Always Attract (Chapter 85)
“So do you like baseball? At all?”
They were already in their seats waiting for the game to start. Reid had his beer in front of him (after much assurance from Luke that it was okay for him to drink) and Luke was satisfied with his own beverage of a plain Pepsi. He was currently munching on popcorn, while Reid sat with a plate of loaded nachos on his lap.
“I know you like basketball obviously, the Celtics, but do you like baseball?”
“I do. Who doesn’t actually like baseball? It’s America ’s pastime. Just was never a fan of the Red Sox. Now of course they can actually win, but I’m old and set in my ways now.”
“Of course,” Luke said smiling.
“So who’s your favorite baseball team?” Luke asked.
“You’re looking at ‘em.”
“Really?” Luke said sincerely. “I would’ve thought maybe the Astros or the Rangers.”
“I like the history of the Cardinals. The championships, the players. Did you know that they’ve been around since the 1800’s?”
“I thought that was the St. Louis Browns,” Luke said confused.
“It is, but that’s what the Cardinals were called before. They were the original St. Louis Brown Stockings, shortened to Browns. Then they decided to change their name to the St. Louis Cardinals and then the city decided to have another team and they named themselves the Browns.”
“That’s…..stupid.”
“It is,” he whole-heartedly agreed. “Anyway, the Browns wound up moving to Baltimore and became the Orioles, meanwhile the original Browns, the Cardinals, are still here to this very day.”
“You know a lot about them.”
“My grandfather was a fan of the Celtics; my dad was a fan of the Cardinals.”
“So your love of all things sports, you picked up from the men in your life.”
“You could say that,” Reid conceded. Luke nodded but didn’t say anything further on the subject matter of family, not wanting to push his luck. Slowly Reid was opening up parts of him that he’d never known and for that he was incredibly grateful.
“I like the Cubs,” Luke said plainly.
Reid snorted. “Of course you do.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Luke asked offended.
“It means that the Cubs are definitely a team that’s never going to win the World Series. What’s it been? 104-105 years? Something like that since they won it all. You know what ‘CUBS’ stand for, don’t you? Completely Useless by September.”
Luke rolled his eyes. “Whatever Reid. You just wait. It’ll happen.”
“Oh Luke. You’re so cloyingly naïve. If you weren’t so hot, I’d find you annoying.”
Luke blushed before thinking about the last part. “Hey!”
Reid smirked. “I’m sorry. He held up the plate on his lap. “Nacho?” he offered as a peace treaty. Luke chewed on his lip while looking over the plate, deciding which chip he wanted before picking one out that was covered with cheese, meat, and sour cream.
“Mmm,” he groaned as chewed on the gooey delight. “So good.”
Reid watched as Luke licked his fingers clean and then forced himself to look away. Jesus Reid, have some self control.
Luke pretended to be watching the game that had now started, but was internally laughing to himself, pleased with Reid’s reaction to Luke’s little show. Reid’s reaction to such a little thing, mixed in with him calling Luke hot earlier made his stomach church in a good way. The fact that Reid was still attracted to Luke did inexplicable things to his confidence. Halfway through the first inning, Reid leaned over and whispered into his ear, asking him if he’d like to come over after the game. Luke hesitated only briefly before nodding earnestly.
*
“So this is it, huh?”
When Reid decided to move to St. Louis, he opted for buying a condo downtown in the city. It was easy upkeep, plus he’d be close to the hospital. It suit him just fine, but he could tell Luke didn’t like it. On one end of the street, you’d have million dollar condos and at the other end, you could have people living in poverty; run down homes and empty train cars with graffiti drawn everywhere. It was a strange city and to an outsider it could even make you uncomfortable. Most people given a choice would actually prefer to live outside of it, but Reid didn’t really care.
“It’s really nice,” Luke said admiring the clean and modern furnishes.
“You hate it,” he said laughing.
“No,” he shook his head. “I don’t, it’s just……this isn’t exactly the safest city and I just worry……aren’t you scared something might happen?”
“Luke, you’re from Oakdale where walking down the street can get you kidnapped, going to a wedding can get you shot, and fainting can get a microship implanted in your brain. It’s fine.”
Luke nodded. “It really is nice and spacious in here. I’m just a little more used to something…..”
“Homey,” Reid filled in for him.
“Yeah,” Luke smiled before walking over to the couch and having a seat. Reid followed suit and the two of them instinctively turned towards each other, their knees brushing.
Luke watched Reid, both men silent. He could tell Reid was thinking about something, so he decided to bite the bullet. “What’s going through that brain of yours?” he asked.
“Sorry,” Reid said apologetically. “I was just thinking about Matt.”
“Ouch,” Luke replied, fake wounded.
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I know,” Luke laughed. “What about him though?”
“Is there something going on with him that he doesn’t want me to know?”
“Hmm,” Luke scrunched up his face. “I think I know what this is about.”
“Please, do tell.”
“He probably didn’t want to tell you because he didn’t know how you’d react.”
