Bulletproof (33/52)
Title: Bulletproof
Author: blasthisass
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Summary: AU- when Luke is shot by Colonel Mayer, his condition quickly deteriorates. In order to save his life, Bob calls in a young, hotshot doctor from Texas, brilliant and already making a name for himself.
Disclaimers: All characters and such property of ATWT, CBS and anyone else who can legally take credit for them. If they were mine, I would take infinitely better care of them.
Title from the song by La Roux. There is dialogue from both the time in which the story takes place as well as the LuRe storyline.
A/N: This is unbeta'd, so any mistakes are mine.
Comments much appreciated . . . I love them like Reid loves Luke.
Previous parts: prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32
***
“So, dude, fake doctor boyfriend isn’t into doing fake boyfriendy things like helping his fake writer boyfriend move his actual boyfriend and his wife into his grandmother’s college, formerly the residence of fake writer boyfriend’s amigos Gwen and Will?”
Luke raised an eyebrow in bewilderment at Casey, who grinned cheekily at him over the cardboard box. He almost regretted asking the youngest Hughes boy for help with this. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard the words boyfriend and fake used so much in a single sentence before without it turning into a babbling run-on.”
“Mad skills, yo. Bask in their glory,” Casey replied, easing the door to the cottage open with his ass and staying in the entryway as Luke eased past him to dump a box of clothes on the rug. “And you never answered my question.”
“I think he’s at Brad and Katie’s engagement party,” Luke replied, glancing curiously over at Casey. “By the way, shouldn’t you be at that? It’s happening at your house.”
“Ugh. I skipped out because I figured there’d be no one my age and/or interesting there,” Casey pouted. “But, man, I’m missing Dr. Oliver at a party. Not cool.”
“Why do you care where Dr. Oliver is, anyway?” Luke asked, taking Casey’s box from him and transporting it onto the kitchen after determining that it’s contents were various kitchen doodads that his mother had tossed in, assuming that the cottage would be lacking in them.
“He amuses me,” Casey laughed.
“Really? Are we talking about the same Dr. Oliver?” Luke laughed, automatically pulling dishes and mugs out of the carton and putting them away. He focused on the task at hand rather than the fact that he also tended to find Reid amusing at the most unexpected of times.
“Dude, totally. He has the most bizarre sense of humor and you can totally get in a wise discussion with him.”
“When have you ever even spoken to him?”
“I haven’t. Yet. Just saying,” Casey shrugged, flopping down on the couch and looking back at Luke. “Hey.”
Luke shut a cabinet and replaced an empty cardboard box with a full one. “We already saw each other today. No need to repeat salutations.”
Casey grinned, wondering whether he should point out that Reid’s sense of humor seemed to be rubbing off on Luke. Instead, he raised an eyebrow as Luke continued to maneuver his way around the kitchen. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Do what?” Luke muttered absentmindedly.
“Set up house for Noah and Ameera. Be remotely okay with the situation. Let them walk all over you like this.”
Luke grimaced at the harshness of the words. “Come on, Casey.”
“No, you come one,” Casey retorted, sitting sideways on the couch so that he could look back into the kitchen at Luke. “I know you’re this crazy-nice, philanthropic guy that’ll do anything in order to make other people happy, but dude, you’ve got to think of yourself every once in a while. Why should Ameera’s happiness be more important than yours?”
Luke frowned, setting down the flowery mug that he’d just pulled out. “Are you sure you haven’t been hanging out with Dr. Oliver?” he murmured softly, not loud enough for Casey to hear him. He also didn’t want to think about the fact that he was there because he was slowly realizing what to expect from his relationship with Noah and, for the first time in his life, he felt safe knowing what to expect. He tried not to think about the fact that recently he’d been itching for the unknown more than for that which he had. “Please,” he said, a little bit louder. “Don’t pretend you care about my happiness. You just want in Ameera’s pants.”
Casey clutched dramatically at his heart. “Good friend, you wound me deeply. My heart: it is bleeding. Luke, we’re friends. That means I’m automatically obligated to look out for you and tell you when you’re doing something completely idiotic.”
