I Might Love You... I Just Can't Remember
Chapter 1 – 'THAT Night'
It was November 2015. The Mayers (Luke and Noah to their friends) had been married the previous summer. Luke was twenty-six and Noah was just shy of the same birthday. It could not be called a dream wedding, but it was a happy wedding with lots of laughter, merriment and of course, that all important ingredient, love. Nobody at the reception that evening could have denied that the millennia-old opiate was thick in the air. Not even someone as stoic as Reid Oliver. A man who would not appear to be the usual slayed lover of romance novels. Nonetheless, Reid had been left single again, just shy of forty-eight hours before Luke said 'I Do' to Noah Mayer, the original – and some would say only – love of his life.
So, what lead Luke Mayer (né Snyder) to walk out on Reid? And, some might say more incredulously, what made him walk straight back into the arms of his long-term ex-lover, who he then married before the weekend? With Reid Oliver, one is never sure. In fact, more than one past lover has been known to issue as a parting remark that they thought he did not even have a heart. None of that matters now. It might have mattered before, but it is irrelevant now.
Back to the present. It's November 2015. Luke and Noah were out with some friends, the details are not necessary. Suffice to say that both men were slightly less than sober. It was a little before 2AM when Luke decided it was time to go home. Both not being able to drive, they decided to walk the mile or so back to the Snyder farm, which they now occupied alone. For most of the journey, it was the usual scene of two inebriated men holding each other up and staggering aimlessly in the rough direction that was their home. One supposed that by the time they reached home, one would flop out half-dead on the couch, one leg hanging off the edge until around midday the next day. The other, well, he would probably end up half tripping up the stairs and would eventually stagger into bed at around 3AM and not surface til the following afternoon. The one that woke up on the couch would groan, roll over and promptly thump on the floor. Then, he would stand, realise some of what happened the previous night (but never quite all) and wander upstairs and crash next to the one snoring loudly, still fully clothed on-top of the duvet.
That was the plan anyway.
It never quite happened.
Somewhere along one of the last lanes before the Snyder farm, Luke stumbled on some loose gravel, and given that the lane was not lit, frantically swayed in a sea of blackness to regain his balance. The only problem was, in order not to fall head-first and potentially crack his head open, he elected to take a step to the left. A step that both he and Noah would come to heavily regret. For, as Luke Mayer stepped to the left, a large haul truck came round the corner. The next twenty or so seconds happened in slow motion for the younger of the pair. He watched as Luke, illuminated by two headlights at full force, stood frozen to the spot, facing the truck. Some say that watching that is like watching a rabbit – Noah will regretfully tell you that is a just analysis. He watched, rooted to his own spot, as the truck struck Luke full-force in the abdomen and sent him sprawling backwards. By the time Noah was at his side, Luke was not conscious and there was blood all around. The source was not immediately clear, but one could safely assume it was from the back of Luke's head as it struck the ground.
An ambulance must have been called, because the next thing Noah can recall is sitting in a hospital waiting room... and waiting. Luke had been rushed into surgery before the on call had even parked in the parking lot. They were not entirely sure, but it was a good bet that Luke had some form of intracranial haematoma from the force of the blow to his head from the road.
It was some hours later, none of which Noah thought he slept, when a pair of feet stopped before him.
"Okay, here's the deal."
Noah did not even have to look up to know that voice. Only one doctor in all of Oakdale had such a bad bedside manner. Doctor Reid Oliver. The same doctor who just happened to be Noah's husband's ex lover. You could not have written it in a story and had it be believed. It really was happening.
Reid, however, was continuing with oblivion. He did not seem to know, or care, that Noah was not hearing anything he said.
"...So, to conclude you are incredibly luckly I was not getting laid tonight and your boyfriend- "
"Husband."
"Husband." Though he did not seem comfortable with that word and added extra sarcasm to prove it, "Got here in time. Now, I've managed to complete my part of the bargain. Let's just hope Luke can do his. And wake up. For whatever reason you need him to." Even with Luke's life at stake, Reid's bedside manner did not adjust.
Luke stayed sedated for the next two weeks whilst Reid did God knows how many tests and injected just as many drugs. In the end, Noah stopped asking questions. Reid said what Reid wanted to do and Noah simply nodded to anything and continued the twenty-four hour bedside vigil.
On day sixteen, Reid walked in and flipped open the chart before acknoledging Noah was still there.
"My God, are you still here? Couldn't you go home and, I don't know, maybe take a shower or something? No wonder Luke's not waking up with you in that state, it's pitiful." Reid simply shook his head and Noah said nothing. Out came the little white flashlight and in Luke's eyes it was shone. "Good, pupils are still reacting." Reid scribbled something on the chart, put it down but, unlike normal, made no attempt to rush out on Noah.
"I'm stopping sedation." Noah's head shot up. "It's high time we saw if he actually wants to come back to this God foresaken hell-hole."
With that, Reid Oliver was out leaving Noah dumbfounded.
It took seven hours for Luke to start stirring. Noah had thankfully been home to shower and shave, though it had taken Holden threatening to carry him over his shoulder to get him to budge. Even then, Holden had to lock Noah in his bathroom so he actually got in the shower and then stand and observe him shaving to get him to do it without accidentally cutting his face open and causing a haematoma of his very own.
Still, Luke began to wake. It was just him, Noah and an unwelcome Reid in the room. The only reason Reid continued to look after Luke, despite their former relationship, was because Reid really was the only one who had any chance of being able to help Luke. Noah grudgingly had to admit defeat there. Reid may be a complete arsehole with no bedside manner and a boyfriend stealer. Yet, despite all that he was a bloody good brain surgeon.
Luke's eyes opened and Noah leaned over, so that he would be the first thing Luke saw. He was all relieved smiles. Reid stood against the sink's counter with an utterly bored look on his face. In fact, he began to count the ceiling tiles.
Luke dropped Noah's hand. Worry creased Noah's face. "Babe, what's wrong? I'm here." Luke rasped out "Noah? What are you doing here? We split up. Reid?" He started searching the room for Reid, as Noah sat there looking more shell-shocked than before. His eyes then fell on Reid and he smiled, right up to his brown eyes.
"I knew you'd never leave me."