Please Please Me
Title: Please Please Me
Pairing: Luke/Reid
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Luke and Reid are seniors in high school in 1970 where peace, love and happiness abounds.
Disclaimer: I don't own ATWT
Word Count: 10300
A/N: This is my first ever full length LuRe fic and I'm really nervous, but it's been a lot of fun dipping my toes into this fandom, so I hope you do enjoy. Written for lure_reversebb. I have to give a huge thank you to homo_pink for being there with me and encouraging me to sign up for this in the first place. And then I need to thank luresoromantic for making this gorgeous piece of art!
Also, didn't use a beta. Any errors are my own fault.
Friday morning of April 10th, 1970, was just like any other typical Friday. Luke sat in front of his locker, a notebook out on his lap as he tried to get in some last minute studying for the exam he had in his first period class.
“How can you possibly be studying at a time like this?” Reid asked when he finally got to school. Luke had already been there for twenty minutes.
“Well, believe it or not, some of us don’t have photographic memory and can’t dick around in school all the time and therefore actually have to study,” Luke replied, looking up to where his friend was still standing. But then he saw that Reid’s extremely upset expression didn’t change at all; usually he would quirk a bit of a smile at the teasing. “What’s wrong?” he then asked him.
“Everything. Didn’t you hear?”
“Hear what?”
“Good thing you’re already sitting down for this…” Reid then sat down on the floor himself. “Life as we know it is over.”
“Reid, tell me what happened.”
“The Beatles broke up,” Reid told him.
Luke blinked a couple times, trying to register what Reid just said. “What? No,” Luke said, shaking his head side to side, setting his notebook down. “That’s not possible.”
“It is. Paul left the group, they said so on the radio this morning.”
“No. You’re bullshitting me. They were supposed to be together forever,” Luke insisted.
“I wish I was bullshitting you,” Reid said, head dropping back, hitting the hard metal locker.
“But… what happens now?” Luke asked. Reid was right, life as they knew it was, indeed, over.
“They have one more album coming out next month.”
“That’s it?”
“At least we get the one,” Reid said.
“True… wanna come over tonight and listen to all my Beatles records?” Luke asked him.
The bell rang just then, so both teens stood up, and once the annoying ringing ended, Reid answered, “I thought you’d never ask.” They headed off to their classes, and as Reid got to his classroom door, he said, “Oh, and good luck on that test.”
“Thanks,” Luke muttered. Like a test was his greatest priority, or something. He had just been told some of the most devastating news of all time and now he had to go attempt to pass an exam in a subject he was never very good in to begin with.
It wasn’t until the last period of the day that they saw one another again. However, when some of Luke’s other friends saw him throughout the day, they all saw his long face and asked him what was wrong. When they told him that not only was he positive that he flunked his math exam, but that The Beatles also broke up, they tried to assure him that it wasn’t the end of the world. He could tell by their words, though, that they didn’t even believe it themselves.
Before the bell to signal the beginning of their last period rang, Reid leaned over to Luke and asked, “How’d that exam go.”
“About ninety percent sure that I failed.”
“Oh, well… it doesn’t matter anyway… the greatest band in the world is no more,” he said, obviously still down about the news he received earlier that morning.
“I don’t think that’ll look too good on my report card… Flunked an exam, but it’s ok because he was distraught that day over the breakup of a band,” Luke muttered.
“It sounds like a viable excuse to me,” Reid said with a shrug.
Luke sighed. He didn’t know how the day could get any worse. That was until the teacher walked in and, right after the bell rang, announced that there would be a pop quiz on last night’s reading material.
Even in his downer of a mood, Reid still aced the quiz without even actually trying, but Luke found that he’d forgotten pretty much everything he read the night before.
He wasn’t really a religious person, but when the final bell rang, he muttered under his breath, “Thank you, God.” The students began standing, throwing their notebooks into their backpacks as they headed out the door. “You’re still coming over, right?” Luke asked.
“Of course.”
They headed to their lockers, grabbing what they would need for the weekend, even though they didn’t think a whole lot of homework would be done… not much was ever accomplished on the weekends. Once they had their things, they headed down to the parking lot. “See ya in a few,” Luke said as they parted ways, going to their separate vehicles. Luke got into his VW bus while Reid straddled his motorcycle.
It was a few minutes later that Luke, followed closely by Reid, was pulling into his driveway. Luke cut the engine, grabbing his backpack as he exited the van, slamming the door shut behind him. Reid was putting down the kickstand, Luke leaning against the side panel as he waited.
“Hi, sweetie,” his mum, Lily greeted when she saw him in the driveway. She had her youngest, Ethan in tow with her. “Hello to you, too, Reid,” she said, giving him a smile.
“Hi, Mom,” Luke returned her greeting.
At the same time, Reid was saying, “Hi, Mrs. Snyder.”
“I was just about to head out to bring Ethan over to Grandmother’s. I’ll see you boys later, though,” she said.
“Later, Mom,” Luke replied.
“Bye, Mrs. Snyder,” Reid said at the same time, giving her a little wave before they headed into the house.
Before heading upstairs, Luke asked, “Want anything to eat?”
“We could just grab a bag of chips and bring it upstairs,” Reid suggested.
Luke shrugged. “Fair enough.” He quickly went to the kitchen, grabbing a bag of chips. When he returned to the living room, though, he noticed that Reid wasn’t there anymore. He had been best friends with Luke for years now and he made no qualms about making himself at home whenever he was over. “Thanks for waiting for me,” Luke muttered once he was in his room, finding that Reid was already there, going through his vinyl collection.
“Found it,” Reid said, completely ignoring Luke as he pulled Please Please Me from the shelf. Slipping the record out of its cover, he placed it onto Luke’s record player and put the needle in place. Sitting down on Luke’s bed, Reid then pulled his backpack up onto his lap from where he’d placed it when he entered the room. “This is cause for memorial,” he declared as he pulled out a baggie.
“Reid! Did you have that with you the whole day?” Luke asked as soon as he saw what was in said baggie.
“What? I had a feeling I’d need it,” Reid told him, now taking out some rolling paper. “And I didn’t have time to light up at school, so…” he trailed off, licking the edge of the paper after he packed it full. “Quit looking at me like that; stop acting like you’ve never smoked before,” he muttered as he began rooting through the top drawer of Luke’s bedside table for his lighter. “And stop pretending like you don’t know your mother has a bong in her panty drawer.”
“She what?! Wait, how do you even know that? She doesn’t really, does she?” Luke asked, though now that Reid mentioned it…
“Well, I can’t prove anything, but I have my suspicions.”
“So you haven’t actually gone in and looked?”
“Not yet,” he answered, finally finding the lighter buried under piles of notebooks and loose papers with scribbled writing all over them. He sighed in contentment once he flicked open the lighter and put it to the end of the joint.
“Would you really have toked up at school?” Luke asked him.
“It was a stressful day, ok? I think I earned that right.”
Luke shook his head, though he was grinning. Only Reid. “And you want to be a brain surgeon?”
“I don’t see what that has to do with anything. Like I said, I had a stressful day.”
“You probably find the idea of The Beatles breaking up more stressful than you would cutting into someone’s head, wouldn’t you?” When Reid nodded, Luke muttered, “You’re a strange dude,” before taking the joint that was handed over to him once he joined Reid on the bed.
“And you’re my best friend, so what does that say about you?” Reid teased.
“Not much, I guess.”
It wasn’t long after that the record clicked, signaling the flip to the B side. “Ya know, I’ve been listening to Sgt. Pepper’s so much lately that I forgot just how good this old stuff actually is… I mean, Love Me Do is a B side track. Love Me Do! How’s that even possible?”
Luke nodded, passing the joint back. “I don’t know, Reid. You’re the genius, you tell me.”
Reid took a deep drag, shutting his eyes before flopping back on the bed, blowing smoke through his pursed lips. “They’re the geniuses, Luke.”
Taking the joint from Reid, Luke was just bringing it to his lips when he thought he heard Reid mutter something about ‘fucking Yoko’. He didn’t comment, though, just joined Reid on the bed, listening to the remainder of the album.
They started right in on the next one, both far more relaxed than they had been at the beginning of the day. Sitting up again as With the Beatles was playing, Reid opened the bag of chips and began eating.
“Reid, you’re getting crumbs everywhere!” Luke huffed. He then cringed when Reid wiped his fingers on his comforter. “Dickhead. I’m gonna have to wash that now.”
“You know, it’s probably covered in jizz, I don’t think a few chip crumbs will really make a difference.”
“You’re so crude, do you know that?” Luke asked him, though he was grinning all the same. He could say with a great deal of certainty that he was in a much better mood than he was at the beginning of the day when he’d been delivered the devastating news and subsequently flunked his exam.
“You wouldn’t have me any other way, though,” Reid told him.
Luke had to concede that that was true. He couldn’t imagine Reid being anything other than, well, Reid.
“By the way, I made plans with someone tomorrow and I was wondering if I could borrow your van,” Reid said when the record clicked, needing to be flipped over.
“Again?”
“Well, I can’t pick someone up on my bike, now can I?” Reid asked.
“Why don’t you get yourself a car? You know, something with four wheels, two or four doors, a roof?”
“That’s just not me,” he answered.
“I don’t appreciate you taking my vehicle just so you can get laid.”
“It’s not like you’re using it to get laid,” Reid replied, finally getting up when he realized that Luke wasn’t going to change the record to do it himself.
“Still doesn’t mean that I like it when you do it.”
“You’re just jealous that I’m getting some. You, Luke, need to start having sex again; it has been way too long.”
“I don’t want to do it with just anyone. I’m not you,” Luke said as he watched Reid fiddling with his record player.
“Maybe you should be more like me.”
“Do you even remember his name?”
“Whose name?” Reid asked. There had been quite a few ‘his names’ in his life in recent years.
“The guy you lost your virginity to… do you remember his name?”
“I would if he ever told me his name, but as I never actually knew his name… I’d remember what he looks like, though.”
“I just don’t get that at all… shouldn’t your first time be special? With someone you love and care about?” Luke asked, stubbing out the cherry.
“That’s what you said about Noah, wasn’t it? You just knew he was the one; you waited a whole year before you finally made love not war… only for him to rip your heart out a couple months later. I told you that dickhead wasn’t right for you. I don’t know why you didn’t believe me.”
“Yeah, well… I guess you were right about that one,” Luke admitted rather reluctantly. He hated when the subject of his ex was brought up. Reid had always hated him, from the second he moved into town. Luke, on the other hand, thought it was love at first sight. Even if it was one sided love… He swore up, down and sideways that Noah was the one that he’d spend the rest of his life with.
Things were going so well between them, too… until they weren’t. Noah became heavily involved in anti-war protests, wanting to document the many protests and rallies and riots that were happening all over the country. Luke had no issue with that, knowing that making films was something Noah always dreamed of doing since a young age. Yet Noah claimed that Luke was suppressing him, was holding him back from fulfilling his dreams.
And that was when Noah dropped out of school and left the little town of Oakdale to travel the states; his plans were to visit all the major cities: Boston, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, then go overseas to London and Paris and maybe even Vietnam to be in the heat of it all. Luke had no idea how far he actually made it, but the longer Noah was away, the more he realized he was better for it.
“Please, Luke, I’m always right. Haven’t you learned this by now? You’ve known me practically your whole life… you’d think you’d be used to it.”
“Well, it doesn’t mean I have to like it, ok?”
“So you admit it.”
“Well… I wouldn’t say always…”
“Fine. I may not always be right, Luke, but I’m very seldom wrong.”
“Remind me again why I like you?” Luke said to Reid with a roll of his eyes.
“Because I’m handsome, smart, funny, witty, charismatic and I also know where to get the best weed,” he answered.
“It’s nice to know that you’re so humble, Reid.”
“There’s another reason you like me: humility,” Reid said with a slightly crooked grin on his face. “So, about using the van?”
