Ain´t no sense in love - part 1
Lily Snyder was having a surprisingly relaxing day. Holden and the youngest kids were at the farm and Luke was off somewhere with his boyfriend, which meant that Lily could have a lazy day on the sofa, reading romantic novels while eating chocolate or not doing anything at all. The only problem was that even the thought of doing nothing bored her. She supposed days like this should be cherished, because with four children and an overall time-consuming life she didn´t have much spare time, but the truth was she liked it that way. She loved having the kids and their friends around and she enjoyed seeing Luke and Reid together, because Reid made her son happy and that´s all that counted.
She still remembered the first time she met Reid. It was the same day she found out she was pregnant with Faith-and looking back on that day now, she wasn’t sure if that was why she still remembered that day perfectly or if it was because Reid had played such a big role in their lives and meeting him was significant, not only for Luke.
She had taken Luke to the park in their neighborhood which also had a nice playground and there were always a lot of kids. Luke was six years old and eager to find new friends to play with, and she knew how happy he would be when she told him he was going to be a big brother. She sat down on a bench and let Luke run off. Putting her hand protectively over her stomach, she thought of the new life growing inside her and how happy Holden was. She was a bit worried about whether he would treat this baby differently than Luke, seeing how this would be their first biological child together. She didn´t think he would, he had opened his arms and heart to Luke from the second he saw him, but she had learned the hard way not to take anything for granted.
Luke was such a sweet little boy with his messy blond hair and those big chocolate brown eyes, and she knew that everyone, herself included, was spoiling him rotten. It would probably do them all good to have another child to share their love for.
She was interrupted in her thoughts when Luke came running towards her with tears in his eyes.
“What´s the matter honey?” She asked while lifting him up in her arms.
“That boy,” he said and pointed towards the other end of the playground with his tiny finger, where a skinny boy sat on the edge of a sandbox, casually eating an apple, “said that he didn´t want to play with me ´cause playing is for children.” Luke rubbed his eyes. “But we are children, aren´t we Mommy?”
Lily had to bite her lip to hold back a smile. “Yes, sweetie you are. But maybe he just doesn´t like to play?”
Luke twisted his hands together and furrowed his small brows. “Why is he here then, if he don´t wanna play?”
“I don´t know, Luke. Maybe it´s better to just leave him alone. There are a lot of other kids here, I´m sure there are others who want to play with you.”
“I don´t think he likes being alone.”
After Luke had run off again she watched the other boy. He seemed to be the same age as Luke and had short curly hair in a dark red tone. He would have been cute if he hadn´t had such a sullen look on his face, as if he didn´t really want to be there at all. His clothes seemed to be at least one size too big and his jeans had a hole on his left knee. He didn´t seem to be interested in playing with the other children nor did he seem to have any adult there watching him.
She couldn´t help but smile when she saw Luke moving closer to the boy again. It was so typical of her son, wanting to be friends with everyone and never wanting to see anyone left out. She moved a bit closer so she could hear their conversation, just in case.
“Do you wanna build a sandcastle with me?” Luke spoke with his usual enthusiasm but Lily knew her son and recognized that the way he bit his lip was a sign of nervousness.
The other boy snorted. “I already told you, I don´t want to play with you.”
Luke´s bottom lip started to tremble and Lily was sure he was going to start crying, but somehow he managed to hold it back. “My dad says that building something isn´t the same as playing.”
The redhead simply snorted and continued eating his apple, but Lily noticed that he didn´t try to move somewhere else and he glanced at Luke every now and then. Luke continued talking and telling the boy about himself and the farm and his favorite toys, and even though the boy didn´t seem too interested he did answer when Luke asked what his name was.
“Give me that,” Reid suddenly snapped and took the shovel from Luke´s hand. “You´re doing it wrong, you have to dig deeper to get to the dark sand, it´s much easier to build with.” He dug down until he reached what he was looking for and formed it in his hands. “See?”
And from that day they had been inseparable. Reid was a strange boy and in the beginning Lily didn´t understand what Luke saw in him. He acted like a self-centered know-it-all most of the time and sometimes Lily thought he was a grown man trapped inside a little boy´s body. He was very intelligent and could read and write fluently before he even started school. He was also completely socially incompetent. Reid always said exactly what he thought, and even though Lily in no way encouraged lying she had to admit that sometimes it was preferable to Reid´s honesty.
He lived with his parents not far from the Snyder farm, but Lily hardly ever met Mr. and Mrs. Oliver. Reid always came to the farm to play, though Reid preferred to call it hang out, on his bike. He never had birthday parties or invited Luke to his home. In the beginning Lily had tried to ask him about his parents but he usually just shrugged or didn´t answer at all. When she finally did meet them she came to the conclusion that they weren´t bad people, they just hadn´t got a clue what to do with a little boy. The only time they actually seemed to spend time with their son was when they drove him to whatever chess tournament he participated in. And Lily had no problem with chess, Reid seemed to enjoy it and he was obviously very good at it, she just thought that they treated him more like a prize pony than their actual son.
Reid never talked about it, at least not with Lily, so she had no idea what he actually thought, but when Reid and Luke were 12 years old, Luke asked if Reid could stay over a few nights. Apparently Reid had decided that he didn’t want to play chess anymore and refused to do it, which of course upset his parents so they had a huge fight and Reid wanted to get away for a few days.
Three months later Mr. and Mrs. Oliver died in a car crash. Lily didn´t know what to expect from Reid afterwards but he acted exactly the same as always, maybe a bit quieter and a little withdrawn, but with Reid it was hard to be certain since he wasn´t very talkative to begin with. When Lily found out, her first thought was to take care of the boy and offer him a place to stay, and Holden had agreed. But before they could offer, it turned out that Reid´s Uncle Angus was going to take care of him. Lily was relieved, not because she didn´t want to take care of Reid herself, but because Reid had family who was there for him, and even if Lily could offer him a home she could never give him a family in the same way his Uncle could. Turned out she was wrong.
Angus wasn´t an evil person. He didn´t abuse Reid or hurt him in any other way, at least as far as Lily knew, but he just didn´t particularly care about him either. According to Luke, Uncle Angus thought that the only thing important in life was chess-and since Reid didn´t want to play anymore, he wasn´t important either.
Lily shook her head and decided she had wasted enough time going through old memories, it was almost time for dinner and hopefully the kids would be home soon.
It was a quiet dinner that night with only Lily, Luke and Reid, since Holden and the kids had decided to eat with Emma at the farm. Lily had to cook just as much as she usually would though, Reid loved to eat and she wonder for the millionth time where he put it. Maybe his weird Uncle didn´t give him enough to eat, she thought, feeling thankful that Reid had managed to get a job at Memorial over the summer so he could afford his own apartment. Even if it was only for two months she understood why he didn´t want to live with his Uncle a second longer than he had to.
