Chapter 42, My Stardust Melody
Luke was ready to murder Henry. What he had initially chalked up to Henry's eccentricity or a tiff with Barbara had turned out to be an obvious ploy to get Luke involved with Reid romantically. The worst part was that no matter how blatant Henry was being, Luke couldn't get his business partner to own up to it.
It had started with little comments about how great a job Reid was doing at the hospital. If that were all, Luke would have thought Henry was plotting some sort of awful revenge scheme and trying to cover it. (Which would be ridiculous and far-fetched when dealing with anyone other than Henry.) But add those comments with the ones about how Henry kept seeing Reid at Java talking to John--which was unfortunately true as Luke had seen with his own eyes (while conveniently on an errand for Henry)--and Luke started to think Henry was trying to perk the blond's interest in the doctor.
The absolute worst and most annoying part had to be the music. Every time Reid came into the diner, Journey or Chicago or some other 80's band's love song would start blaring. Henry claimed he was going through some sort of childhood nostalgic trip, but Luke knew better. And if Luke had to hear "Will You Still Love Me?" one more time, he would scream. He would scream and rip the speakers out of the wall. Luke fell asleep nights humming the tune, he heard it so often:
♪Just say you'll love me for the rest of your life
I gotta lot of love and I don't want to let go
Will you still love me for the rest of my life?
'Cause I can't go on, No, I can't go on
I can't go on If I'm on my own ♪
It was a cheesy song, but somehow it got underneath Luke's skin, and that spelled trouble. There was something about that "I can't go on if I'm on my own" part that stayed with him. Luke didn't want to be by himself. Furthermore, spending time with Reid was quickly becoming the favorite part of his week. If he had just met Reid, and none of the other stuff had happened, Luke knew that he would be pursuing Reid. The doctor had a frank way of looking at life that Luke appreciated. Reid could make him laugh, and the fact that he made Reid laugh as well was…incredible to Luke. Reid was so smart that it was sometimes hard for Luke to believe that Reid could appreciate Luke's humor. Luke suspected getting sincere laughs from Reid was rare, and it made the younger man feel special that he could do it. Luke just felt lighter somehow when he was near Reid.
♪There was no special one for me
I was the lonely one, you see
But then my heart lost all control
Now you're all that I know♪
Losing control--that was precisely what worried Luke. He'd slipped when he woke up on his sofa and had touched Reid. Luke thought himself strong enough to resist temptation again, and so far he had, but it was going to be difficult.
Not only was Reid fun to be around, he was gorgeous…so yeah, Luke would probably have asked Reid out in any other circumstance. He just wasn't sure…and it was getting more difficult to remain friends and not want more. He had a hard enough time keeping his hands off Reid without the outside interference from Henry. He'd been careful since touching the corner of Reid's perfect lips, but the temptation at times had been great. He'd see Reid's hand thrown carelessly on a tabletop, and Luke would have the urge to hold it. Or Reid would smile in a way that made his blue eyes crinkle, and Luke would want to grab Reid, hold on for dear life, and kiss those stunning lips.
♪I gotta lot of love and I don't want to let go. ♪
Henry sucked. That stupid song sucked as well, Luke thought.
Luke's prodigal business partner appeared to have a soundtrack for sexual desire as well as romance. Luke shot him death glares when "Slow Hand" by the Pointer Sisters played or the much less subtle, "I Want Your Sex," by George Michael. Luke didn't know how Henry accomplished it, but one day when Reid and Luke were having lunch on a bench in Old Town, at the precise moment Luke was noticing the enticing way Reid's Adam's apple moved when he laughed, "Do That To Me One More Time" by Captain and Tennille began playing on the P.A. system of a nearby store.
Henry needed to get a life...and better taste in music.
Luke knew Henry meant well, but he was thankful that there was only one Henry. No matter how Luke tried to broach the topic, it never worked. Henry would invent excuses to leave, or he'd deny trying to set Luke up with anyone. He'd spin Luke around in circles with his logic until Luke finally gave up. Tying Henry up seemed to be the only possible way of stopping him, but Luke needed Henry to run the diner, so that option wasn't feasible. Luke could only hope Henry would eventually get distracted with a new project and leave Reid and him alone.