~~~
Monday morning, Reid picked Luke up for school in Luke’s own van. Reid appeared to be in a good mood, which meant he either had a full breakfast with about an entire carton of eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes doused in maple syrup, toast and two or three glasses of OJ to wash it all down, or he got laid over the weekend. And considering that Reid wasn’t a morning person and probably rolled out of bed five minutes ago, giving him enough time to inhale a bowl of cereal, dress and brush his teeth, he went for the latter. “Have a good weekend?” Luke asked once Reid got out of the driver’s side to walk to the passenger’s side.
“Oh, yeah. One of my more enjoyable weekends.”
“I still don’t know why you need to use my van for your own selfish purposes.
“I answer that same question every time.”
“Can’t you bring them back to your place, or something?” It wasn’t as though there was anyone there to tell Reid he couldn’t bring a guy back to his place. He’d been living on his own since last year when his uncle died and the courts granted him the right to continue living on his own.
“Yeah, right, like I’d bring someone back to my place so they’ll know where I live.”
“Did you really have sex in here again?” If Reid said yes, that would make for the third time it happened, and he was fairly certain it had been a different guy each time, too.
“Yes,” he answered.
Luke sighed. “Who is he, anyway?”
“Someone from Lincoln High,” he said. Reid only ever hooked up with people from different schools, not wanting to have any issues arise from getting too close to someone from his own school who he could potentially bump into, not only in the hallway, but also around town. “Last weekend we ran into each other at a record store outside of town.”
“You only met him last weekend?” Luke asked.
“There’s your problem, Luke. You’re just too uptight and polite. You need to get out there, go to a keg party, have a one night stand… if you want something, or someone, don’t beat around the bush, just take it,” Reid told him, that crooked grin on his face once again… that grin that, without fail, managed to make little butterflies flutter around Luke’s stomach.
“I don’t want some random hook up,” Luke said to Reid for what had to be the millionth time. He had his mind set on that, he really did want to be in another relationship before he slept with someone again. It had taken a long time to work up to that with Noah and he’d had his heart broken, stomped on and flushed down the toilet. He really didn’t want that again. He wanted to be with someone he knew for sure that he loved and loved him in return, someone that wouldn’t give him the constant runaround and place the blame for everything going wrong on him.
“You don’t know what you want.”
~~~
The school day was just like any other day. Luke found out that he didn’t actually flunk his exam (he didn’t pass with flying colors, either, but a passing grade was a passing grade).
After school, Luke had to bring Reid home, and once he pulled into Reid’s driveway, he was invited upstairs, Reid even offering to help with math, to which Luke replied, “It’s a bit late for that, but thanks for the offer.” Reid followed up with the fact that it was never too early to start studying for the next exam.
They were up in Reid’s room, Reid hardly even setting his backpack down before he was digging out Pet Sounds to put on the turn table. Once the first song was playing, Reid flopped down on his bed.
Sitting down next to Reid, Luke said, “You don’t look like you’re much help right now,” with a little pout on his lips.
“You said you didn’t want any help,” he replied, shrugging. He looked up to Luke and asked, “What’s up?” when he noticed the frown Luke was sporting.
“Nothing much.”
“This isn’t about me not helping you with math, is it?”
“No,” Luke answered with a shake of his head.
“Then what is it?”
“I was just thinking about what we were talking about earlier.”
Reid raised a brow. “What was that? We were talking about quite a few things earlier.”
“You saying that I don’t know what I want.”
“Well, you don’t know what you want,” Reid stated with a great deal of confidence.
Luke sighed, looking to his side, able to see a bit of Reid’s tummy where his shirt had raised up. Therein laid the problem. He did know what he wanted… and he was lying right there on his bed. It’s just that he obviously didn’t want him in return. He figured he always knew that he wanted Reid, somewhere deep within himself, he knew for a long time. There was no way he could forget that stinging feeling in the pit of his stomach he felt when, three years ago, Reid told him he got laid for the first time. Not only that first time did he feel that sting, it was every single subsequent time. Part of him wondered if Reid felt anything similar when he told him he and Noah had sex for the first time. Well, aside from the normal, run of the mill hatred that Reid already had for Noah.
But at the same time, with the way that Reid was encouraging him to go out there and have some one night stand with a stranger, it had him realizing that there really wasn’t ever a chance for the two of them.
“And you do?” Luke decided to ask in return.
Reid shrugged. “I know what I want out of life. I want to be a doctor.”
“We’re talking about two different things here… I want to be a writer. But that wasn’t what we were talking about before, you were talking about my love life. Are you saying that you know what you want in that aspect of your life, too?”
Making eye contact, Reid shrugged again then looked away. There was one person he’d wanted for quite some time now, but it was clear that the feelings would never be returned. So he’d moved along from guy to guy (and even a girl once, just because he was curious), never settling for anyone, because there’d be no one that could compare to that one person. There’d never be anyone like Luke, and, he’d never be dumb enough to say anything about it. It would just make things awkward between them, and that was the last thing that he ever wanted. “Never said that. I’m sure I’ll know it when I see it, though.”
“Yeah,” Luke agreed. “Most likely.” He stood up and then, to change the subject to something far more enjoyable, he asked, “So, you still got that baggie you brought over to my place last week?”
“Sure do,” Reid answered. “Check in there.” Not even sitting up, he pointed to where he’d stashed the bag away for safe keeping. “My lighter should be there, too.”
“Found it,” Luke said after rooting around in the drawer for a little while.
“Lighter, too?” Reid asked.
Coming back to the bed, he answered, “Yup.” He began rolling the joint for the both of them, lighting it up before sitting back down.
“So, that guy I hooked up with?” Reid began, continuing on when Luke looked towards him and raised an eyebrow.
“What? Did he give you syphilis?”
“No. He asked if I wanted to meet up again next weekend,” he told Luke.
Luke rolled his eyes this time. “And what did you say?”
“I said yes,” he answered. Hey, he needed to get it somehow. He’d give up all those flings and one night stands if Luke were to ever turn his affections towards him, though. But, as he knew that’d never happen, he figured that he may as well get it from someone he kinda knew a little bit already.
“Whatever happened to wining and dining someone before sleeping with them?” Luke asked him. That’s what he and Noah had done. Well, sort of. They hung out a lot, whenever they weren’t busy or Luke hadn’t made plans with Reid, they went out to dinner every now and again, they went to the drive in… though when they did that, Noah actually watched the movie, even though it was one of the few times they were out, away from parental supervision and should have been taking advantage of the situation.
“That’s just not my style… if I were a girl, maybe I’d like that more,” he replied, taking the joint from Luke. Once he blew the smoke out in a little puff, he continued, “As it is, though, I just like getting my dick sucked. Why waste time on all the formalities and wait around for the fun stuff?”
“It’s called getting to know someone, Reid.”
“If someone got to know me, they probably wouldn’t want to be in a relationship with me, anyway. You’ve known me too long that you’ve become immune to my assholeish tendencies, but a complete stranger doesn’t have that benefit.”
Luke couldn’t bring himself to reply right away. So he nodded. He was, quite honestly, probably the only person that Reid wasn’t a complete asshole towards. He still had his moments, sure, but he’d gotten to know Reid like no one else ever had, or ever would. But he still wanted to get to know everything about Reid… to learn his body as well. He just didn’t know why Reid didn’t see that. They were already the best of friends, they both liked men, they already knew one another’s habits and tendencies and they were both good looking. In theory, it would be perfect. However, with one of them not returning the feelings, things really wouldn’t be so perfect. “Lucky me,” he finally replied.
Grinning, Reid took the joint back. He figured that if Luke were at all interested, he’d be more averse to his constant going out, hopping into bed with almost anyone with a dick. But Luke never said he wanted him to stop, so… he didn’t. He supposed that he could try a bit harder to get Luke, to win him over, but at the same time, if Luke really didn’t return those feelings? It would ruin their lifelong friendship in a split second. “You should consider yourself lucky, being best friends with a genius like me.”
“One that won’t even help me with math,” Luke muttered.
“If you want help, I’ll help.”
“By help, do you mean do it for me?” Luke asked. “You can consider it a return favor for letting you do unspeakable things in my van.”
“Speaking of which-”
“No,” he cut Reid off, “you’re not using my van again. You’re gonna have to find some other way to get laid.”
“You’re no fun,” Reid muttered. “But it gives me a chance to figure out if sex is actually possible on a motorcycle,” he mused aloud, taking another hit.
Once Reid inhaled, though, Luke was taking the joint from him, needing the hit in an attempt to get his mind of the thoughts of Reid and some guy he hardly even knew doing things that should be physically impossible on the seat of Reid’s bike. “Are you looking?” Luke then asked.
“What?” Reid asked in return, confused as to what Luke was talking about.
“You said you’d know what you want when you see it… are you actually looking for it?” he elaborated.”
Reid shrugged, suddenly noticing the absolute silence that filled the room… when did the record even stop? “Not overly,” he finally answered. “I take it you are?” he asked.
“I guess you could say that.” It wasn’t as though that was a lie. He was looking right at it, after all.
“Ya know, if you don’t actually get out there and look, you’ll never find it,” Reid said.
“Yeah, I guess.” He took a deep breath, then leaned forward, arms crossed over his legs. “Well, I should probably get home… Mom will probably have dinner ready,” Luke said.
“What, you mean you don’t wanna have dinner with me?” Reid asked, grinning.
“Not when your idea of dinner is a blob of mayo between two slices of Wonder Bread,” he replied.
“I guess Lily’s home cooked meals do sound a little more appealing than that.”
“Just a bit,” he said, returning Reid’s smile. When they reached his front door, just before stepping out, Luke added, “And thanks for all that help on the math homework.”
“Give it to me,” Reid said, holding his hand out, palm up.
“What?”
Reid grinned again and said, “I’m just returning a favor.”
~~~
The following morning, Reid met Luke at his locker and handed the completed math homework over. “You actually did it,” Luke said with surprise in his voice.
“You thought I wouldn’t?” Reid asked, sitting down next to Luke.
“My teacher’s gonna wonder how I actually managed to do well… and he’ll definitely wonder when the hell my handwriting got so messy. You could have at least made an attempt to neaten up your writing.”
“I did make an attempt.”
Luke mouthed “Oh,” as he looked down at the paper again. “This is making an attempt at nice handwriting?”
“It’s not completely illegible,” Reid retorted.
“Yeah, you were meant to be a doctor.” He then turned the paper sideways and managed to make out the steps to the Pythagorean Theorem and the answer scribbled down next to the problem.
“Are you saying that my brilliant mind alone isn’t enough?” Reid asked and Luke smirked at him. “Asshole,” he muttered. “Just tell him you got a tutor if he asks.”
“You really think he’ll buy that?”
“Well, I can explain how I did it to you right now if you want so you can tell him just how much you learned.”
“If you tried, I’d just go and screw it up,” Luke said, trying to figure out just how Reid got that for an answer.
“But at least you’d be trying and that’d just show him that you really do need a tutor.”
“Fine, go for it.”
Reid began explaining this, that and the hypotenuse and Luke had practically gone cross-eyed by the end of it. “Simple as that,” Reid concluded just before the bell rang.
“Yeah… simple.”
Mercifully, as though the Gods were smiling down on him, Luke’s teacher didn’t seem to question not only his change in handwriting but also his sudden ability to actually complete his homework and do so correctly.
Near the end of the day, Luke was sitting at his desk to begin last period. When Reid walked in, he didn’t even wait to sit down before he was saying, “I hope you don’t have anything planned for June nineteenth to the twenty second.”
“Uh, that’s two months away, I have no idea if I have anything planned,” Luke replied, giving Reid a look. “Why?”
“Casey was talking about this massive concert going on in Chicago, talking about how it’s gonna be like the next Woodstock,” he answered.
Luke could see the excitement in his eyes as he told him about this concert, clearly wanting to attend. “Who’s playing?”