“So, since Reid is moving tomorrow, I probably won’t be home until late,” Luke said, interrupting Lily´s train of thought.
“You´re not going with him?” Lily dropped another steak on Reid´s plate and he gave her what she assumed was a thankful nod.
“Well, I´m going to help him move all his stuff, but it´s not as if he has a lot of things. I´m just saying that I´ll probably be home late tomorrow.” Luke absentmindedly pushed his plate closer to Reid, who grabbed his remaining potatoes.
“That´s not what I meant sweetie. Your dad and I have been talking and if you want to live together over the summer it´s fine by us.” Well, Holden had suggested it, and even if Lily felt they were way too young to actually move in together, it was their last summer before college and they would probably want to spend as much time together as possible before college life began.
“What?” Luke asked, looking at her with his brows raised.
“Well, you´ll probably spend all your time there anyway so why not move in so you have all your stuff there?”
“Mom, I can´t move in there, it´s a one-room apartment. I mean sure, I guess I´ll sleep over a few times, but I can´t stay on the couch a whole summer.”
Lily smiled. “Honey, we´re not expecting you to sleep on the couch.” Sure, Luke was only eighteen but it wasn’t like she was trying to kid herself that they weren’t having sex. That is, when she actually thought about it, which most of the time she tried hard not to. Eighteen or not, he was still her little boy.
Luke just stared at her, as if not really understanding what she meant. “Where should I sleep then?”
“In the bed.” When that didn´t get a response she clarified. “With Reid.”
Reid dropped his fork on his plate. The sharp noise made Lily jump, and when she looked at him she realized that he too was staring at her, which was odd seeing how Reid never did anything besides stuff his mouth until there was no food left. There was a strained silence where both boys stared at her like she´d lost her mind until Luke laughed nervously. “Why would I sleep in Reid´s bed?”
Okay, so she was going to have to spell it out. “Your father and I was young once too you know, we know that you´re having sex.” Lily felt her cheeks turning pink, because hello, this was awkward, but she tried to give them a comforting smile to show it was alright.
Luke opened and closed his mouth a few times and seemed to be on the verge of saying something when Reid started coughing violently. Luke handed him his own glass of water and slapped him absentmindedly on the back a few times.
“Mom, we´re not having sex,” Luke said when Reid seemed to be able to breathe again. He didn´t start eating again though, which was definitely something out of the ordinary.
“You´re not?”
“God mom, of course not,” Luke stated incredulously, scratching his neck which was a habitual thing he always did when he was nervous or embarrassed, Lily wasn´t really sure which it was now though. “That´s just wrong. Why would you even think that?”
“Honey,” Lily reached for Luke´s hand and he reluctantly gave it to her. “There´s nothing wrong when two people who love each other and have been together as long as you and Reid, have sex.” Lily noticed the confused look on both boys in front of her and started to wonder if she´d done something wrong to make Luke think sex wasn´t normal. She knew she hadn´t been a role-model when it came to relationships, her back and forth between Damian and Holden wasn´t what she wanted for any of her children, but she did hope they would understand that everything she´d done had been out of love. Whether it was the right thing to do or not, she still wasn’t sure of, but she´d always followed her heart and she wanted her children to do the same.
“Your father and I would be worried if you weren´t having sex,” she continued with what she hoped was a reassuring smile.
“Mom, we are not having sex, because we’re not together.” Luke spoke slowly and emphasized every word.
“You´re not?” Now it was Lily´s turn to look confused and it felt like she was missing something here because when did they break up? How could she not know that? “Since when?”
“Since always! For god’s sake mom, we´re just friends, we have never been anything but friends. ” Luke let go of her hand and reached for his water glass only to find it empty next to Reid´s.
“Well, except that one time when you wanted to…” Apparently Reid thought now was a good time to participate in the conversation, but thankfully Luke quickly interrupted him. Whatever he was about to say, Lily was sure it wasn´t something she would want to hear.
“Shut up Reid!” Luke slapped him on the arm which only made Reid smirk, but he finally went back to eating. At least that was something that resembled normalcy and right now Lily needed everything she could get. It felt like her whole world had been turned upside down.
“But, it´s always you and Reid. Everybody thinks you’re together.” Lily suddenly felt the urge to defend herself, which was ridiculous, but the whole situation was weird and frankly a bit embarrassing.
“But we´re not, okay. So can you drop the sex talk now please?” Luke picked up his fork again but since there was no food left on his plate he just sat there holding it.
Well, this is awkward, Lily thought while raising her own fork, not really noticing what was on it anymore.
Later that night when Holden was back home and they were getting ready for bed Lily told him what happened during dinner.
“So, I told Luke that he could move in with Reid over the summer, just like we decided, but he didn´t want to.”
“Why not?” Holden asked, while slipping into his pajama pants.
“Well, apparently they´re not together,” Lily said and climbed into bed.
“What? When did they break up?” Holden looked absolutely shocked and Lily couldn´t help but feel a bit relieved. Apparently she wasn´t the only one who had assumed wrong.
“Well, according to Luke, they never were together in the first place. They´re just friends.”
“They´re not?” Holden asked incredulously. “Are you sure they weren´t kidding with you?”
“Holden, I´m absolutely positive,” Lily said. “Luke acted like I was crazy for even thinking they were together.”
“I can´t believe this. Even a blind man can see that they love each other. Hell, that´s how we knew Luke was gay. Or at least thought we knew.” Holden climbed in beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer.
Holden was right though, they had found out Reid was gay when the boys were thirteen, and when Lily had gotten used to the thought she had just waited for Luke to come and tell them he was gay too. Looking back now it was quite funny, Lily had overheard a conversation between Luke, Reid and Katie by accident and that was the reason they knew about Reid.
Lily had been worried about him, his parents had been dead for almost a year and he never talked about it, nor did he say anything about his Uncle-so even though Lily normally was all about privacy she had felt that the only way to get some information was to eavesdrop. She wasn´t proud of it, but at the time she had been desperate. She wasn´t prepared for what she was about to hear though.
Luke, Reid and Katie had been working on some assignment for school at the farm and Lily had assisted with hot chocolate and cookies. When she had been about to walk out with another plate of Reid´s favorite chocolate chip cookies she had noticed that the conversation had turned from school to something completely different.
“Maddie said that she was going to marry Casey when we´re older,” Luke said.
“I´m never going to get married,” Reid stated.