“Oh, great, Luke, what have you done now?” Noah joked as he eased himself into the cottage, followed closely by Ameera. He looked around the cottage looking mildly satisfied before proceeding to the nearest bedroom with his box.
Casey raised his eyebrow, as though he wasn’t exactly amused by the joke and gave Luke a pointed look as though to say, “See. That’s what I mean.”
Luke rolled his eyes, but even his displeasure seemed evident. “Whatever, Casey.”
“Besides, dude. Two birds with one stone,” Casey said before walking over to Ameera. “Ameera. What do you think?”
“It’s nice,” she replied, looking around happily. “Very homey. Could really build a nice family here.”
“Yeah, well, that is the image you’re going for, huh?” Casey grinned. “Hey . . .” he started, glancing intently at Luke before turning back to her. “How about we go out . . . get some celebratory ice cream?”
Ameera hesitated, looking back toward the bedroom into which Noah had disappeared, as though it would be improper for her to get ice cream without her fake husband present. “I don’t know . . .”
Casey grinned, slipping effortlessly into flirt mode. “Oh, come on, Ameera, don’t make me beg. You haven’t lived until you’ve tasted homemade, Oakdale ice cream.”
She hesitated, but finally allowed herself to be herded toward the door and outside. Casey paused just before disappearing after her. He glanced back at Luke, whose eyebrows were raised slightly. “Just in case you didn’t get the hint, bro: you and your boyfriend are now alone in a cottage, no cock blocking wife in the vicinity. You ought to make the most of it.”
Luke frowned as the door clicked shut. He felt as though he should be thrilled by this scenario-he’d been wanting an Ameera-less moment with Noah for weeks now, but somehow, he didn’t quite feel up to making the most of anything. Maybe it was just a mood.
He abandoned the dishes in the kitchen and strolled over to the bedroom, where Noah was busy shoving his shirts into a dresser drawer. He glanced up at the sound of Luke entering and grinned. “Hey, you. Where are Casey and Ameera?”
Luke didn’t reply, taking a moment to adjust to the fact that Ameera wouldn’t come awkwardly barging in to interrupt them. Now that he was in the doorway of the bedroom, watching Noah maneuver his way around, he was starting to regain the feel of their relationship. But it was still lacking in something, now that Luke could focus on it. That spark, which he’d first felt when their hands touched at WOAK over spilled videocassettes, was significantly absent.
“Casey took her out to get ice cream,” he replied, his voice purposefully low.
Noah stopped what he was doing then. He straightened and glanced over his shoulder at Luke who looked a hell of a lot more laid back than Noah was feeling. Noah shoved the dresser drawer closed and made his way toward Luke.
“So we’re alone?” he confirmed, reaching the door and eased himself right in front of Luke. One hand automatically rose to play with the belt loops of Luke’s jeans.
Luke smiled, tilting his head back to gaze up at Noah’s blue eyes, ignoring the fact that their shade was disconcerting them slightly, as though it wasn’t the one he was used to. “Completely.”
Noah grinned and took a mini step forward, closing the already minimal distance between them. His free hand eased itself lightly under Luke’s shirt, brushing lightly against the soft skin stretched over Luke’s hips. “Would it make me an ass if I said, ‘Finally,’ in a ridiculously exasperated voice?”
Luke laughed softly. “Not at all.”
Noah sighed in relief, moving close enough so that he fell out of Luke’s comfortable line of focus. “Finally,” he whispered, leaning in for a kiss.
A kiss that never happened.
“US Immigration and Customs Enforcement! Open up!”
Noah jumped away from Luke as though the banging on the front door had electrocuted him. “Shit! Shit, shit, shit!”
Luke’s brow furrowed, hurt that the extent of the reaction that Noah was exhibiting. “Noah. Calm down. It’s fine.”
Noah shook his head, his eyes darting to Luke’s torso, which was exposed slightly. He shoved the both of them temporarily into the bedroom and shut the door. “You have to go,” he proclaimed, shoving Luke toward the window.
Luke whirled around to meet Noah’s panicked gaze. “You can’t possibly be serious! Noah, just go open the door! No one is going to be able to tell if we’ve been doing anything!”