“About what?” he asked cautiously.
“Matt’s umm….he’s dating Jared.”
“Shipley!?”
“Yeah.”
“How the hell did that start?”
Luke shrugged. “They ran into each other in Java or something and started talking. I’m not sure exactly how it all went down. He never really got into specifics, but they started hooking up and are “dating”.” Reid sat there in a stunned silence. “I know you were with him, but the guy is an asshole Reid. I mean really. I never knew him before, but now that I do, I can’t stand him. I don’t even get to hang out with Matt as much as before just because I can’t stand being around the guy. He could do so much better.”
“Of course he can!” Reid exclaimed. “I know I dated the guy, but I knew who he was. It was just……”
“A way to pass the time?” Luke said. “Believe me, I know.”
“That man is not meant to be anyone’s boyfriend. I don’t understand why Matt would be with him.”
Luke looked at him sadly. “Well you know that he broke up with Casey. He didn’t want him staying around or putting his life on hold for him. Casey decided to enroll in summer classes and left a couple weeks after you did. He was okay. He really was, but then a couple months passed and………”
“And he found out about Amber.”
Luke nodded his head. Not too long after Casey moved, he had met a girl named Amber. Nothing happened between the two of them. Supposedly they were just friends, but just after two months of living in Tennessee, the two became an item.
“He didn’t take it very well. I mean….I think he was expecting Casey to move on, just not that fast.”
“He seemed alright though. I mean….I could tell he was sad and didn’t want to talk about it, but…..”
“He was okay,” Luke assured. “He was just okay though. I could tell he was putting on a bit of a front. Anyway he started to get a little better…..until Thanksgiving.”
“I’m confused,” Reid said. “What happened at Thanksgiving?”
Luke gritted his teeth together. “Casey decided it was a good idea to bring her home with him. Matt saw the two of them together at Al’s. It’s one thing to find out about them, but it’s a whole other thing to see the two of them together. I still don’t understand what the hell Casey was thinking. Afterwards though, Matt sort of completely shut down a little bit and let’s just say his once habit of somehow dating nothing but assholes resurfaced and after going through a few, he eventually settled on Jared.”
Reid sighed. “He’s had the worst luck with men.”
“Then he met you,” Luke sang. “It’s amazing how much better you are then most, isn’t it?” he said with a smirk.
“Thank you for the ego stroke, but……damn it. He’s dated some really, really shitty guys in the past Luke. I mean…I’m not even sure you know the half of it, but I thought…at least after he was with Casey that I don’t know….he might have better luck. I didn’t think he would regress.”
“I don’t think he’s really been thinking clearly since then,” Luke said softly. “He’s doing great in every other aspect of his life though. You should’ve seen Ethan’s face when he found out he had Matt as his teacher this year. He was so excited.”
“Oh I know. It’s all he could talk about at Jacob’s party. Not to mention he was proud of the fact that he was friends with his teacher and Matt’s “so cool” all of the other kids were jealous,” he laughed. “I take it you told Matt of your concerns regarding his relationship though.”
“I did,” he said hesitantly. “I just couldn’t help myself.”
“And what did he say?”
“Basically told me to butt out and that he was an adult and knew what he was doing.”
Reid raised his eyebrows. “Nice.”
“Yeah,” Luke laughed haughtily. “For the sake of our friendship, I agreed, but he knows I still don’t like him. We just don’t talk about it.”
“Does Casey know?”
Luke shrugged. “Not sure. We haven’t really talked much since then. I sort of reemed him a new one after I found out what he did. I mean….I know it’s his right to bring whoever he wants home, but for God’s sake he started dating her only two months after they broke up! And he could’ve warned Matt or me or someone that he was bringing her home with him. No one thought anything of it because they’d only been together for a couple months. I would’ve thought she’d been going home to her own family.”
“I’ll agree with you on the warning part, but like you said earlier, Matt knew that sooner or later he would move on. It just turned out it was sooner.”
“Much sooner,” Luke said bitterly.
“Hey,” Reid leaned for to smooth out Luke’s frown. “Don’t do that, you’ll get wrinkles.”
Luke swatted his hand away. “Fuck you old man, I’m only twenty-five.”
Reid stared back looking somewhat amused. “You’re kind of hot when you get all angry, you know that?”
And just like that, Luke was once again turned to a pile of goo, looking like an innocent school girl.
“That’s the second time you’ve called me hot tonight. You realize that, right?”
“Just stating facts,” Reid said softly. Luke blushed prettily and Reid cleared his throat, asking the younger man if he wanted to watch a movie to help pass the time. Fifteen minutes later, they found themselves sitting more comfortably on the couch, their silhouettes illuminated by the television screen. Ten minutes later, their thighs were laid against each other as they had scooted closer together and another fifteen minutes later, Luke’s head was resting on Reid’s shoulder. The best part though, was five minutes later when Reid’s smooth fingers, intertwined themselves with Luke’s. It was a small gesture, but one which made each man’s heart flutter a way in which it hadn’t in a long time.