“C’mon Reid, I´m sure even you can find a girl who puts up with you. Katie definitely likes you,” Luke teased.
“I do not!” Katie squealed and slapped Luke on the arm, but her cheeks turned slightly pink and Lily smiled because everyone knew that Katie was in love with Reid.
Reid snorted. “Yes, you do Katie, you like every guy you see. But even if I were to get married, I wouldn´t marry a girl.”
“What do you mean, Reid?” Luke asked and frowned.
“I mean that I don´t like girls that way.”
“What way?” Luke looked as confused as Lily was feeling.
“Christ Luke, which way do you think?” Reid seemed to be a bit embarrassed but determined all the same, and suddenly Lily understood exactly what he meant.
“You mean you´re gay?” Katie asked and looked disappointed.
“Wow, 10 points to Gryffindor!” Reid said mockingly. “Yes, I am gay, Katie.” He sounded just as self-assured as always but he looked at Luke when he answered and his left hand was fidgeting on his thigh, which Lily knew was one of the few nervous tics Reid had.
“Well, that´s typical,” Katie huffed.
“You mean… you like guys?” Luke seemed to be having a hard time understanding what Reid meant and Lily was right there with him. She always had this picture in her head of what a gay man would look like and Reid was definitely not the type. And he was only thirteen years old, how could he possibly know what he wanted?
“That´s usually what the term gay means, Luke.”
“Why didn´t you tell me?”
“I´m telling you now.”
“Oh my god, I have a gay best friend.” Katie seemed to have gotten over her disappointment and hugged Reid enthusiastically. ”Reid, this is awesome!”
Lily decided she had heard enough and walked back to the kitchen, so she had no idea what Luke said after that. They didn´t talk about it until Luke was sixteen and at that time they were already certain that Luke and Reid were together, so it didn´t exactly come as a shock that Luke was gay too.
“Do you think we would have treated Luke differently if it wasn´t for Reid?” Lily asked and turned around to face Holden. “I mean, when he came out to us?”
“I don´t know.” Holden sighed. “I think I always knew he was different and when you told me about Reid, it all seemed to fall into place.”
Lily nodded because she knew what he meant. Luke had always been different compared to other boys. She only hoped that they would have been just as accepting if it hadn’t been for Reid.
“I can´t believe that they´re not together though,” Holden said.
“I know, honey. Hopefully they´ll realize how perfect they are together eventually,” Lily said and turned her head up for a kiss. “Right now though, I don´t want to think about any of our kids.”
“Oh, I can work with that,” Holden answered and Lily felt his smile against her lips.
Casey liked to think of himself as the average, hot straight guy in their friends’ circle for a couple of different reasons. Firstly, since both Reid and Luke were gay he found it necessary to point out that he, in fact, was not. He didn´t really care what other people thought, but when it came to the girls he wanted to be sure that no one missed the fact that he was all kinds of available and interested. Secondly, while neither Reid nor Luke were in any way bad looking (and Casey was secure enough in his sexuality to admit that both of them were pretty hot) he still thought that his own blond hair and cheeky smile won him the first place. Thirdly, no one had ever accused Casey of being the sharpest tool in the box but people who thought he wasn´t intelligent were gravely mistaken. Sure, he wasn´t a genius like Reid or good with words like Luke, and he knew he sometimes came off as a bit slow, but he wasn´t an idiot. Reid had once called him a classic blonde girl but Reid insulted everyone on a regular basis so he didn´t really care about that.
So since it was Luke and Reid he compared himself with, he had to admit that he was pretty average.
When it came to feelings though, Casey realized he was way ahead of them.
He and Luke had been helping Reid move his things to his new apartment, which wasn´t so much of an apartment as a small cubby-hole, but at least, thanks to him, it now contained a bed, a couch, a desk and a TV. All the necessities a guy could need. Casey had never been in Reid´s room at his Uncle’s before and had been surprised by the lack of normal teenager stuff. Sure, Reid wasn´t particularly normal, but he had expected Reid to at least have some posters on the wall or a friggin´ CD-player or something but no, nothing. The only poster Reid did have was one with the periodic table and that was just depressing.
The apartment turned out pretty nice though, even if it was almost claustrophobically small. Casey suddenly wished that he also had his own place, because trying to get laid when you still lived with your parents brought so much unnecessary work.
“Dude,” he said and turned to Reid, because he just got the most awesome idea. “I was thinking that maybe you wanted to, you know, share this place?”
“Share?”
Casey wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, which sadly only earned him a glare from Reid.
“Casey, you´re not having sex in my bed. Or on my couch. That´s disgusting on so many levels that I don´t even know where to begin.”
Right, Reid´s irrational fear of germs, he had forgotten about that. He often wondered how Reid managed to have any sex at all but quickly decided that wasn´t a subject he wanted to think too much about. “You´re no fun.”
“Hey, speaking about sex, Casey you have no idea what my mom did yesterday, ”Luke said and straightened up a little on the couch. “Man, it was so embarrassing.”
“Did she walk around in her underwear?” Casey asked and perked up, because mom or not, there was no denying that Mrs. Snyder was hot.
“Dude, it´s my mom, don´t even go there,” Luke said and shook his head as if trying to get rid of that mental picture before he continued. “Anyway, she asked if I wasn´t going to move in here, since we obviously wanted to spend the summer having sex.”
“Dude, your mom said that?” Casey was amazed. Not that he wanted to talk about sex with his parents, god no, but that Luke´s mom actually had said that. If even Luke´s parents assumed they were together, why weren´t they?
“I know right?” Luke said incredulously. “Can you believe that she actually thought Reid and I were together?”
“Uhm, well yeah,” Casey admitted. “Actually I can.”
“What?” Reid and Luke asked simultaneously.
“Seriously guys.” Casey rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. Sometimes his friends were idiots. “You two are always together, and you´re both gay. It´s not exactly a long shot to assume that there is something more going on than just friendship. I mean, neither one of you has ever even been in a relationship.” Reid opened his mouth to interrupt him but Casey continued. “I don´t count the guys you usually hook up with, Reid, or that weird guy you dated last summer when Reid was away, Luke. I mean a real relationship with someone you´re in love with.”
“I have no interest in having a relationship with anyone,” Reid said firmly.
“Well, you don´t have to worry about that,” Casey said smugly, “everyone assumes you are in one already.” Reid frowned and Casey had to hide his smile because if wasn´t often he got the last word when it came to discussions with Reid.
“Are you serious?” Luke asked disbelievingly.
“Luke! Why do you think you never get asked out on any dates? Everybody assumes the two of you are together, and that won´t change unless you start acting differently.” Okay, so Casey had known that Reid was emotionally retarded but he had to admit that he was kind of disappointed to realize that Luke was just as bad.
