FIC: BFF (ATWT, Luke/Reid, 1/1)
Title: BFF
Author: cindergal
Rating: PG13
Characters/Pairing: Luke/Reid
Warnings: mention of Luke/Noah, a fair bit of schmoop
Summary: That offensive cliché that everyone else used to blow someone off came out of Luke Snyder’s mouth sounding completely and utterly sincere.
Word Count: 2854
Disclaimer: I do not own ATWT. No profit, no harm, no foul.
Prompts: Written for the
trope_bingo prompt "unexpected friendship"
A/N: this fic utilizes a prompt from rhiannonhero which she posted a million years ago (okay, 3...and a half), and can be found here. And thank you to _alicesprings for the look over!
The phone rang in the middle of the night, and Reid grabbed it, recognizing the ring tone he’d assigned to Luke. He went from asleep to wide awake in an instant. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m okay,” Luke said, but he sounded far from it. “I’m sorry to call you this late.”
“No…no, it’s all right,” Reid said, wiping the sleep from his eyes, and running a hand over his face. “What’s up?”
“I…didn’t know who else to call.”
Reid’s stomach twisted and he said, “Where are you?”
“I’m at a hotel off interstate 57.”
“The name?”
“I..don’t know. I didn’t look when I checked in.” Reid could hear Luke rustling around in the background. “Ummm, Cozy Inn.”
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“Reid, you don’t have to…I…I just wanted to hear your voice.”
Luke didn’t sound right, something was very off. Reid said, “Listen, Luke, I’ll be there.”
*
Twenty minutes. Reid had twenty minutes to think. Twenty minutes to worry. Twenty minutes to wonder what the hell he was doing, driving off in the middle of the night after some guy who’d broken the heart he didn’t know he had. He had no idea how a guy he’d only kissed a few times had managed to do that, anyway, but somehow Luke had. He’d wormed his way into Reid’s heart and under his skin, and then he had left him before they’d barely even gotten started and gone back to his idiot boyfriend who didn’t know what a good thing he had even when it hit him over the head with a two by four.
And still, somehow, Reid had agreed to be Luke’s...friend. The entire situation was absolutely ludicrous. First of all, Reid didn’t have friends. Except for Katie, and she didn’t count because she was…Katie. Katie didn’t cause his heart to clench painfully in his chest every time he saw her. But every time he saw Luke, or heard his voice on the phone, or saw one of his stupid text messages, it was an exercise in exquisite torture. At the same time, he kind of lived for the pain.
Three days after Luke had told Reid that while he had feelings for him, that he still loved Noah - and Reid had summarily kicked Luke out of his apartment - he’d run into Luke and Noah in Old Town, hand in hand. That had been fun. Apparently, the wind had been blowing the right direction that day, and so Noah had decided to give Luke another chance. It made Reid’s blood boil that Luke thought he was the one who had to grovel at Noah’s feet. Luke had chased Reid down at the hospital later that day.
“He gave you another chance?” Reid threw the chart in his hand down on his desk and whirled around to face Luke. “I do not have words to fully describe the complete and utter stupidity…”
“Reid. Listen.” Something in Luke’s tone made Reid shut his mouth and do just that. “I…don’t want to talk about Noah with you. I know I screwed this all up, but I just…” He bit his lip, and for one horrible moment, Reid thought he was going to start leaking tears all over his carpet. “I just wanted to apologize to you for being so insensitive the other day. I care about you. A lot. And I really hope…” He took a deep breath and smiled. “I hope we can be friends.” That offensive cliché that everyone else used to blow someone off came out of Luke Snyder’s mouth sounding completely and utterly sincere.
Reid stared at him in amazement. “You want us to be friends.”
“Sure. Why not?”
“I don’t do friendship, Mr. Snyder.”
Luke smiled. “Yeah, I know. I was hoping you’d make an exception for me.”
“And why in the hell would I do that?”
Luke’s face fell. “You know, you’re right. Why would you do that after everything I’ve put you through?” He stared down at the floor and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Reid. For everything. I know I don’t deserve your friendship, but I hope someday you can…”
Luke’s bottom lip was trembling, and Reid couldn’t have that, couldn’t be the cause of that. No, he couldn’t have that at all. “Oh, for Christ’s sake. If you’re going to cry about it, I’ll be your stupid friend, okay?”
