When It's Time 5/?
This time Reid asked Luke to come over to his house, which made Luke even more nervous than he already was. What if Nate showed up? He didn’t even want to think about that. There was no good excuse to give him as to why he would be there.
“Come on in.” Reid said as he opened the door. Luke stepped in and looked around. Simply, yet nice - it looked very Reid.
“Thanks” Luke smiled. He actually smiled, and it was sincere. He tried his hardest not to, but in Reid’s presence he couldn’t help himself.
“I can’t-“ Reid sighed, not wanting to say the words, feeling it was a betrayal to Nate. “I can’t stop thinking about you, Luke” He finally said, smiling despite himself. This wasn’t what he had meant to say - but it was the truth. It was not possible to stop thinking of Luke; he was in his mind whatever it was he was doing.
“I can’t stop thinking about you either” Luke admitted, his smile growing by the second. He stepped closer to Reid, even though he knew he shouldn’t. It wasn’t right. Standing this close to Reid was Nate’s place. Luke was invading it, but he couldn’t stop.
“I can’t think straight, and I can’t be around Nate without thinking of you, I feel so fucking guilty.” Reid said. “I never talk about my feelings, I’m generally an ass. But with you, all this feelings stuff doesn’t seem so terrible. It actually feels nice and comforting.”
“I’m a very ‘let’s talk about our feelings’ kind of guy, actually” Luke laughed softly as he looked into Reid’s eyes. “I feel so alive when I’m around you. It’s like I’ve been among the living dead for years, and now I’m back to life.” Luke sighed. “We must really sound crazy from an outsider’s perspective. We’ve barely talked. Hell - we have only met each other a few times.”
“I know” Reid chuckled and leaned his forehead against Luke’s. “I sometimes question my own sanity when it comes to you. Whenever I’m around you, all I can think about is whether or not you like me, or if you want me as much as I want you”
“I like you. I want you. I really, really want you” Luke breathed heavily and felt his knees wanting to give in. “I know - we can’t.”
“No, we can’t.” Reid agreed, gripping Luke, embracing him, hugging him tightly. “Hugging is not cheating” Reid said as he continued holding onto Luke. Reid normally didn’t hug people, but he just wanted to be close to Luke, feel his warmth without doing anything wrong.
“Don’t let go, not yet” Luke sighed and wrapped his hands around Reid, putting his head in the crook of his neck - smelling him, feeling his cheek against Reid’s neck. It was heaven.
“I won’t” Reid stroke Luke’s hair gently and let out a sigh. He needed to tell Nate, he needed to end things with him. But how could he do that without hurting him? Nate had put up with Reid’s shit for years - God knows why he bothered. He deserved the truth, but that would mean hurting him. Physically Reid hadn’t cheated on him, but emotionally he had been cheating on him with Luke since the second he met him, and it pained him to admit it - even to himself. “I’m going to end things with Nate” Reid whispered into Luke’s ear. He could feel Luke nod. He held on to Luke, not letting him go.
---
Reid was nervous. He was actually nervous, and that rarely happened, not even before he was about to crack into someone’s skull. Reid was confident; he was always in control of everything in his life. But now, he was scared shitless.
He went into a nearby coffee shop and sat down. He had texted Nate a few minutes before to meet him there, so he just sat there. Nate replied and was going to be there in half an hour. Good, Reid thought. Now he has more time to think about what he’s going to tell Nate.
“Reid?”
Reid looked up, and to his utter horror it was Luke.
“Luke, what the hell are you doing here?” Reid asked.
“I’m sorry?” Luke gasped. “I wanted coffee, this is a coffee shop” Luke pointed out.
“Sorry, it’s just-“ Reid sighed . “I’m going to meet Nate, and tell him”
“About me?” Luke asked, horrified.
“I don’t know if I will directly tell him about you, but I am going to end things, yes.” Reid explained.
“And you think doing it in a public place is going to make it better?” Luke asked and crossed his arms over his chest.
“What?” Reid asked surprised. Luke might be right; this probably wasn’t the right place for a break-up.
“You can’t just break up with someone like this, Reid.” Luke continued. “You have to do it properly, don’t do it as though what you had didn’t matter. That is not the right way to do it. As much as I selfishly want it done as quickly as possible, I don’t want Nate to be hurt; he seems like a nice guy.”