“I think it’s more like who isn’t playing,” Reid said. “When Case said it was like the next Woodstock, he wasn’t lying.”
“Where’d he hear about this?”
“I don’t know. Does that even matter? Luke, it’s four days of live music.”
“It’s four days of being outside all day, standing out in the sun and sleeping in tents... You hate the outside, Reid.”
“I know,” he said, knowing that to be completely true, “but it’s four days of live music. When will we ever get the chance again?”
“Ok,” Luke agreed. He had to admit, it did sound like an amazing time, even though he had no idea who the bands or artists would be. Plus, it was four day’s he’d have being with Reid, most likely sharing a tent with Reid… “I’ll make sure to keep my calendar clear this June.”
~~~
The only other event, aside from the concert, that both Luke and Reid had planned for June was their high school graduation. Reid, of course, was the school’s valedictorian. His speech was the kind that everyone liked: short and sweet.
To be honest, Luke was shocked that Reid actually showed up to their graduation, knowing how much he hated having to speak in front of people, though he didn’t mind showing off his accomplishments every once in a while.
And, well, wasn’t a full ride to Harvard medical school quite the accomplishment? He’d found out about the scholarship just the month before, after he was already accepted to the school. Luke had honestly never seen Reid look happier than when he watched him open the letter and read it aloud.
After graduation, Reid and Luke went back to Luke’s grandma Emma’s place with his parents and siblings. They didn’t have a big celebration (which was admittedly rare coming from Luke’s family), but they did have one of Emma’s delicious home cooked meals and a cake she’d somehow found time to make during the day between doing all her other grandmotherly duties.
It was after dinner that Lily got Luke and Reid alone. They swore she was looking at them as though they still had their caps and gowns on what with the way her eyes were misting over. “Oh, boys, I’m so proud of you,” she said for the millionth time that day.
“Thank you, Mrs. Snyder,” Reid said, while at the same time Luke mumbled, “Thanks, Mom.”
“And for doing so well, I got you boys something,” she told them with a smile.
“What is it?” Luke asked, now really curious.
“I’m paying for that concert you’re going to later this month. Transportation, food, tickets… anything you need, I’ve got it covered.”
Reid’s eyes were wide. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Not only was he going to see what was easily going to be the best concert in his life, he was going to be going for free? “Really, Mrs. Snyder?”
“Really, Reid. You especially deserve something special, Mr. Valedictorian.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Luke said again, only this time he sounded slightly insulted.
“Well, you weren’t valedictorian, were you sweetie?”
Luke sighed, but she was right in that Reid did deserve something special. He’d gone through a whole lot in his few years on the planet, but he never lost sight of goals. Sure, he wasn’t the most well behaved guy, smoking pot, drinking, having one night stands, but he never let any of that get in his way of his sheer determination. He always did what he wanted on his terms… and he never wanted anything more than to go to Harvard and become a doctor. Even though he didn’t have much, his parents certainly weren’t wealthy when they passed, and Reid had to use what little his parents and his uncle did leave him to pay the bills, but now he was going to be going to Harvard, all expenses paid, so now he had nothing holding him back; circumstances be damned.
~~~
It was just a week after graduation when Luke and Reid were setting off for the outskirts of Chicago for their concert; they had a vague idea of how to get there but that was going to be part of the adventure. They threw some clothes into a couple duffle bags, found a tent that Luke’s stepdad Holden used when he was in his teens, grabbed some old, dust covered sleeping bags and snagged a bottle or two of whiskey from Lily’s liquor cabinet. All that was shoved into the back of Luke’s VW bus and they were off.
The ride there was spent with the two of them chatting about just who they were getting the chance to see live and flipping between radio stations whenever the one they had on started to lose signal.
Once they were there, Luke parked and they unloaded the bus, following the slowly building crowd of people attending the concert. As they walked with their things to the concert location, Reid said, “Shit, doesn’t it make you wish you were at Woodstock?”
“Yeah,” Luke agreed. He remembered all the hype around the massive outdoor concert from the summer of ’69, and it was a shame that he hadn’t been there to experience it. This wouldn’t compare, he knew, but it was still destined to be a great few days, of that he was certain.
“Oh, well, this’ll be a good show. Sucks Case couldn’t make it, though,” Reid said.
Just about a week after Casey had informed them about the concert, his mother informed him that they would be leaving on vacation once he was out of school to celebrate his graduation. Casey was bummed that he couldn’t attend the concert, especially since he knew his two closest friends were going to be there, but he didn’t really have much choice, not when his grandparents were going, as well, and it was for him.
“I know. He was really looking forward to it. Guess that just means we need to enjoy it enough for him, too.”
Reid looked to him and smirked. He knew for a fact he would be enjoying himself all weekend, despite the fact that they would be stuck with a mass of people outdoors. There’d be good company, good weed, good booze and maybe some good sex here and there. Honestly, he couldn’t think of a better way to spend his weekend.
They set up their tent, tossed their duffle bags into a corner of their already cramped tent and rolled out their sleeping bags. “You’re really gonna do this?” Luke asked.
“If I could, I’d do this all damn summer… just following the shows around the country.”
“You sound like you’re a friggin’ Dead Head, or something,” Luke said with a snort of laughter.
“Hey, they’re playing this weekend. Maybe this can be my first of many of their shows.”
“For some reason, I just don’t believe that. You’re gonna be so grossed out by your own bodily stench by the end of this that you won’t be able to wait to get back home and into a nice hot shower.”
“Yeah, well… I suppose you’re right… but if I could travel around and stay in hotels everywhere? I think I might like that option.”
~~~
The following morning at ten, the first band was set to play. It was some group most people had never even heard of, but that didn’t stop people from trickling to the stage to listen. Luke and Reid listened in, but most of their morning and afternoon was spent scavenging for food.
Once they ate, they smoked a little before they then made their way closer to the concert venue, listening in on another set. They stayed right there on the grass all afternoon until Reid got the munchies again and they had to leave for another food search. By the time they came back, they were just in time to hear a young Steve Miller Band perform their set. When the group finished, there were still a few more groups to play that night. Luke and Reid stayed for the entire thing, well past midnight, then finally retired back to their tent, too exhausted to care that there was a good chance there were ants crawling around in their sleeping bags.
Despite their exhaustion it did take some time to fall asleep, though, both excited for what the following day had to offer. There were a lot of performances scheduled for the next day, some bands they’d never heard of, some that were really well known, most bound to put on a killer show.
Eventually, though, they did both manage to fall asleep. When Luke awoke, he discovered that Reid’s arm had come out of the sleeping bag at some point during the night and was now draped over the side of his face as he’d awoken rolled over onto his left side.
Though he pushed the arm off his face, it made him think that he probably wouldn’t at all mind waking up to Reid’s arm around his waist or his stomach every morning… and they were both on their left side… if he scooted back just a bit, he and Reid would be spooning. Now that would definitely be something he could get used to… But, Reid didn’t cuddle. He didn’t spoon. And he didn’t do relationships. So Luke knew it was just something he’d be getting used to in his dreams.
Reid woke up soon after, sighing as he did. “I might be a guy, and guys may have reputations for pissing on everything, but I really miss flushable toilets,” he said.
“What? You don’t like using trees and porta potties?”
“Not really, no,” he answered, sitting up before pushing his sleeping bag off him so he could stand.
Luke was looking at Reid as he stood… was trying to look at his face, but he was at perfect eye level with his crotch. His crotch that even a blind man could see was somewhat hard. Not that that was unusual for a young man of eighteen, it wasn’t that at all… it was that Luke wanted to take that cock in his hand and his mouth and bring him off to completion right there in the tent, taking care of Reid’s morning erection. And in a perfect world, Reid would then take care of his… or better yet, they’d take care of each other at the same time.
But that was never happening, so Luke tried to let the thought go, though he knew he’d be waking up with that same thought every morning for the next few days what with he and Reid being in such close proximity to one another.
Reid dressed quickly into the same jeans he wore the day before and a baggy Beatles t-shirt before heading outside to rather reluctantly take a piss either behind a tree or in a porta potty, his thoughts the whole time being hadn’t civilization progressed further than pissing on a tree?
Just a little bit after Reid left, Luke got dressed and headed outside, as well to find his own tree. They met back up outside the tent and decided it was high time to go scrounge for food again.
After finding a vendor, they grabbed their food and ate while they walked. A good portion of their day was spent sitting on the grass, listening to the music of whatever band or singer was up on stage. They only left briefly to get themselves lunch before they were back, only this time they were standing as the crowd had gotten quite a bit bigger. Eventually, though, they did move further back from the stage so they could find another empty patch of grass to sit on.
A few hours and many bands had gone on before Reid leaned over to Luke, “I’d say it’s high time we broke into one of those bottles we snagged.”
With a nod, Luke agreed, “Yeah, let’s go.”
Neither of them were big fans of the next group that was set to play, but they did want to be back in time for Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Grateful Dead. They were set to play around eight and nine respectively and they had about an hour to kill before the first CCR set.
It was still light out when they got to their tent, Reid shoving a whiskey bottle and his trusty bag of weed and his lighter into a little leather side bag. While he was sure no one would care if they lit up right there in their tent, he didn’t want to take the chance that one of the security guys would catch them, because there would go his ticket to Harvard. “C’mon,” Reid said once he was ready, leading Luke away from the tent.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“No clue,” he replied as he kept walking. They walked into the more wooded area, eventually coming upon a little ridge, where the amount of trees dwindled and the grass seemed far denser than they’d seen anywhere else in their walk. And they could tell that they’d walked somewhere around the stage, because they could faintly hear music playing. “This doesn’t seem too bad, does it?”
“Not at all,” Luke said as he sat.
Reid lifted up the flap on his bag and pulled out the bottle. There was only about a quarter the amount of liquid left in this bottle, but they still had a full one back in the tent. He was sure that Lily would notice it was missing, at least if she ever went looking for it, but at that moment, Reid really didn’t care. He twisted off the bottle and took a swig, shutting his eyes at the burn as it went down. “God, that’s good,” he said as he passed the bottle over to Luke.
Luke took a nice sized swig, shaking his head as he felt the alcohol go down. He passed the bottle back to Reid, who took at and took another swallow. They passed the bottle back and forth a couple times before he laid back, shutting his eyes. “This really is the life.”
“Isn’t it? I said I could do this all summer,” Reid said as he handed the bottle over again.
“Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all,” Luke said, leaning up on his elbows so he could take another deep drink, finishing off the bottle. “You ‘n me, traveling the country, following the music…” He turned his head to Reid, his deep chocolate brown eyes meeting Reid’s blues. “I think I could like that a lot.”
“Me, too,” Reid said in a breath, surprised at his own voice, unable to look away.
It was Luke that finally broke their gaze… as he leaned in to kiss Reid for the first time. He pulled back almost as soon as their lips touched, though, shocked at his actions. He hadn’t even had that much to drink, he and Reid had polished off an entire bottle of Jack before and he hadn’t done anything that stupid, but he just couldn’t help himself. Not when Reid looked like that, sounded like that, was looking at him like that…
Reid touched his lips, not taking his eyes off Luke. “What was that for?” he asked.
Luke shook his head, dumbstruck. “I… I don’t know. Just being here with you and the way you were looking at me and fuck I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry, Reid,” Luke said, looking away and making to stand up.
“Don’t.” Reid said.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t leave… and don’t apologize.”
Luke finally turned his head back to Reid, a blush covering his cheeks, turning them the most wonderful shade of pink Reid had ever seen. “Why not? So you can make fun of me for being an idiot?” Luke asked.
Reid shook his head. “No… so I can do this,” he answered, pulling Luke on top of him, bringing their lips together once more. This time, Luke didn’t pull away, instead, he parted his lips when Reid’s tongue began sliding over them, granting entrance into his mouth.
