Resident (Chapter 2 of ?)
Previously on Resident: Reid returned to Oakdale after receiving a call from Dr. Swan, who wanted to bring him in after Bob Hughes suffered a stroke and was given a minimal chance of survival. Meanwhile Luke is getting ready to start his junior year of high school while also in a lackluster relationship with the boring Roth, who is adored by his mother and despised by his best friend Noah. Upon hearing of Reid's arrival from Noah, Luke goes to find him and as a result finds himself alone and tangled up with the young doctor in a linen closet where an old promised is finally fullfilled.
Chapter Two:
Forty-five minutes was all it took. Forty-five minutes for Luke to drive to Memorial, search through the halls, find Reid, be kissed more powerfully than he could’ve ever have hoped for in his wildest dreams, and then drive back to Java and break up with Roth. It’s not that Luke didn’t like Roth or care about him. He did, but that one look from Reid…the feeling of his hands on his face and hips, pulling him closer and closer until practically every inch of themselves touched from head to toe….he knew nothing with Roth could ever compare to that. At the time, whether Reid wanted more from Luke or whether he was just making good on a promise he had said long ago was still to be seen. One thing Luke did know was that he could never feel for Roth, what he felt for Reid in those five minutes alone with him. He did care for Roth though, which is why in his mind it was better to end it right then and there before things had the potential to develop even further.
It had been five days. Five, excruciatingly painful days since he last saw Reid again. He was lying on his bed, flat on his back with his arm curled onto his stomach. He looked down at his bare chest, feeling the sticky cum that was still in the process of drying. He let his head fall back to the pillow and sighed. That moment with Reid was enough to get him off for weeks…months….oh who the hell was he kidding! Years! But, he wanted more. He just felt like he needed to see him, to touch him.
He stepped into the shower and let the hot water beat down over his skin. His palms lay flat against the shower wall in front of him; an anchor to help support himself; his legs still slightly shaky from having come so many times. It didn’t take long for the word to get out that another neurosurgeon had been brought in to help Dr. Hughes; a young, hot shot doctor that was in the very early stages of his career. Once his name started circulating around town, many were shocked to realize that they had already heard of him. Not many people got to know Reid personally the first time around with the exception of the hospital staff. Besides work, the only people he ever saw were Katie and Luke himself. His mother, however, was none too pleased when she found out that the doctor had returned to town.
Three Nights Before…
They were all sitting around the dining room table; Lily, Holden, Luke, Faith, and Natalie. Ethan was in his high chair, stationed between Lily and Natalie bouncing happily, while Luke continued to make funny faces at him from across the table. Lily kept stealing glances at Luke when he wasn’t looking, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Holden.
“You alright Lil?”
Lily tore her eyes away from Luke to look at Holden who was sitting to the left of her. “Hmm? Oh,” she said smiling. “I’m fine.” She turned back to see Luke staring at her. She cleared her throat and picked up her fork and knife. “So I heard they brought in a new doctor today for Bob,” she said casually.
Luke felt his heart rate speed up and looked down at his glass waiting for his mother to continue. She knew.
“Hopefully they’ll be able to help,” Holden said sincerely, obviously unaware of the details. “Bob’s a good man. He’s done a lot in this town. I know Kim must be heartbroken.”
“I’m sure she is,” Lily agreed. “The doctor though. We actually know him.”
“We do?” Holden said confused.
Lily looked at Luke. “It’s Reid Oliver.”
Holden looked up, glancing between Luke and Lily. Lily was staring at Luke, looking as if she was waiting for him to say something, while Luke for his part, kept his head down facing his plate.
“Did you know that Dr. Oliver was coming back? Luke?”
“No,” he said quietly. “Why would I?”
Lily shrugged. “You and Dr. Oliver were….close…before. You’ve never said if you’ve kept in contact with him. I didn’t think that you did, but I also never thought I’d see him in this town again, so what do I know?”
“Lily,” Holden warned.
“I didn’t know Reid was coming back to town.”
“Reeiiidd,” Lily stretched out. “Reid.”
“What is this about mom? I mean…wasn’t your biggest problem with Reid before was that you were worried he turned your son ‘gay’? But that shouldn’t be the case now, right? Because no one turned me. I was born this way, remember? I thought we got past all that.”
“We did. I love you Luke. No matter what. My problem with that man is that he was taking advantage of you during a very difficult time in your life. His relationship with you was not appropriate.”
“His relationship with me was nothing but appropriate!” Luke defended. “He never took advantage of me. God mom,” he whined. “This is never going to stop, is it?”
