out of here as soon as the dirt hits the casket?"
Before Noah could object to Luke's glib retort, Natalie's voice called out from the door behind them.
"There you are! Luke, Dad's been looking for you."
"Saved by the widower. So I guess I won't see you around. It's been real, Noah." The nastiness of his tone left Noah dumbstruck. Luke got up and left, avoiding looking at Noah's incredulous face as he made his way back inside. Noah could do nothing but sit there wondering who it was he just had a conversation with.
<<<<<>>>>>
Stepping into Java was like stepping into a time machine for Noah. Incredibly, it still existed almost exactly as it did when he worked there--save for the new tables and a different paint job. It stood as a testament to the fact that no matter what happened to society and the changes of time, people will still want a place to get a good cup of joe.
He watched as the young barista poured his simple cup of coffee, also noting that the uniform hadn't changed much either. He suppressed the urge to ask the girl if Jeff still worked there and instead took his mug to a table against the wall and shrugged out of his light spring jacket. It might have been April, but the chilly morning was already being replaced with weather that was more on par with June's balmy clime, making Noah thankful that he packed a couple t-shirts.
He sipped his coffee while browsing through e-mails on his phone. He saw nothing that needed his direct input but decided to fire off a message telling Brett that he'd be back sooner rather than later. The encounter with Luke at the funeral home was the proverbial nail in the coffin in his decision to come back to Oakdale and try to patch things up. It was an obvious dead end, and the sooner he got back home the better.
Focused on typing his e-mail, Noah didn't notice the figure looming over his table until they pulled out the chair to sit down.
"Look, before you tell me to go to hell, please let me apologize for yesterday. I kinda got all drama queen and lashed out."
It was Luke. Noah tilted his head and contemplated the hangdog expression on the other man's face. He was definitely sincere as well as embarrassed. But he was holding back, too. Eight years didn’t erase the time they’d spent together and Noah could still read Luke like a book. Sentiment got the better of him and he nodded warmly back.
"Accepted, though I think you have a pretty good excuse for acting a bit eccentric."
Luke shrugged as he sat down across from Noah and placed his own mug on the dark wood table. "Yeah. My mom’s death’s has been difficult to deal with."
"I was talking about you being a Snyder," Noah deadpanned.
Luke narrowed his gaze at Noah for a moment before bursting out in laughter. And with that the tension had been eased. The light that had been missing in Luke's eyes was there, if only a spark. Noah hoped it was at least in part because of him.
Their laughter died out and Noah offered his condolences once again. "Honestly though, I really am sorry about Lily. How’s your family holding up?"
"I think most everyone is still dealing with the fact she’s actually gone. Ethan and Natalie are pretty broken up, but Faith is just so angry, and my dad is… I don’t know what he is." Luke paused, absent-mindedly tracing the lip of his coffee mug with his finger. "I’m sure you’ve already heard through the Oakdale Gossip Network that she’d been cheating on my dad. Who knows for how long? Faith’s pretty adamant that it'd been over a year, but I don’t know. It doesn’t matter anymore. They’re both dead."
"Luke-" Noah started, hearing bitterness in Luke's words and--not wishing for a repeat performance from yesterday--wanted to steer him into a different direction. But Luke beat him to it.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to get all bitchy again. I'm still trying to deal, I guess, and sometimes it really pisses me off when I start to dwell on it all."
Noah nodded, hoping his look conveyed enough sympathy.
"Sure I’m sad. I mean, she was my mom. Nothing's going to change that. But then I start thinking about the lies she kept and the people she was stringing along. She took us for granted again, and that makes me angrier than anything. This fucking family…" Luke shook his head. "I’m so tired of thinking about my messed up family. So tell me about you. What have you been up all this time? Are you a super Hollywood director and everything?"
It was as if Luke had taken off one mask and traded it for another. Noah decided to just go with it, because confronting or challenging Luke was not something he wanted to deal with right now. So Noah ducked his head, chuckled lightly, and answered Luke's question. "Not quite. More of a producer these days."
"Producer? That sounds pretty impressive." Luke smiled. "What exactly do you produce?"
Noah smiled in return. "My partner Brett and I started a production company that helps recent grads and really small independent filmmakers get a leg up in the industry. There are a lot of film students out there just flailing when they graduate and we help them find their voice. We help them with getting grants, finding spaces and locations, getting permits, the whole gamut. It’s been a lot of work, but I love it. We’re expanding the company actually, so things are going really well."
"That sounds amazing, Noah." The words were said but there wasn't an ounce of sincerity behind it. Luke wouldn’t look up from his mug and sneered when he asked, "So how did you and Brett meet?"
"Bathroom of a gay bar." Noah nonchalantly threw out, taking a sip of his coffee.
Luke’s head snapped up so fast that Noah nearly choked on his drink. The shock and accusation in his eyes undid Noah. "You should see your face!" he laughed. "I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist. After all this time you’re still jealous! Some things never change."
"I’m not-I just…" Luke flustered, not knowing how to recover as his face came very close to matching the color of the deep red polo he was wearing.
Noah put up his hands as if in surrender. "Relax Luke, relax. Brett Kosta's my business partner, stress on the word business. Not to mention that she is totally not my type. She’s practically a Republican."