Noah shook his head, pushing Luke until he reached the open window. “I can’t take that chance. Just go.” He rushed back to the door and opened it a crack, yelling that he’d be right there.
Luke let out an exasperated noise. “Noah-”
“Damn it, Luke, just go!”
Luke shook his head, unable to believe what he was hearing, before resigning himself to slipping out through the window like a common criminal.
***
Luke collapsed on a bench in Old Towne, his mind racing. His arms went to automatically make sure that his shirt was covering his torso entirely. Of course, of course the one time that he and Noah were alone and on the same page, an ICE officer showed up at the door. He was really starting to be fed up with all this back and forth between himself and Noah, especially when-
He jumped as the ring of his cell phone echoed loudly throughout the empty square. He pulled it out, not in the mood to talk to anyone, but he broke out into a smile when he checked the caller ID.
“Hey, you.”
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the best non-boyfriend prom date a girl could ask for,” Maddie’s voice rang happily through the speaker.
Luke laughed. “If it isn’t the girl who couldn’t get always from small town life fast enough,” he chuckled. “How’s Wesleyan?”
“Awesome, though decidedly too far away,” she answered and he could hear movement through the telephone, as though she had just collapsed on her bed for a good, long conversation with her gay best friend. “I’m loving my roommate, Emma. She’s fantastic and we totally have the same taste in everything. Seriously, it’s scary sometimes. Luckily, we have Gilmore Girls to keep it from being too freaky. I love it and she hates it. Keeps our relationship healthy. Everything is so great, though sometimes I wish I were back at Oakdale U with everyone else. How’re things with you? How’s your blossoming relationship with Noah?”
Luke grimaced, glad it wasn’t visible through the telephone. “I . . . I’m not sure you could exactly call it that.”
“What?” He heard Maddie sitting up intently. “What’s going on? Did you guys break up?”
“Oh, if only it were that simple,” Luke sighed, before recounting the events of the last month or so in record-breaking speed, hoping that she wouldn’t stop him and tell him to slow down. He really didn’t want to linger on the eccentricity that was their relationship.
When he finished, he could just picture Maddie sitting on her bed in her dorm, mouth wide open. “So let me get this straight: Noah is married to some Iraqi chick, whose mother ‘knew’ Noah’s dad. You and Noah are still together, though no one can know about it because if they find out Noah’s marriage is a fraud, Ameera will be deported. So you’ve been suckered into a pretend relationship with your ex-doctor.”
Luke frowned. It sounded even worse when she breezily summed it up like that. “That sounds right.”
“And I didn’t know about this?” she gasped, appalled. “How long has this been going on?”
“A couple of weeks.”
“And we haven’t talked in that long?” She sounded absolutely horrified. “Luciano, what is-a happening to our-a friendship?” she demanded in a wildly exaggerated Italian accent.
Luke laughed. “Non lo so,” he replied.
Maddie snorted on the other line and Luke smirked in response. “Fine, so you know some Italian. I bet you weren’t gesturing wildly as you said it like a proper Italian.”
“Ugh. Caught,” he chuckled.
“Ha! See, I was. So, ultimately, I win.”
Luke shook his head, leaning back until his head was resting on the wood of the park bench and his legs were stretched out as far as they could go in front of him. “Well sure. I’m accustomed to losing. No big deal.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t talk like that,” Maddie commanded before falling silent for a moment. “Are you sure this isn’t just his way of going back into the closet? Like . . . maybe he’s afraid of taking it to the next level and is running away, like he tried to with me when you were in the hospital.”
Luke shook his head. “He says that’s not it, that he’s just trying to help her out, like I would. He said . . . when I asked him about it he said that he cares about me more than I will ever know.”
“Okay. Well, what about you?”
“What about me?”
“Are you in love with him?”
Luke hesitated for a split second too long. “I thought that I was . . .”
“But are you?”
“I . . .” It was almost unbearably difficult. Telling Noah that he loved him somehow came easy, but telling it to Maddie didn’t seem like it should be. “I could be,” he admitted. “I like him a lot."
“That doesn’t sound very romantic,” Maddie frowned, sounding skeptical.