After some time, Luke did pull back, only this time his face was flushed from his excitement and lack of air, not from embarrassment over doing something stupid that he instantly regretted. Reid kissed him, and he kissed him back. “What the hell was that for?” Luke asked, repeating Reid’s words from earlier.
In turn, Reid repeated Luke’s words… mostly. “I don’t know. Just being here with you and the way you were looking at me and fuck I wish I’d done that sooner.”
Luke’s eyes grew wide. “You do?”
“Luke, I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time.”
“Me, too,” Luke whispered. “Though I gotta say… I’m surprised you didn’t do anything sooner.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t think you were interested.”
“I didn’t think you were, either,” Luke said. “Every time you told me about whatever guy you met over the weekend… it hit me every single time.”
“I’m sorry,” Reid said, his voice low. Raising his head up, he met Luke’s lips again.
Luke knew that the apology was sincere. For one, Reid never apologized to anyone, and secondly, Reid never said anything he didn’t mean. But, damn, did he wish he’d said something sooner to Reid about his one offs and how much he hated knowing what he was doing, because then maybe they’d have been doing this sooner. For so long now, Luke had been looking at Reid’s lips, fantasizing over what they’d feel like against his, been imagining what it’d be like to feel Reid’s smooth, sweat slicked skin beneath his hands, been dreaming about how right Reid’s cock would feel moving in his body.
And soon he was going to have all of that.
Before he knew what was happening, there were hands on his now bare chest. Somehow, Reid had managed to undo all the buttons on his shirt and was trying to push it over his shoulders. Once Luke actually realized what was happening, he moved to help Reid along and began pulling at the hem of Reid’s shirt.
Reid took that opportunity to flip them around, Luke’s now bare back against the grass as he straddled Luke’s hips. He pulled his own shirt off over his head, tossing it aside without another care in the world.
Luke bucked his hips upwards, his cock hard in his jeans, rubbing against Reid’s ass. “Fuck,” Reid breathed. They needed out of their pants now. That was the only time that they actually separated, to remove their pants. They were both already wearing sandals, so those slipped off easily. Once Reid had removed his pants and boxers and tossed them to the side, he was right back to where he was, legs straddling Luke’s hips, their hard cocks, now freed from their jeaned confines, rubbing together.
“Oh, god, Reid,” Luke panted. He’d never felt anything like this before. Never. Not in any of the times he’d slept with Noah had he felt such a strong, primal need to be with someone.
“Always knew you’d feel this good,” Reid muttered aloud as his hands moved down Luke’s toned body. He’d seen Luke shirtless on countless occasions; they’d gone swimming in the pond on Luke’s family’s land many, many times, and had seen Luke’s body develop over the years into what it is today.
“Maybe you were meant to be a surgeon,” Luke then said.
“Why’s that?”
“You’ve got the softest, gentlest, most caring touch I’ve ever felt,” Luke told him.
Luke’s words seemed to go straight to Reid’s cock and sent a jolt of lust through his body, as his eyes were now dilated from the sheer want. He leaned down, capturing Luke’s lips in yet another desperate kiss, his right hand now moving to take both of their cocks into his grip, stroking them together.
When the kiss broke, Luke looked up into Reid’s eyes, his hands going up to tangle into Reid’s curls. “I need you,” he whispered.
Reid knew exactly how Luke felt. He needed Luke then and there just as badly. “I don’t have anything to help…” he trailed off, sure that Luke would get what he meant.
“I don’t care, Reid, I need you inside me.”
Nodding, Reid scooted back, allowing himself a quick look at Luke’s body. His face was still flushed, his hair going every which way, his stomach was rising and falling quickly as the pace of his breathing had increased, his cock was resting flat against his tummy and his legs were spread as he awaited Reid to make his move. Reid broke himself from his own trance and pushed on Luke’s knees, practically bending him in half as Luke’s knees ended up hitting his own shoulders. Luke gripped his knees, holding his legs in place. He should probably have felt embarrassed, knowing that he was exposing himself so blatantly to his best friend, but he didn’t feel that way at all.
Reid then slipped two fingers between his own lips, getting them as wet as he could. He knew it had been a while since Luke had last done this and didn’t want it to be too painful, especially since they would only have spit as a lubricant.
Gently, he began easing one finger inside. He took his time, allowing Luke’s body to get used to the feeling before he pushed in deeper. He withdrew his finger completely before pushing back in, not going as slowly that time, but still wanting to ease into it. He watched Luke’s face closely for any signs of pain or discomfort. When there were no such signs to be seen, he allowed himself to move even faster.
And then he pulled out again, only this time he returned to his original slow place as he worked two fingers inside Luke. He still kept his eyes on Luke, watching as his face contorted at the intrusion, but he couldn’t see any real discomfort. He continued to take his time with it, though. How he managed to keep his patience he didn’t really know, because what he really wanted was to throw caution to the wind and drive his cock into Luke’s body over and over until they were both moaning and panting and screaming each other’s names as they came.
But that could wait… Reid was certain that this wouldn’t be a one off, not if what Luke said was true about wanting to do this for quite some time now.
After Reid pulled out the two fingers, he brought three fingers to his mouth. Luke whimpered as he watched, the sight of Reid sucking on his own fingers after they’d been inside him managed to turn him on in a way that he never would have expected. And then Reid brought the spit slicked fingers to his hole, beginning to ease all three in. “Oh, fuck, Reid,” Luke moaned, feeling more stretched out than he’d been in a long while, knowing just what was coming soon.
“You feel so good, Luke,” Reid told him. “You’re so damn tight… hell, it’s been so long we can probably call you a born again virgin.”
Luke tried to glare at him, but the man was working magic with his fingers, so glaring was out of the question. Instead he replied with, “Well why don’t you do something about it?”
Reid’s eyes locked with Luke’s as he said, “That’s the plan.” He could see Luke’s Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed, could see the little quiver of anticipation in his chin as he bit his lower lip… “Do you think you’re ready?” he asked.
Nodding his head, Luke once more reached up and tangled his hair into the long curls, pulling him in for a kiss. When he pulled back, he replied, “More than ready. I’ve wanted this for so long, Reid.”
Giving Luke one of his best smiles, Reid sat up as Luke reluctantly let go of his hair. He removed his fingers and spit into his own hand, and while he absolutely hated doing that, there were no other options. Running his hand over his cock, Reid slicked himself up as best he could given the circumstances, spit and precum the best lubricant he had at the moment. He then scooted in closer to Luke, looking down to his cock and Luke’s ass, which was still up in the air and exposed to him. When he lined himself up, he took a deep breath before beginning to push himself through the tight ring of muscle. God, it was better than he ever could have imagined, and he’d certainly imagined it before. He watched as he sunk into Luke’s body, then looked back to Luke’s face. There were now signs of pain on his face, but at the same time, there was a look of utter bliss written upon his features.
When Reid was completely inside of him, Luke moved his legs from up by his shoulders to wrap them around Reid’s waist. Using his legs, he pulled Reid closer, making it seem as though he was in even deeper.
It was an incredible sensation to actually feel Reid. Noah refused to have sex without a rubber, so it was for the first time that Luke was feeling another person in his body so completely, skin on skin, no barriers in between.
“Fuck, Reid,” Luke moaned. Reid hadn’t even moved yet and he was already feeling as though he could come from the mere fact that Reid was inside him.
Reid was in a similar position to Luke in that he’d never actually been with anyone without some form of protection. Despite the notion of free love, he was intending to go into the medical field and knew what sort of things were passed along with free love, so with all previous partners, he never took the chance. Luke, though? Luke was different. He knew Luke. And now he was getting to know him in a way he thought would only ever be a fantasy.
When he began moving, he pulled back to leave just the tip of his cock in Luke’s body before pushing inside again, feeling the muscles constricting against the intrusion. “Goddamn, Luke, goddamn,” Reid muttered, his hands gripping tight around Luke’s hips.
Luke didn’t want their bodies to be so far apart anymore and once again reached up to pull Reid down atop him. Their stomachs pressed together, faces just about touching. Their eyes were blown with lust, Luke’s eyes deeper and darker than Reid had ever seen them. There were no other words to describe him right then… Luke was beautiful.
He pulled back again before pushing right back in, developing a steady pace, thrusting in and out while Luke would pull his hips up to meet Reid thrust for thrust, Luke’s cock between their two bodies, all the while not breaking eye contact with one another.
This was the most intense experiences either of them ever had. It was rare when Reid would fuck someone face to face, and when he did, they didn’t keep their eyes open, staring into one another’s souls. No, this was more than some frenzied, teenage lust filled one off fuck with someone he’d never see again. He didn’t know if this was what making love was, but he was certain that this was the closest he’d ever come to it.
And then Luke lifted his head up and their lips met again. His tongue pushed into Reid’s mouth, kissing him with the same passion that filled their lovemaking.
Reid felt himself getting closer, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer, not with the way Luke was kissing him and the way Luke’s body responded to every move that he made. But it was when Luke reached down around his leg to actually feel where the two of them were joined together, feeling Reid’s cock with his fingers actually moving in and out of him, that brought Reid over the edge. He broke the kiss for a moment as he cried, “Fuck, Luke!” His body stiffened for a moment before his hips drove in deeper, the muscles in his stomach trembling as he rode out his orgasm.
Actually feeling Reid’s cock twitching inside him, feeling Reid’s cum inside him, was enough for Luke. He cried Reid’s name, both hands moving to claw at Reid’s shoulders as his own hips bucked upwards, muscles contracting as his orgasm hit.
Both teens were still breathing heavily when Reid sat back up. Luke released his legs and let them rest on the ground as Reid pulled his cock out, fascinated as he watched a trail of his own cum drizzle out, as well.
“Holy shit,” Luke said after what felt like minutes of silence.
“Yeah,” Reid agreed. He hadn’t moved from where he knelt between Luke’s legs, eyes roaming all over the scene before him. Luke still looked so sweet and innocent despite what just happened, like some angel straight from Heaven. An angel with mussed hair, stomach covered in his own cum and his lover’s cum dripping out of his ass, but an angel nonetheless.
They remained like that for a while more, silence falling between them again. It wasn’t awkward, though, it was more that they were both still stunned at the sheer intensity of what just happened.
This time it was Reid that broke the silence. “We should get dressed and get back. It’s getting dark.”
Luke nodded his head, knowing that if they did wait much longer, they wouldn’t be able to see through the woods they’d walked through to get to this spot in the first place. “Yeah. Sounds like CCR already started their set,” he said as he looked around in the dimming light for his pants. He found his boxers and pulled them on before slipping into his pants. When he was fully dressed, he really began noticing just how sore he was. And he certainly noticed how he could still feel Reid’s cum and the way it was working its way down and out of his body. That was a little fact that he decided to share.
“Really?” Reid asked as he began leading them out the way they came.
“Yeah… I feel like I have a wet spot back there.”
“Really?” Reid asked again, slightly breathier this time.
“Yeah,” Luke told him. “And I feel really sore… the good kind of sore,” he clarified after a moment with a little grin on his face.
“So… it’s something you could see yourself doing again?” Reid asked him.
“It’s something I hope to do again and again,” Luke answered. “I mean… as long as you could also see yourself doing it again?”
Before they broke through the line of trees near the stage, Reid turned to Luke and put a hand on his shoulder before leaning in to press a kiss to Luke’s lips. It was nothing like the kisses they’d shared just a little while before, but it spoke volumes. “I would happily do that many times over, Luke.”
“Good.” He then chuckled as they neared the stage, the sound of CCR getting louder and more distinct. When he saw Reid raise an eyebrow at him, he said, “I was just thinking that we kinda lucked out with Casey not coming here, didn’t we?”
Reid grinned himself at that. “I guess you’re right. We’d never have been able to do that if he were here… guess we’ll need to thank him when we get home. Now, c’mon, we’re missing a good song.”
Luke almost said that they weren’t missing anything since they could hear it from where they were standing, but he simply let Reid grab his wrist and drag him along. Yeah, they would definitely need to thank Casey, he thought to himself.