Luke saw a mischievous twinkle in Noah’s eyes that he had forgotten about. Any embarrassment that he might have still felt was shed with that look. It warmed him, feeling the old familiarity between them. Luke wondered how long it had been since he'd had such a light-hearted conversation with anyone, let alone with Noah. His eyes drifted over his ex's face, noting the addition of tiny wrinkles around Noah’s eyes when he smiled, making him look even more distinguished and yet a little tired. The glasses were new, as well as the scar on his chin that poked through the couple days’ growth of beard. And he'd be lying if the lack of a ring on his left hand didn't make Luke’s belly flip just a little.
"When did you start wearing glasses?
"A couple years ago. My doc said it's pretty normal with my history." Noah said a little uncomfortably. Luke just nodded, both of them ignoring the elephant in the room named Reid.
"You’ve changed." Luke said.
"You too." Noah responded, a little sad.
"You’d know more than anyone…" Luke thought, but kept to himself.
They sat in a slightly strained silence before Noah spoke up again. "So what have you been up to? You said Damian’s company is no more?"
Luke sighed, grateful for the change of conversation even if it was about Damian. He leaned forward in his seat, resting heavily on his elbows that were perched on the little café table. "Yeah, not long after you left things got to be too much around here," Noah gave a knowing nod, "so I split. I traveled mostly around Europe, staying a few days or weeks in each city, renting rooms and just… living." Luke shifted in his chair and scratched nervously at his neck, a little uncomfortable with potentially talking with his ex-boyfriend about the number of things the euphemism of "living" encompassed.
"Once Damian got out of prison he caught up with me and started coming down really hard about being irresponsible and that I needed to start acting like the heir of family, blah blah blah." Luke shoved himself back from the table, emotions all of a sudden running higher than they had just a few minutes ago. "So I stayed. I stayed and worked for bio-dad." Luke shook his head as if he was showing disappointment in his decision.
Noah asked, "How long were you there?"
The question snapped Luke back to the present. "Oh, a couple years. I worked mostly in the Naples office, which was a blessing because Damian would only visit once a month, if that. But I was 'doing my duty’ for the company so he lay off for the most part." Luke’s finger quotes held less sarcasm than his voice, which was drenched with disdain. "I still should’ve gotten out of there sooner…"
Luke was picking with his fingernail at his faded, black jeans, like he was working to get out a stain that no one else could see. "A few months later Damian goes missing and there’s talk of kidnap, vendetta, whatever. A while later they found the wreckage of his plane in the Alps and all hell broke loose. I decided to use my authority in the company and dissolve it, to just erase it from the map. Sold most of it off to NGOs and the like for humanitarian relief, etcetera. I got a lot of shit for it from the shareholders, but they still made a profit so they didn’t bitch that much, and to be honest, I didn't care. Besides, the company was getting too much good press in the dissolution that no one wanted to look like the bad guy." Luke shrugged. "I wanted to do good things with his money, like we once did with my foundation." Luke gave Noah a regretful look. "It was a lot easier back then."
"A lot of stuff was."
Luke smiled sadly at that. "Still, it was nice to finally erase that part of me. Erase Damian. Erase Italy…" Luke's eyes clouded and Noah watched as all the light in Luke's face just faded out. Before Noah could ask if everything was alright the switch flipped and Luke was back to normal.
"So," He took a quick drink from his now cool coffee, "Brett's your business partner. Do you have anyone else in your life?"
"I caught up with Ameera when I made it to LA."
This wasn't the information that Luke was fishing for but it still surprised him. "You're kidding! How is she?"
"Married with kids. Her husband runs a little tea shop slash hot dog stand and she does refugee outreach."
"I'm sorry, did you say tea and hot dogs?"
"Yeah! He moved here from Indonesia as a kid and his parents did everything they could to sort of acclimate him and his brother and sisters to the American culture. Pretty soon they were into music, movies, everything. But he really fell in love with the food, especially hot dogs. So when he took over his dad's tea shop a few years back he started to put his own spin on things. It's pretty successful actually! Only in L.A., I guess. Their girls are adorable. Here," Noah picked up his phone from the table where he'd left it earlier and after a few taps on the screen he opened a photo of two little girls with long, raven hair and dimples for days. "The eldest is Nadia , she's seven, and Kade's five." Luke leaned over to get a better look, taking in the toothy smiles and sundresses. "I've got one of the whole family somewhere…"
Luke watched as Noah flicked through his photos when he saw a few of Noah and some guy. They were arm in arm in front of a waterfall, looking sunburned and happy, in the next photo it was the two of them on a beach, and another after that had them at a candlelit table. From what Luke could glimpse the other person was a tall, dark-haired, all smiles and obviously very important to Noah. "Important enough to have someone take their picture with his own phone." Luke thought sadly.
"Is that L.A.?" Luke asked, hoping he sounded casual and interested more in the location than in the other man in the picture.
Noah paused on a shot of the guy in question sitting poolside, holding up a drink with an umbrella in it and giving the camera a brilliantly cheesy smile.
"No, that's Cabo San Lucas from a while ago." Noah said off-handedly still focused on finding a specific photo. The guy was handsome. Okay, he was gorgeous, Luke admitted. He had a great body, a great tan and a smile that could power most of California. And from the looks of it he was friendly and fun as well.
Luke felt such a sharp pang of jealousy hit him just then. Noah in Cabo. With his gorgeous boyfriend. It shamefully burned ice-cold in his stomach. "You're ridiculous," Luke tried to chide himself. "You have no right to be jealous or possessive. Especially since he called you out on it earlier. It's been eight years, for crying out loud! You've had your own share of relationships. Some that you wish you could forget…"
"Here it is!" Noah angled the phone closer to Luke. "That's Aggie," Noah indicated the shorter man with brilliant eyes standing next to Ameera and their girls.