Today, however, was unlikely to be that day. Luke could see all morning that Henry was gearing up for something. The non-subtle smirks and pleased-with-himself looks were a telltale sign that Henry was up to no good. He bounced around the diner like Tigger on steroids.
Luke was finishing up the lunch shift at the diner. The rush was largely over, and he was in the back cleaning the bisque-colored dishes. He heard a loud thud coming from the supply closet and Henry yelping, "Ouch!"
"You okay?" Luke yelled over the noise of the running water. He closed his eyes against the mist when the water sprayed against a plate at the wrong angle. Doing dishes was his least favorite task at the diner. He could never figure out how other people managed to stay dry when washing them.
Henry darkened the doorway of the kitchen a few seconds later. "Luke!" Henry exclaimed. "I think I'm going to close up shop for a couple hours. Would you mind putting away the cans in the supply closet?"
Glad to have a break from the washing --and from worrying about Henry-- Luke replied, "Sure. Just let me finish up this dish."
"Dish? Oh, there's time for that. I really need these cans done now." He walked over to the sink and swiped the remaining dishes on the counter with his arm into the sink. "See? They're soaking. Now off to the closet." With his hand on Luke's elbow, Henry rather forcefully guided Luke to the closet. It sat between the kitchen and the dining area, creating a small hallway.
Luke tried to shake loose. "Henry, I know where I'm going."
"These cans can't wait!"
Luke looked on the floor of the closet and his heart sank. There were cans of vegetables all over the floor. That must have been the loud crash he'd heard earlier. What had Henry been doing?
"See ya later, Luke!" Henry said before Luke could ask any questions. "I'm off to see Barbara!" On his way out, Henry turned up the volume of the stereo. Luke thought it was nice of Henry since it was hard to hear the music from the closet. The room was surprisingly soundproof. Jazz, a welcome relief from all the 80's music of late, drifted into the room. He then heard the jingle of the front door and assumed Henry had left.
He started picking up cans from the floor and reading their labels in the dim light from the small fixture above. It was a tight space, slightly longer than it was wide, which made bending over a little tricky if he didn't pay attention. He bumped his head on the wire shelves once or twice before he got the hang of it.
He was moving a sack of flour out of his way to make room when he heard Reid call his name uncertainly. Henry must have left the door open, and Luke hadn't heard it.
"In here!" Luke said, dusting the flour residue off his hands on his pants and quickly fixing his hair.
Reid came to stand in front of the closet and started to say, "Hey," but he seemed to lose his balance and fell awkwardly into the room with Luke. "What the fuck!" he cried as he pushed himself off of the blond. His face, just inches from Luke, was a mask of anger and surprise.
The door slammed shut, and then Luke heard the distinct click of the lock.
Henry.
"Henry, let us out of here now!" Luke yelled. Luke awkwardly skirted around Reid, bumping him with his knee and chest. There really wasn't enough room for two people in the closet. "I'll get us out of here. Don't worry. I don't know what's come over him." Of course, he knew precisely what Henry was up to, but there wasn't a need to tell Reid that.
"Henry!" He banged on the door several times. "So help me, I'll tell Maddie about this!" He'd kept Maddie out of his problems with Henry up until now, but his business partner had finally gone too far today. He reached in his back pocket for his cell phone, but it wasn't there. "I think he took my phone," he said, dumbfounded, to Reid. "Do you have yours?"
Reid didn't say anything, but Luke saw him reach into his coat pocket and then shake his head.
"Great. Just great," Luke said, his temper close to boiling over. "Well, he has to come back sometime." He turned around to face Reid, trying hard not to touch him, but the effort made him bump into the corner of a wire shelf. "Ow!" he muttered, rubbing his arm just below the elbow.
Reid's sudden muteness was concerning, and it quelled some of Luke's anger. Was Reid so furious he couldn't speak? "Reid? You okay? I know you've got to be mad…"
Silence.
