The Long and Winding Road 12/?
Title: The Long and Winding Road
Pairing: Luke and Reid
Other Characters: Random wait staff and Bob.
Summary: This is AU. This is a story about the courtship of Luke and Reid.
Disclaimer: These are not my characters.
Rating PG 14
Warning: Noah and Richard are in this chapter.
A/N Well I’ve had a craptastic couple of days. The family cat is very, very sick. He had to go to emergency on Friday night and then back to his regular vet yesterday. They think that he has heart disease. He’s only 4 years old. He's going back to the vet tomorrow and hopefully they will have some news for us.Yes I am a crazy cat person.
It was 6:45 and Reid was going a little crazy in his office. He had given up on work about a half hour ago and had been waiting for Luke ever since. This had been the least productive day of his career. He had been distracted by thoughts of Luke Snyder the entire day. Thank God he hadn’t had a surgery scheduled that day as he wasn’t sure if he was capable of the single minded focus required for brain surgery
Ever since lunch he had kept touching his lips remembering how they felt when he had pressed them against Luke’s before the other man drove away. He had been touching them so frequently that a nurse actually asked him if he felt a cold sore coming on. It had been mortifying! After that he had retreated into his office to hide. . He was going to have to get over this phase so that he could work properly again. That was part of the problem, for even though he loved his job, he wasn’t willing to give up Luke for it. He just needed some balance. So for the rest of the afternoon, Reid had sat in his office trying to work and reminding himself that Luke loved him as a doctor, not some love starved sex slave.
Reid failed at this.
At 6:15 Reid gave up all pretence of working and packed up all of his things in the hopes that Luke would come early. Unfortunately, when he was completely ready to go at 6:30 Luke wasn’t there. Reid began to wonder what he could possibly do to fill the time before Luke arrived. He paced, looked at his watch, checked his phone to make sure that it was on, cursed himself for not offering to pick Luke up and then finally realizing that he would look overly pathetic if he were caught blatantly waiting for Luke, he turned his computer back on.
Reid began playing a game of chess on the computer but was unable to concentrate, so he closed it up and switched to solitaire. It was utterly brainless and just what he needed to fill the time.
Finally at 7:00 on the dot, Luke knocked on his door. Reid breathed a huge sigh of relief as he saw the blonde young man walk into his office.
“Are you ready to go?” Luke asked hopefully. He had spent the last hour forcing himself to stare out the window of his office so as not to appear to eager for dinner with Reid.
“Yes, I just need to shut down my computer.”
“Oh, I’m sorry if I interrupted you, I can wait in the hall for you if you’d like,” Luke offered.
“No need,” Reid quickly assured the other man, now that Luke was here; he wasn’t going to let him out of his sight. With his luck Luke would run into someone he knew and Reid would be left out in the cold.
Reid shut down his computer, grabbed his jacket, kissed Luke and the two were out the door.
As the two walked hand in hand toward the exit, Reid heard a familiar voice call their names. He stifled a sigh and turned to look at Bob over his shoulder.
“Yes Bob, what can we do for you?” Reid asked as politely as he could manage. Luke squeezed his hand to remind Reid to play nicely.
“I need to speak to both of you. I am happy to meet with you individually, or we could all meet together which ever you prefer.”
“Together,” they replied in unison, each one smiling.
“Terrific,” Bob replied, clapping his hands together. “How is tomorrow at 10:00am?”
The two men looked at each other and nodded.
“Ten would be great, we’ll see you then,” Luke confirmed.
“Have a good night,” Bob replied with just a hint of a smirk.
As the two men walked towards Luke’s car they couldn’t help wondering why Bob wanted to see both of them the next day.
“Do you have any idea what this meeting is going to be about?” Luke asked cautiously.
“No, not really, I suspect it has something to do with the new neuro wing, because even though you’re no longer on the hospital board it is still your foundation that is funding the wing.”