"Aggie?"
"Agung, actually, but he goes by Aggie." Noah shuffled through a couple more photos taken from what looked like an afternoon picnic, with the girls on swings, Aggie grilling funky looking hot dogs and Ameera looking happier than he'd ever seen her. "They met at their mosque. Ameera told me the whole story about how he kept bugging her to come visit his store but she was so insulted because she thought that all hot dogs were made with pork, which, you know, is not allowed in the Muslim faith. So one day he comes to her office with all sorts of these gourmet hot dogs made of turkey, chicken, tofu, you name it. He fed the whole office that day! It's all kind of ridiculous, but it worked I guess."
"A love story of encased meats." Luke joked, which busted Noah up.
"Oh God, that's just wrong."
"Hey, you told me the story."
"Fair enough." Noah rumbled one last laugh in his chest before treading into unknown territory. "So, are you seeing anyone?"
Luke's instinct was to lie, to fabricate an amazing Adonis to counter Mr. Tall and Tan, but it would all fall apart as soon as Noah asked anyone in Oakdale about whomever he conjured. He decided to go with the sad truth.
"Nah. Dating pool is kind of thin in Oakdale these days."
"Oh! I didn't know you were living here."
"Yeah, out at the farm. Gotta look after things now that Emma's gone."
Noah paled and nearly dropped his mug. "What?!"
"Oh, God, no! I meant that Emma's living over at Lucinda's now! Shit, I'm sorry." Luke's hands were up like he was trying to steady an unnerved animal. "Yeah, Emma's been living with Grandmother for a while now. Lucinda fell a few years ago and broke her elbow, and John was so busy with the hospital that Gram went over there to help her out. It worked out so well that she just stayed."
"You're kidding."
"I know, right? I guess after all this time they've finally admitted that they're more than just family and that they're actually friends. Both are doing great and couldn't be happier. Plus it was getting to be too much for her to take care of the place anyway, so I moved in."
Noah looked wistful. "I have a lot of good memories of the farm."
"And some bad."
"True, but mostly good. I gained a family there, so it'll always be a special place for me."
The two of them shared warm smiles, caught up momentarily in reminiscing and keeping the specters from their pasts away from the table. Noah leaned back and crossed his arms, letting one hand rub absent-mindedly up and down his bicep, the action pushed up his shirt sleeve just an inch or two. It was all that was necessary for Luke to get a glimpse of ink which had him totally taken aback.
"Noah! Is that a tattoo?"
"What?" Luke was pointing at his arm. "Oh, yeah." He said rather shyly, pulling up his left shirt sleeve and exposing his bicep. Black script flowed around his arm, peppered with clusters of dots floating above strange looking symbols. "It says 'strength, courage and wisdom' in Arabic."
Luke looked on in awe, tempted to reach out and run his fingers over it. "It's beautiful."
"Thanks." He lowered the sleeve once again, much to Luke's chagrin. "It was the first in my 'get inked, find truth' phase."
"You have others?"
"Uh-huh." He self-consciously ducked his head again. "I, uh, have a lotus flower on my upper back and a Mexican proverb written on my foot."
Luke tried very hard to keep his jaw from dropping to the floor. "Wow. That all sounds very, um, worldly?" He cringed at his clumsy words, but Noah just chuckled and bashfully rubbed the back of his neck.
"Yeah. It's kind of a United Nations of sorts. I was going through some stuff a while ago and looking for some answers I guess."
"Did you find them?"
Noah shrugged indifferently. "Still working on it. The tattoo on my ankle says 'las piedras rodando se encuentran,' which means 'the stones keep rolling.'" Luke gave him a confused look. "My friend Javi used to say it to me all the time. 'Tu piedras, Noah! Siempre rodando se encuentran!'" he imitated energetically, smiling and blushing at the memory.
"It means that things are kinda set up in a way that someday these 'stones' might encounter one another, and I always took it as a nicer way to look at fate and destiny. Things are set in motion so that one day they might intertwine later down the road." Noah shrugged. "I don't know, I guess it's become a sort of mantra to me now."
Luke contemplated the words himself, nodding along with Noah's explanation.
"So you know a lot of Spanish then?" Luke asked.
"Oh no, hardly any. My ex-… my friend tried to teach me all the time. I guess you can say that I learned enough to get me in trouble."
"So which is he, ex or friend?" Luke teased, catching Noah's trip-up.
"Uh… both, actually. Javier and I stayed really good friends after we split." Noah's eyes softened, his thoughts tied-up with his ex-boyfriend. "We kinda decided that we didn't want to be out of each other's lives and somehow we've made it work."
Unlike us, Luke thought.
"I wish you could meet him, I think you'd really like each other." Noah offered.
"Where is he now?"
"Somewhere in Asia, I think. He's a fashion photographer so he's traveling around all the time." Luke raised his eyebrows, impressed with Noah's ex's line of work. "It's one of the reasons we split. He travels so much and I, well…" Noah shrugged, "it didn't work out."
"I'm sorry, Noah."
"No, don't be. I'm not. He was-is-someone who still means a lot to me. He was good for me, helped me fix a lot of this." Noah gestured to his head, somewhat dismissively.
Luke frowned, "But what about…" and he stopped himself. There's no way he could ask the rest of that question.
"But what about what?" Noah asked. Luke ducked his head, wishing his fast mouth would wait up for his brain sometimes. His feelings were getting the best of him. Guilt sat in the pit of his stomach and taunted him again. "Luke?"
