Characters: Katie(mainly), Luke/Reid, mentions of Bob, Kim and Nuke.
Disclaimer: As the World Turns and it's characters are not mine, no matter how much I enjoy playing with them. :)
Author's Note: So far, what I have been spoiled for is on accident, so please keep your comments as spoiler free as possible! :)
Summary: Katie decides to play matchmaker one last time. My take on two spoilers for this coming week: Reid misinterprets a moment between Luke and Noah, and Reid's grand romantic gesture. Come on now. Are we supposed to believe that matchmaking Katie isn't going to be involved in the grand gesture at all?
Chapter 1: Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match...
Katie knows many things about Reid Oliver. Most of them drive her crazy, but he's currently doing the one that drives her craziest.
He likes to sulk.
He's very good at it.
It involves mass quantities of food and close, personal time with the throw pillows on Katie's couch.
Katie's tired of coming home from the studio and finding Reid watching chick flicks in the dark and molesting her sofa.
It's been almost three days, and Reid has been miserable to live with.
At first, she'd thought it was because Noah Mayer had punched him in the face. She'd freaked out when Reid had come home, an ice pack on his nose, and dried blood on his face.
Reid hadn't really wanted to talk about it, so she'd figured that was problem.
Until today.
Today, when she came home, she'd found Reid sitting in the dark, damn near literally squeezing the stuffing out of her throw pillows.
"Enough is enough." Katie says, getting his attention by flicking on the lights.
"What?" Reid answers, angry and defensive.
"You're acting like a 15 year-old-girl who just broke up with her boyfriend." Katie replies. "What gives?" Reid glances at her, and it's written all over his face before he can hide behind his trademark scowl. "That's it. You and Luke…" She pauses. Reid hasn't said much about the situation, but she knows that he has feelings for Luke. "Did Luke and Noah get back together?"
"No." Reid says. "No." It doesn't sound like a denial. It sounds like a plea…like he wants it not to be true.
"Reid." Katie sits down next to him, and puts her hand on his arm. He brushes her off and stands up, walking into the kitchen.
"Just let it go, Katie." He says, grabbing a beer from the fridge and twisting the top off. It falls with a clatter to the counter top. She gives him a long look, and his resolve breaks for a second. "I never should have…" Reid trails off.
He drains his beer in a few gulps.
"I'll be in my room." Reid says, disappearing down the hall.
Katie watches him go, concern etched into her features. After a moment, a small smile appears on her face. She knows that she told Chris she'd stop matchmaking, but she figures one more time won't hurt. She calls out to Reid that she's taking Jacob to Emma's for the night and that she'll be back later.
Katie walks through Old Town, her eyes peeled. After a quick call to his mother, Katie finds Luke at Al's, poking the food on his plate with a fork.
"Hi, Luke." She says, sitting down across from him. He looks up at her in surprise.
"Hi, Katie." He answers, sounding upset. "What's up?"
"I need to talk to you about Reid." She tells him, refusing to beat around the bush. Luke is so much more open about everything and she knows she can get him to tell her what's really going on.
"There's nothing to talk about." Luke says sadly, looking at his hands.
"I think there is." Katie insists, taking off her coat and hanging it on the back of her chair.
"What did he tell you?" Luke asks, eying her. She smiles little.
"Nothing." She meets his gaze. "That's why I wanted to talk to you." Luke sighs.
"There's nothing to say, Katie." He picks at his food again. "Reid made his choice, and it wasn't me."
"What are you talking about?" Katie's eyes widen as Luke explains what really happened the day Noah punched Reid in the face, and Bob's ultimatum.
"I just can't believe that Bob would make him choose." Katie says, upset. "There have been plenty of relationships between donors and doctors at the hospital over the years."
"I know." Luke replies. "But Bob doesn't want anything that might jeopardize the sale."
"You let me handle Bob." Kate insists.
"Katie, please leave it alone."
"I can't do that, Luke." Katie gets up and puts her coat back on.
"It doesn't matter anyway." Katie stops when he says that.
"Why?" She asks, afraid of the answer. "Did you and Noah get back together?"
"No." Luke looks confused. "What would make you think that?" Katie gives him a long look.
"Something about the way Reid was acting…he was worse than usual today." She answers.
"Unless…" Luke trails off. "I did run into Noah at the hospital today." Katie's eyes widen. "He was there for his last check up – he's actually going to show his movie at a film festival for the next few weeks."
"So he's leaving town?"
"Yeah." Luke's voice is quiet. "You don't think Reid saw us, do you?"
"Probably."
"Great." Luke sighs again. "It doesn't even matter, Katie." He tells her, repeating himself. "He chose his work over me. I know where I stand." Luke gets up and walks out, leaving Katie standing there staring after him.
She takes a moment to think, and then leaves Al's.
Her shoes echo loudly in the silent halls of Memorial, as she searches for Bob Hughes. She's already swung by the TV station to see Kim, and she's glad she did. Kim had tons of information on the company interested in the hospital and she knows that once Bob sees it, he won't want to sell it anymore.
Problem solved.
Plans in motion, Katie lets herself back into the house. It's quiet without Jacob. She knocks on Reid's door, and seeing that his light is still on, opens it.
Reid is lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He has a pillow clutched to his chest.
"Well, don't you look productive." Katie states sarcastically. Reid doesn't acknowledge her. "I'm glad to see that you love all pillows equally, but don't let the ones on my couch know. They might get jealous." He doesn't make a sound. "So there are some things you should know." She continues, and he glances at her know.
"What did you do, Katie?" He asks with a warning in his tone.
"Nothing." She answers, smiling. "It's what you're going to do."
He sits up now and looks at her.
She grins.
This is going to be her best matchmaking attempt yet.