"Reid?" Luke looked carefully at Reid's face. It was almost level with Luke's since the blond was leaning back against the door to make more space. Reid had his eyes closed and was breathing deeply.
"It's not working," Reid whispered after a long pause.
"What's not?"
"Counting's no help…Confined space."
It might not have been a complete sentence, but Luke understood. The urgency of the situation was clear. With the palm of his hand, he banged on the door while keeping an eye on Reid. "Henry!" he yelled over his shoulder. "If you're there, you need to let us out! Reid doesn't like tight spaces. Henry! This is serious!"
Luke took a step forward and trounced Reid's foot. "Sorry," he said. "What can I do to help?" The look etched on Reid's face was agonizing--a mixture of fear and anguish. Luke immediately knew Reid’s panic had everything to do with the doctor being locked in his apartment for days as a child by his mother. Luke wanted to ease Reid’s tension and felt awful that he was the reason Reid was in this ridiculous situation.
Reid replied in a hoarse voice, "I don't know. Nothing. I just need to get out of here."
That was the one thing Luke couldn't do. His thoughts raced as he tried to come up with a way to make this better.
"Why don't you tell me what it is you like about surgery so much?" Luke asked. Maybe if Reid talked about something he loved--something that made him feel safe--he'd start to shake his panic.
Reid took a few deep breaths, and then shook his head. "Not surgery. Not exactly. It's the brain."
"Okay," Luke said in a soothing tone. "What is it about the brain?"
"I-I don't... each one's different. They're all amazing, though. It has this tangled... mass of... grey spaghetti, it's totally alien. But... it's not much to look at to the naked eye, but... yet it makes us... walk and talk, think... remember, smell... love. It produced the Sistine Chapel. Chocolate. Theory of relativity. Godfather, parts one and two. Not so sure about three, but..."
The half-smile that crossed Reid's face warmed Luke's heart. And the way Reid described the human brain was almost mesmerizing. Luke had never given it much consideration before, but now he would never quite think of it the same way. Trying to keep the tone light for Reid's sake, he said, "Don't forget it created Babe."
"They're not all perfect."
Luke laughed and was relieved to see that Reid's crooked smile now reached his eyes. God, he loved that smile, he thought with a mental sigh.
"I'm so sorry about this," Luke said.
"Did you plan this? 'Cause I'm pretty sure it was Mr. Coleman who pushed me in here."
"No, it's all Henry. But he's my friend."
"At least we can't hear any music in here. I’m sure he’s switched it back to his usual."
With the door shut, Reid was right--you couldn't hear the stereo anymore. "You noticed?"
"The music from the time when leg-warmers and mullets ruled? Yeah, I noticed. I think he stole my phone while I was in surgery the other day to make sure Phil Collins played whenever you called or texted."
Luke snorted. He now realized that the jazz music from earlier was probably Henry’s way of lulling him into a false sense of security.
"As a matter of fact," Reid continued, "I'm guessing it wasn't you who texted me to come over about thirty minutes ago. It was Oakdale's overzealous matchmaker."
"It wasn't me. Sorry. When Henry's bored, he tends to get fixated on his friends' love lives."
"He's insane."
"Clearly."
Luke looked at Reid's face and saw that the fear seemed to be erased. He wondered how he would be able to keep the doctor distracted for however long they were stuck here. "Are you comfortable?" the blond asked. Reid was standing with the wire shelves to his back and sides. Leaning against them couldn't be relaxing.
"Actually, something is stabbing me in the back. I can't reach it without turning around, and I don't think that's possible."
"Okay, let me look," Luke said, trying to glance around Reid. "If you'll just lean left…" Luke's mouth collided with Reid's shoulder. "Sorry. My left, your right." Luke was able to take a peek behind Reid, and pointedly reminded himself to ignore the scent of Reid's spicy cologne. "It looks like a box of spaghetti. I think I can get it. Just stay like that." Luke reached around Reid, brushing across the side of Reid's abdomen. His hip rubbed against the doctor's. He caught the tip of the box with his fingers but had to step even closer into Reid to pick it up. "Sorry," he muttered into Reid's warm neck.