When he looked up into Noah's eyes again he knew his emotions were written in bold on his face, but he couldn't help it now. He blinked once and lowered his eyes to Noah's chest. "But what about your heart. Did he fix that?"
Noah stilled and stared as anguish and guilt rippled off of Luke in waves. He didn't want to answer the question for some reason. Either way he was certain the answer would hurt Luke. He swallowed thickly and said, "Yes."
Luke nodded softly and hung his head, eyes sparkling with a little extra moisture. "Good."
They sat there quietly for a while. Luke never lifting his head and Noah just staring at him, confused and wishing he knew what to say next. "Luke, I…"
With a quick wipe at his eyes, Luke stood up suddenly. "No. Yeah. Um…" he composed himself in an instant and plastered on a flashy smile that didn't reach his conflicted eyes, "I'm glad we could catch up. We… uh… the family is getting together at the farm tonight. You should come."
Everything in Noah wanted to leave, wanted to get the hell out of Oakdale and run back to what was safe and familiar. But the look in Luke's eyes rooted him in his seat. He wanted to say no and blame it on going back to the office or something, anything. But there he sat, staring into Luke's eyes, ringed wet with sorrow, and said, "Sure, I'll see you there."
And with that, Luke was once again walking away from him.
| PART 2 |
Author: pirl
Rating: R for language
Disclaimer: not mine, yadda yadda
Characters/Pairings: Luke/Noah
<<<<<>>>>>
The murmur of voices melded and buzzed into an unrecognizable hum in the small room. Once in a while a voice would cut through the din to offer condolences and platitudes, maybe even a hand would be placed on his shoulder, which would feel too hot on his already prickly skin. He wanted to tell them all to go to hell, to take their bullshit words and save them for someone who would play the part of the mournful son. They came dressed in their expensive suits and designer shoes, which screamed of being so out of place in a small Midwest town like Oakdale. The flowers they spent small fortunes on to feel better about themselves burned his nose with their sickly sweet scents.
On his left sat his sister Natalie, who'd driven down from Madison two days ago and was now sleeping in her old room at the farmhouse. On his right was Faith, who had flown in from Denver with her fiancé last night. She'd told Luke that they had decided to stay at the Lakeview to give him some privacy. Luke knew it had nothing to do with that and everything to do with the growing rift in their relationship. It was yet another failure on his part, not wanting to see the writing Faith had so plainly written on the wall that Lily was cheating yet again. Now here they were, over a year since that awful fight, coldly sitting side by side at the wake for their mother while another family somewhere in New York was burying their father. Husband. Philanderer.
"Fuck him, too," Luke thought.
The accident that had killed his mother had also killed her lover, Leonard Dorset, who also happened to be her business partner. They had told everyone they were going on a trip to Atlanta for a conference, but it wasn’t until their car had spun off the road in Vail that the truth was finally, undeniably, exposed. Luke had been there when the highway patrol had called Holden, who staunchly argued with them, insisting they were mistaken because his wife was Georgia. Watching Holden endure the betrayal of their marriage as well as the loss of his long-time love was harder for Luke to deal with than the actual death of his mother. There had been a lot of closed doors and forced smiles in the house the past few days.
Focusing on the coffee straw he'd been systematically rending in his hands for the past two hours, Luke once again thought longingly of packing his bags and just getting the hell out of there. Maybe somewhere more exotic this time, like India or Singapore. Somewhere he didn’t speak the language and could get lost for good. His mind was wrapped up in silks and spices when his sister suddenly gasped next to him.
"Oh my God."
He looked up to see her staring behind him, disbelief on her face.
"Faith, wha-?" He turned around and there he was in the back of the room, standing in the doorway.
Noah.
The lead weight that had been sitting in his stomach all day was now joined with a cold burning in his chest. The perfumed air filled his mouth as he sucked in a breath.
Noah.
Luke watched as the ghost from his past gazed around the room, his eyes lingered on the casket for a moment when Holden spotted him on his return from "getting some air," before his gaze would have landed on Luke's own incredulous face.
"Noah? Noah, is that you? How are you, son?!"
Noah turned around and was enveloped in one of Holden Snyder’s trademark bear hugs. Luke watched as heads started to turn their way, all probably wondering who was being so discourteously loud at such a solemn affair. Now he mused that they were probably wondering the identity of the tall, handsome stranger in the dark suit who was talking to Holden. Very tall. And lean. Leaner than Luke had remembered. Had he always been that thin? And so broad-shouldered? And when did he start wearing glasses?
"Good lord, how long's it been?"
Luke saw Noah wince. "Eight years, sir."
"I can hardly believe it's been so long." Holden stared into Noah's face for moment while his hand still grasped the other man’s shoulder tight, worrying the fabric he found there. Sadness darkened his face for a moment before he continued. "Well, welcome back. I'm so touched you could make it. And you should know by now that you can call me Holden."
Noah smiled and lowered his head while he shoved his hands into his pockets. "Yes, of course. Holden."
The two of them exchanged a few more words, but Luke wasn't able to hear what they were saying over the new wave of hushed condolences Natalie was now receiving from her old school friends. Instead, Luke watched as his father clenched his hand one more time before finally releasing Noah's arm. He saw as Noah gestured toward the casket and shook his head ever so slightly. His vision narrowed as if he were wearing blinders and all he could focus on was his ex-boyfriend talking to his dad and looking like he'd just left Oakdale only seconds ago.