He threw his napkin down and rushed out of the room, ignoring the calls of his mother.
Present Day…
Luke stepped out of the shower, grabbing the towel off the rack and dried off. He went to the sink and lifted his forearm, smearing the steam off the mirror so he could look at himself. Maybe I could just go back to the hospital. Or call him. His number’s probably still the same, right? Luke groaned and rubbed his hands against his face. He went to his room and changed. Picking up his cell phone, he sent a text to Noah, asking him if he wanted to meet at Al’s. No more than two minutes later and he got a reply.
C U There.
*
“Should I call him? Or should I stop by the hospital? Tell me Noah. I don’t know what to do!” Luke said freaking out.
“Okay, first of all, calm down. Second of all, showing up at his work is probably not the best idea. I would call him. No, wait…..text him. Something…casual.”
“I don’t even know if his number’s still the same though.”
“Do you know someone who would?”
Luke thought for a moment. “Maybe Katie. They were pretty tight when he lived here.”
“Okay, then try to get it out of her.”
“But, if I do that she’s going to know and then she’s going to say something to Reid and I really, really don’t want to come off as pathetic,” he stressed.
Noah laughed. “Trust me Luke. I don’t think you can come off as more pathetic to him as I did. Thankfully I’ve matured since then.”
“Noah, dating a man who was like….three times older than you for a couple of months doesn’t mean you matured.”
“Sure it does,” he shrugged. “Before Jack, I didn’t know what snowballing was. Now I do.”
Luke made a disgusted face. “Noah seriously, can we not bring that up? That conversation scarred me for life.”
“Oh Luke. You’re so cute.”
He rolled his eyes in response.
“Ahh someone’s not going to have to come across as desperate after all,” Noah sang.
“What are you talking about?”
Noah lifted his eyebrows and pointed over to the counter, where Reid was currently standing looking over a menu. “Well, what are you waiting for?” he said. “Go talk to him.”
Luke hesitated for a second before standing up and walking slowly towards Reid.
“Hey,” he said softly when he reached the counter.
Reid turned and smiled as his eyes met Luke. “Hey.”
“On break?” he asked curiously.
“No,” Reid shook his head. “Just picking up some food for me and Katie.”
“Oh. She must be happy to have you back then. I didn’t know if you two had stayed in contact, but I’m glad you did.”
“You know how pesky she is. Even being all the way out in California wasn’t going to stop her. She squealed so much when I told her I was coming to town that she offered me a place to stay.”
“Really? You’re staying with Katie?”
“Uh-huh.”
“So are you….are you just in town to help Bob?”
“They never change this menu, do they?” Reid said flipping through it haphazardly.
Luke looked back and forth between Reid and the menu, just now realizing the change in conversation. “Umm…no. I don’t think they have actually. Not as long as I’ve been coming here.”
Reid leaned forward on the counter, resting on his arms. Luke stood there, unmoving and unaware of what to say or do. Reid, sensing the younger man’s fear, began talking.
“So how are you Luke?”
“I’m….fine. Great even.” He stopped talking as the waitress came over and took Reid’s order.
After she went back to the kitchen, Reid turned to Luke. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Talk about what?” he said tilting his head in confusion.
“The kiss.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” he said simply. “A kiss is just a kiss.”
“It won’t happen again,” Reid assured causing Luke’s stomach to plummet. “Unless you want it to.” Wait, what?
“W-what?” Luke stuttered.
“I said it won’t happen again unless you want it to.”
“You want to kiss me again?” he asked waiting for clarification. At this current point of time, he was pretty sure his brain had just exploded. He just hoped he wasn’t drooling.
“You look good by the way,” Reid said once again not answering the question he was asked, but still speaking with open sincerity. Seriously, what is he doing to me.
“Thank you?” Luke said questioningly.
The waitress brought Reid’s order over along with the receipt from his credit card. He signed for it. He turned his copy over and scribbled on the back of it quickly before handing her back her pen. “I need to get going,” he said turning back to Luke, “but before I do….” He handed Luke the receipt. “This is my new cell phone number.”
“Number,” Luke repeated. Get a hold of yourself man. He’s probably thinking you took too many basketballs to the head.
“Yeah number,” Reid said amused. “You can call it sometime if you like.”
Luke stared at the piece of paper in his hand afraid that this was all just a figment of his imagination. When he realized that Reid was still standing in front of him, he looked up to meet his eyes. “Sure...yeah, okay.”
Reid nodded and grabbed the bags of food. “Bye Luke.”