“But it is . . . in a way,” Luke argued, although the argument was slow in forming in his mind. “It doesn’t have to be all chocolate and flowers and kisses that cause fireworks to go off in the background like in romantic comedies.”
“I don’t know, Luke. I’m not trying to tell you how to feel but . . . that’s not what I ever expect when I think of the Luke Snyder Patented RomanceTM. That sounds more like what I said when you asked me if I was in love with Noah. But you . . . You’re just so passionate about everything. And that’s what your love should be. It should be someone that just makes your heart race and your breaths hitch and that you think about all the time whether you want to or not. Someone that can just brighten your day with his presence. Someone that makes you feel whole and jittery and practically makes you come when your eyes meet-”
“Maddie!” Luke cried, looking around the square as though all of Oakdale could suddenly hear Maddie’s unexpected vulgarities.
“Oh, don’t pretend to be grossed out,” she chuckled before growing serious. “I mean, when I was with Casey, it was so intense and I think that’s part of what made it real. When Noah and I were together, I didn’t think that. I settled for comfort, and I thought it was love. But . . . the drive, the passion, the need to be with that other person. . . . I think that is so much more what love is about than anything. But the ideal would be to have both-that person that you’re absolutely crazy about, but is also your best friend in the world. The person that you could just fall asleep on the couch with because you’re so confident that what you have is perfection.”
Luke shook his head, part of him wishing that he could just tune her out for this conversation, because his heart was nudging at him, telling him that he had someone that fit her description perfectly and it sure as hell wasn’t Noah.
“Luke?” Maddie murmured, when he sat in silence.
Luke bit his lip, glancing tentatively at his watch before making up his mind. “Sorry, Maddie, I have to go.” He hung up quickly without even waiting for a reply and took of in the direction of Tom and Margo's house.
He had something he had to confirm.
Chapter 34-->
***
And for your general amusement, we have the first 18 seconds of this video. Wooo . . . good times. Oh, Noah. That is not the way to keep your man. (Whoa . . . I just watched the whole thing for the first time and . . . yeah, I took some liberties and basically changed 90% of the canon. Whatevs. No one cares about canon!Nuke anyway)
Author: blasthisass
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Summary: AU- when Luke is shot by Colonel Mayer, his condition quickly deteriorates. In order to save his life, Bob calls in a young, hotshot doctor from Texas, brilliant and already making a name for himself.
Disclaimers: All characters and such property of ATWT, CBS and anyone else who can legally take credit for them. If they were mine, I would take infinitely better care of them.
Title from the song by La Roux. There is dialogue from both the time in which the story takes place as well as the LuRe storyline.
A/N: This is unbeta'd, so any mistakes are mine.
Comments much appreciated . . . I love them like Reid loves Luke.
Previous parts: prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32
***
“So, dude, fake doctor boyfriend isn’t into doing fake boyfriendy things like helping his fake writer boyfriend move his actual boyfriend and his wife into his grandmother’s college, formerly the residence of fake writer boyfriend’s amigos Gwen and Will?”
Luke raised an eyebrow in bewilderment at Casey, who grinned cheekily at him over the cardboard box. He almost regretted asking the youngest Hughes boy for help with this. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard the words boyfriend and fake used so much in a single sentence before without it turning into a babbling run-on.”
“Mad skills, yo. Bask in their glory,” Casey replied, easing the door to the cottage open with his ass and staying in the entryway as Luke eased past him to dump a box of clothes on the rug. “And you never answered my question.”
“I think he’s at Brad and Katie’s engagement party,” Luke replied, glancing curiously over at Casey. “By the way, shouldn’t you be at that? It’s happening at your house.”
“Ugh. I skipped out because I figured there’d be no one my age and/or interesting there,” Casey pouted. “But, man, I’m missing Dr. Oliver at a party. Not cool.”
“Why do you care where Dr. Oliver is, anyway?” Luke asked, taking Casey’s box from him and transporting it onto the kitchen after determining that it’s contents were various kitchen doodads that his mother had tossed in, assuming that the cottage would be lacking in them.
“He amuses me,” Casey laughed.