Luke pulled the box to the side so that it was no longer hanging off the shelf. "That should do it." He straightened back up and returned to his perch against the wall. Reid wasn't saying anything again, but the question on Luke's tongue died when he caught the expression on Reid's face. Desire. Before Luke could raise a single defense against it, his body flooded with hunger for Reid in response. His gaze riveted on Reid's supple lips, and he remembered the feel of them on his own. He thought of them traveling up his torso, and he became instantly hard.
He tried to tilt his hips backward to conceal his craving. The space was so cramped that his erection was just inches from Reid's own… Oh god. The large bulge in Reid's pants was distinct and blatant, even in the dim light. And it had to be just as obvious that Luke had seen it given the way the younger man was gaping at it.
Luke raised his gaze to Reid's eyes, the memory of what it was like to touch Reid's cock and see Reid orgasm warring with his resolve. He knew he was flushed from both embarrassment and his thirst for Reid. Luke tried to ground his thoughts. They were two grown men trapped in a tiny closet. This wasn't reality, and what happened after they left this place was what was important. If he and Reid indulged in anything here, he didn't want it to be hollow. He needed to know he meant something to Reid other than being the person inconveniently wedged in the supply closet with him.
Reid raked Luke over with his stare, and the blond could feel pinpricks over every inch of his body that the doctor's gaze touched. Luke's body, of its own accord, stretched upright off the door. The motion left their bodies grazing each other's, their chests less than an inch apart. Their breaths mingled, and Luke could feel the temperature in the room climb.
His hand hurt. He glanced down and saw he'd been gripping the edge of the wire rack to his right so hard his fingers were turning red. Letting go, he turned his gaze back towards Reid. He didn't need to look to know that Reid was still staring at his face. There was light in those eyes, and Luke could feel the warmth without so much as a glance.
Reid's hand slowly rose to Luke's jaw. Luke could feel it trembling as the older man's thumb caressed the sensitive skin underneath his chin. The blond closed his eyes and swallowed. Stopped breathing. It was only Reid's stilted breath he could hear.
"Jesus…Luke…You."
The words, accentuated by the husky tone of his voice, escaped Reid's mouth as if he couldn't stop them. He uttered them with such unabashed awe that Luke felt stripped bare in return. It was humbling, yet made him feel pride at the same time. It drew him in, making him want to feel closer to the other man.
Luke saw nothing but faith in Reid's eyes--and then a small, hidden plea that Luke could still detect despite Reid's efforts to conceal. Please don't hurt me, Reid's wary eyes expressed to Luke. The blond's heart broke for Reid--this man shouldn't have to fear anything, Luke told himself. Luke's emotions blazed and overruled anything his head might try to tell him. There was only one option as far as Luke was concerned. He leaned slowly toward Reid, his eyes boring into Reid's the entire time. Reid's face registered a moment of disbelief the moment Luke's lips touched his. Then Reid's hand wrapped itself around Luke's neck and pulled the blond in deeper.
The kiss turned feverish in an instant. Reid might have felt trepidation, but he kissed with confidence. Everything about Reid oozed masculinity, even the angle of his head as he pushed Luke back into the door. Luke matched his intensity and let out a low growl when Reid pulled back for a moment to brace himself. Hands splayed against the frame on either side of Luke's head, Reid slowed the pace to tease Luke's mouth with his tongue. Luke wrapped his arms around Reid's strong shoulders, massaging them, and savored the electrifying shudders running down his spine. Kissing should always be like this, he reflected.
It was in Reid's kiss just as it had been in his words. Awe. Reverence. Luke felt claimed in a way he never had before. Never even imagined. Before this--well, he and Reid never really knew each other. Now…they knew.
Reid's lips seared and scorched their way towards Luke's neck. They nipped along Luke's ear, giving Luke shivers up and down his spine. Luke wanted to feel Reid's skin. He needed to feel Reid's heartbeat underneath his fingertips. He slipped his hand into the top of Reid's grey Oxford shirt, popping a couple buttons along the way. Reid's skin was smooth and hot to the touch, and Luke couldn't resist tasting it with his mouth and tongue. Luke could hear the pleasured rumble coming from Reid's chest as his lips worked their way along Reid's exposed skin.