Pairing: Luke/Reid
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Luke and Reid are seniors in high school in 1970 where peace, love and happiness abounds.
Disclaimer: I don't own ATWT
Word Count: 10300
A/N: This is my first ever full length LuRe fic and I'm really nervous, but it's been a lot of fun dipping my toes into this fandom, so I hope you do enjoy. Written for lure_reversebb. I have to give a huge thank you to homo_pink for being there with me and encouraging me to sign up for this in the first place. And then I need to thank luresoromantic for making this gorgeous piece of art!
Also, didn't use a beta. Any errors are my own fault.
Friday morning of April 10th, 1970, was just like any other typical Friday. Luke sat in front of his locker, a notebook out on his lap as he tried to get in some last minute studying for the exam he had in his first period class.
“How can you possibly be studying at a time like this?” Reid asked when he finally got to school. Luke had already been there for twenty minutes.
“Well, believe it or not, some of us don’t have photographic memory and can’t dick around in school all the time and therefore actually have to study,” Luke replied, looking up to where his friend was still standing. But then he saw that Reid’s extremely upset expression didn’t change at all; usually he would quirk a bit of a smile at the teasing. “What’s wrong?” he then asked him.
“Everything. Didn’t you hear?”
“Hear what?”
“Good thing you’re already sitting down for this…” Reid then sat down on the floor himself. “Life as we know it is over.”
“Reid, tell me what happened.”
“The Beatles broke up,” Reid told him.
Luke blinked a couple times, trying to register what Reid just said. “What? No,” Luke said, shaking his head side to side, setting his notebook down. “That’s not possible.”
“It is. Paul left the group, they said so on the radio this morning.”
“No. You’re bullshitting me. They were supposed to be together forever,” Luke insisted.
“I wish I was bullshitting you,” Reid said, head dropping back, hitting the hard metal locker.
“But… what happens now?” Luke asked. Reid was right, life as they knew it was, indeed, over.
“They have one more album coming out next month.”
“That’s it?”
“At least we get the one,” Reid said.
“True… wanna come over tonight and listen to all my Beatles records?” Luke asked him.
The bell rang just then, so both teens stood up, and once the annoying ringing ended, Reid answered, “I thought you’d never ask.” They headed off to their classes, and as Reid got to his classroom door, he said, “Oh, and good luck on that test.”
“Thanks,” Luke muttered. Like a test was his greatest priority, or something. He had just been told some of the most devastating news of all time and now he had to go attempt to pass an exam in a subject he was never very good in to begin with.
It wasn’t until the last period of the day that they saw one another again. However, when some of Luke’s other friends saw him throughout the day, they all saw his long face and asked him what was wrong. When they told him that not only was he positive that he flunked his math exam, but that The Beatles also broke up, they tried to assure him that it wasn’t the end of the world. He could tell by their words, though, that they didn’t even believe it themselves.
Before the bell to signal the beginning of their last period rang, Reid leaned over to Luke and asked, “How’d that exam go.”
“About ninety percent sure that I failed.”
“Oh, well… it doesn’t matter anyway… the greatest band in the world is no more,” he said, obviously still down about the news he received earlier that morning.
“I don’t think that’ll look too good on my report card… Flunked an exam, but it’s ok because he was distraught that day over the breakup of a band,” Luke muttered.
“It sounds like a viable excuse to me,” Reid said with a shrug.
Luke sighed. He didn’t know how the day could get any worse. That was until the teacher walked in and, right after the bell rang, announced that there would be a pop quiz on last night’s reading material.
Even in his downer of a mood, Reid still aced the quiz without even actually trying, but Luke found that he’d forgotten pretty much everything he read the night before.
He wasn’t really a religious person, but when the final bell rang, he muttered under his breath, “Thank you, God.” The students began standing, throwing their notebooks into their backpacks as they headed out the door. “You’re still coming over, right?” Luke asked.
“Of course.”
They headed to their lockers, grabbing what they would need for the weekend, even though they didn’t think a whole lot of homework would be done… not much was ever accomplished on the weekends. Once they had their things, they headed down to the parking lot. “See ya in a few,” Luke said as they parted ways, going to their separate vehicles. Luke got into his VW bus while Reid straddled his motorcycle.
It was a few minutes later that Luke, followed closely by Reid, was pulling into his driveway. Luke cut the engine, grabbing his backpack as he exited the van, slamming the door shut behind him. Reid was putting down the kickstand, Luke leaning against the side panel as he waited.
“Hi, sweetie,” his mum, Lily greeted when she saw him in the driveway. She had her youngest, Ethan in tow with her. “Hello to you, too, Reid,” she said, giving him a smile.
“Hi, Mom,” Luke returned her greeting.
At the same time, Reid was saying, “Hi, Mrs. Snyder.”
“I was just about to head out to bring Ethan over to Grandmother’s. I’ll see you boys later, though,” she said.
“Later, Mom,” Luke replied.
“Bye, Mrs. Snyder,” Reid said at the same time, giving her a little wave before they headed into the house.
Before heading upstairs, Luke asked, “Want anything to eat?”
“We could just grab a bag of chips and bring it upstairs,” Reid suggested.
Luke shrugged. “Fair enough.” He quickly went to the kitchen, grabbing a bag of chips. When he returned to the living room, though, he noticed that Reid wasn’t there anymore. He had been best friends with Luke for years now and he made no qualms about making himself at home whenever he was over. “Thanks for waiting for me,” Luke muttered once he was in his room, finding that Reid was already there, going through his vinyl collection.
“Found it,” Reid said, completely ignoring Luke as he pulled Please Please Me from the shelf. Slipping the record out of its cover, he placed it onto Luke’s record player and put the needle in place. Sitting down on Luke’s bed, Reid then pulled his backpack up onto his lap from where he’d placed it when he entered the room. “This is cause for memorial,” he declared as he pulled out a baggie.
“Reid! Did you have that with you the whole day?” Luke asked as soon as he saw what was in said baggie.
“What? I had a feeling I’d need it,” Reid told him, now taking out some rolling paper. “And I didn’t have time to light up at school, so…” he trailed off, licking the edge of the paper after he packed it full. “Quit looking at me like that; stop acting like you’ve never smoked before,” he muttered as he began rooting through the top drawer of Luke’s bedside table for his lighter. “And stop pretending like you don’t know your mother has a bong in her panty drawer.”
“She what?! Wait, how do you even know that? She doesn’t really, does she?” Luke asked, though now that Reid mentioned it…
“Well, I can’t prove anything, but I have my suspicions.”
“So you haven’t actually gone in and looked?”
“Not yet,” he answered, finally finding the lighter buried under piles of notebooks and loose papers with scribbled writing all over them. He sighed in contentment once he flicked open the lighter and put it to the end of the joint.
“Would you really have toked up at school?” Luke asked him.
“It was a stressful day, ok? I think I earned that right.”
Luke shook his head, though he was grinning. Only Reid. “And you want to be a brain surgeon?”
“I don’t see what that has to do with anything. Like I said, I had a stressful day.”
“You probably find the idea of The Beatles breaking up more stressful than you would cutting into someone’s head, wouldn’t you?” When Reid nodded, Luke muttered, “You’re a strange dude,” before taking the joint that was handed over to him once he joined Reid on the bed.
“And you’re my best friend, so what does that say about you?” Reid teased.
“Not much, I guess.”
It wasn’t long after that the record clicked, signaling the flip to the B side. “Ya know, I’ve been listening to Sgt. Pepper’s so much lately that I forgot just how good this old stuff actually is… I mean, Love Me Do is a B side track. Love Me Do! How’s that even possible?”
Luke nodded, passing the joint back. “I don’t know, Reid. You’re the genius, you tell me.”
Reid took a deep drag, shutting his eyes before flopping back on the bed, blowing smoke through his pursed lips. “They’re the geniuses, Luke.”
Taking the joint from Reid, Luke was just bringing it to his lips when he thought he heard Reid mutter something about ‘fucking Yoko’. He didn’t comment, though, just joined Reid on the bed, listening to the remainder of the album.
They started right in on the next one, both far more relaxed than they had been at the beginning of the day. Sitting up again as With the Beatles was playing, Reid opened the bag of chips and began eating.
“Reid, you’re getting crumbs everywhere!” Luke huffed. He then cringed when Reid wiped his fingers on his comforter. “Dickhead. I’m gonna have to wash that now.”
“You know, it’s probably covered in jizz, I don’t think a few chip crumbs will really make a difference.”
“You’re so crude, do you know that?” Luke asked him, though he was grinning all the same. He could say with a great deal of certainty that he was in a much better mood than he was at the beginning of the day when he’d been delivered the devastating news and subsequently flunked his exam.
“You wouldn’t have me any other way, though,” Reid told him.
Luke had to concede that that was true. He couldn’t imagine Reid being anything other than, well, Reid.
“By the way, I made plans with someone tomorrow and I was wondering if I could borrow your van,” Reid said when the record clicked, needing to be flipped over.
“Again?”
“Well, I can’t pick someone up on my bike, now can I?” Reid asked.
“Why don’t you get yourself a car? You know, something with four wheels, two or four doors, a roof?”
“That’s just not me,” he answered.
“I don’t appreciate you taking my vehicle just so you can get laid.”
“It’s not like you’re using it to get laid,” Reid replied, finally getting up when he realized that Luke wasn’t going to change the record to do it himself.
“Still doesn’t mean that I like it when you do it.”
“You’re just jealous that I’m getting some. You, Luke, need to start having sex again; it has been way too long.”
“I don’t want to do it with just anyone. I’m not you,” Luke said as he watched Reid fiddling with his record player.
“Maybe you should be more like me.”
“Do you even remember his name?”
“Whose name?” Reid asked. There had been quite a few ‘his names’ in his life in recent years.
“The guy you lost your virginity to… do you remember his name?”
“I would if he ever told me his name, but as I never actually knew his name… I’d remember what he looks like, though.”
“I just don’t get that at all… shouldn’t your first time be special? With someone you love and care about?” Luke asked, stubbing out the cherry.
“That’s what you said about Noah, wasn’t it? You just knew he was the one; you waited a whole year before you finally made love not war… only for him to rip your heart out a couple months later. I told you that dickhead wasn’t right for you. I don’t know why you didn’t believe me.”
“Yeah, well… I guess you were right about that one,” Luke admitted rather reluctantly. He hated when the subject of his ex was brought up. Reid had always hated him, from the second he moved into town. Luke, on the other hand, thought it was love at first sight. Even if it was one sided love… He swore up, down and sideways that Noah was the one that he’d spend the rest of his life with.
Things were going so well between them, too… until they weren’t. Noah became heavily involved in anti-war protests, wanting to document the many protests and rallies and riots that were happening all over the country. Luke had no issue with that, knowing that making films was something Noah always dreamed of doing since a young age. Yet Noah claimed that Luke was suppressing him, was holding him back from fulfilling his dreams.
And that was when Noah dropped out of school and left the little town of Oakdale to travel the states; his plans were to visit all the major cities: Boston, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, then go overseas to London and Paris and maybe even Vietnam to be in the heat of it all. Luke had no idea how far he actually made it, but the longer Noah was away, the more he realized he was better for it.
“Please, Luke, I’m always right. Haven’t you learned this by now? You’ve known me practically your whole life… you’d think you’d be used to it.”
“Well, it doesn’t mean I have to like it, ok?”
“So you admit it.”
“Well… I wouldn’t say always…”
“Fine. I may not always be right, Luke, but I’m very seldom wrong.”
“Remind me again why I like you?” Luke said to Reid with a roll of his eyes.
“Because I’m handsome, smart, funny, witty, charismatic and I also know where to get the best weed,” he answered.
“It’s nice to know that you’re so humble, Reid.”
“There’s another reason you like me: humility,” Reid said with a slightly crooked grin on his face. “So, about using the van?”