“Really? Are we talking about the same Dr. Oliver?” Luke laughed, automatically pulling dishes and mugs out of the carton and putting them away. He focused on the task at hand rather than the fact that he also tended to find Reid amusing at the most unexpected of times.
“Dude, totally. He has the most bizarre sense of humor and you can totally get in a wise discussion with him.”
“When have you ever even spoken to him?”
“I haven’t. Yet. Just saying,” Casey shrugged, flopping down on the couch and looking back at Luke. “Hey.”
Luke shut a cabinet and replaced an empty cardboard box with a full one. “We already saw each other today. No need to repeat salutations.”
Casey grinned, wondering whether he should point out that Reid’s sense of humor seemed to be rubbing off on Luke. Instead, he raised an eyebrow as Luke continued to maneuver his way around the kitchen. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Do what?” Luke muttered absentmindedly.
“Set up house for Noah and Ameera. Be remotely okay with the situation. Let them walk all over you like this.”
Luke grimaced at the harshness of the words. “Come on, Casey.”
“No, you come one,” Casey retorted, sitting sideways on the couch so that he could look back into the kitchen at Luke. “I know you’re this crazy-nice, philanthropic guy that’ll do anything in order to make other people happy, but dude, you’ve got to think of yourself every once in a while. Why should Ameera’s happiness be more important than yours?”
Luke frowned, setting down the flowery mug that he’d just pulled out. “Are you sure you haven’t been hanging out with Dr. Oliver?” he murmured softly, not loud enough for Casey to hear him. He also didn’t want to think about the fact that he was there because he was slowly realizing what to expect from his relationship with Noah and, for the first time in his life, he felt safe knowing what to expect. He tried not to think about the fact that recently he’d been itching for the unknown more than for that which he had. “Please,” he said, a little bit louder. “Don’t pretend you care about my happiness. You just want in Ameera’s pants.”
Casey clutched dramatically at his heart. “Good friend, you wound me deeply. My heart: it is bleeding. Luke, we’re friends. That means I’m automatically obligated to look out for you and tell you when you’re doing something completely idiotic.”
“Oh, great, Luke, what have you done now?” Noah joked as he eased himself into the cottage, followed closely by Ameera. He looked around the cottage looking mildly satisfied before proceeding to the nearest bedroom with his box.
Casey raised his eyebrow, as though he wasn’t exactly amused by the joke and gave Luke a pointed look as though to say, “See. That’s what I mean.”
Luke rolled his eyes, but even his displeasure seemed evident. “Whatever, Casey.”
“Besides, dude. Two birds with one stone,” Casey said before walking over to Ameera. “Ameera. What do you think?”
“It’s nice,” she replied, looking around happily. “Very homey. Could really build a nice family here.”
“Yeah, well, that is the image you’re going for, huh?” Casey grinned. “Hey . . .” he started, glancing intently at Luke before turning back to her. “How about we go out . . . get some celebratory ice cream?”
Ameera hesitated, looking back toward the bedroom into which Noah had disappeared, as though it would be improper for her to get ice cream without her fake husband present. “I don’t know . . .”
Casey grinned, slipping effortlessly into flirt mode. “Oh, come on, Ameera, don’t make me beg. You haven’t lived until you’ve tasted homemade, Oakdale ice cream.”
She hesitated, but finally allowed herself to be herded toward the door and outside. Casey paused just before disappearing after her. He glanced back at Luke, whose eyebrows were raised slightly. “Just in case you didn’t get the hint, bro: you and your boyfriend are now alone in a cottage, no cock blocking wife in the vicinity. You ought to make the most of it.”
Luke frowned as the door clicked shut. He felt as though he should be thrilled by this scenario-he’d been wanting an Ameera-less moment with Noah for weeks now, but somehow, he didn’t quite feel up to making the most of anything. Maybe it was just a mood.
He abandoned the dishes in the kitchen and strolled over to the bedroom, where Noah was busy shoving his shirts into a dresser drawer. He glanced up at the sound of Luke entering and grinned. “Hey, you. Where are Casey and Ameera?”