Luke nodded. “Yeah that makes sense.”
The two men quickly put all thoughts of Bob out of their heads and concentrated on each other.
“Is the Lakeview still okay for dinner?” Luke asked, putting his car in gear.
“Yeah, that’s fine. You’re mother isn’t going to be there is she?” Reid inquired. Please say no; please say no, I don’t think that I’m ready to see Lily again.
Luke laughed, no she’s in France checking out her perfume factory, she’ll be gone for about a week.
Well that’s interesting information. “Oh, well I hope that she has a good trip.” Reid stated. Maybe she’ll have such a good time in France that she will decide to move there.
They drove to the restaurant in companionable silence. Reid let his hand rest on Luke’s thigh while the other man drove, and Luke kept stealing glances over at Reid’s handsome profile every chance he got.
When Luke parked at the Lakeview he leaned over and kissed Reid one more time before getting out of the car. Reid joined Luke and leaned in and nibbled on Luke’s ear.
“You know we could just go back to your place and fool around since your mom is out of town,” Reid suggested hopefully.
Luke pouted. “No, I want to go on a proper date so that we can talk.”
Reid groaned inwardly. “Talking is overrated,” he grumbled as he took Luke’s hand and led the pair into the restaurant.
The maitre’d’ sat them at a lovely table near the window. He set there menu’s on either side of the table but Reid wanted to sit beside Luke and so he pulled out the chair beside him for Luke.
The maitre’d’ looked pained and asked Luke if he wouldn’t be more comfortable sitting across the table from Reid.
“No, I’m fine here, Sam, but thanks for asking,” Luke responded with a big smile.
Reid just glared at the other man.
“Luke, I really think that the other patrons would be more comfortable if you sat across form your uh…companion.”
“No, “Luke replied firmly narrowing his eyes. “We are not doing anything wrong and if anybody is bothered by us then perhaps they should go somewhere else. My mother would not want customers who were prejudiced against her son,” he added with a pointed look.
“Of course, Luke I’m sorry if I have offended you,” he apologized.
Reid glared at the man harder and Sam scurried off to greet the next customers.
“Are you going to have him fired?” Luke inquired.
“No,” Luke sighed, “he needs this job, he has a wife and three kids to support.”
Reid just shook his head incredulously. “You are too kind hearted, Luke. No wonder you run a charitable foundation.”
Luke just smiled and shook his head. “So what are you going to have for dinner?”
“I think that I’m going to have the pepper steak that you raved about last time,” Reid answered. “Are you going to have the same thing?”
“No, not tonight I think that I’m going to have the grilled chicken breast with lemon and oregano,” Luke replied.
“That sounds good, but I think that I will stick to good old red meat,” Reid smiled.
Once they had decided what to order the two men put down their menus and just stared at each other with matching goofy grins.
“So,” Luke began after the waiter had taken their orders. “I want to know everything about you.”
Reid shrugged. “You already know all of the important parts,” he replied, trying to end this particular conversation.
Luke smiled and shook his head. “It’s not enough; I really want to know everything about you.”
Reid sighed, “Okay, ask me anything, but I’m warning you, I’ve had a pretty boring life.”
Luke laughed. “Boring is good. So tell me how you came out.”
Just then the waiter delivered their food.
“This looks delicious,” Reid noted before he began to shovel the food into his mouth.
“Quit stalling,” Luke urged with a smile as he too began to eat.
“Well, I don’t really have a big dramatic coming out story,” Reid began while chewing a mouthful of steak.
Luke looked sceptical but patiently waited for Reid to continue.
“I told you that I figured out that I was gay when I was nine and it really wasn’t a big deal for me. I knew what I was and I just accepted it.”
“Well did you tell your parents when you were nine?”
“No, I didn’t think that it was any of their business. I told my dad when I was eleven and he gave me the sex talk.”
“What did he say? Was he fine with it?” Luke wanted to know.