Luke's bones shook as every scrap of anger, frustration, fear, and desperation he had felt the past eight years of his life erupted and struck him like an avalanche. He couldn't explain it. A chill ran down his spine and his necktie made him choke for air. He tore his eyes off Noah and before his sisters or anyone could utter a word, he ran out of the parlor like he had Death on his heels.
He exited through a side door, ran down a hallway and ended up outside at a delivery dock. He bent over, pulling at his tie to loosen it before he braced himself on his knees. Feeling his legs liquefy, he gave in and sat heavily on the cold, concrete curb. Luke shrugged out of his sport coat, feeling the cool spring air immediately caress his damp shirt. He suppressed a shiver as he forced himself to take deep breaths with his nose and exhale through his clenched teeth.
A few minutes passed and Luke started to feel his body right itself to normal again. "Whatever normal is these days," he chided himself. Normal was Oakdale. Normal was living alone at the farm. Normal was using that as an excuse to keep to himself. Normal was to maintain the status quo and prevent the boat from rocking. Normal was to hide his heart in a place where no one could hurt it again.
Wrong.
Luke thought of his mother and felt his betraying heart still beating away in his chest as if nothing had changed. But everything had once again changed, and continued to change with every shivery breath he took. So he took another.
And another.
<<<<<>>>>>
Noah saw movement from the corner of his eye. Blond. Grey suit. Pushing through mourners to exit out a side door.
"Excuse me, Holden. But I'd like to pay my respects." He gestured toward the casket.
"Of course. It's good to see you, Noah."
"You too." He found himself in another hug before he could make his own way toward the front of the room. Quiet tears and sniffles persisted around him while guilt and sadness threatened to overwhelm him as he approached Lily's casket. Reaching her side, he gripped the edge of the padded satin opening and took in her features for the last time. More of a mother figure than anyone else in had been in his life, seeing Lily like this created a deep sense of longing in him, a longing which had always been with him since he was a child. He pleaded with her in his mind. "Forgive me."
Head still bowed, Noah turned and exited the room in pursuit of the man in the grey suit.
He found Luke quite easily, sitting outside the back door of the funeral home. The heavy metal door slammed shut behind him, announcing his presence before he could do it himself.
Luke started, whipping his head around to see who had discovered him. A multitude of emotions ran across his face, but only one stood out in Noah's eye. Defeat.
Luke smirked then, shaking his head in disbelief. He let his head hang for a second before turning around again, facing away from Noah. Waiting a beat, Noah moved to sit next to him on the curb.
"You look good," was the first thing out of Luke's mouth.
"You don't," Noah countered sincerely.
"Yeah, well. Had a rough couple days."
Noah nodded, not quite knowing how to continue, but Luke saved him the trouble.
"What the fuck, Mayer?"
Noah had hoped he'd have a bit more time before dealing with this. He knew it was coming, but now that it was here he briefly regretted his choice in coming after all.
"I know. I'm sorry."
"Sorry? That's good."
"Yeah, well, you could've called or written or whatever, too. If memory serves me right you had my info for a while after I left."
"Yeah, well…"
They sat in silence for a minute more, listening to the distant traffic noises.
"I'm sorry about your mom."
Luke nodded.
"Aside from current circumstances, how are you otherwise."
"Peachy," Luke snapped.
Noah didn't know what to say. Desperate to keep a conversation going but very aware of the flippant hostility come from his ex, he just grasped for a topic. "You, ah, you still working for Grimaldi Shipping?"
"Nope." Luke seemed content with such a short answer, but he continued after glancing at Noah and seeing something in his face that made him go on. "After Damian's last disappearing act he stayed gone for good. Plane crash. Good riddance, I say. We dissolved the company after that."
"Oh," Noah said, not at all sad that Damian Grimaldi had left this mortal coil once and for all. "Ever go back to writing?"
Luke laughed. "God, no. That was the brainless dream of a naïve boy." Scorn dripped from Luke's mouth, it was a sound that was discordant to Noah's ears.
"It's too bad, you were really good."
"Yeah, whatever." Luke picked up a pebble from the curb and threw it hard toward the wall across the alley from them. "So, you slumming here for a while or are you jetting out of here as soon as the dirt hits the casket?"
Before Noah could object to Luke's glib retort, Natalie's voice called out from the door behind them.
"There you are! Luke, Dad's been looking for you."
"Saved by the widower. So I guess I won't see you around. It's been real, Noah." The nastiness of his tone left Noah dumbstruck. Luke got up and left, avoiding looking at Noah's incredulous face as he made his way back inside. Noah could do nothing but sit there wondering who it was he just had a conversation with.
<<<<<>>>>>
Stepping into Java was like stepping into a time machine for Noah. Incredibly, it still existed almost exactly as it did when he worked there--save for the new tables and a different paint job. It stood as a testament to the fact that no matter what happened to society and the changes of time, people will still want a place to get a good cup of joe.
He watched as the young barista poured his simple cup of coffee, also noting that the uniform hadn't changed much either. He suppressed the urge to ask the girl if Jeff still worked there and instead took his mug to a table against the wall and shrugged out of his light spring jacket. It might have been April, but the chilly morning was already being replaced with weather that was more on par with June's balmy clime, making Noah thankful that he packed a couple t-shirts.
He sipped his coffee while browsing through e-mails on his phone. He saw nothing that needed his direct input but decided to fire off a message telling Brett that he'd be back sooner rather than later. The encounter with Luke at the funeral home was the proverbial nail in the coffin in his decision to come back to Oakdale and try to patch things up. It was an obvious dead end, and the sooner he got back home the better.