Luke looked up at him and grinned. “Really?”
Reid forced himself not to roll his eyes. “Yes, Mr. Snyder.” He paused. “Wait a minute. What exactly does friendship with you entail, anyway?”
Luke’s grinned widened. “Oh, you know, the usual. Staying up all night. Braiding each other’s hair. Telling each other our deepest, darkest secrets.”
Reid’s eyes narrowed. “I should have asked about the rules before I agreed to this ridiculousness, shouldn’t I?”
Luke nodded. “Hmm, probably. Too late now.”
“No talking about boys, though,” Reid said.
Luke looked away guiltily for a moment, but then he gave Reid one of those sweet smiles that always made his heart beat a little bit faster. “Okay, I’ll give you that one. And I might even let you off the hook on the hair braiding. But that’s the end of our negotiations, Doc. I’m going to be the best friend you ever had.”
And he hadn’t been kidding. Since then, to Reid’s enormous embarrassment, Luke had become his BFF. Luke texted him when he was bored. He called him for advice when he had a sticky situation at work. He sent him emails for no discernible reason whatsoever, but they always managed to make Reid smile or sometimes laugh out loud. And Reid…did the same. He had been hoping that this closer relationship with Luke would show him how truly wrong for each other they were. How incompatible. How annoying Luke Snyder and his stupid problems really were. Instead, Reid just found himself falling harder. Luke was funny and smart and sweet and surprisingly tough when he had to be. He was…everything. Everything Reid had never known he’d always wanted. It was excruciatingly painful.
And he never wanted it to end.
*
The Cozy Inn was, predictably, not very cozy. It was your average run down joint on the outskirts of town. Look up “fleabag motel” in the dictionary, yada, yada. One of those places people went to for a few hours, a night at the most. Not a place someone like Luke Snyder should be. Reid went to the room number Luke had texted him and knocked. Reid wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but Luke looked…normal when he opened the door for him. Normal, except for the way he cast his eyes away from Reid and wouldn’t meet his gaze.
Luke stepped back to let him in, and Reid walked into the small room, taking just a moment to wonder where Luke’s beloved, the sainted Noah Mayer, was in this apparent crisis, before turning his attention back to where it belonged, to Luke. He glanced around the room, taking in the bed with its faded, floral spread, an old TV that was tuned to some stupid reality show, and a round Formica table which held a fifth of expensive vodka, or used to. Reid walked over to it and picked up the bottle, which was empty.
Reid knew all about Luke’s drinking problems. It had been the subject of one particularly memorable late night phone conversation. Reid didn’t know if Luke was an alcoholic, or just one of those people who drank to ease the pain when life was particularly shitty to them; he tended to believe the latter. Unfortunately, life had been shitty to Luke Snyder more often than most. But either way, all that mattered to him was that Luke shouldn’t drink because of his transplanted kidney. He was risking his health, and his life. And Reid couldn’t have that, either. Looking at the empty liquor bottle sent a jolt of fear through his body, and he took a breath to keep himself under control.
“Either you’ve been holed up here quite a while, or you hold your liquor a lot better than most,” Reid said mildly.
“I dumped it out,” Luke said, and Reid breathed a sigh of relief. “I had a couple of drinks first, though. But then I called you and I dumped it out.”
“Okay. Good.”
Luke snorted out a laugh. “That’s it? Good?”
Reid frowned and set the bottle back down on the table. “What do you want me to say, Luke?”
Luke leaned back against the shabby motel room door, wrapping his arms around himself and closing his eyes. “Well, there’s always the whole poor little rich boy shtick that you’re so fond of. And it’s all true, after all. I mean, look at me. Every advantage a person could possibly have in life and I still can’t get my act together. What the hell is wrong with me?”
“Hey,” Reid said, moving closer to him. “I thought we were friends.”
Luke nodded. “We are,” he said, opening his eyes and looking at Reid. “We are,” he said again, more firmly.
“Then why would I say anything like that?” He took a step closer and put his hand on Luke’s shoulder. “What happened, Luke? Are you all right? How can I help you? I know I’m not very good at this emotional stuff, but isn’t that the kind of thing a friend would say?”