~~~
Monday morning, Reid picked Luke up for school in Luke’s own van. Reid appeared to be in a good mood, which meant he either had a full breakfast with about an entire carton of eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes doused in maple syrup, toast and two or three glasses of OJ to wash it all down, or he got laid over the weekend. And considering that Reid wasn’t a morning person and probably rolled out of bed five minutes ago, giving him enough time to inhale a bowl of cereal, dress and brush his teeth, he went for the latter. “Have a good weekend?” Luke asked once Reid got out of the driver’s side to walk to the passenger’s side.
“Oh, yeah. One of my more enjoyable weekends.”
“I still don’t know why you need to use my van for your own selfish purposes.
“I answer that same question every time.”
“Can’t you bring them back to your place, or something?” It wasn’t as though there was anyone there to tell Reid he couldn’t bring a guy back to his place. He’d been living on his own since last year when his uncle died and the courts granted him the right to continue living on his own.
“Yeah, right, like I’d bring someone back to my place so they’ll know where I live.”
“Did you really have sex in here again?” If Reid said yes, that would make for the third time it happened, and he was fairly certain it had been a different guy each time, too.
“Yes,” he answered.
Luke sighed. “Who is he, anyway?”
“Someone from Lincoln High,” he said. Reid only ever hooked up with people from different schools, not wanting to have any issues arise from getting too close to someone from his own school who he could potentially bump into, not only in the hallway, but also around town. “Last weekend we ran into each other at a record store outside of town.”
“You only met him last weekend?” Luke asked.
“There’s your problem, Luke. You’re just too uptight and polite. You need to get out there, go to a keg party, have a one night stand… if you want something, or someone, don’t beat around the bush, just take it,” Reid told him, that crooked grin on his face once again… that grin that, without fail, managed to make little butterflies flutter around Luke’s stomach.
“I don’t want some random hook up,” Luke said to Reid for what had to be the millionth time. He had his mind set on that, he really did want to be in another relationship before he slept with someone again. It had taken a long time to work up to that with Noah and he’d had his heart broken, stomped on and flushed down the toilet. He really didn’t want that again. He wanted to be with someone he knew for sure that he loved and loved him in return, someone that wouldn’t give him the constant runaround and place the blame for everything going wrong on him.
“You don’t know what you want.”
~~~
The school day was just like any other day. Luke found out that he didn’t actually flunk his exam (he didn’t pass with flying colors, either, but a passing grade was a passing grade).
After school, Luke had to bring Reid home, and once he pulled into Reid’s driveway, he was invited upstairs, Reid even offering to help with math, to which Luke replied, “It’s a bit late for that, but thanks for the offer.” Reid followed up with the fact that it was never too early to start studying for the next exam.
They were up in Reid’s room, Reid hardly even setting his backpack down before he was digging out Pet Sounds to put on the turn table. Once the first song was playing, Reid flopped down on his bed.
Sitting down next to Reid, Luke said, “You don’t look like you’re much help right now,” with a little pout on his lips.
“You said you didn’t want any help,” he replied, shrugging. He looked up to Luke and asked, “What’s up?” when he noticed the frown Luke was sporting.
“Nothing much.”
“This isn’t about me not helping you with math, is it?”
“No,” Luke answered with a shake of his head.
“Then what is it?”
“I was just thinking about what we were talking about earlier.”
Reid raised a brow. “What was that? We were talking about quite a few things earlier.”
“You saying that I don’t know what I want.”
“Well, you don’t know what you want,” Reid stated with a great deal of confidence.
Luke sighed, looking to his side, able to see a bit of Reid’s tummy where his shirt had raised up. Therein laid the problem. He did know what he wanted… and he was lying right there on his bed. It’s just that he obviously didn’t want him in return. He figured he always knew that he wanted Reid, somewhere deep within himself, he knew for a long time. There was no way he could forget that stinging feeling in the pit of his stomach he felt when, three years ago, Reid told him he got laid for the first time. Not only that first time did he feel that sting, it was every single subsequent time. Part of him wondered if Reid felt anything similar when he told him he and Noah had sex for the first time. Well, aside from the normal, run of the mill hatred that Reid already had for Noah.
But at the same time, with the way that Reid was encouraging him to go out there and have some one night stand with a stranger, it had him realizing that there really wasn’t ever a chance for the two of them.
“And you do?” Luke decided to ask in return.
Reid shrugged. “I know what I want out of life. I want to be a doctor.”
“We’re talking about two different things here… I want to be a writer. But that wasn’t what we were talking about before, you were talking about my love life. Are you saying that you know what you want in that aspect of your life, too?”
Making eye contact, Reid shrugged again then looked away. There was one person he’d wanted for quite some time now, but it was clear that the feelings would never be returned. So he’d moved along from guy to guy (and even a girl once, just because he was curious), never settling for anyone, because there’d be no one that could compare to that one person. There’d never be anyone like Luke, and, he’d never be dumb enough to say anything about it. It would just make things awkward between them, and that was the last thing that he ever wanted. “Never said that. I’m sure I’ll know it when I see it, though.”
“Yeah,” Luke agreed. “Most likely.” He stood up and then, to change the subject to something far more enjoyable, he asked, “So, you still got that baggie you brought over to my place last week?”
“Sure do,” Reid answered. “Check in there.” Not even sitting up, he pointed to where he’d stashed the bag away for safe keeping. “My lighter should be there, too.”
“Found it,” Luke said after rooting around in the drawer for a little while.
“Lighter, too?” Reid asked.
Coming back to the bed, he answered, “Yup.” He began rolling the joint for the both of them, lighting it up before sitting back down.
“So, that guy I hooked up with?” Reid began, continuing on when Luke looked towards him and raised an eyebrow.
“What? Did he give you syphilis?”
“No. He asked if I wanted to meet up again next weekend,” he told Luke.
Luke rolled his eyes this time. “And what did you say?”
“I said yes,” he answered. Hey, he needed to get it somehow. He’d give up all those flings and one night stands if Luke were to ever turn his affections towards him, though. But, as he knew that’d never happen, he figured that he may as well get it from someone he kinda knew a little bit already.
“Whatever happened to wining and dining someone before sleeping with them?” Luke asked him. That’s what he and Noah had done. Well, sort of. They hung out a lot, whenever they weren’t busy or Luke hadn’t made plans with Reid, they went out to dinner every now and again, they went to the drive in… though when they did that, Noah actually watched the movie, even though it was one of the few times they were out, away from parental supervision and should have been taking advantage of the situation.
“That’s just not my style… if I were a girl, maybe I’d like that more,” he replied, taking the joint from Luke. Once he blew the smoke out in a little puff, he continued, “As it is, though, I just like getting my dick sucked. Why waste time on all the formalities and wait around for the fun stuff?”
“It’s called getting to know someone, Reid.”
“If someone got to know me, they probably wouldn’t want to be in a relationship with me, anyway. You’ve known me too long that you’ve become immune to my assholeish tendencies, but a complete stranger doesn’t have that benefit.”
Luke couldn’t bring himself to reply right away. So he nodded. He was, quite honestly, probably the only person that Reid wasn’t a complete asshole towards. He still had his moments, sure, but he’d gotten to know Reid like no one else ever had, or ever would. But he still wanted to get to know everything about Reid… to learn his body as well. He just didn’t know why Reid didn’t see that. They were already the best of friends, they both liked men, they already knew one another’s habits and tendencies and they were both good looking. In theory, it would be perfect. However, with one of them not returning the feelings, things really wouldn’t be so perfect. “Lucky me,” he finally replied.
Grinning, Reid took the joint back. He figured that if Luke were at all interested, he’d be more averse to his constant going out, hopping into bed with almost anyone with a dick. But Luke never said he wanted him to stop, so… he didn’t. He supposed that he could try a bit harder to get Luke, to win him over, but at the same time, if Luke really didn’t return those feelings? It would ruin their lifelong friendship in a split second. “You should consider yourself lucky, being best friends with a genius like me.”
“One that won’t even help me with math,” Luke muttered.
“If you want help, I’ll help.”
“By help, do you mean do it for me?” Luke asked. “You can consider it a return favor for letting you do unspeakable things in my van.”
“Speaking of which-”
“No,” he cut Reid off, “you’re not using my van again. You’re gonna have to find some other way to get laid.”
“You’re no fun,” Reid muttered. “But it gives me a chance to figure out if sex is actually possible on a motorcycle,” he mused aloud, taking another hit.
Once Reid inhaled, though, Luke was taking the joint from him, needing the hit in an attempt to get his mind of the thoughts of Reid and some guy he hardly even knew doing things that should be physically impossible on the seat of Reid’s bike. “Are you looking?” Luke then asked.
“What?” Reid asked in return, confused as to what Luke was talking about.
“You said you’d know what you want when you see it… are you actually looking for it?” he elaborated.”
Reid shrugged, suddenly noticing the absolute silence that filled the room… when did the record even stop? “Not overly,” he finally answered. “I take it you are?” he asked.
“I guess you could say that.” It wasn’t as though that was a lie. He was looking right at it, after all.
“Ya know, if you don’t actually get out there and look, you’ll never find it,” Reid said.
“Yeah, I guess.” He took a deep breath, then leaned forward, arms crossed over his legs. “Well, I should probably get home… Mom will probably have dinner ready,” Luke said.
“What, you mean you don’t wanna have dinner with me?” Reid asked, grinning.
“Not when your idea of dinner is a blob of mayo between two slices of Wonder Bread,” he replied.
“I guess Lily’s home cooked meals do sound a little more appealing than that.”
“Just a bit,” he said, returning Reid’s smile. When they reached his front door, just before stepping out, Luke added, “And thanks for all that help on the math homework.”
“Give it to me,” Reid said, holding his hand out, palm up.
“What?”
Reid grinned again and said, “I’m just returning a favor.”
~~~
The following morning, Reid met Luke at his locker and handed the completed math homework over. “You actually did it,” Luke said with surprise in his voice.
“You thought I wouldn’t?” Reid asked, sitting down next to Luke.
“My teacher’s gonna wonder how I actually managed to do well… and he’ll definitely wonder when the hell my handwriting got so messy. You could have at least made an attempt to neaten up your writing.”
“I did make an attempt.”
Luke mouthed “Oh,” as he looked down at the paper again. “This is making an attempt at nice handwriting?”
“It’s not completely illegible,” Reid retorted.
“Yeah, you were meant to be a doctor.” He then turned the paper sideways and managed to make out the steps to the Pythagorean Theorem and the answer scribbled down next to the problem.
“Are you saying that my brilliant mind alone isn’t enough?” Reid asked and Luke smirked at him. “Asshole,” he muttered. “Just tell him you got a tutor if he asks.”
“You really think he’ll buy that?”
“Well, I can explain how I did it to you right now if you want so you can tell him just how much you learned.”
“If you tried, I’d just go and screw it up,” Luke said, trying to figure out just how Reid got that for an answer.
“But at least you’d be trying and that’d just show him that you really do need a tutor.”
“Fine, go for it.”
Reid began explaining this, that and the hypotenuse and Luke had practically gone cross-eyed by the end of it. “Simple as that,” Reid concluded just before the bell rang.
“Yeah… simple.”
Mercifully, as though the Gods were smiling down on him, Luke’s teacher didn’t seem to question not only his change in handwriting but also his sudden ability to actually complete his homework and do so correctly.
Near the end of the day, Luke was sitting at his desk to begin last period. When Reid walked in, he didn’t even wait to sit down before he was saying, “I hope you don’t have anything planned for June nineteenth to the twenty second.”
“Uh, that’s two months away, I have no idea if I have anything planned,” Luke replied, giving Reid a look. “Why?”
“Casey was talking about this massive concert going on in Chicago, talking about how it’s gonna be like the next Woodstock,” he answered.
Luke could see the excitement in his eyes as he told him about this concert, clearly wanting to attend. “Who’s playing?”