Focused on typing his e-mail, Noah didn't notice the figure looming over his table until they pulled out the chair to sit down.
"Look, before you tell me to go to hell, please let me apologize for yesterday. I kinda got all drama queen and lashed out."
It was Luke. Noah tilted his head and contemplated the hangdog expression on the other man's face. He was definitely sincere as well as embarrassed. But he was holding back, too. Eight years didn’t erase the time they’d spent together and Noah could still read Luke like a book. Sentiment got the better of him and he nodded warmly back.
"Accepted, though I think you have a pretty good excuse for acting a bit eccentric."
Luke shrugged as he sat down across from Noah and placed his own mug on the dark wood table. "Yeah. My mom’s death’s has been difficult to deal with."
"I was talking about you being a Snyder," Noah deadpanned.
Luke narrowed his gaze at Noah for a moment before bursting out in laughter. And with that the tension had been eased. The light that had been missing in Luke's eyes was there, if only a spark. Noah hoped it was at least in part because of him.
Their laughter died out and Noah offered his condolences once again. "Honestly though, I really am sorry about Lily. How’s your family holding up?"
"I think most everyone is still dealing with the fact she’s actually gone. Ethan and Natalie are pretty broken up, but Faith is just so angry, and my dad is… I don’t know what he is." Luke paused, absent-mindedly tracing the lip of his coffee mug with his finger. "I’m sure you’ve already heard through the Oakdale Gossip Network that she’d been cheating on my dad. Who knows for how long? Faith’s pretty adamant that it'd been over a year, but I don’t know. It doesn’t matter anymore. They’re both dead."
"Luke-" Noah started, hearing bitterness in Luke's words and--not wishing for a repeat performance from yesterday--wanted to steer him into a different direction. But Luke beat him to it.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to get all bitchy again. I'm still trying to deal, I guess, and sometimes it really pisses me off when I start to dwell on it all."
Noah nodded, hoping his look conveyed enough sympathy.
"Sure I’m sad. I mean, she was my mom. Nothing's going to change that. But then I start thinking about the lies she kept and the people she was stringing along. She took us for granted again, and that makes me angrier than anything. This fucking family…" Luke shook his head. "I’m so tired of thinking about my messed up family. So tell me about you. What have you been up all this time? Are you a super Hollywood director and everything?"
It was as if Luke had taken off one mask and traded it for another. Noah decided to just go with it, because confronting or challenging Luke was not something he wanted to deal with right now. So Noah ducked his head, chuckled lightly, and answered Luke's question. "Not quite. More of a producer these days."
"Producer? That sounds pretty impressive." Luke smiled. "What exactly do you produce?"
Noah smiled in return. "My partner Brett and I started a production company that helps recent grads and really small independent filmmakers get a leg up in the industry. There are a lot of film students out there just flailing when they graduate and we help them find their voice. We help them with getting grants, finding spaces and locations, getting permits, the whole gamut. It’s been a lot of work, but I love it. We’re expanding the company actually, so things are going really well."
"That sounds amazing, Noah." The words were said but there wasn't an ounce of sincerity behind it. Luke wouldn’t look up from his mug and sneered when he asked, "So how did you and Brett meet?"
"Bathroom of a gay bar." Noah nonchalantly threw out, taking a sip of his coffee.
Luke’s head snapped up so fast that Noah nearly choked on his drink. The shock and accusation in his eyes undid Noah. "You should see your face!" he laughed. "I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist. After all this time you’re still jealous! Some things never change."
"I’m not-I just…" Luke flustered, not knowing how to recover as his face came very close to matching the color of the deep red polo he was wearing.
Noah put up his hands as if in surrender. "Relax Luke, relax. Brett Kosta's my business partner, stress on the word business. Not to mention that she is totally not my type. She’s practically a Republican."
Luke saw a mischievous twinkle in Noah’s eyes that he had forgotten about. Any embarrassment that he might have still felt was shed with that look. It warmed him, feeling the old familiarity between them. Luke wondered how long it had been since he'd had such a light-hearted conversation with anyone, let alone with Noah. His eyes drifted over his ex's face, noting the addition of tiny wrinkles around Noah’s eyes when he smiled, making him look even more distinguished and yet a little tired. The glasses were new, as well as the scar on his chin that poked through the couple days’ growth of beard. And he'd be lying if the lack of a ring on his left hand didn't make Luke’s belly flip just a little.
"When did you start wearing glasses?
"A couple years ago. My doc said it's pretty normal with my history." Noah said a little uncomfortably. Luke just nodded, both of them ignoring the elephant in the room named Reid.
"You’ve changed." Luke said.
"You too." Noah responded, a little sad.
"You’d know more than anyone…" Luke thought, but kept to himself.
They sat in a slightly strained silence before Noah spoke up again. "So what have you been up to? You said Damian’s company is no more?"
Luke sighed, grateful for the change of conversation even if it was about Damian. He leaned forward in his seat, resting heavily on his elbows that were perched on the little café table. "Yeah, not long after you left things got to be too much around here," Noah gave a knowing nod, "so I split. I traveled mostly around Europe, staying a few days or weeks in each city, renting rooms and just… living." Luke shifted in his chair and scratched nervously at his neck, a little uncomfortable with potentially talking with his ex-boyfriend about the number of things the euphemism of "living" encompassed.