Luke’s face crumpled and for a moment Reid was really afraid that he’d screwed up royally, but Luke quickly composed himself and gave Reid a watery smile. “You know, you’re actually pretty good at this friend thing, Dr. Oliver.”
“Well, I’ve had a good teacher,” Reid said.
Luke smiled again and shook his head before walking over and sitting down on the side of the bed. Reid sat down next to him, trying not to think about the several million bacteria that were probably now crawling all over him.
“Does this have something to do with Noah?” Reid asked. Of course it did, but he had to ask.
“Thought we had a rule. No talking about boys,” Luke said.
Luke looked so forlorn that Reid had to fight the urge to reach out and touch him. He was used to it. It was an urge he had to fight nearly every time he was in Luke’s presence. “I’ll make an exception. Just for tonight,” he said. He nudged Luke’s shoulder with his own. “So come on. Spill.”
“We broke up,” Luke said. “It’s been coming for a long time.”
Reid wanted to stand up and cheer, but he held himself back. He mentally patted himself on the back; he really was getting good at this supportive friend thing. “Is that why you squirreled yourself away in this shithole with a bottle of booze?”
Luke stared down at his shoes. “That’s part of it. There’s more. My parents are at it again. Breaking up again. I just…I don’t want a relationship like that. And sometimes I think I’m just…doomed. I’ve made so many bad choices. I have so many regrets. And they’re so hard to live with.”
“Regret is such a waste of time,” Reid said. “Regret gets you nowhere.”
Luke gave him a sidelong glance. “Why am I not surprised to hear that, coming from you?”
“Because I’m freaking brilliant?”
Luke laughed. “Yes, that must be it.” He sobered quickly, though. “I just… don’t know how to get past it.”
“The way I see it, you have two choices. Either try to fix the situation, or move the hell on.”
Luke sat up straighter and took a deep breath. “Maybe you’re right.” Then he leaned in, sliding his hand around the back of Reid’s neck and pressing their lips together. Reid was so shocked he didn’t know what to do at first. Luke’s hand slid into his hair and his other came up to grip Reid’s shoulder, and it felt really, really good to be so close to him. It wasn’t until Luke slid his tongue into his mouth and Reid tasted the faint trace of alcohol there that he came to his senses and pushed Luke away as gently as he could. As much as he craved more, he couldn’t let this happen. Not this way.
“Luke, stop.”
Luke stared at him, stricken. “Oh God, I’m so sorry,” Luke said, launching himself off the bed. He stumbled backwards into the nightstand, nearly toppling the lamp, and Reid had to reach over and catch it before it hit the floor.
“Sorry!” Luke said again.
“Hey,” Reid said, righting the lamp. “Settle down. It’s okay. But you’ve been drinking. I won’t take advantage of you. And I won’t be your consolation prize because your boyfriend broke up with you, either. We’re friends now. I deserve better than that. And so do you.”
Luke cast his eyes downward and shook his head. “Well you’re right about one thing. You deserve better. Way better than me. You and Noah both.”
“What? That’s ridiculous. Luke, look at me.”
Luke shook his head.
“Luke, please.”
“He didn’t break up with me,” he said, finally raising his eyes to look at Reid. “I broke up with him. We argued, about you. He looked at my phone and saw some of our messages to each other. He said that anyone I talked to that often, in that way, I had to be in love with. And he was right. I made a huge mistake. I think I knew that a long time ago. It didn’t take me very long to figure it out, actually. About as long as it took me to fall in love with you.” He smiled sadly, and Reid’s heart clenched in his chest. “I fell in love with you so fast, and so hard. But by then it was too late, wasn’t it? I knew you would never give me another chance after the way I hurt you. I tried to make it work with him, because I’d made my choice, right? Tried to pretend that I wasn’t feeling what I was feeling for you. But it was all a big lie. I’ve screwed everything all up again. Screwed up our friendship too, probably. So yes, you deserve better. Noah does, too. And it’s only right that I end up alone.”
Reid would have rolled his eyes at the melodrama if Luke hadn’t seemed so devastated.
And if Reid’s heart weren’t pounding so hard.