Luke didn’t reply, taking a moment to adjust to the fact that Ameera wouldn’t come awkwardly barging in to interrupt them. Now that he was in the doorway of the bedroom, watching Noah maneuver his way around, he was starting to regain the feel of their relationship. But it was still lacking in something, now that Luke could focus on it. That spark, which he’d first felt when their hands touched at WOAK over spilled videocassettes, was significantly absent.
“Casey took her out to get ice cream,” he replied, his voice purposefully low.
Noah stopped what he was doing then. He straightened and glanced over his shoulder at Luke who looked a hell of a lot more laid back than Noah was feeling. Noah shoved the dresser drawer closed and made his way toward Luke.
“So we’re alone?” he confirmed, reaching the door and eased himself right in front of Luke. One hand automatically rose to play with the belt loops of Luke’s jeans.
Luke smiled, tilting his head back to gaze up at Noah’s blue eyes, ignoring the fact that their shade was disconcerting them slightly, as though it wasn’t the one he was used to. “Completely.”
Noah grinned and took a mini step forward, closing the already minimal distance between them. His free hand eased itself lightly under Luke’s shirt, brushing lightly against the soft skin stretched over Luke’s hips. “Would it make me an ass if I said, ‘Finally,’ in a ridiculously exasperated voice?”
Luke laughed softly. “Not at all.”
Noah sighed in relief, moving close enough so that he fell out of Luke’s comfortable line of focus. “Finally,” he whispered, leaning in for a kiss.
A kiss that never happened.
“US Immigration and Customs Enforcement! Open up!”
Noah jumped away from Luke as though the banging on the front door had electrocuted him. “Shit! Shit, shit, shit!”
Luke’s brow furrowed, hurt that the extent of the reaction that Noah was exhibiting. “Noah. Calm down. It’s fine.”
Noah shook his head, his eyes darting to Luke’s torso, which was exposed slightly. He shoved the both of them temporarily into the bedroom and shut the door. “You have to go,” he proclaimed, shoving Luke toward the window.
Luke whirled around to meet Noah’s panicked gaze. “You can’t possibly be serious! Noah, just go open the door! No one is going to be able to tell if we’ve been doing anything!”
Noah shook his head, pushing Luke until he reached the open window. “I can’t take that chance. Just go.” He rushed back to the door and opened it a crack, yelling that he’d be right there.
Luke let out an exasperated noise. “Noah-”
“Damn it, Luke, just go!”
Luke shook his head, unable to believe what he was hearing, before resigning himself to slipping out through the window like a common criminal.
***
Luke collapsed on a bench in Old Towne, his mind racing. His arms went to automatically make sure that his shirt was covering his torso entirely. Of course, of course the one time that he and Noah were alone and on the same page, an ICE officer showed up at the door. He was really starting to be fed up with all this back and forth between himself and Noah, especially when-
He jumped as the ring of his cell phone echoed loudly throughout the empty square. He pulled it out, not in the mood to talk to anyone, but he broke out into a smile when he checked the caller ID.
“Hey, you.”
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the best non-boyfriend prom date a girl could ask for,” Maddie’s voice rang happily through the speaker.
Luke laughed. “If it isn’t the girl who couldn’t get always from small town life fast enough,” he chuckled. “How’s Wesleyan?”
“Awesome, though decidedly too far away,” she answered and he could hear movement through the telephone, as though she had just collapsed on her bed for a good, long conversation with her gay best friend. “I’m loving my roommate, Emma. She’s fantastic and we totally have the same taste in everything. Seriously, it’s scary sometimes. Luckily, we have Gilmore Girls to keep it from being too freaky. I love it and she hates it. Keeps our relationship healthy. Everything is so great, though sometimes I wish I were back at Oakdale U with everyone else. How’re things with you? How’s your blossoming relationship with Noah?”
Luke grimaced, glad it wasn’t visible through the telephone. “I . . . I’m not sure you could exactly call it that.”
“What?” He heard Maddie sitting up intently. “What’s going on? Did you guys break up?”
“Oh, if only it were that simple,” Luke sighed, before recounting the events of the last month or so in record-breaking speed, hoping that she wouldn’t stop him and tell him to slow down. He really didn’t want to linger on the eccentricity that was their relationship.
