Noah stumbled into WOAK, a half empty vodka bottle still in his hand. Dropping down into a chair, he didn't even flinch when a box of tapes fell to the ground because of his clumsiness.
"Noah?", he suddenly heard behind him and he was surprised to see Maddie.
"What are you doing here on a Saturday?" he said, his words slurred.
"I could ask you the same thing. Why are you not at the hospital with Luke, aren't visiting hours now?"
Noah looked at the ground quickly, before taking another swallow of the vodka. "Luke doesn't need me"
"What?"
When Noah was about to take another swallow of the vodka bottle, Maddie grabbed it out his hands and went to the sink to drown it.
"What did you do that for?" Noah asked offended, but too drunk to get up from his seat and stop her.
"Because you have had plenty. What are you doing Noah?"
"I'm trying to forget. And I'm trying to make Luke forget about me, it's for his own good"
"Are you insane!" Maddie yelled, sitting down in the chair opposite Noah.
"After everything you guys have been through to find each other, are you honestly going to sit there and tell me Luke is better of without you? You are even more stupid then I thought you were"
"Excuse me?" Noah said, starting to get angry.
"For God sakes Noah, Luke loves you"
"I know and look where that's gotten him. Heartbroken for months and now he's in the hospital and he can't walk. Nice way of me to show I love him too"
"And you think he feels better now that you've decided you don't deserve him? Come on!"
Maddie jumped up and dragged Noah with her.
"Where are we going?"
"To the hospital. And I am NOT taking no for an answer" She quickly added when she saw Noah was about to object.
They were quiet on the way to the hospital, both lost in their own thoughts. Maddie thought about how crazy it was that she still cared so much for both Noah and Luke after the way they betrayed her and Noah thought about the only thing he could think about for the last few days: Luke.
When they arrived at the hospital, Maddie got out of the car but stopped when she saw Noah wasn't following.
Going around to his side, she opened the door and crouched down.
"Noah, sweetie, we're here"
"I can't!" Noah said, shaking his head.
"You can't what?"
"I can't hurt him anymore" he said, tears now falling from his eyes.
"Then you have to come with me. Noah, Luke loves you, you know he does and right now he is lying in a hospital bed unable to walk and the person he cares about most in his life isn't there with him. Do you honestly think he is better of this way?"
Noah looked up and Maddie's heart broke at the tears she saw falling from his eyes.
"I love him so much" Noah said, pulling Maddie to him in a hug. He just needed a few minutes to collect himself and he was really glad Maddie was there with him.
After a few minutes, Noah pulled away from the hug and placed a gentle kiss on Maddie's lips.
"Noah, what are you doing?" Maddie asked, immediately pulling away from the kiss.
"Don't worry, I'm not trying to win you back or prove to you how much I love you. I'm gay and for the first time in my life I'm not worried about saying it out loud. I just… I want you to know that I do love you, as a friend, as does Luke and that I really appreciate all that you have done for both of us"
Maddie smiled and squeezed his hand. "I love you guys too. Now come on, there's someone in there who I'm sure can't wait to see you"
Smiling, Noah got up and followed Maddie into the hospital. Stopping outside of Luke's room, Noah glanced inside and smiled when he saw that the only one sitting in Luke's room was his kid sister Faith.
"Go on" Maddie smiled, giving him the last little push he needed to knock on the door and enter the room.
As soon as Luke saw Noah, his entire face lit up. Faith turned around and smiled when she saw Noah.
"Hi Noah"
"Hi" he said, never once taking his eyes off of Luke.
"Okay, I'm going to find mom and dad" Faith said, jumping from the bed and dashing out of the room, leaving the two boys alone.
"I missed you" Luke said, holding out his hand.
"I missed you too" Noah said, practically leaping across the room to hold the hand he was offered.
"Luke, I am so sorry"
"No!"
Noah looked at Luke with shock.
"We are not doing this again. From now on, I forbid you to say the words I'm sorry around me for at least a month. Noah, this isn't your fault okay? You didn't pick up that gun and hand it to your dad, that was all him"
"I know that, but if you hadn't met me, then…"
"If I hadn't met you then a lot of things would be different okay. I never would have found out what it meant to be so completely in love with someone that all you can think about is that one person. I never would have shared my first kiss with an amazing guy and I never would have known what it felt like to be loved by someone as amazing as you. So you see Noah, I'm glad I met you. I am really glad" Luke ended with a smile.
"I'm glad I met you too. I'm sorry for acting like such an idiot"
"Again with the I'm sorry! What do I have to do to get you to stop that?"
Suddenly Noah smiled. "I can think of one way to get me to shut up"
"Oh yeah and what might that be?" Luke smiled as well, pretending that he didn't know what Noah was talking about.
"This" and without a second thought, Noah pulled Luke to him in a passionate kiss. After a few minutes, they broke apart and leaned their foreheads together.
"I'm so…" Noah started, but was cut off when Luke pulled him in for another kiss.
When they separated, Noah just smiled. "I guess I know what I have to do to get you to kiss me from now on"
"You don't have to do anything. We don't need an excuse to kiss each other, all we need is each other"
Noah just smiled and agreed with another kiss.
THE END