“Come here,” Reid said. Luke just stood there and looked at him for a moment, his eyes glassy with unshed tears. Reid held his hand out. “Please.”
Luke stepped forward, taking Reid’s hand and allowing himself to be pulled down next to him on the bed.
“Why did you call me?” Reid asked. He held fast to Luke’s hand.
“Because I realized that even though I messed up any chance at a relationship, a romantic one, with you, that you were still willing to be my friend. And that means so much to me, Reid. You have no idea.” His voice broke and the tears he’d been fighting to hold back ran down his cheeks.
Reid reached up with his other hand and thumbed way the tears. “I have some idea.”
“Do you?”
“I never really had friends. Not even as a kid. I was too smart, too weird. I was a lonely kid and a lonely adult. Until you. But you already know all this about me. You know me better than anyone, Luke.”
Luke smiled and squeezed his hand. “Yeah, I guess I do.”
“Then how could you think that I wouldn’t want you? That I am anything other than completely in love with you?”
“Reid…” The way Luke breathed out his name, it held such hope. Such promise. And Reid was helpless to do anything other than take Luke’s face in his hands, draw him close, and kiss him. But he stopped at a kiss.
“Okay, but we’re still not going to do this while you’re under the influence.”
“I’m almost completely sober!” Luke protested, pulling Reid in for another kiss. Luke was in the process of pushing him down on the bed when Reid pulled away again, shaking his head to clear it.
“Okay, then we’re not going to do it in this seedy motel room, just you, me and the bedbugs,” Reid said.
Luke laughed, standing up and pulling Reid to his feet. “Okay, okay,” he said, tugging Reid toward the door. “Let’s get out of here, then.”
Reid watched the blinking neon motel sign grow smaller in his rear view mirror as he pulled out of the parking lot, Luke in the passenger seat beside him, holding his hand. He would probably have nightmares about the not so Cozy Inn, but he would always think of it fondly, just the same.
“Hey Reid?”
“Yeah?” Reid glanced at Luke, who was beaming at him, and couldn’t help but smile back.
“I’m really glad I forced you to be my BFF.”
“Me too, Mr. Snyder, me too.” BFF, Reid thought. That means we're stuck with each other forever. Thank God.
Author: cindergal
Rating: PG13
Characters/Pairing: Luke/Reid
Warnings: mention of Luke/Noah, a fair bit of schmoop
Summary: That offensive cliché that everyone else used to blow someone off came out of Luke Snyder’s mouth sounding completely and utterly sincere.
Word Count: 2854
Disclaimer: I do not own ATWT. No profit, no harm, no foul.
Prompts: Written for the
trope_bingo prompt "unexpected friendship"
A/N: this fic utilizes a prompt from rhiannonhero which she posted a million years ago (okay, 3...and a half), and can be found here. And thank you to _alicesprings for the look over!
The phone rang in the middle of the night, and Reid grabbed it, recognizing the ring tone he’d assigned to Luke. He went from asleep to wide awake in an instant. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m okay,” Luke said, but he sounded far from it. “I’m sorry to call you this late.”
“No…no, it’s all right,” Reid said, wiping the sleep from his eyes, and running a hand over his face. “What’s up?”
“I…didn’t know who else to call.”
Reid’s stomach twisted and he said, “Where are you?”
“I’m at a hotel off interstate 57.”
“The name?”
“I..don’t know. I didn’t look when I checked in.” Reid could hear Luke rustling around in the background. “Ummm, Cozy Inn.”
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“Reid, you don’t have to…I…I just wanted to hear your voice.”
Luke didn’t sound right, something was very off. Reid said, “Listen, Luke, I’ll be there.”
*
Twenty minutes. Reid had twenty minutes to think. Twenty minutes to worry. Twenty minutes to wonder what the hell he was doing, driving off in the middle of the night after some guy who’d broken the heart he didn’t know he had. He had no idea how a guy he’d only kissed a few times had managed to do that, anyway, but somehow Luke had. He’d wormed his way into Reid’s heart and under his skin, and then he had left him before they’d barely even gotten started and gone back to his idiot boyfriend who didn’t know what a good thing he had even when it hit him over the head with a two by four.