When he finished, he could just picture Maddie sitting on her bed in her dorm, mouth wide open. “So let me get this straight: Noah is married to some Iraqi chick, whose mother ‘knew’ Noah’s dad. You and Noah are still together, though no one can know about it because if they find out Noah’s marriage is a fraud, Ameera will be deported. So you’ve been suckered into a pretend relationship with your ex-doctor.”
Luke frowned. It sounded even worse when she breezily summed it up like that. “That sounds right.”
“And I didn’t know about this?” she gasped, appalled. “How long has this been going on?”
“A couple of weeks.”
“And we haven’t talked in that long?” She sounded absolutely horrified. “Luciano, what is-a happening to our-a friendship?” she demanded in a wildly exaggerated Italian accent.
Luke laughed. “Non lo so,” he replied.
Maddie snorted on the other line and Luke smirked in response. “Fine, so you know some Italian. I bet you weren’t gesturing wildly as you said it like a proper Italian.”
“Ugh. Caught,” he chuckled.
“Ha! See, I was. So, ultimately, I win.”
Luke shook his head, leaning back until his head was resting on the wood of the park bench and his legs were stretched out as far as they could go in front of him. “Well sure. I’m accustomed to losing. No big deal.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t talk like that,” Maddie commanded before falling silent for a moment. “Are you sure this isn’t just his way of going back into the closet? Like . . . maybe he’s afraid of taking it to the next level and is running away, like he tried to with me when you were in the hospital.”
Luke shook his head. “He says that’s not it, that he’s just trying to help her out, like I would. He said . . . when I asked him about it he said that he cares about me more than I will ever know.”
“Okay. Well, what about you?”
“What about me?”
“Are you in love with him?”
Luke hesitated for a split second too long. “I thought that I was . . .”
“But are you?”
“I . . .” It was almost unbearably difficult. Telling Noah that he loved him somehow came easy, but telling it to Maddie didn’t seem like it should be. “I could be,” he admitted. “I like him a lot."
“That doesn’t sound very romantic,” Maddie frowned, sounding skeptical.
“But it is . . . in a way,” Luke argued, although the argument was slow in forming in his mind. “It doesn’t have to be all chocolate and flowers and kisses that cause fireworks to go off in the background like in romantic comedies.”
“I don’t know, Luke. I’m not trying to tell you how to feel but . . . that’s not what I ever expect when I think of the Luke Snyder Patented RomanceTM. That sounds more like what I said when you asked me if I was in love with Noah. But you . . . You’re just so passionate about everything. And that’s what your love should be. It should be someone that just makes your heart race and your breaths hitch and that you think about all the time whether you want to or not. Someone that can just brighten your day with his presence. Someone that makes you feel whole and jittery and practically makes you come when your eyes meet-”
“Maddie!” Luke cried, looking around the square as though all of Oakdale could suddenly hear Maddie’s unexpected vulgarities.
“Oh, don’t pretend to be grossed out,” she chuckled before growing serious. “I mean, when I was with Casey, it was so intense and I think that’s part of what made it real. When Noah and I were together, I didn’t think that. I settled for comfort, and I thought it was love. But . . . the drive, the passion, the need to be with that other person. . . . I think that is so much more what love is about than anything. But the ideal would be to have both-that person that you’re absolutely crazy about, but is also your best friend in the world. The person that you could just fall asleep on the couch with because you’re so confident that what you have is perfection.”
Luke shook his head, part of him wishing that he could just tune her out for this conversation, because his heart was nudging at him, telling him that he had someone that fit her description perfectly and it sure as hell wasn’t Noah.
“Luke?” Maddie murmured, when he sat in silence.
Luke bit his lip, glancing tentatively at his watch before making up his mind. “Sorry, Maddie, I have to go.” He hung up quickly without even waiting for a reply and took of in the direction of Tom and Margo's house.
He had something he had to confirm.
Chapter 34-->
***
And for your general amusement, we have the first 18 seconds of this video. Wooo . . . good times. Oh, Noah. That is not the way to keep your man. (Whoa . . . I just watched the whole thing for the first time and . . . yeah, I took some liberties and basically changed 90% of the canon. Whatevs. No one cares about canon!Nuke anyway)