Their erections rubbed against each other while their zippers caught on the material of the other's pants. Luke thought he might die happily if he could bury himself in Reid at that moment. Or if Reid came inside him. Either way sounded like ecstasy. He'd desired Reid in the past, hell, he'd had Reid in the past, but he couldn't ever remember wanting him this much. He was desperate to feel one with Reid, and the difference this time was…It was…
Reid opened his blue eyes to smile into Luke's as he caressed the blond's cheekbone with his hand. It was a tender motion, and Luke knew in that instant why, exactly why, this felt distinct. With every touch, with every kiss, Reid made Luke feel cherished. There was some elusive quality in Reid's embrace that Luke couldn't put his finger on, but he knew it made him feel wanted and appreciated.
Luke's hand slid down to Reid's waistband, but he let out a frustrated groan. He needed to think some more before he went any further. If this turned out to be just the passion of the moment, Luke would be hurt. And Reid had never said he wanted a relationship with Luke-there had only been talk of being friends since Christmas. Though Reid had recently said he was open to the possibility of a relationship with someone, he might not want to be attached to a guy who was raising children. Luke knew they had to stop this now and have some sort of discussion. "Reid…I…" He lost his thoughts in another burning kiss from Reid.
"You were saying?" Reid asked, pulling back.
"I…uh…" Fuck, Reid looked good--breathing hard, flushed, and eyes darkened with desire. Luke squeezed Reid's hand and tried to bolster his wits. Shaking his head to clear it, he said, “I need to think. I can't do this, not like this." He needed to know that there could be more between Reid and him, that this wouldn't be a one-time deal. He needed to know that Reid was on board with seeing a guy who was rearing a family.
He was about to explain himself when Henry, the king of bad-timing, opened the door to the closet. He missed Reid's worried look as he fell backwards out into the hall.
"Luke! How did you get stuck in here?" Henry asked.
Luke got a glance of Reid buttoning his shirt before the younger man rounded on his business partner. "What the hell, Henry?"
"What?" Henry asked with wide eyes.
Luke could feel his blood pressure rising. "Don't. Play. Dumb. I guess you didn't know that Reid is claustrophobic."
"He is?" Henry asked nervously.
Throwing up his hands, Luke cried, "Yes! And whatever you were trying to accomplish by locking us in a closet managed to scare the crap out of him."
"He looks okay," Henry said, eyeing Reid.
"Henry! This has to stop. You can't fix us up by playing some music and trapping us in a closet! You need to stop before someone gets hurt. You've already made things impossible for us. Whatever you've got planned next, it's not going to work!"
Reid interrupted the tirade. "Luke, I think I'll go."
Luke inhaled and tried to rein in his temper. "Wait, are you sure? Are you okay to drive?"
"I'm fine. I…just need to get out of here." He outstretched his hand and stared down Henry until the diner owner hand him his phone,
Luke couldn't discern what Reid's expression meant. And why wasn't he railing at Henry? He thought for sure Reid would have tried to kill Henry by now.
"Are…are we okay?" Luke asked. Was Reid upset they'd kissed? Did he regret it? "We're still friends, right?" Luke would have Henry's head if Henry had ruined this for him. If Reid walked out of his life over Henry….
"Friends," Reid replied with a tight smile. "As always."
Luke's heart dropped at the veiled anguish in the auburn-haired man's voice. "Reid…" Luke reached out but grasped thin air as the doctor had turned and nearly sprinted out of there before Luke could stop him. Luke rubbed his temples in frustration. Things couldn't remain the same after this day. That much Luke knew.
"My phone, Henry. Give it to me." He held out his hand without looking at his old friend. He was still too angry with him.
Henry had the grace to hand it over without a word.
Luke typed out a text to Reid: "Let's talk tonight. Your apartment. 7:00."