"Once Damian got out of prison he caught up with me and started coming down really hard about being irresponsible and that I needed to start acting like the heir of family, blah blah blah." Luke shoved himself back from the table, emotions all of a sudden running higher than they had just a few minutes ago. "So I stayed. I stayed and worked for bio-dad." Luke shook his head as if he was showing disappointment in his decision.
Noah asked, "How long were you there?"
The question snapped Luke back to the present. "Oh, a couple years. I worked mostly in the Naples office, which was a blessing because Damian would only visit once a month, if that. But I was 'doing my duty’ for the company so he lay off for the most part." Luke’s finger quotes held less sarcasm than his voice, which was drenched with disdain. "I still should’ve gotten out of there sooner…"
Luke was picking with his fingernail at his faded, black jeans, like he was working to get out a stain that no one else could see. "A few months later Damian goes missing and there’s talk of kidnap, vendetta, whatever. A while later they found the wreckage of his plane in the Alps and all hell broke loose. I decided to use my authority in the company and dissolve it, to just erase it from the map. Sold most of it off to NGOs and the like for humanitarian relief, etcetera. I got a lot of shit for it from the shareholders, but they still made a profit so they didn’t bitch that much, and to be honest, I didn't care. Besides, the company was getting too much good press in the dissolution that no one wanted to look like the bad guy." Luke shrugged. "I wanted to do good things with his money, like we once did with my foundation." Luke gave Noah a regretful look. "It was a lot easier back then."
"A lot of stuff was."
Luke smiled sadly at that. "Still, it was nice to finally erase that part of me. Erase Damian. Erase Italy…" Luke's eyes clouded and Noah watched as all the light in Luke's face just faded out. Before Noah could ask if everything was alright the switch flipped and Luke was back to normal.
"So," He took a quick drink from his now cool coffee, "Brett's your business partner. Do you have anyone else in your life?"
"I caught up with Ameera when I made it to LA."
This wasn't the information that Luke was fishing for but it still surprised him. "You're kidding! How is she?"
"Married with kids. Her husband runs a little tea shop slash hot dog stand and she does refugee outreach."
"I'm sorry, did you say tea and hot dogs?"
"Yeah! He moved here from Indonesia as a kid and his parents did everything they could to sort of acclimate him and his brother and sisters to the American culture. Pretty soon they were into music, movies, everything. But he really fell in love with the food, especially hot dogs. So when he took over his dad's tea shop a few years back he started to put his own spin on things. It's pretty successful actually! Only in L.A., I guess. Their girls are adorable. Here," Noah picked up his phone from the table where he'd left it earlier and after a few taps on the screen he opened a photo of two little girls with long, raven hair and dimples for days. "The eldest is Nadia , she's seven, and Kade's five." Luke leaned over to get a better look, taking in the toothy smiles and sundresses. "I've got one of the whole family somewhere…"
Luke watched as Noah flicked through his photos when he saw a few of Noah and some guy. They were arm in arm in front of a waterfall, looking sunburned and happy, in the next photo it was the two of them on a beach, and another after that had them at a candlelit table. From what Luke could glimpse the other person was a tall, dark-haired, all smiles and obviously very important to Noah. "Important enough to have someone take their picture with his own phone." Luke thought sadly.
"Is that L.A.?" Luke asked, hoping he sounded casual and interested more in the location than in the other man in the picture.
Noah paused on a shot of the guy in question sitting poolside, holding up a drink with an umbrella in it and giving the camera a brilliantly cheesy smile.
"No, that's Cabo San Lucas from a while ago." Noah said off-handedly still focused on finding a specific photo. The guy was handsome. Okay, he was gorgeous, Luke admitted. He had a great body, a great tan and a smile that could power most of California. And from the looks of it he was friendly and fun as well.
Luke felt such a sharp pang of jealousy hit him just then. Noah in Cabo. With his gorgeous boyfriend. It shamefully burned ice-cold in his stomach. "You're ridiculous," Luke tried to chide himself. "You have no right to be jealous or possessive. Especially since he called you out on it earlier. It's been eight years, for crying out loud! You've had your own share of relationships. Some that you wish you could forget…"
"Here it is!" Noah angled the phone closer to Luke. "That's Aggie," Noah indicated the shorter man with brilliant eyes standing next to Ameera and their girls.
"Aggie?"
"Agung, actually, but he goes by Aggie." Noah shuffled through a couple more photos taken from what looked like an afternoon picnic, with the girls on swings, Aggie grilling funky looking hot dogs and Ameera looking happier than he'd ever seen her. "They met at their mosque. Ameera told me the whole story about how he kept bugging her to come visit his store but she was so insulted because she thought that all hot dogs were made with pork, which, you know, is not allowed in the Muslim faith. So one day he comes to her office with all sorts of these gourmet hot dogs made of turkey, chicken, tofu, you name it. He fed the whole office that day! It's all kind of ridiculous, but it worked I guess."
"A love story of encased meats." Luke joked, which busted Noah up.
"Oh God, that's just wrong."
"Hey, you told me the story."
"Fair enough." Noah rumbled one last laugh in his chest before treading into unknown territory. "So, are you seeing anyone?"
Luke's instinct was to lie, to fabricate an amazing Adonis to counter Mr. Tall and Tan, but it would all fall apart as soon as Noah asked anyone in Oakdale about whomever he conjured. He decided to go with the sad truth.
"Nah. Dating pool is kind of thin in Oakdale these days."
"Oh! I didn't know you were living here."
"Yeah, out at the farm. Gotta look after things now that Emma's gone."