“Bye,” Luke spoke to the empty space Reid had just vacated. He moved gingerly back to Noah and sat down.
“Well?”
“He gave me his number,” Luke said numbly.
“Awesome! Why do you look…like that?”
“I think he might think I have brain damage now.”
Noah laughed. “Don’t worry Luke. I saw the way he was looking at you. You’ll be doing your own snowballing real soon,” he winked.
“Pervert,” Luke muttered, picking up an Equal packet from the table and throwing it at him.
*
“Jesus, what took you so long, I’m starving.”
“Calm down Goldilocks. I couldn’t decide what I wanted.”
“Their menu never changes!”
“Still doesn’t mean that I knew what I wanted. Plus, I ran into Luke.”
“Ahh,” she said smiling. “Luke, huh?”
“Wipe that grin off your face. You look ridiculous.”
“I’m just waiting for you to tell me what should’ve been confirmed a long time ago.”
“And what’s that?”
“That you want in Luke Snyder’s pants…..bad.”
Reid sighed. “We had this conversation a long time ago Katie. You know I had feelings for him and he had feelings for me, but I just couldn’t. Not then.”
“But you can now?” she said, checking for confirmation.
“He’s seventeen.”
“Legal,” she winked.
He rolled his eyes at her. “If this is you trying to give me advice, you’re awful at it.”
“I’m brilliant at solving problems!” she said indignantly.
“I’ve been gone for 15 months. In that time, you started dating one man, married him, got divorced and is now dating his brother.”
“I am not dating Brad,” she replied sternly.
“Might as well be. You talk about him enough,” he huffed.
“Don’t start with me Oliver and don’t try to deflect our conversation to my romantic entanglements. This is supposed to be about you and Luke.”
“There is no me and Luke.”
“But you want there to be,” she said as more of a statement.
Reid took a deep breath. “Yes.” Katie started squealing some more and Reid flinched. “You really have to stop that. It is not appealing to your personality.”
“Oh shut it!” She hit him playfully. “So are you going to ask him out?”
“I gave him my number. I’m leaving it up to him what happens next. We’ll go at his pace.”
“Awww,” she cooed. “Big Bad Reid’s a big ole’ softie.”
“I can’t believe I agreed to stay with you.”
Before Katie could say anything, Reid’s phone ting’d indicating a new text message. He clicked it open and smiled, holding the phone up for Katie to read.
I forgot to say it, but u look really good too. Maybe we can both look good together? U know…at dinner? Or a movie? Just……call me. - Luke
Chapter Two:
Forty-five minutes was all it took. Forty-five minutes for Luke to drive to Memorial, search through the halls, find Reid, be kissed more powerfully than he could’ve ever have hoped for in his wildest dreams, and then drive back to Java and break up with Roth. It’s not that Luke didn’t like Roth or care about him. He did, but that one look from Reid…the feeling of his hands on his face and hips, pulling him closer and closer until practically every inch of themselves touched from head to toe….he knew nothing with Roth could ever compare to that. At the time, whether Reid wanted more from Luke or whether he was just making good on a promise he had said long ago was still to be seen. One thing Luke did know was that he could never feel for Roth, what he felt for Reid in those five minutes alone with him. He did care for Roth though, which is why in his mind it was better to end it right then and there before things had the potential to develop even further.
It had been five days. Five, excruciatingly painful days since he last saw Reid again. He was lying on his bed, flat on his back with his arm curled onto his stomach. He looked down at his bare chest, feeling the sticky cum that was still in the process of drying. He let his head fall back to the pillow and sighed. That moment with Reid was enough to get him off for weeks…months….oh who the hell was he kidding! Years! But, he wanted more. He just felt like he needed to see him, to touch him.
He stepped into the shower and let the hot water beat down over his skin. His palms lay flat against the shower wall in front of him; an anchor to help support himself; his legs still slightly shaky from having come so many times. It didn’t take long for the word to get out that another neurosurgeon had been brought in to help Dr. Hughes; a young, hot shot doctor that was in the very early stages of his career. Once his name started circulating around town, many were shocked to realize that they had already heard of him. Not many people got to know Reid personally the first time around with the exception of the hospital staff. Besides work, the only people he ever saw were Katie and Luke himself. His mother, however, was none too pleased when she found out that the doctor had returned to town.
Three Nights Before…
They were all sitting around the dining room table; Lily, Holden, Luke, Faith, and Natalie. Ethan was in his high chair, stationed between Lily and Natalie bouncing happily, while Luke continued to make funny faces at him from across the table. Lily kept stealing glances at Luke when he wasn’t looking, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Holden.