“I think it’s more like who isn’t playing,” Reid said. “When Case said it was like the next Woodstock, he wasn’t lying.”
“Where’d he hear about this?”
“I don’t know. Does that even matter? Luke, it’s four days of live music.”
“It’s four days of being outside all day, standing out in the sun and sleeping in tents... You hate the outside, Reid.”
“I know,” he said, knowing that to be completely true, “but it’s four days of live music. When will we ever get the chance again?”
“Ok,” Luke agreed. He had to admit, it did sound like an amazing time, even though he had no idea who the bands or artists would be. Plus, it was four day’s he’d have being with Reid, most likely sharing a tent with Reid… “I’ll make sure to keep my calendar clear this June.”
~~~
The only other event, aside from the concert, that both Luke and Reid had planned for June was their high school graduation. Reid, of course, was the school’s valedictorian. His speech was the kind that everyone liked: short and sweet.
To be honest, Luke was shocked that Reid actually showed up to their graduation, knowing how much he hated having to speak in front of people, though he didn’t mind showing off his accomplishments every once in a while.
And, well, wasn’t a full ride to Harvard medical school quite the accomplishment? He’d found out about the scholarship just the month before, after he was already accepted to the school. Luke had honestly never seen Reid look happier than when he watched him open the letter and read it aloud.
After graduation, Reid and Luke went back to Luke’s grandma Emma’s place with his parents and siblings. They didn’t have a big celebration (which was admittedly rare coming from Luke’s family), but they did have one of Emma’s delicious home cooked meals and a cake she’d somehow found time to make during the day between doing all her other grandmotherly duties.
It was after dinner that Lily got Luke and Reid alone. They swore she was looking at them as though they still had their caps and gowns on what with the way her eyes were misting over. “Oh, boys, I’m so proud of you,” she said for the millionth time that day.
“Thank you, Mrs. Snyder,” Reid said, while at the same time Luke mumbled, “Thanks, Mom.”
“And for doing so well, I got you boys something,” she told them with a smile.
“What is it?” Luke asked, now really curious.
“I’m paying for that concert you’re going to later this month. Transportation, food, tickets… anything you need, I’ve got it covered.”
Reid’s eyes were wide. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Not only was he going to see what was easily going to be the best concert in his life, he was going to be going for free? “Really, Mrs. Snyder?”
“Really, Reid. You especially deserve something special, Mr. Valedictorian.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Luke said again, only this time he sounded slightly insulted.
“Well, you weren’t valedictorian, were you sweetie?”
Luke sighed, but she was right in that Reid did deserve something special. He’d gone through a whole lot in his few years on the planet, but he never lost sight of goals. Sure, he wasn’t the most well behaved guy, smoking pot, drinking, having one night stands, but he never let any of that get in his way of his sheer determination. He always did what he wanted on his terms… and he never wanted anything more than to go to Harvard and become a doctor. Even though he didn’t have much, his parents certainly weren’t wealthy when they passed, and Reid had to use what little his parents and his uncle did leave him to pay the bills, but now he was going to be going to Harvard, all expenses paid, so now he had nothing holding him back; circumstances be damned.
~~~
It was just a week after graduation when Luke and Reid were setting off for the outskirts of Chicago for their concert; they had a vague idea of how to get there but that was going to be part of the adventure. They threw some clothes into a couple duffle bags, found a tent that Luke’s stepdad Holden used when he was in his teens, grabbed some old, dust covered sleeping bags and snagged a bottle or two of whiskey from Lily’s liquor cabinet. All that was shoved into the back of Luke’s VW bus and they were off.
The ride there was spent with the two of them chatting about just who they were getting the chance to see live and flipping between radio stations whenever the one they had on started to lose signal.
Once they were there, Luke parked and they unloaded the bus, following the slowly building crowd of people attending the concert. As they walked with their things to the concert location, Reid said, “Shit, doesn’t it make you wish you were at Woodstock?”
“Yeah,” Luke agreed. He remembered all the hype around the massive outdoor concert from the summer of ’69, and it was a shame that he hadn’t been there to experience it. This wouldn’t compare, he knew, but it was still destined to be a great few days, of that he was certain.
“Oh, well, this’ll be a good show. Sucks Case couldn’t make it, though,” Reid said.
Just about a week after Casey had informed them about the concert, his mother informed him that they would be leaving on vacation once he was out of school to celebrate his graduation. Casey was bummed that he couldn’t attend the concert, especially since he knew his two closest friends were going to be there, but he didn’t really have much choice, not when his grandparents were going, as well, and it was for him.
“I know. He was really looking forward to it. Guess that just means we need to enjoy it enough for him, too.”
Reid looked to him and smirked. He knew for a fact he would be enjoying himself all weekend, despite the fact that they would be stuck with a mass of people outdoors. There’d be good company, good weed, good booze and maybe some good sex here and there. Honestly, he couldn’t think of a better way to spend his weekend.
They set up their tent, tossed their duffle bags into a corner of their already cramped tent and rolled out their sleeping bags. “You’re really gonna do this?” Luke asked.
“If I could, I’d do this all damn summer… just following the shows around the country.”
“You sound like you’re a friggin’ Dead Head, or something,” Luke said with a snort of laughter.
“Hey, they’re playing this weekend. Maybe this can be my first of many of their shows.”
“For some reason, I just don’t believe that. You’re gonna be so grossed out by your own bodily stench by the end of this that you won’t be able to wait to get back home and into a nice hot shower.”
“Yeah, well… I suppose you’re right… but if I could travel around and stay in hotels everywhere? I think I might like that option.”
~~~
The following morning at ten, the first band was set to play. It was some group most people had never even heard of, but that didn’t stop people from trickling to the stage to listen. Luke and Reid listened in, but most of their morning and afternoon was spent scavenging for food.
Once they ate, they smoked a little before they then made their way closer to the concert venue, listening in on another set. They stayed right there on the grass all afternoon until Reid got the munchies again and they had to leave for another food search. By the time they came back, they were just in time to hear a young Steve Miller Band perform their set. When the group finished, there were still a few more groups to play that night. Luke and Reid stayed for the entire thing, well past midnight, then finally retired back to their tent, too exhausted to care that there was a good chance there were ants crawling around in their sleeping bags.
Despite their exhaustion it did take some time to fall asleep, though, both excited for what the following day had to offer. There were a lot of performances scheduled for the next day, some bands they’d never heard of, some that were really well known, most bound to put on a killer show.
Eventually, though, they did both manage to fall asleep. When Luke awoke, he discovered that Reid’s arm had come out of the sleeping bag at some point during the night and was now draped over the side of his face as he’d awoken rolled over onto his left side.
Though he pushed the arm off his face, it made him think that he probably wouldn’t at all mind waking up to Reid’s arm around his waist or his stomach every morning… and they were both on their left side… if he scooted back just a bit, he and Reid would be spooning. Now that would definitely be something he could get used to… But, Reid didn’t cuddle. He didn’t spoon. And he didn’t do relationships. So Luke knew it was just something he’d be getting used to in his dreams.
Reid woke up soon after, sighing as he did. “I might be a guy, and guys may have reputations for pissing on everything, but I really miss flushable toilets,” he said.
“What? You don’t like using trees and porta potties?”
“Not really, no,” he answered, sitting up before pushing his sleeping bag off him so he could stand.
Luke was looking at Reid as he stood… was trying to look at his face, but he was at perfect eye level with his crotch. His crotch that even a blind man could see was somewhat hard. Not that that was unusual for a young man of eighteen, it wasn’t that at all… it was that Luke wanted to take that cock in his hand and his mouth and bring him off to completion right there in the tent, taking care of Reid’s morning erection. And in a perfect world, Reid would then take care of his… or better yet, they’d take care of each other at the same time.
But that was never happening, so Luke tried to let the thought go, though he knew he’d be waking up with that same thought every morning for the next few days what with he and Reid being in such close proximity to one another.
Reid dressed quickly into the same jeans he wore the day before and a baggy Beatles t-shirt before heading outside to rather reluctantly take a piss either behind a tree or in a porta potty, his thoughts the whole time being hadn’t civilization progressed further than pissing on a tree?
Just a little bit after Reid left, Luke got dressed and headed outside, as well to find his own tree. They met back up outside the tent and decided it was high time to go scrounge for food again.
After finding a vendor, they grabbed their food and ate while they walked. A good portion of their day was spent sitting on the grass, listening to the music of whatever band or singer was up on stage. They only left briefly to get themselves lunch before they were back, only this time they were standing as the crowd had gotten quite a bit bigger. Eventually, though, they did move further back from the stage so they could find another empty patch of grass to sit on.
A few hours and many bands had gone on before Reid leaned over to Luke, “I’d say it’s high time we broke into one of those bottles we snagged.”
With a nod, Luke agreed, “Yeah, let’s go.”
Neither of them were big fans of the next group that was set to play, but they did want to be back in time for Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Grateful Dead. They were set to play around eight and nine respectively and they had about an hour to kill before the first CCR set.
It was still light out when they got to their tent, Reid shoving a whiskey bottle and his trusty bag of weed and his lighter into a little leather side bag. While he was sure no one would care if they lit up right there in their tent, he didn’t want to take the chance that one of the security guys would catch them, because there would go his ticket to Harvard. “C’mon,” Reid said once he was ready, leading Luke away from the tent.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“No clue,” he replied as he kept walking. They walked into the more wooded area, eventually coming upon a little ridge, where the amount of trees dwindled and the grass seemed far denser than they’d seen anywhere else in their walk. And they could tell that they’d walked somewhere around the stage, because they could faintly hear music playing. “This doesn’t seem too bad, does it?”
“Not at all,” Luke said as he sat.
Reid lifted up the flap on his bag and pulled out the bottle. There was only about a quarter the amount of liquid left in this bottle, but they still had a full one back in the tent. He was sure that Lily would notice it was missing, at least if she ever went looking for it, but at that moment, Reid really didn’t care. He twisted off the bottle and took a swig, shutting his eyes at the burn as it went down. “God, that’s good,” he said as he passed the bottle over to Luke.
Luke took a nice sized swig, shaking his head as he felt the alcohol go down. He passed the bottle back to Reid, who took at and took another swallow. They passed the bottle back and forth a couple times before he laid back, shutting his eyes. “This really is the life.”
“Isn’t it? I said I could do this all summer,” Reid said as he handed the bottle over again.
“Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all,” Luke said, leaning up on his elbows so he could take another deep drink, finishing off the bottle. “You ‘n me, traveling the country, following the music…” He turned his head to Reid, his deep chocolate brown eyes meeting Reid’s blues. “I think I could like that a lot.”
“Me, too,” Reid said in a breath, surprised at his own voice, unable to look away.
It was Luke that finally broke their gaze… as he leaned in to kiss Reid for the first time. He pulled back almost as soon as their lips touched, though, shocked at his actions. He hadn’t even had that much to drink, he and Reid had polished off an entire bottle of Jack before and he hadn’t done anything that stupid, but he just couldn’t help himself. Not when Reid looked like that, sounded like that, was looking at him like that…
Reid touched his lips, not taking his eyes off Luke. “What was that for?” he asked.
Luke shook his head, dumbstruck. “I… I don’t know. Just being here with you and the way you were looking at me and fuck I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry, Reid,” Luke said, looking away and making to stand up.
“Don’t.” Reid said.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t leave… and don’t apologize.”
Luke finally turned his head back to Reid, a blush covering his cheeks, turning them the most wonderful shade of pink Reid had ever seen. “Why not? So you can make fun of me for being an idiot?” Luke asked.
Reid shook his head. “No… so I can do this,” he answered, pulling Luke on top of him, bringing their lips together once more. This time, Luke didn’t pull away, instead, he parted his lips when Reid’s tongue began sliding over them, granting entrance into his mouth.
After some time, Luke did pull back, only this time his face was flushed from his excitement and lack of air, not from embarrassment over doing something stupid that he instantly regretted. Reid kissed him, and he kissed him back. “What the hell was that for?” Luke asked, repeating Reid’s words from earlier.