“Yes Sir.” Reid cocked an eyebrow and stared at Luke. He tried not to smile, but he failed miserably. Luke rolled his eyes before smiling back at him. They looked at each other for a long time, before snapping into reality when Nate called out to them.
“GUYS!” He yelled. “I’m right fucking here, where the hell are you two?”
“Nate” Reid’s smile disappeared and he got out of his chair. Apparently Nate had been calling out to them several times. “What do you mean where are we? We’re here, you’re here. Luke was just leaving, and we’re getting out of here. Let’s go to your place, or my place. Yes, sounds like a plan.” Reid was babbling, but he couldn’t stop himself. He was panicking; feeling like Nate caught them in a very intense moment.
“No” Nate firmly said. “No, you didn’t” He was shaking his head now, looking back and forth between Reid and Luke.
“Actually no, we did not” Reid said, and it was the truth.
“I don’t buy that” Nate’s face was turning red now. “Did you two fuck? And tell me the truth; I deserve that much after four fucking years.”
“No, we didn’t.” Reid looked at Nate, trying to get eye contact with him to make him see that he was telling the truth. “I promise, we haven’t done anything - we haven’t kissed, and we have not slept together. I wouldn’t do that.”
“But?” Nate asked, insisting there was something Reid was telling him.
“Can we get out of here to talk?” Reid asked.
“No, I don’t think I want to go anywhere with you, Reid. Just tell me, whatever it was you brought me here for - just tell me and get it over with. You’ve been distant for a long time, and now I know why” He looked at Luke and gave him an evil glare. Luke remained quiet, feeling like he was eavesdropping on their conversation.
“I brought you here to end things with you” Reid admitted. He saw Nate nodding, as though he was expecting this. “I haven’t done anything with Luke yet, and that’s the truth. I have met up with him behind your back without telling you, but we never did anything physical.” Reid explained.
“Yet.” Nate laughed. “So you’re breaking up with me so you can fuck Luke with good conscience, is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes” Reid nodded. “But that’s not the only reason. We’re not right for each other, Nate”
“Wait, after telling me we were so damn right for each other, so alike - now you’re telling me we aren’t right for each other?”
“If you would only let me finish-“ Reid hissed. “We are not right for each other anymore. And frankly, we never were.”
“Good to know I wasted four years on my life on something that was never right, then. Thank you so very much.” Nate started walking out the door, and Reid ran after him.
“Come on, you know that’s not what I meant, and you know that I can’t give you any of the things you want. It won’t change” He grabbed Nate’s arm.
“We are over; you can go fuck Luke now. I hope he’s worth it.” Nate kept walking and Reid didn’t run after him. It was no use, it was truly over - they both knew it. They’ve had their fair share of arguments over the year, but nothing regarding someone else. When they started this, they had both agreed to end things when it didn’t feel right anymore. And now it didn’t. And they ended it.
When he walked into the coffee shop again Luke was sitting at a table with tears in his eyes.
“So much for doing it properly” Luke said, looking up at Reid. Reid had no idea why Luke was crying. It wasn’t his break-up. Nate would be fine, he knew that.
“I don’t care” Reid admitted. And he really didn’t, as cold as it might seem to end a four-year relationship this way, right now he did not care.
“You do realize that I’m not going to have sex with you right after you’ve broken up with Nate, right?” Luke asked, laughing softly. That laugh, Reid thought.
“I can live with that” He smiled and grabbed Luke’s hand. “As long as I can do this” Reid said and leaned over and planted a kiss on Luke’s lips. Luke was caught off guard and was startled at first, but quickly gave into the kiss, realizing that Reid was kissing him, it was real. It was not in his dream, Reid was right here - kissing him. Luke grabbed Reid’s head and pulled him closer, enjoying every second of their kiss. He gently ran his tongue across Reid’s upper lip, making him moan slightly before allowing Luke access. It was starting to get heated and Luke pulled away reluctantly. “We’re in a coffee shop,” he panted.
“Very observant of you, Luke” Reid cupped Luke’s cheek and looked into those brown, beautiful eyes.
previous chapters;
chapter 1; community.livejournal.com/lure_atwt/1202472.html
chapter 2; community.livejournal.com/lure_atwt/1208312.html
chapter 3; community.livejournal.com/lure_atwt/1212974.html
chapter 4; community.livejournal.com/lure_atwt/1214828.html