And still, somehow, Reid had agreed to be Luke’s...friend. The entire situation was absolutely ludicrous. First of all, Reid didn’t have friends. Except for Katie, and she didn’t count because she was…Katie. Katie didn’t cause his heart to clench painfully in his chest every time he saw her. But every time he saw Luke, or heard his voice on the phone, or saw one of his stupid text messages, it was an exercise in exquisite torture. At the same time, he kind of lived for the pain.
Three days after Luke had told Reid that while he had feelings for him, that he still loved Noah - and Reid had summarily kicked Luke out of his apartment - he’d run into Luke and Noah in Old Town, hand in hand. That had been fun. Apparently, the wind had been blowing the right direction that day, and so Noah had decided to give Luke another chance. It made Reid’s blood boil that Luke thought he was the one who had to grovel at Noah’s feet. Luke had chased Reid down at the hospital later that day.
“He gave you another chance?” Reid threw the chart in his hand down on his desk and whirled around to face Luke. “I do not have words to fully describe the complete and utter stupidity…”
“Reid. Listen.” Something in Luke’s tone made Reid shut his mouth and do just that. “I…don’t want to talk about Noah with you. I know I screwed this all up, but I just…” He bit his lip, and for one horrible moment, Reid thought he was going to start leaking tears all over his carpet. “I just wanted to apologize to you for being so insensitive the other day. I care about you. A lot. And I really hope…” He took a deep breath and smiled. “I hope we can be friends.” That offensive cliché that everyone else used to blow someone off came out of Luke Snyder’s mouth sounding completely and utterly sincere.
Reid stared at him in amazement. “You want us to be friends.”
“Sure. Why not?”
“I don’t do friendship, Mr. Snyder.”
Luke smiled. “Yeah, I know. I was hoping you’d make an exception for me.”
“And why in the hell would I do that?”
Luke’s face fell. “You know, you’re right. Why would you do that after everything I’ve put you through?” He stared down at the floor and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Reid. For everything. I know I don’t deserve your friendship, but I hope someday you can…”
Luke’s bottom lip was trembling, and Reid couldn’t have that, couldn’t be the cause of that. No, he couldn’t have that at all. “Oh, for Christ’s sake. If you’re going to cry about it, I’ll be your stupid friend, okay?”
Luke looked up at him and grinned. “Really?”
Reid forced himself not to roll his eyes. “Yes, Mr. Snyder.” He paused. “Wait a minute. What exactly does friendship with you entail, anyway?”
Luke’s grinned widened. “Oh, you know, the usual. Staying up all night. Braiding each other’s hair. Telling each other our deepest, darkest secrets.”
Reid’s eyes narrowed. “I should have asked about the rules before I agreed to this ridiculousness, shouldn’t I?”
Luke nodded. “Hmm, probably. Too late now.”
“No talking about boys, though,” Reid said.
Luke looked away guiltily for a moment, but then he gave Reid one of those sweet smiles that always made his heart beat a little bit faster. “Okay, I’ll give you that one. And I might even let you off the hook on the hair braiding. But that’s the end of our negotiations, Doc. I’m going to be the best friend you ever had.”
And he hadn’t been kidding. Since then, to Reid’s enormous embarrassment, Luke had become his BFF. Luke texted him when he was bored. He called him for advice when he had a sticky situation at work. He sent him emails for no discernible reason whatsoever, but they always managed to make Reid smile or sometimes laugh out loud. And Reid…did the same. He had been hoping that this closer relationship with Luke would show him how truly wrong for each other they were. How incompatible. How annoying Luke Snyder and his stupid problems really were. Instead, Reid just found himself falling harder. Luke was funny and smart and sweet and surprisingly tough when he had to be. He was…everything. Everything Reid had never known he’d always wanted. It was excruciatingly painful.
And he never wanted it to end.
*
The Cozy Inn was, predictably, not very cozy. It was your average run down joint on the outskirts of town. Look up “fleabag motel” in the dictionary, yada, yada. One of those places people went to for a few hours, a night at the most. Not a place someone like Luke Snyder should be. Reid went to the room number Luke had texted him and knocked. Reid wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but Luke looked…normal when he opened the door for him. Normal, except for the way he cast his eyes away from Reid and wouldn’t meet his gaze.