“You alright Lil?”
Lily tore her eyes away from Luke to look at Holden who was sitting to the left of her. “Hmm? Oh,” she said smiling. “I’m fine.” She turned back to see Luke staring at her. She cleared her throat and picked up her fork and knife. “So I heard they brought in a new doctor today for Bob,” she said casually.
Luke felt his heart rate speed up and looked down at his glass waiting for his mother to continue. She knew.
“Hopefully they’ll be able to help,” Holden said sincerely, obviously unaware of the details. “Bob’s a good man. He’s done a lot in this town. I know Kim must be heartbroken.”
“I’m sure she is,” Lily agreed. “The doctor though. We actually know him.”
“We do?” Holden said confused.
Lily looked at Luke. “It’s Reid Oliver.”
Holden looked up, glancing between Luke and Lily. Lily was staring at Luke, looking as if she was waiting for him to say something, while Luke for his part, kept his head down facing his plate.
“Did you know that Dr. Oliver was coming back? Luke?”
“No,” he said quietly. “Why would I?”
Lily shrugged. “You and Dr. Oliver were….close…before. You’ve never said if you’ve kept in contact with him. I didn’t think that you did, but I also never thought I’d see him in this town again, so what do I know?”
“Lily,” Holden warned.
“I didn’t know Reid was coming back to town.”
“Reeiiidd,” Lily stretched out. “Reid.”
“What is this about mom? I mean…wasn’t your biggest problem with Reid before was that you were worried he turned your son ‘gay’? But that shouldn’t be the case now, right? Because no one turned me. I was born this way, remember? I thought we got past all that.”
“We did. I love you Luke. No matter what. My problem with that man is that he was taking advantage of you during a very difficult time in your life. His relationship with you was not appropriate.”
“His relationship with me was nothing but appropriate!” Luke defended. “He never took advantage of me. God mom,” he whined. “This is never going to stop, is it?”
He threw his napkin down and rushed out of the room, ignoring the calls of his mother.
Present Day…
Luke stepped out of the shower, grabbing the towel off the rack and dried off. He went to the sink and lifted his forearm, smearing the steam off the mirror so he could look at himself. Maybe I could just go back to the hospital. Or call him. His number’s probably still the same, right? Luke groaned and rubbed his hands against his face. He went to his room and changed. Picking up his cell phone, he sent a text to Noah, asking him if he wanted to meet at Al’s. No more than two minutes later and he got a reply.
C U There.
*
“Should I call him? Or should I stop by the hospital? Tell me Noah. I don’t know what to do!” Luke said freaking out.
“Okay, first of all, calm down. Second of all, showing up at his work is probably not the best idea. I would call him. No, wait…..text him. Something…casual.”
“I don’t even know if his number’s still the same though.”
“Do you know someone who would?”
Luke thought for a moment. “Maybe Katie. They were pretty tight when he lived here.”
“Okay, then try to get it out of her.”
“But, if I do that she’s going to know and then she’s going to say something to Reid and I really, really don’t want to come off as pathetic,” he stressed.
Noah laughed. “Trust me Luke. I don’t think you can come off as more pathetic to him as I did. Thankfully I’ve matured since then.”
“Noah, dating a man who was like….three times older than you for a couple of months doesn’t mean you matured.”
“Sure it does,” he shrugged. “Before Jack, I didn’t know what snowballing was. Now I do.”
Luke made a disgusted face. “Noah seriously, can we not bring that up? That conversation scarred me for life.”
“Oh Luke. You’re so cute.”
He rolled his eyes in response.
“Ahh someone’s not going to have to come across as desperate after all,” Noah sang.
“What are you talking about?”
Noah lifted his eyebrows and pointed over to the counter, where Reid was currently standing looking over a menu. “Well, what are you waiting for?” he said. “Go talk to him.”
Luke hesitated for a second before standing up and walking slowly towards Reid.
“Hey,” he said softly when he reached the counter.
Reid turned and smiled as his eyes met Luke. “Hey.”
“On break?” he asked curiously.
“No,” Reid shook his head. “Just picking up some food for me and Katie.”
“Oh. She must be happy to have you back then. I didn’t know if you two had stayed in contact, but I’m glad you did.”
“You know how pesky she is. Even being all the way out in California wasn’t going to stop her. She squealed so much when I told her I was coming to town that she offered me a place to stay.”
“Really? You’re staying with Katie?”