“Okay, let´s make a pact then,” Luke declared excitedly after an awkward moment of silence.
Reid rolled his eyes. “Luke, you make it sound like we´re in that apple pie movie were all the guys are trying to get laid before prom. It´s ridiculous and besides, you´re the only virgin here.”
“American Pie.” Casey corrected him, while silently wondering what on earth Luke had bribed Reid with to make him watch a chick flick. As usual though, no one paid him any attention.
“Fine,” Luke huffed, “let´s make a deal then. I find the perfect boyfriend for you and you´ll do the same for me.”
“Why?”
“Because since I know everything about you, who could be better suited to find the guy of your dreams than me? And same goes for me with you of course.”
“No, I meant: who said I wanted a boyfriend in the first place?” Reid protested.
“I did,” Luke said. “Stop being so grumpy.”
“Luke. No.”
“C’mon Reid. It´s going to be fun, I promise.”
“I said no.”
Casey often thought that watching Luke and Reid bickering was like watching a game of tennis, with Luke as Roger Federer and Reid as Robin Söderling. No matter how many sets Söderling managed to win, Federer was always the one walking home with the title. Today wasn´t going to be any different and besides, Casey was totally on Luke´s side with this. He still thought they should, like, open their eyes and realize they were in love with each other, but in the meantime it would be hilarious to watch Reid turn down every guy Luke wanted him to date.
“Please Reid,” Luke begged and leaned his head on Reid´s shoulder. “Please, please, please, please…”
Reid closed his eyes and sighed. “I hate you.”
‘Yup,’ Casey thought, ‘Federer strikes again.’
It wasn’t long before Casey changed his mind because this? This was definitely not hilarious. For reasons unknown Luke had decided that he needed Casey´s help with making some idiotic list of which features Reid wanted in his dream guy, while Reid and Katie were doing the same in another room. Casey had no idea what the point of all this was but Luke insisted that it was very important. So far, they had two items on the list. They guy needed to be hot and he should like to play chess. Pretty pathetic seeing how they´d spent over an hour trying to come up with something.
“Maybe we could write that he should like biology and medicine or something?” Luke sounded just as uncertain as Casey felt and maybe he should try and help, but dammit, this wasn´t even supposed to be his problem. “And Reid likes to eat, we could add that the guy should like food, or maybe even that he should like to cook?” Luke continued when he didn´t get any response and Casey should feel sorry for him, he really should, but this, this was ridiculous.
“So basically you think Reid´s dream guy is some lame-ass dude who likes to cook, reads textbooks and plays chess?” Casey summarized when it was clear that Luke couldn´t come up with anything else. “You do realize that there isn´t a guy under 40 that fits that description?”
“Well, feel free to come up with something better then,” Luke said, scratching out what he´d written so far and tossing the pencil at Casey.
“No way dude, this was your idea so you get to write it,” Casey said with a laugh, because Luke was entertaining when he got annoyed. “I just don´t understand why you need to make a stupid list anyway. I mean, it´s not like Reid actually cares about this.” Casey had no idea how Luke had managed to convince Reid to participate in doing this in the first place. Not even Luke´s best puppy-dog eyes could have made him do something this stupid.
“I know he doesn´t, but it´s important to me, okay?” Luke sounded so resigned that Casey decided to stop mocking and take pity on him instead.
“Look, why don´t we go and see how far Reid and Katie have gotten with their list?” Casey suggested. “That way we´ll know how much more work we need to do on ours?” Great, he had said our list which meant that now he was involved in this shit and there was no escape. Oh well, at least Luke looked happier.
“You´re right, I bet they haven´t come up with anything either.” Luke jumped up from where he had been sitting on the floor and held out his hand to help Casey up. They walked together down the stairs only to find Reid and Katie sprawled out on the sofa in front of the TV, watching a re-run of Baywatch and doing everything but thinking of Luke´s boyfriend-to-be.
“Reid, what the hell are you doing? You´re supposed to be writing a list, not watch half-naked men!” Luke sounded genuinely upset and Casey thought that was weird, because surely Luke should have known that Reid wouldn´t actually participate in the whole writing a list business. Well, maybe he did because he slapped Reid rather hard on the chest when he didn´t answer.
“Ouch, Luke. That actually hurt.” Reid rubbed his chest and grimaced. “And for the record, I finished your list hours ago.” He reached over to the table, grabbed the paper lying there and shoved it at Luke. “Here.”
Casey was impressed. He hadn´t thought Reid would actually follow through, but it was probably Katie who did all the work. After all, she was a girl and girls knew that kind of stuff. Luke unfolded the paper and Casey leaned over his shoulder so he could read what it said. There was only one word there, however: `Roth.´
“Is this some kind of joke?” Luke asked in his best Damian Grimaldi voice, and if Casey was Reid he would probably freak out right now. Reid just looked at Luke, raised his eyebrows and inhaled deeply.
“No. You wanted a date, I got you a date,” Reid answered smugly. “Roth is in Katie´s history class, and he has agreed to meet up with you for coffee tomorrow.”
“What?” Luke looked absolutely mortified and Casey secretly felt pleased. This was what he considered fun.
“He´s really nice and handsome, Luke. I´m absolutely sure you´ll like him,” Katie said.
“You´re serious? I have a date tomorrow?” When Katie nodded Luke lost all the color in his face. “I need to sit down.”
“Hey, there´s no need to be nervous! He really is an awesome guy, and I´m almost certain he likes you already.” Katie scooted closer to Luke and wrapped her arm around him.
“And maybe this means you´ll finally meet someone you can give up your virginity to. You´re clinging on to it like it´s your goddamn virtue.”
“Very funny, Reid.” Luke frowned at him but he seemed to have gotten some color back on his cheeks.
“Please don´t tell me you expect your first time to be this romantic moment with soft music, candlelight and rose petals all over the bed?” Reid had a disgusted look on his face and Casey had to agree, not that he had anything against that sort of thing but they were dudes and dudes didn´t need that. They were only props to make it easier to convince a girl that you were actually worth sleeping with. And since Luke wasn´t gonna sleep with a girl, or was a girl himself for that matter, they shouldn´t be necessary.
“Well, it´s better than doing it in the restroom of some club.”
“How can you be so sure when you haven´t tried any of it?” Personally, Casey thought sex was awesome no matter where you did it, as long as you actually, you know, did it.
“Shut up, Casey, you´re supposed to be on my side,” Luke said and laughed.
“Sorry dude, but I´m with Reid on this one.”