In turn, Reid repeated Luke’s words… mostly. “I don’t know. Just being here with you and the way you were looking at me and fuck I wish I’d done that sooner.”
Luke’s eyes grew wide. “You do?”
“Luke, I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time.”
“Me, too,” Luke whispered. “Though I gotta say… I’m surprised you didn’t do anything sooner.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t think you were interested.”
“I didn’t think you were, either,” Luke said. “Every time you told me about whatever guy you met over the weekend… it hit me every single time.”
“I’m sorry,” Reid said, his voice low. Raising his head up, he met Luke’s lips again.
Luke knew that the apology was sincere. For one, Reid never apologized to anyone, and secondly, Reid never said anything he didn’t mean. But, damn, did he wish he’d said something sooner to Reid about his one offs and how much he hated knowing what he was doing, because then maybe they’d have been doing this sooner. For so long now, Luke had been looking at Reid’s lips, fantasizing over what they’d feel like against his, been imagining what it’d be like to feel Reid’s smooth, sweat slicked skin beneath his hands, been dreaming about how right Reid’s cock would feel moving in his body.
And soon he was going to have all of that.
Before he knew what was happening, there were hands on his now bare chest. Somehow, Reid had managed to undo all the buttons on his shirt and was trying to push it over his shoulders. Once Luke actually realized what was happening, he moved to help Reid along and began pulling at the hem of Reid’s shirt.
Reid took that opportunity to flip them around, Luke’s now bare back against the grass as he straddled Luke’s hips. He pulled his own shirt off over his head, tossing it aside without another care in the world.
Luke bucked his hips upwards, his cock hard in his jeans, rubbing against Reid’s ass. “Fuck,” Reid breathed. They needed out of their pants now. That was the only time that they actually separated, to remove their pants. They were both already wearing sandals, so those slipped off easily. Once Reid had removed his pants and boxers and tossed them to the side, he was right back to where he was, legs straddling Luke’s hips, their hard cocks, now freed from their jeaned confines, rubbing together.
“Oh, god, Reid,” Luke panted. He’d never felt anything like this before. Never. Not in any of the times he’d slept with Noah had he felt such a strong, primal need to be with someone.
“Always knew you’d feel this good,” Reid muttered aloud as his hands moved down Luke’s toned body. He’d seen Luke shirtless on countless occasions; they’d gone swimming in the pond on Luke’s family’s land many, many times, and had seen Luke’s body develop over the years into what it is today.
“Maybe you were meant to be a surgeon,” Luke then said.
“Why’s that?”
“You’ve got the softest, gentlest, most caring touch I’ve ever felt,” Luke told him.
Luke’s words seemed to go straight to Reid’s cock and sent a jolt of lust through his body, as his eyes were now dilated from the sheer want. He leaned down, capturing Luke’s lips in yet another desperate kiss, his right hand now moving to take both of their cocks into his grip, stroking them together.
When the kiss broke, Luke looked up into Reid’s eyes, his hands going up to tangle into Reid’s curls. “I need you,” he whispered.
Reid knew exactly how Luke felt. He needed Luke then and there just as badly. “I don’t have anything to help…” he trailed off, sure that Luke would get what he meant.
“I don’t care, Reid, I need you inside me.”
Nodding, Reid scooted back, allowing himself a quick look at Luke’s body. His face was still flushed, his hair going every which way, his stomach was rising and falling quickly as the pace of his breathing had increased, his cock was resting flat against his tummy and his legs were spread as he awaited Reid to make his move. Reid broke himself from his own trance and pushed on Luke’s knees, practically bending him in half as Luke’s knees ended up hitting his own shoulders. Luke gripped his knees, holding his legs in place. He should probably have felt embarrassed, knowing that he was exposing himself so blatantly to his best friend, but he didn’t feel that way at all.
Reid then slipped two fingers between his own lips, getting them as wet as he could. He knew it had been a while since Luke had last done this and didn’t want it to be too painful, especially since they would only have spit as a lubricant.
Gently, he began easing one finger inside. He took his time, allowing Luke’s body to get used to the feeling before he pushed in deeper. He withdrew his finger completely before pushing back in, not going as slowly that time, but still wanting to ease into it. He watched Luke’s face closely for any signs of pain or discomfort. When there were no such signs to be seen, he allowed himself to move even faster.
And then he pulled out again, only this time he returned to his original slow place as he worked two fingers inside Luke. He still kept his eyes on Luke, watching as his face contorted at the intrusion, but he couldn’t see any real discomfort. He continued to take his time with it, though. How he managed to keep his patience he didn’t really know, because what he really wanted was to throw caution to the wind and drive his cock into Luke’s body over and over until they were both moaning and panting and screaming each other’s names as they came.
But that could wait… Reid was certain that this wouldn’t be a one off, not if what Luke said was true about wanting to do this for quite some time now.
After Reid pulled out the two fingers, he brought three fingers to his mouth. Luke whimpered as he watched, the sight of Reid sucking on his own fingers after they’d been inside him managed to turn him on in a way that he never would have expected. And then Reid brought the spit slicked fingers to his hole, beginning to ease all three in. “Oh, fuck, Reid,” Luke moaned, feeling more stretched out than he’d been in a long while, knowing just what was coming soon.
“You feel so good, Luke,” Reid told him. “You’re so damn tight… hell, it’s been so long we can probably call you a born again virgin.”
Luke tried to glare at him, but the man was working magic with his fingers, so glaring was out of the question. Instead he replied with, “Well why don’t you do something about it?”
Reid’s eyes locked with Luke’s as he said, “That’s the plan.” He could see Luke’s Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed, could see the little quiver of anticipation in his chin as he bit his lower lip… “Do you think you’re ready?” he asked.
Nodding his head, Luke once more reached up and tangled his hair into the long curls, pulling him in for a kiss. When he pulled back, he replied, “More than ready. I’ve wanted this for so long, Reid.”
Giving Luke one of his best smiles, Reid sat up as Luke reluctantly let go of his hair. He removed his fingers and spit into his own hand, and while he absolutely hated doing that, there were no other options. Running his hand over his cock, Reid slicked himself up as best he could given the circumstances, spit and precum the best lubricant he had at the moment. He then scooted in closer to Luke, looking down to his cock and Luke’s ass, which was still up in the air and exposed to him. When he lined himself up, he took a deep breath before beginning to push himself through the tight ring of muscle. God, it was better than he ever could have imagined, and he’d certainly imagined it before. He watched as he sunk into Luke’s body, then looked back to Luke’s face. There were now signs of pain on his face, but at the same time, there was a look of utter bliss written upon his features.
When Reid was completely inside of him, Luke moved his legs from up by his shoulders to wrap them around Reid’s waist. Using his legs, he pulled Reid closer, making it seem as though he was in even deeper.
It was an incredible sensation to actually feel Reid. Noah refused to have sex without a rubber, so it was for the first time that Luke was feeling another person in his body so completely, skin on skin, no barriers in between.
“Fuck, Reid,” Luke moaned. Reid hadn’t even moved yet and he was already feeling as though he could come from the mere fact that Reid was inside him.
Reid was in a similar position to Luke in that he’d never actually been with anyone without some form of protection. Despite the notion of free love, he was intending to go into the medical field and knew what sort of things were passed along with free love, so with all previous partners, he never took the chance. Luke, though? Luke was different. He knew Luke. And now he was getting to know him in a way he thought would only ever be a fantasy.
When he began moving, he pulled back to leave just the tip of his cock in Luke’s body before pushing inside again, feeling the muscles constricting against the intrusion. “Goddamn, Luke, goddamn,” Reid muttered, his hands gripping tight around Luke’s hips.
Luke didn’t want their bodies to be so far apart anymore and once again reached up to pull Reid down atop him. Their stomachs pressed together, faces just about touching. Their eyes were blown with lust, Luke’s eyes deeper and darker than Reid had ever seen them. There were no other words to describe him right then… Luke was beautiful.
He pulled back again before pushing right back in, developing a steady pace, thrusting in and out while Luke would pull his hips up to meet Reid thrust for thrust, Luke’s cock between their two bodies, all the while not breaking eye contact with one another.
This was the most intense experiences either of them ever had. It was rare when Reid would fuck someone face to face, and when he did, they didn’t keep their eyes open, staring into one another’s souls. No, this was more than some frenzied, teenage lust filled one off fuck with someone he’d never see again. He didn’t know if this was what making love was, but he was certain that this was the closest he’d ever come to it.
And then Luke lifted his head up and their lips met again. His tongue pushed into Reid’s mouth, kissing him with the same passion that filled their lovemaking.
Reid felt himself getting closer, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer, not with the way Luke was kissing him and the way Luke’s body responded to every move that he made. But it was when Luke reached down around his leg to actually feel where the two of them were joined together, feeling Reid’s cock with his fingers actually moving in and out of him, that brought Reid over the edge. He broke the kiss for a moment as he cried, “Fuck, Luke!” His body stiffened for a moment before his hips drove in deeper, the muscles in his stomach trembling as he rode out his orgasm.
Actually feeling Reid’s cock twitching inside him, feeling Reid’s cum inside him, was enough for Luke. He cried Reid’s name, both hands moving to claw at Reid’s shoulders as his own hips bucked upwards, muscles contracting as his orgasm hit.
Both teens were still breathing heavily when Reid sat back up. Luke released his legs and let them rest on the ground as Reid pulled his cock out, fascinated as he watched a trail of his own cum drizzle out, as well.
“Holy shit,” Luke said after what felt like minutes of silence.
“Yeah,” Reid agreed. He hadn’t moved from where he knelt between Luke’s legs, eyes roaming all over the scene before him. Luke still looked so sweet and innocent despite what just happened, like some angel straight from Heaven. An angel with mussed hair, stomach covered in his own cum and his lover’s cum dripping out of his ass, but an angel nonetheless.
They remained like that for a while more, silence falling between them again. It wasn’t awkward, though, it was more that they were both still stunned at the sheer intensity of what just happened.
This time it was Reid that broke the silence. “We should get dressed and get back. It’s getting dark.”
Luke nodded his head, knowing that if they did wait much longer, they wouldn’t be able to see through the woods they’d walked through to get to this spot in the first place. “Yeah. Sounds like CCR already started their set,” he said as he looked around in the dimming light for his pants. He found his boxers and pulled them on before slipping into his pants. When he was fully dressed, he really began noticing just how sore he was. And he certainly noticed how he could still feel Reid’s cum and the way it was working its way down and out of his body. That was a little fact that he decided to share.
“Really?” Reid asked as he began leading them out the way they came.
“Yeah… I feel like I have a wet spot back there.”
“Really?” Reid asked again, slightly breathier this time.
“Yeah,” Luke told him. “And I feel really sore… the good kind of sore,” he clarified after a moment with a little grin on his face.
“So… it’s something you could see yourself doing again?” Reid asked him.
“It’s something I hope to do again and again,” Luke answered. “I mean… as long as you could also see yourself doing it again?”
Before they broke through the line of trees near the stage, Reid turned to Luke and put a hand on his shoulder before leaning in to press a kiss to Luke’s lips. It was nothing like the kisses they’d shared just a little while before, but it spoke volumes. “I would happily do that many times over, Luke.”
“Good.” He then chuckled as they neared the stage, the sound of CCR getting louder and more distinct. When he saw Reid raise an eyebrow at him, he said, “I was just thinking that we kinda lucked out with Casey not coming here, didn’t we?”
Reid grinned himself at that. “I guess you’re right. We’d never have been able to do that if he were here… guess we’ll need to thank him when we get home. Now, c’mon, we’re missing a good song.”
Luke almost said that they weren’t missing anything since they could hear it from where they were standing, but he simply let Reid grab his wrist and drag him along. Yeah, they would definitely need to thank Casey, he thought to himself.