Noah paled and nearly dropped his mug. "What?!"
"Oh, God, no! I meant that Emma's living over at Lucinda's now! Shit, I'm sorry." Luke's hands were up like he was trying to steady an unnerved animal. "Yeah, Emma's been living with Grandmother for a while now. Lucinda fell a few years ago and broke her elbow, and John was so busy with the hospital that Gram went over there to help her out. It worked out so well that she just stayed."
"You're kidding."
"I know, right? I guess after all this time they've finally admitted that they're more than just family and that they're actually friends. Both are doing great and couldn't be happier. Plus it was getting to be too much for her to take care of the place anyway, so I moved in."
Noah looked wistful. "I have a lot of good memories of the farm."
"And some bad."
"True, but mostly good. I gained a family there, so it'll always be a special place for me."
The two of them shared warm smiles, caught up momentarily in reminiscing and keeping the specters from their pasts away from the table. Noah leaned back and crossed his arms, letting one hand rub absent-mindedly up and down his bicep, the action pushed up his shirt sleeve just an inch or two. It was all that was necessary for Luke to get a glimpse of ink which had him totally taken aback.
"Noah! Is that a tattoo?"
"What?" Luke was pointing at his arm. "Oh, yeah." He said rather shyly, pulling up his left shirt sleeve and exposing his bicep. Black script flowed around his arm, peppered with clusters of dots floating above strange looking symbols. "It says 'strength, courage and wisdom' in Arabic."
Luke looked on in awe, tempted to reach out and run his fingers over it. "It's beautiful."
"Thanks." He lowered the sleeve once again, much to Luke's chagrin. "It was the first in my 'get inked, find truth' phase."
"You have others?"
"Uh-huh." He self-consciously ducked his head again. "I, uh, have a lotus flower on my upper back and a Mexican proverb written on my foot."
Luke tried very hard to keep his jaw from dropping to the floor. "Wow. That all sounds very, um, worldly?" He cringed at his clumsy words, but Noah just chuckled and bashfully rubbed the back of his neck.
"Yeah. It's kind of a United Nations of sorts. I was going through some stuff a while ago and looking for some answers I guess."
"Did you find them?"
Noah shrugged indifferently. "Still working on it. The tattoo on my ankle says 'las piedras rodando se encuentran,' which means 'the stones keep rolling.'" Luke gave him a confused look. "My friend Javi used to say it to me all the time. 'Tu piedras, Noah! Siempre rodando se encuentran!'" he imitated energetically, smiling and blushing at the memory.
"It means that things are kinda set up in a way that someday these 'stones' might encounter one another, and I always took it as a nicer way to look at fate and destiny. Things are set in motion so that one day they might intertwine later down the road." Noah shrugged. "I don't know, I guess it's become a sort of mantra to me now."
Luke contemplated the words himself, nodding along with Noah's explanation.
"So you know a lot of Spanish then?" Luke asked.
"Oh no, hardly any. My ex-… my friend tried to teach me all the time. I guess you can say that I learned enough to get me in trouble."
"So which is he, ex or friend?" Luke teased, catching Noah's trip-up.
"Uh… both, actually. Javier and I stayed really good friends after we split." Noah's eyes softened, his thoughts tied-up with his ex-boyfriend. "We kinda decided that we didn't want to be out of each other's lives and somehow we've made it work."
Unlike us, Luke thought.
"I wish you could meet him, I think you'd really like each other." Noah offered.
"Where is he now?"
"Somewhere in Asia, I think. He's a fashion photographer so he's traveling around all the time." Luke raised his eyebrows, impressed with Noah's ex's line of work. "It's one of the reasons we split. He travels so much and I, well…" Noah shrugged, "it didn't work out."
"I'm sorry, Noah."
"No, don't be. I'm not. He was-is-someone who still means a lot to me. He was good for me, helped me fix a lot of this." Noah gestured to his head, somewhat dismissively.
Luke frowned, "But what about…" and he stopped himself. There's no way he could ask the rest of that question.
"But what about what?" Noah asked. Luke ducked his head, wishing his fast mouth would wait up for his brain sometimes. His feelings were getting the best of him. Guilt sat in the pit of his stomach and taunted him again. "Luke?"
When he looked up into Noah's eyes again he knew his emotions were written in bold on his face, but he couldn't help it now. He blinked once and lowered his eyes to Noah's chest. "But what about your heart. Did he fix that?"
Noah stilled and stared as anguish and guilt rippled off of Luke in waves. He didn't want to answer the question for some reason. Either way he was certain the answer would hurt Luke. He swallowed thickly and said, "Yes."
Luke nodded softly and hung his head, eyes sparkling with a little extra moisture. "Good."
They sat there quietly for a while. Luke never lifting his head and Noah just staring at him, confused and wishing he knew what to say next. "Luke, I…"
With a quick wipe at his eyes, Luke stood up suddenly. "No. Yeah. Um…" he composed himself in an instant and plastered on a flashy smile that didn't reach his conflicted eyes, "I'm glad we could catch up. We… uh… the family is getting together at the farm tonight. You should come."
Everything in Noah wanted to leave, wanted to get the hell out of Oakdale and run back to what was safe and familiar. But the look in Luke's eyes rooted him in his seat. He wanted to say no and blame it on going back to the office or something, anything. But there he sat, staring into Luke's eyes, ringed wet with sorrow, and said, "Sure, I'll see you there."
And with that, Luke was once again walking away from him.
| PART 2 |