“Well, I agree with you, Luke. Your first time should be really special and romantic and it should be with someone you love.” Katie sighed and Casey could almost swear that he saw little pink hearts in her eyes.
“Well, of course you girls would stick together on this one,” Reid smirked but it quickly turned in to a laugh when a pillow hit him in the head. “Now, can we please eat something?”
Part 2
She still remembered the first time she met Reid. It was the same day she found out she was pregnant with Faith-and looking back on that day now, she wasn’t sure if that was why she still remembered that day perfectly or if it was because Reid had played such a big role in their lives and meeting him was significant, not only for Luke.
She had taken Luke to the park in their neighborhood which also had a nice playground and there were always a lot of kids. Luke was six years old and eager to find new friends to play with, and she knew how happy he would be when she told him he was going to be a big brother. She sat down on a bench and let Luke run off. Putting her hand protectively over her stomach, she thought of the new life growing inside her and how happy Holden was. She was a bit worried about whether he would treat this baby differently than Luke, seeing how this would be their first biological child together. She didn´t think he would, he had opened his arms and heart to Luke from the second he saw him, but she had learned the hard way not to take anything for granted.
Luke was such a sweet little boy with his messy blond hair and those big chocolate brown eyes, and she knew that everyone, herself included, was spoiling him rotten. It would probably do them all good to have another child to share their love for.
She was interrupted in her thoughts when Luke came running towards her with tears in his eyes.
“What´s the matter honey?” She asked while lifting him up in her arms.
“That boy,” he said and pointed towards the other end of the playground with his tiny finger, where a skinny boy sat on the edge of a sandbox, casually eating an apple, “said that he didn´t want to play with me ´cause playing is for children.” Luke rubbed his eyes. “But we are children, aren´t we Mommy?”
Lily had to bite her lip to hold back a smile. “Yes, sweetie you are. But maybe he just doesn´t like to play?”
Luke twisted his hands together and furrowed his small brows. “Why is he here then, if he don´t wanna play?”
“I don´t know, Luke. Maybe it´s better to just leave him alone. There are a lot of other kids here, I´m sure there are others who want to play with you.”
“I don´t think he likes being alone.”
After Luke had run off again she watched the other boy. He seemed to be the same age as Luke and had short curly hair in a dark red tone. He would have been cute if he hadn´t had such a sullen look on his face, as if he didn´t really want to be there at all. His clothes seemed to be at least one size too big and his jeans had a hole on his left knee. He didn´t seem to be interested in playing with the other children nor did he seem to have any adult there watching him.
She couldn´t help but smile when she saw Luke moving closer to the boy again. It was so typical of her son, wanting to be friends with everyone and never wanting to see anyone left out. She moved a bit closer so she could hear their conversation, just in case.
“Do you wanna build a sandcastle with me?” Luke spoke with his usual enthusiasm but Lily knew her son and recognized that the way he bit his lip was a sign of nervousness.
The other boy snorted. “I already told you, I don´t want to play with you.”
Luke´s bottom lip started to tremble and Lily was sure he was going to start crying, but somehow he managed to hold it back. “My dad says that building something isn´t the same as playing.”
The redhead simply snorted and continued eating his apple, but Lily noticed that he didn´t try to move somewhere else and he glanced at Luke every now and then. Luke continued talking and telling the boy about himself and the farm and his favorite toys, and even though the boy didn´t seem too interested he did answer when Luke asked what his name was.
“Give me that,” Reid suddenly snapped and took the shovel from Luke´s hand. “You´re doing it wrong, you have to dig deeper to get to the dark sand, it´s much easier to build with.” He dug down until he reached what he was looking for and formed it in his hands. “See?”
And from that day they had been inseparable. Reid was a strange boy and in the beginning Lily didn´t understand what Luke saw in him. He acted like a self-centered know-it-all most of the time and sometimes Lily thought he was a grown man trapped inside a little boy´s body. He was very intelligent and could read and write fluently before he even started school. He was also completely socially incompetent. Reid always said exactly what he thought, and even though Lily in no way encouraged lying she had to admit that sometimes it was preferable to Reid´s honesty.
He lived with his parents not far from the Snyder farm, but Lily hardly ever met Mr. and Mrs. Oliver. Reid always came to the farm to play, though Reid preferred to call it hang out, on his bike. He never had birthday parties or invited Luke to his home. In the beginning Lily had tried to ask him about his parents but he usually just shrugged or didn´t answer at all. When she finally did meet them she came to the conclusion that they weren´t bad people, they just hadn´t got a clue what to do with a little boy. The only time they actually seemed to spend time with their son was when they drove him to whatever chess tournament he participated in. And Lily had no problem with chess, Reid seemed to enjoy it and he was obviously very good at it, she just thought that they treated him more like a prize pony than their actual son.
Reid never talked about it, at least not with Lily, so she had no idea what he actually thought, but when Reid and Luke were 12 years old, Luke asked if Reid could stay over a few nights. Apparently Reid had decided that he didn’t want to play chess anymore and refused to do it, which of course upset his parents so they had a huge fight and Reid wanted to get away for a few days.
Three months later Mr. and Mrs. Oliver died in a car crash. Lily didn´t know what to expect from Reid afterwards but he acted exactly the same as always, maybe a bit quieter and a little withdrawn, but with Reid it was hard to be certain since he wasn´t very talkative to begin with. When Lily found out, her first thought was to take care of the boy and offer him a place to stay, and Holden had agreed. But before they could offer, it turned out that Reid´s Uncle Angus was going to take care of him. Lily was relieved, not because she didn´t want to take care of Reid herself, but because Reid had family who was there for him, and even if Lily could offer him a home she could never give him a family in the same way his Uncle could. Turned out she was wrong.
Angus wasn´t an evil person. He didn´t abuse Reid or hurt him in any other way, at least as far as Lily knew, but he just didn´t particularly care about him either. According to Luke, Uncle Angus thought that the only thing important in life was chess-and since Reid didn´t want to play anymore, he wasn´t important either.
Lily shook her head and decided she had wasted enough time going through old memories, it was almost time for dinner and hopefully the kids would be home soon.
It was a quiet dinner that night with only Lily, Luke and Reid, since Holden and the kids had decided to eat with Emma at the farm. Lily had to cook just as much as she usually would though, Reid loved to eat and she wonder for the millionth time where he put it. Maybe his weird Uncle didn´t give him enough to eat, she thought, feeling thankful that Reid had managed to get a job at Memorial over the summer so he could afford his own apartment. Even if it was only for two months she understood why he didn´t want to live with his Uncle a second longer than he had to.
“So, since Reid is moving tomorrow, I probably won’t be home until late,” Luke said, interrupting Lily´s train of thought.