Luke stepped back to let him in, and Reid walked into the small room, taking just a moment to wonder where Luke’s beloved, the sainted Noah Mayer, was in this apparent crisis, before turning his attention back to where it belonged, to Luke. He glanced around the room, taking in the bed with its faded, floral spread, an old TV that was tuned to some stupid reality show, and a round Formica table which held a fifth of expensive vodka, or used to. Reid walked over to it and picked up the bottle, which was empty.
Reid knew all about Luke’s drinking problems. It had been the subject of one particularly memorable late night phone conversation. Reid didn’t know if Luke was an alcoholic, or just one of those people who drank to ease the pain when life was particularly shitty to them; he tended to believe the latter. Unfortunately, life had been shitty to Luke Snyder more often than most. But either way, all that mattered to him was that Luke shouldn’t drink because of his transplanted kidney. He was risking his health, and his life. And Reid couldn’t have that, either. Looking at the empty liquor bottle sent a jolt of fear through his body, and he took a breath to keep himself under control.
“Either you’ve been holed up here quite a while, or you hold your liquor a lot better than most,” Reid said mildly.
“I dumped it out,” Luke said, and Reid breathed a sigh of relief. “I had a couple of drinks first, though. But then I called you and I dumped it out.”
“Okay. Good.”
Luke snorted out a laugh. “That’s it? Good?”
Reid frowned and set the bottle back down on the table. “What do you want me to say, Luke?”
Luke leaned back against the shabby motel room door, wrapping his arms around himself and closing his eyes. “Well, there’s always the whole poor little rich boy shtick that you’re so fond of. And it’s all true, after all. I mean, look at me. Every advantage a person could possibly have in life and I still can’t get my act together. What the hell is wrong with me?”
“Hey,” Reid said, moving closer to him. “I thought we were friends.”
Luke nodded. “We are,” he said, opening his eyes and looking at Reid. “We are,” he said again, more firmly.
“Then why would I say anything like that?” He took a step closer and put his hand on Luke’s shoulder. “What happened, Luke? Are you all right? How can I help you? I know I’m not very good at this emotional stuff, but isn’t that the kind of thing a friend would say?”
Luke’s face crumpled and for a moment Reid was really afraid that he’d screwed up royally, but Luke quickly composed himself and gave Reid a watery smile. “You know, you’re actually pretty good at this friend thing, Dr. Oliver.”
“Well, I’ve had a good teacher,” Reid said.
Luke smiled again and shook his head before walking over and sitting down on the side of the bed. Reid sat down next to him, trying not to think about the several million bacteria that were probably now crawling all over him.
“Does this have something to do with Noah?” Reid asked. Of course it did, but he had to ask.
“Thought we had a rule. No talking about boys,” Luke said.
Luke looked so forlorn that Reid had to fight the urge to reach out and touch him. He was used to it. It was an urge he had to fight nearly every time he was in Luke’s presence. “I’ll make an exception. Just for tonight,” he said. He nudged Luke’s shoulder with his own. “So come on. Spill.”
“We broke up,” Luke said. “It’s been coming for a long time.”
Reid wanted to stand up and cheer, but he held himself back. He mentally patted himself on the back; he really was getting good at this supportive friend thing. “Is that why you squirreled yourself away in this shithole with a bottle of booze?”
Luke stared down at his shoes. “That’s part of it. There’s more. My parents are at it again. Breaking up again. I just…I don’t want a relationship like that. And sometimes I think I’m just…doomed. I’ve made so many bad choices. I have so many regrets. And they’re so hard to live with.”
“Regret is such a waste of time,” Reid said. “Regret gets you nowhere.”
Luke gave him a sidelong glance. “Why am I not surprised to hear that, coming from you?”
“Because I’m freaking brilliant?”
Luke laughed. “Yes, that must be it.” He sobered quickly, though. “I just… don’t know how to get past it.”
“The way I see it, you have two choices. Either try to fix the situation, or move the hell on.”
Luke sat up straighter and took a deep breath. “Maybe you’re right.” Then he leaned in, sliding his hand around the back of Reid’s neck and pressing their lips together. Reid was so shocked he didn’t know what to do at first. Luke’s hand slid into his hair and his other came up to grip Reid’s shoulder, and it felt really, really good to be so close to him. It wasn’t until Luke slid his tongue into his mouth and Reid tasted the faint trace of alcohol there that he came to his senses and pushed Luke away as gently as he could. As much as he craved more, he couldn’t let this happen. Not this way.