“Uh-huh.”
“So are you….are you just in town to help Bob?”
“They never change this menu, do they?” Reid said flipping through it haphazardly.
Luke looked back and forth between Reid and the menu, just now realizing the change in conversation. “Umm…no. I don’t think they have actually. Not as long as I’ve been coming here.”
Reid leaned forward on the counter, resting on his arms. Luke stood there, unmoving and unaware of what to say or do. Reid, sensing the younger man’s fear, began talking.
“So how are you Luke?”
“I’m….fine. Great even.” He stopped talking as the waitress came over and took Reid’s order.
After she went back to the kitchen, Reid turned to Luke. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Talk about what?” he said tilting his head in confusion.
“The kiss.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” he said simply. “A kiss is just a kiss.”
“It won’t happen again,” Reid assured causing Luke’s stomach to plummet. “Unless you want it to.” Wait, what?
“W-what?” Luke stuttered.
“I said it won’t happen again unless you want it to.”
“You want to kiss me again?” he asked waiting for clarification. At this current point of time, he was pretty sure his brain had just exploded. He just hoped he wasn’t drooling.
“You look good by the way,” Reid said once again not answering the question he was asked, but still speaking with open sincerity. Seriously, what is he doing to me.
“Thank you?” Luke said questioningly.
The waitress brought Reid’s order over along with the receipt from his credit card. He signed for it. He turned his copy over and scribbled on the back of it quickly before handing her back her pen. “I need to get going,” he said turning back to Luke, “but before I do….” He handed Luke the receipt. “This is my new cell phone number.”
“Number,” Luke repeated. Get a hold of yourself man. He’s probably thinking you took too many basketballs to the head.
“Yeah number,” Reid said amused. “You can call it sometime if you like.”
Luke stared at the piece of paper in his hand afraid that this was all just a figment of his imagination. When he realized that Reid was still standing in front of him, he looked up to meet his eyes. “Sure...yeah, okay.”
Reid nodded and grabbed the bags of food. “Bye Luke.”
“Bye,” Luke spoke to the empty space Reid had just vacated. He moved gingerly back to Noah and sat down.
“Well?”
“He gave me his number,” Luke said numbly.
“Awesome! Why do you look…like that?”
“I think he might think I have brain damage now.”
Noah laughed. “Don’t worry Luke. I saw the way he was looking at you. You’ll be doing your own snowballing real soon,” he winked.
“Pervert,” Luke muttered, picking up an Equal packet from the table and throwing it at him.
*
“Jesus, what took you so long, I’m starving.”
“Calm down Goldilocks. I couldn’t decide what I wanted.”
“Their menu never changes!”
“Still doesn’t mean that I knew what I wanted. Plus, I ran into Luke.”
“Ahh,” she said smiling. “Luke, huh?”
“Wipe that grin off your face. You look ridiculous.”
“I’m just waiting for you to tell me what should’ve been confirmed a long time ago.”
“And what’s that?”
“That you want in Luke Snyder’s pants…..bad.”
Reid sighed. “We had this conversation a long time ago Katie. You know I had feelings for him and he had feelings for me, but I just couldn’t. Not then.”
“But you can now?” she said, checking for confirmation.
“He’s seventeen.”
“Legal,” she winked.
He rolled his eyes at her. “If this is you trying to give me advice, you’re awful at it.”
“I’m brilliant at solving problems!” she said indignantly.
“I’ve been gone for 15 months. In that time, you started dating one man, married him, got divorced and is now dating his brother.”
“I am not dating Brad,” she replied sternly.
“Might as well be. You talk about him enough,” he huffed.
“Don’t start with me Oliver and don’t try to deflect our conversation to my romantic entanglements. This is supposed to be about you and Luke.”
“There is no me and Luke.”
“But you want there to be,” she said as more of a statement.
Reid took a deep breath. “Yes.” Katie started squealing some more and Reid flinched. “You really have to stop that. It is not appealing to your personality.”
“Oh shut it!” She hit him playfully. “So are you going to ask him out?”
“I gave him my number. I’m leaving it up to him what happens next. We’ll go at his pace.”
“Awww,” she cooed. “Big Bad Reid’s a big ole’ softie.”
“I can’t believe I agreed to stay with you.”
Before Katie could say anything, Reid’s phone ting’d indicating a new text message. He clicked it open and smiled, holding the phone up for Katie to read.
I forgot to say it, but u look really good too. Maybe we can both look good together? U know…at dinner? Or a movie? Just……call me. - Luke