“You´re not going with him?” Lily dropped another steak on Reid´s plate and he gave her what she assumed was a thankful nod.
“Well, I´m going to help him move all his stuff, but it´s not as if he has a lot of things. I´m just saying that I´ll probably be home late tomorrow.” Luke absentmindedly pushed his plate closer to Reid, who grabbed his remaining potatoes.
“That´s not what I meant sweetie. Your dad and I have been talking and if you want to live together over the summer it´s fine by us.” Well, Holden had suggested it, and even if Lily felt they were way too young to actually move in together, it was their last summer before college and they would probably want to spend as much time together as possible before college life began.
“What?” Luke asked, looking at her with his brows raised.
“Well, you´ll probably spend all your time there anyway so why not move in so you have all your stuff there?”
“Mom, I can´t move in there, it´s a one-room apartment. I mean sure, I guess I´ll sleep over a few times, but I can´t stay on the couch a whole summer.”
Lily smiled. “Honey, we´re not expecting you to sleep on the couch.” Sure, Luke was only eighteen but it wasn’t like she was trying to kid herself that they weren’t having sex. That is, when she actually thought about it, which most of the time she tried hard not to. Eighteen or not, he was still her little boy.
Luke just stared at her, as if not really understanding what she meant. “Where should I sleep then?”
“In the bed.” When that didn´t get a response she clarified. “With Reid.”
Reid dropped his fork on his plate. The sharp noise made Lily jump, and when she looked at him she realized that he too was staring at her, which was odd seeing how Reid never did anything besides stuff his mouth until there was no food left. There was a strained silence where both boys stared at her like she´d lost her mind until Luke laughed nervously. “Why would I sleep in Reid´s bed?”
Okay, so she was going to have to spell it out. “Your father and I was young once too you know, we know that you´re having sex.” Lily felt her cheeks turning pink, because hello, this was awkward, but she tried to give them a comforting smile to show it was alright.
Luke opened and closed his mouth a few times and seemed to be on the verge of saying something when Reid started coughing violently. Luke handed him his own glass of water and slapped him absentmindedly on the back a few times.
“Mom, we´re not having sex,” Luke said when Reid seemed to be able to breathe again. He didn´t start eating again though, which was definitely something out of the ordinary.
“You´re not?”
“God mom, of course not,” Luke stated incredulously, scratching his neck which was a habitual thing he always did when he was nervous or embarrassed, Lily wasn´t really sure which it was now though. “That´s just wrong. Why would you even think that?”
“Honey,” Lily reached for Luke´s hand and he reluctantly gave it to her. “There´s nothing wrong when two people who love each other and have been together as long as you and Reid, have sex.” Lily noticed the confused look on both boys in front of her and started to wonder if she´d done something wrong to make Luke think sex wasn´t normal. She knew she hadn´t been a role-model when it came to relationships, her back and forth between Damian and Holden wasn´t what she wanted for any of her children, but she did hope they would understand that everything she´d done had been out of love. Whether it was the right thing to do or not, she still wasn’t sure of, but she´d always followed her heart and she wanted her children to do the same.
“Your father and I would be worried if you weren´t having sex,” she continued with what she hoped was a reassuring smile.
“Mom, we are not having sex, because we’re not together.” Luke spoke slowly and emphasized every word.
“You´re not?” Now it was Lily´s turn to look confused and it felt like she was missing something here because when did they break up? How could she not know that? “Since when?”
“Since always! For god’s sake mom, we´re just friends, we have never been anything but friends. ” Luke let go of her hand and reached for his water glass only to find it empty next to Reid´s.
“Well, except that one time when you wanted to…” Apparently Reid thought now was a good time to participate in the conversation, but thankfully Luke quickly interrupted him. Whatever he was about to say, Lily was sure it wasn´t something she would want to hear.
“Shut up Reid!” Luke slapped him on the arm which only made Reid smirk, but he finally went back to eating. At least that was something that resembled normalcy and right now Lily needed everything she could get. It felt like her whole world had been turned upside down.
“But, it´s always you and Reid. Everybody thinks you’re together.” Lily suddenly felt the urge to defend herself, which was ridiculous, but the whole situation was weird and frankly a bit embarrassing.
“But we´re not, okay. So can you drop the sex talk now please?” Luke picked up his fork again but since there was no food left on his plate he just sat there holding it.
Well, this is awkward, Lily thought while raising her own fork, not really noticing what was on it anymore.
Later that night when Holden was back home and they were getting ready for bed Lily told him what happened during dinner.
“So, I told Luke that he could move in with Reid over the summer, just like we decided, but he didn´t want to.”
“Why not?” Holden asked, while slipping into his pajama pants.
“Well, apparently they´re not together,” Lily said and climbed into bed.
“What? When did they break up?” Holden looked absolutely shocked and Lily couldn´t help but feel a bit relieved. Apparently she wasn´t the only one who had assumed wrong.
“Well, according to Luke, they never were together in the first place. They´re just friends.”
“They´re not?” Holden asked incredulously. “Are you sure they weren´t kidding with you?”
“Holden, I´m absolutely positive,” Lily said. “Luke acted like I was crazy for even thinking they were together.”
“I can´t believe this. Even a blind man can see that they love each other. Hell, that´s how we knew Luke was gay. Or at least thought we knew.” Holden climbed in beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer.
Holden was right though, they had found out Reid was gay when the boys were thirteen, and when Lily had gotten used to the thought she had just waited for Luke to come and tell them he was gay too. Looking back now it was quite funny, Lily had overheard a conversation between Luke, Reid and Katie by accident and that was the reason they knew about Reid.
Lily had been worried about him, his parents had been dead for almost a year and he never talked about it, nor did he say anything about his Uncle-so even though Lily normally was all about privacy she had felt that the only way to get some information was to eavesdrop. She wasn´t proud of it, but at the time she had been desperate. She wasn´t prepared for what she was about to hear though.
Luke, Reid and Katie had been working on some assignment for school at the farm and Lily had assisted with hot chocolate and cookies. When she had been about to walk out with another plate of Reid´s favorite chocolate chip cookies she had noticed that the conversation had turned from school to something completely different.
“Maddie said that she was going to marry Casey when we´re older,” Luke said.
“I´m never going to get married,” Reid stated.
“C’mon Reid, I´m sure even you can find a girl who puts up with you. Katie definitely likes you,” Luke teased.
“I do not!” Katie squealed and slapped Luke on the arm, but her cheeks turned slightly pink and Lily smiled because everyone knew that Katie was in love with Reid.