“He just smiled at me and told me it was a phase and that I shouldn’t worry because I would grow out of it.”
“I’m sorry Reid that must have been awful for you. Did you try to tell him that it wasn’t a phase?”
“Not really, I could tell by his tone and the look on his face that his mind was made up and I really didn’t want to have a big fight about it.”
“What about your mom? Was she more accepting?”
“Not really,” he shrugged. “I had a good friend in high school named Lisa and my mom kept telling me what a great girl she was. I knew that she wanted me to tell her that we were dating, but I didn’t want to lie to her. Lisa started going out with a boy named Tom right before senior prom and so, naturally she went with him. My mom was devastated that I wasn’t going with her and she assumed that I was too. So I told her that if I had gone with Lisa it would have been as friends because that’s what we were. Naturally she asked me if I liked someone else, and I told her that I liked a boy named Tim, and she just said that maybe Lisa would break up with Tom and then we could go together. She has never asked me about dating again.”
“Wow, I’m really sorry to hear that Reid. So I guess you haven’t told them about me then.”
“No I haven’t,” he replied with just a touch of bitterness. “To tell you the truth they think that I’m dating Katie.”
“What???”
“Katie answered my cell phone once when my mom called and before I was able to get to the phone Katie announced that she was my roommate. I tried to tell my mom that we were just that, but she chose not to believe me,” Reid sighed.
“I’m sorry Reid that must be very difficult for you.”
Reid shook his head. “I never really felt very close to my parents. I mean, I knew that they loved me, but I also knew that I wasn’t really what they had expected. I’m not really very much like them and I’m not sure that they ever understood me. Can we please change the subject now?”
Luke leaned over and kissed him lovingly on the lips.
“Sure, what would you like to talk about?” Luke asked.
“Dessert,” Reid replied.
“You’re still hungry?? What am I saying; of course you’re still hungry. What do you feel like having? Would you like something fruity or something chocolaty?”
“I think that I would like something chocolaty, maybe with some raspberry sauce because I love chocolate and raspberries.”
“Oooh they have just the thing for you. They have a dark chocolate mousse drizzled with raspberry coulis and served with whipped cream.”
“Yum, I think that’s the one for me. What are you going to have?”
“Nothing, I’m full.” Because I ‘m a normal person with a normal appetite and a regular metabolism.
The waiter brought over the mousse for Reid with two spoons as well as coffee for both of them.
“I see that they brought you a spoon,” Reid commented. “I hope that you’re not getting any ideas about me sharing with you,” Reid teased.
Luke just smirked at Reid. “I think that I’ll get you to share with me in a way that we will both enjoy,” he replied with a naughty smile.
Reid swallowed hard. Oh my God, Lily’s in Europe and that means that Luke has the house to himself. I wonder/hope that he’s going to invite me over. I had better signal for the bill.
Just as Reid was looking around for the waiter he managed to lock eyes with a pair of angry blue ones. Noah bloody Mayer. Why is Noah here? Oh and he’s not alone he’s with Richard. Richard doesn’t look happy, big surprise! Oh my God why are they standing up? Why are they walking over here? No, no, no! I need that bloody waiter because I want to take Luke and get out of here now. Too late!
Reid sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Luke asked surprised by Reid’s sigh. “Don’t you like your dessert?”
“It’s No…,” Reid started.
“Hi Luke,” Noah began with forced jocularity.
Luke’s head sprung forward shocked by the intrusion.
“Uh… hi Noah, Richard are you two having dinner here, too?” Luke asked politely. Oh my God, I want to go. Where is the waiter? The last thing that I want to do is visit with Noah and Richard.
‘Yes, we’re here on a date,” Noah answered smugly. Look how uncomfortable he looks, he totally wants me back. I knew that once he saw me with Richard he would realize what he was missing.
“Oh that’s nice. Well we’d love to stay and chat but Reid has an early morning tomorrow so we have got to get going.”