“Luke, stop.”
Luke stared at him, stricken. “Oh God, I’m so sorry,” Luke said, launching himself off the bed. He stumbled backwards into the nightstand, nearly toppling the lamp, and Reid had to reach over and catch it before it hit the floor.
“Sorry!” Luke said again.
“Hey,” Reid said, righting the lamp. “Settle down. It’s okay. But you’ve been drinking. I won’t take advantage of you. And I won’t be your consolation prize because your boyfriend broke up with you, either. We’re friends now. I deserve better than that. And so do you.”
Luke cast his eyes downward and shook his head. “Well you’re right about one thing. You deserve better. Way better than me. You and Noah both.”
“What? That’s ridiculous. Luke, look at me.”
Luke shook his head.
“Luke, please.”
“He didn’t break up with me,” he said, finally raising his eyes to look at Reid. “I broke up with him. We argued, about you. He looked at my phone and saw some of our messages to each other. He said that anyone I talked to that often, in that way, I had to be in love with. And he was right. I made a huge mistake. I think I knew that a long time ago. It didn’t take me very long to figure it out, actually. About as long as it took me to fall in love with you.” He smiled sadly, and Reid’s heart clenched in his chest. “I fell in love with you so fast, and so hard. But by then it was too late, wasn’t it? I knew you would never give me another chance after the way I hurt you. I tried to make it work with him, because I’d made my choice, right? Tried to pretend that I wasn’t feeling what I was feeling for you. But it was all a big lie. I’ve screwed everything all up again. Screwed up our friendship too, probably. So yes, you deserve better. Noah does, too. And it’s only right that I end up alone.”
Reid would have rolled his eyes at the melodrama if Luke hadn’t seemed so devastated.
And if Reid’s heart weren’t pounding so hard.
“Come here,” Reid said. Luke just stood there and looked at him for a moment, his eyes glassy with unshed tears. Reid held his hand out. “Please.”
Luke stepped forward, taking Reid’s hand and allowing himself to be pulled down next to him on the bed.
“Why did you call me?” Reid asked. He held fast to Luke’s hand.
“Because I realized that even though I messed up any chance at a relationship, a romantic one, with you, that you were still willing to be my friend. And that means so much to me, Reid. You have no idea.” His voice broke and the tears he’d been fighting to hold back ran down his cheeks.
Reid reached up with his other hand and thumbed way the tears. “I have some idea.”
“Do you?”
“I never really had friends. Not even as a kid. I was too smart, too weird. I was a lonely kid and a lonely adult. Until you. But you already know all this about me. You know me better than anyone, Luke.”
Luke smiled and squeezed his hand. “Yeah, I guess I do.”
“Then how could you think that I wouldn’t want you? That I am anything other than completely in love with you?”
“Reid…” The way Luke breathed out his name, it held such hope. Such promise. And Reid was helpless to do anything other than take Luke’s face in his hands, draw him close, and kiss him. But he stopped at a kiss.
“Okay, but we’re still not going to do this while you’re under the influence.”
“I’m almost completely sober!” Luke protested, pulling Reid in for another kiss. Luke was in the process of pushing him down on the bed when Reid pulled away again, shaking his head to clear it.
“Okay, then we’re not going to do it in this seedy motel room, just you, me and the bedbugs,” Reid said.
Luke laughed, standing up and pulling Reid to his feet. “Okay, okay,” he said, tugging Reid toward the door. “Let’s get out of here, then.”
Reid watched the blinking neon motel sign grow smaller in his rear view mirror as he pulled out of the parking lot, Luke in the passenger seat beside him, holding his hand. He would probably have nightmares about the not so Cozy Inn, but he would always think of it fondly, just the same.
“Hey Reid?”
“Yeah?” Reid glanced at Luke, who was beaming at him, and couldn’t help but smile back.
“I’m really glad I forced you to be my BFF.”
“Me too, Mr. Snyder, me too.” BFF, Reid thought. That means we're stuck with each other forever. Thank God.