Reid snorted. “Yes, you do Katie, you like every guy you see. But even if I were to get married, I wouldn´t marry a girl.”
“What do you mean, Reid?” Luke asked and frowned.
“I mean that I don´t like girls that way.”
“What way?” Luke looked as confused as Lily was feeling.
“Christ Luke, which way do you think?” Reid seemed to be a bit embarrassed but determined all the same, and suddenly Lily understood exactly what he meant.
“You mean you´re gay?” Katie asked and looked disappointed.
“Wow, 10 points to Gryffindor!” Reid said mockingly. “Yes, I am gay, Katie.” He sounded just as self-assured as always but he looked at Luke when he answered and his left hand was fidgeting on his thigh, which Lily knew was one of the few nervous tics Reid had.
“Well, that´s typical,” Katie huffed.
“You mean… you like guys?” Luke seemed to be having a hard time understanding what Reid meant and Lily was right there with him. She always had this picture in her head of what a gay man would look like and Reid was definitely not the type. And he was only thirteen years old, how could he possibly know what he wanted?
“That´s usually what the term gay means, Luke.”
“Why didn´t you tell me?”
“I´m telling you now.”
“Oh my god, I have a gay best friend.” Katie seemed to have gotten over her disappointment and hugged Reid enthusiastically. ”Reid, this is awesome!”
Lily decided she had heard enough and walked back to the kitchen, so she had no idea what Luke said after that. They didn´t talk about it until Luke was sixteen and at that time they were already certain that Luke and Reid were together, so it didn´t exactly come as a shock that Luke was gay too.
“Do you think we would have treated Luke differently if it wasn´t for Reid?” Lily asked and turned around to face Holden. “I mean, when he came out to us?”
“I don´t know.” Holden sighed. “I think I always knew he was different and when you told me about Reid, it all seemed to fall into place.”
Lily nodded because she knew what he meant. Luke had always been different compared to other boys. She only hoped that they would have been just as accepting if it hadn’t been for Reid.
“I can´t believe that they´re not together though,” Holden said.
“I know, honey. Hopefully they´ll realize how perfect they are together eventually,” Lily said and turned her head up for a kiss. “Right now though, I don´t want to think about any of our kids.”
“Oh, I can work with that,” Holden answered and Lily felt his smile against her lips.
Casey liked to think of himself as the average, hot straight guy in their friends’ circle for a couple of different reasons. Firstly, since both Reid and Luke were gay he found it necessary to point out that he, in fact, was not. He didn´t really care what other people thought, but when it came to the girls he wanted to be sure that no one missed the fact that he was all kinds of available and interested. Secondly, while neither Reid nor Luke were in any way bad looking (and Casey was secure enough in his sexuality to admit that both of them were pretty hot) he still thought that his own blond hair and cheeky smile won him the first place. Thirdly, no one had ever accused Casey of being the sharpest tool in the box but people who thought he wasn´t intelligent were gravely mistaken. Sure, he wasn´t a genius like Reid or good with words like Luke, and he knew he sometimes came off as a bit slow, but he wasn´t an idiot. Reid had once called him a classic blonde girl but Reid insulted everyone on a regular basis so he didn´t really care about that.
So since it was Luke and Reid he compared himself with, he had to admit that he was pretty average.
When it came to feelings though, Casey realized he was way ahead of them.
He and Luke had been helping Reid move his things to his new apartment, which wasn´t so much of an apartment as a small cubby-hole, but at least, thanks to him, it now contained a bed, a couch, a desk and a TV. All the necessities a guy could need. Casey had never been in Reid´s room at his Uncle’s before and had been surprised by the lack of normal teenager stuff. Sure, Reid wasn´t particularly normal, but he had expected Reid to at least have some posters on the wall or a friggin´ CD-player or something but no, nothing. The only poster Reid did have was one with the periodic table and that was just depressing.
The apartment turned out pretty nice though, even if it was almost claustrophobically small. Casey suddenly wished that he also had his own place, because trying to get laid when you still lived with your parents brought so much unnecessary work.
“Dude,” he said and turned to Reid, because he just got the most awesome idea. “I was thinking that maybe you wanted to, you know, share this place?”
“Share?”
Casey wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, which sadly only earned him a glare from Reid.
“Casey, you´re not having sex in my bed. Or on my couch. That´s disgusting on so many levels that I don´t even know where to begin.”
Right, Reid´s irrational fear of germs, he had forgotten about that. He often wondered how Reid managed to have any sex at all but quickly decided that wasn´t a subject he wanted to think too much about. “You´re no fun.”
“Hey, speaking about sex, Casey you have no idea what my mom did yesterday, ”Luke said and straightened up a little on the couch. “Man, it was so embarrassing.”
“Did she walk around in her underwear?” Casey asked and perked up, because mom or not, there was no denying that Mrs. Snyder was hot.
“Dude, it´s my mom, don´t even go there,” Luke said and shook his head as if trying to get rid of that mental picture before he continued. “Anyway, she asked if I wasn´t going to move in here, since we obviously wanted to spend the summer having sex.”
“Dude, your mom said that?” Casey was amazed. Not that he wanted to talk about sex with his parents, god no, but that Luke´s mom actually had said that. If even Luke´s parents assumed they were together, why weren´t they?
“I know right?” Luke said incredulously. “Can you believe that she actually thought Reid and I were together?”
“Uhm, well yeah,” Casey admitted. “Actually I can.”
“What?” Reid and Luke asked simultaneously.
“Seriously guys.” Casey rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. Sometimes his friends were idiots. “You two are always together, and you´re both gay. It´s not exactly a long shot to assume that there is something more going on than just friendship. I mean, neither one of you has ever even been in a relationship.” Reid opened his mouth to interrupt him but Casey continued. “I don´t count the guys you usually hook up with, Reid, or that weird guy you dated last summer when Reid was away, Luke. I mean a real relationship with someone you´re in love with.”
“I have no interest in having a relationship with anyone,” Reid said firmly.
“Well, you don´t have to worry about that,” Casey said smugly, “everyone assumes you are in one already.” Reid frowned and Casey had to hide his smile because if wasn´t often he got the last word when it came to discussions with Reid.
“Are you serious?” Luke asked disbelievingly.
“Luke! Why do you think you never get asked out on any dates? Everybody assumes the two of you are together, and that won´t change unless you start acting differently.” Okay, so Casey had known that Reid was emotionally retarded but he had to admit that he was kind of disappointed to realize that Luke was just as bad.
“Okay, let´s make a pact then,” Luke declared excitedly after an awkward moment of silence.
Reid rolled his eyes. “Luke, you make it sound like we´re in that apple pie movie were all the guys are trying to get laid before prom. It´s ridiculous and besides, you´re the only virgin here.”