“Oh well maybe the four of us can go out together some time,” Noah suggested lamely. He must really be upset by seeing me with Richard. Of course the next time Luke and I go out for dinner it will just be the two of us.
“Yeah, sometime,” Luke responded vaguely. He quickly threw enough bills on the table to cover dinner and a tip. “Are you ready to go, Reid?”
“Yup, goodnight Mr. Mayer, Richard,” Reid replied as he took Luke’s hand and followed him out of the restaurant.
Noah and Richard walked back to their table.
“Noah, why did you ask me to have dinner with you?” Richard asked feeling used.
“I like you, Richard. You know that,” Noah replied, smiling at the other man.
“When you asked me out, I specifically asked you if you were over Luke and you said that you were.”
“I am, Richard.”
“Well if you are so over him, then explain to me why you have spent the whole night staring at him and Reid.”
“I wasn’t staring at them the whole night,” Noah answered defensively.
Richard just stared at him in disbelief.
“Okay, okay I was staring, but not for the reasons that you think. They were all over each other, kissing at the table. I think that Luke might have been touching Reid under the table,” he finished with a tinge of disgust evident in his voice.
“Why do you care that they were kissing if you are over Luke?” Richard asked pointedly.
“I just don’t like PDA. Luke and I never did that. Occasionally we would hold hands but that’s about it. Certain things should remain behind closed doors.”
“Uh huh and was that your decision or Luke’s?”
“Neither, we just always agreed on those sorts of things.”
“Well then, he seems to have changed his mind.”
“Or had it changed for him,” Noah said with an edge to his voice.
“Whatever, I’m glad that you’re over him, because I can tell you he’s certainly over you,” Richard added flatly.
“What do you mean? He totally wants me back,” Noah blurted out before he could stop himself.
“Dude, you’re delusional. First of all Dr. Oliver is smokin’ hot and second of all did you see the way they were looking at each other? I hope that someone looks at me the way those two were looking at each other. I’m telling you for your own sake, you’ve lost Luke. He’s moved on and you should too.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Didn’t you see how uncomfortable he was when he saw us together? He’s jealous. That’s why he left so quickly,” Noah said confidently. Poor Richard just doesn’t understand the deep bond that Luke and I share.
“Dude I think he was uncomfortable because he didn’t want to talk to us. I think they left because they wanted to be alone.”
“You’re wrong Richard, why wouldn’t Luke want to talk to me? I thought that he was going to invite us to sit down with them. The only reasonable explanation for Luke’s behaviour was that he’s jealous,” Noah said with a big smile on his face.
“Right, well I think that it’s time for me to go. I’ll see you around, Noah.” Thank God we brought separate cars so that I can be rid of him now.
“Don’t you want to come back to my place for a nightcap?”
“Uh…no thanks I have to get up early tomorrow. See ya,” Richard replied quickly leaving the restaurant.
Noah just sat at the table thinking about how he was going to get Luke back.
Reid was disappointed to see that Luke was driving him back to Katie’s place.
Shit seeing Noah must have really thrown Luke. I was sure that he was going to invite me back to his place. I wonder if I should say anything. Oh God, what would I say that wouldn’t sound pathetic and needy? I am such a girl. Oh God what did Luke just say?
“Sorry, uh what did you say?”
“I said that I’ll wait for you while you throw some stuff in a bag, okay?”
Reid just blinked at Luke. “What are you talking about?”
Oh my God, he doesn’t want to come back to my place. Shit! What should I do now?
“Uh…well I was hoping that you would stay over at my place tonight and I thought that you might want to pick up your toiletries and some clean clothes for tomorrow, but it’s okay if you just want to stay here. I didn’t mean to pressure you.”
Reid leaned over and kissed Luke. Thank God, Thank God, Thank God!!!
“Of course I want to come over to your place, I’ll be back in five minutes.”
Thank God, Thank God, Thank God!!!