“American Pie.” Casey corrected him, while silently wondering what on earth Luke had bribed Reid with to make him watch a chick flick. As usual though, no one paid him any attention.
“Fine,” Luke huffed, “let´s make a deal then. I find the perfect boyfriend for you and you´ll do the same for me.”
“Why?”
“Because since I know everything about you, who could be better suited to find the guy of your dreams than me? And same goes for me with you of course.”
“No, I meant: who said I wanted a boyfriend in the first place?” Reid protested.
“I did,” Luke said. “Stop being so grumpy.”
“Luke. No.”
“C’mon Reid. It´s going to be fun, I promise.”
“I said no.”
Casey often thought that watching Luke and Reid bickering was like watching a game of tennis, with Luke as Roger Federer and Reid as Robin Söderling. No matter how many sets Söderling managed to win, Federer was always the one walking home with the title. Today wasn´t going to be any different and besides, Casey was totally on Luke´s side with this. He still thought they should, like, open their eyes and realize they were in love with each other, but in the meantime it would be hilarious to watch Reid turn down every guy Luke wanted him to date.
“Please Reid,” Luke begged and leaned his head on Reid´s shoulder. “Please, please, please, please…”
Reid closed his eyes and sighed. “I hate you.”
‘Yup,’ Casey thought, ‘Federer strikes again.’
It wasn’t long before Casey changed his mind because this? This was definitely not hilarious. For reasons unknown Luke had decided that he needed Casey´s help with making some idiotic list of which features Reid wanted in his dream guy, while Reid and Katie were doing the same in another room. Casey had no idea what the point of all this was but Luke insisted that it was very important. So far, they had two items on the list. They guy needed to be hot and he should like to play chess. Pretty pathetic seeing how they´d spent over an hour trying to come up with something.
“Maybe we could write that he should like biology and medicine or something?” Luke sounded just as uncertain as Casey felt and maybe he should try and help, but dammit, this wasn´t even supposed to be his problem. “And Reid likes to eat, we could add that the guy should like food, or maybe even that he should like to cook?” Luke continued when he didn´t get any response and Casey should feel sorry for him, he really should, but this, this was ridiculous.
“So basically you think Reid´s dream guy is some lame-ass dude who likes to cook, reads textbooks and plays chess?” Casey summarized when it was clear that Luke couldn´t come up with anything else. “You do realize that there isn´t a guy under 40 that fits that description?”
“Well, feel free to come up with something better then,” Luke said, scratching out what he´d written so far and tossing the pencil at Casey.
“No way dude, this was your idea so you get to write it,” Casey said with a laugh, because Luke was entertaining when he got annoyed. “I just don´t understand why you need to make a stupid list anyway. I mean, it´s not like Reid actually cares about this.” Casey had no idea how Luke had managed to convince Reid to participate in doing this in the first place. Not even Luke´s best puppy-dog eyes could have made him do something this stupid.
“I know he doesn´t, but it´s important to me, okay?” Luke sounded so resigned that Casey decided to stop mocking and take pity on him instead.
“Look, why don´t we go and see how far Reid and Katie have gotten with their list?” Casey suggested. “That way we´ll know how much more work we need to do on ours?” Great, he had said our list which meant that now he was involved in this shit and there was no escape. Oh well, at least Luke looked happier.
“You´re right, I bet they haven´t come up with anything either.” Luke jumped up from where he had been sitting on the floor and held out his hand to help Casey up. They walked together down the stairs only to find Reid and Katie sprawled out on the sofa in front of the TV, watching a re-run of Baywatch and doing everything but thinking of Luke´s boyfriend-to-be.
“Reid, what the hell are you doing? You´re supposed to be writing a list, not watch half-naked men!” Luke sounded genuinely upset and Casey thought that was weird, because surely Luke should have known that Reid wouldn´t actually participate in the whole writing a list business. Well, maybe he did because he slapped Reid rather hard on the chest when he didn´t answer.
“Ouch, Luke. That actually hurt.” Reid rubbed his chest and grimaced. “And for the record, I finished your list hours ago.” He reached over to the table, grabbed the paper lying there and shoved it at Luke. “Here.”
Casey was impressed. He hadn´t thought Reid would actually follow through, but it was probably Katie who did all the work. After all, she was a girl and girls knew that kind of stuff. Luke unfolded the paper and Casey leaned over his shoulder so he could read what it said. There was only one word there, however: `Roth.´
“Is this some kind of joke?” Luke asked in his best Damian Grimaldi voice, and if Casey was Reid he would probably freak out right now. Reid just looked at Luke, raised his eyebrows and inhaled deeply.
“No. You wanted a date, I got you a date,” Reid answered smugly. “Roth is in Katie´s history class, and he has agreed to meet up with you for coffee tomorrow.”
“What?” Luke looked absolutely mortified and Casey secretly felt pleased. This was what he considered fun.
“He´s really nice and handsome, Luke. I´m absolutely sure you´ll like him,” Katie said.
“You´re serious? I have a date tomorrow?” When Katie nodded Luke lost all the color in his face. “I need to sit down.”
“Hey, there´s no need to be nervous! He really is an awesome guy, and I´m almost certain he likes you already.” Katie scooted closer to Luke and wrapped her arm around him.
“And maybe this means you´ll finally meet someone you can give up your virginity to. You´re clinging on to it like it´s your goddamn virtue.”
“Very funny, Reid.” Luke frowned at him but he seemed to have gotten some color back on his cheeks.
“Please don´t tell me you expect your first time to be this romantic moment with soft music, candlelight and rose petals all over the bed?” Reid had a disgusted look on his face and Casey had to agree, not that he had anything against that sort of thing but they were dudes and dudes didn´t need that. They were only props to make it easier to convince a girl that you were actually worth sleeping with. And since Luke wasn´t gonna sleep with a girl, or was a girl himself for that matter, they shouldn´t be necessary.
“Well, it´s better than doing it in the restroom of some club.”
“How can you be so sure when you haven´t tried any of it?” Personally, Casey thought sex was awesome no matter where you did it, as long as you actually, you know, did it.
“Shut up, Casey, you´re supposed to be on my side,” Luke said and laughed.
“Sorry dude, but I´m with Reid on this one.”
“Well, I agree with you, Luke. Your first time should be really special and romantic and it should be with someone you love.” Katie sighed and Casey could almost swear that he saw little pink hearts in her eyes.
“Well, of course you girls would stick together on this one,” Reid smirked but it quickly turned in to a laugh when a pillow hit him in the head. “Now, can we please eat something?”
Part 2