I hit a bit of a roadblock in the beginning. I think I'm over it.

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Chapter Ten

The next two weeks Noah was functioning just fine. Functioning being the operative word. He was just going through the motions. Dr. Johns called him on it a number of times. She still insisted that he find someone, anyone, in his life that he could talk to. It didn't matter who, just someone. He was lost in his thoughts when he heard knocking on the door. Lily had done to the store and he was glad of it. She was constantly hovering around, like you would expect any mother would. Noah never had that and it was hard to get use to. He pulled himself to his feet and carefully walked to the door.

As soon as he opened the door, he knew who it was.

"Maddie, Casey. You guys want to come in?" Noah asked as he stepped aside. The couple exchanged looks before they entered. Casey was first to question him.

"How did you know it was us?"

"Only you would wear Aqua Velva. I mean really Casey what is it? 1985?" Maddie couldn't help but laugh.

"Hey! It's good enough for my dad,"

"Exactly! Old men wear it!" Maddie chimed in quickly.

"You too?"

Noah was enjoying the sparing that he had initiated. He could almost picture Maddie's eyes sparkling at her boyfriend while Casey stared at her in mock horror. He laughed out loud in who knows how long.

"And me? How'd you know it was me?"

"Because you smell like cherry blossoms and that vanilla shampoo you use. Plus since you got back together, you're rarely apart," his smile quickly dissipated as he had a quick flash of Luke in his head. They were inseparable too. Noah coughed slightly and pushed that thought into the back of his mind. "So, what are you guys doing here?"

"Well, we were wondering if we could convince you to go out with us," Maddie wondered, hesitantly.

"Yeah, we were just going to go Al's and then maybe Java afterwards,"

"Ah, sure. I've been cooped up in here too long. Let me get my sweatshirt and I'll be right back," Noah said and went into the kitchen.

"Wow, it is still so weird that Luke's not here," Maddie said as she stepped closer to her boyfriend. Casey put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her tighter against him.

"I'm glad he is though,"

"What? Why?"

"You saw him before he left. He was acting like a battered wife," Casey said and Maddie's head shot back as she looked on him in utter shock. "I'm serious. He barely talked, he was always depressed, he stopped eating and sleeping, he always had to be sure nothing he did or said would upset Noah. Not to mention all the groveling. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love them both you know that, but I was glad Luke got out before he lost it,"

"Have you talked to him lately?" Maddie asked as she let what her boyfriend said sink in.

"Yeah. He called me yesterday. He got a job at a real small newspaper outside Chicago,"

Noah stood just inside the kitchen and heard everything that his two friends were saying. He wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but when he heard Luke's name, he just wanted to listen. He could not believe what Casey was saying. There was no way that things were actually that bad. Not even close.

But Noah had to admit the truth.

He had been trying so hard to ignore Luke and punish him for what happened that he had no idea what Luke was thinking right before he left. They hadn't really talked until the night he left. And the memory of what Emma said to Luke at the farm on Christmas Eve came into his head.

"Luke, are you feeling all right? You look a bit pale not to mention much too thin,"

"I'm fine grandma,"

Noah hadn't even noticed that; that others were looking at him and thinking him sick. The guilt of his treatment of Luke was beginning to weigh heavy on him, like a snowball going down a hill. It was getting bigger and bigger as he talked and listened to others. If only he could talk to Luke again.

Noah walked into the living room without his sweatshirt and Maddie walked up to him.

"So, you ready to go?" She asked as she slipped her arm through his.

"I was wondering, um, can I talk to you guys instead of going out?"

Luke walked through the door to his apartment and dropped down onto his sofa on his stomach. He had just finished interviewing what seems like every dog breeder in the tri-state area. He was glad the dog show was only a one day affair. After that long, long afternoon he already smelled like a weird combination of dog hair, dog food and his aftershave, but he was also too tired to do anything about it. He had been tired a lot lately. He knew that there was no way for him to get a goodnight's sleep when all he could think about was Noah. He was mostly worried about his health. He sure hoped that he hadn't stopped with his physical therapy. Noah had wanted to give up so many times, but it was Luke that pushed him to keep it up. Luke hoped that someone else had taken his place.

With all those thoughts dancing in his head, he was soon asleep.

The next thing he knew he was woken by knocking on his front door. Trying to shake the nausea from his stomach he pushed himself to his knees then up to his feet. He looked through his peep hole and saw Scott standing in the hallway. Luke brushed his hands through his hair and opened the door. Scott was wearing a red Lake Forest Hoodie over a grey t-shirt and dark blue jeans. He eyes shined and he smiled when he saw Luke disheveled appearance.

"Hey. Did I wake you?"

"Ah, yeah, but it's ok. What's going on?"

"Well, you've been so busy lately, I decided to bring food to you," Scott said as he held up a couple bags with Chinese characters on it. Luke could just smell all the greasy goodness. He was about to turn down yet another invite when his stomach answered for him. The fierce grumble inside Luke caused him to rub his belly to quiet it down. "Is that a yes?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Come on in," Luke laughed and then moved aside to let Scott in. Scott stepped over the threshold and looked the place over. Luke had managed to add a few personal touches. He noticed framed pictures on mantel. Books of various topics in one of the built it bookshelves. Luke's laptop was open on the kitchen island with the screen saver running. Scott had to laugh to himself when he got closer. It was rainbow colored bubbles dancing around the screen over an opened word document.

Scott put the bags on the counter and smelled the air a bit.

"Did you get a dog?"

"Huh? Ah, no," Luke took a second to smell his clothes. "I was interviewing breeders at a dog show. I think I need to get cleaned up a bit,"

"I'll get some plates and open up these boxes. Just don't take too long. It'll get cold," Scott inwardly kicked himself for being so nervous around him.

Luke padded off towards the bedroom and Scott started to open the food containers. He probably ordered too much food, but he didn't know what Luke would like. He really did want to get to know the sexy blond on the second floor. Scott had walked around the kitchen and was opening cabinets when he looked down the hall. He had clear shot from where his was standing in the kitchen into Luke's bedroom. He could see Luke taking off his button-down shirt, he was standing just in front of an old movie poster framed on the wall. Scott was right, he did work out a bit. He was wearing a white wife-beater tank top and his jeans were hanging low on his hips. Scott could see light chest hair peeking out. He could see muscles of his back move under the tank top and Scott couldn't help but let out a sigh.

"Are you finding everything?" Luke called out as he toed off his shoes. Luke's voice pulled Scott back to the present and he quickly looked away. His cheeks flushed in embarrassment and he tried not to stutter.

"Yeah, I think I have everything,"

"I'll be out in a minute," Luke called back as he shut the door. He changed into a clean t-shirt and pair of lounge pants. A stop in the bathroom to wash his hands and brush his hands through hair before he joined Scott at the kitchen island.

"Feel better?" Scott asked as he sat up straighter.

"Much. I'll have to shower before bed though," Luke said as he pulled his stool closer to the counter. Scott paused momentarily as he imagined Luke naked in the shower with water cascading down his body, his wet blond hair sticking to his neck… Luke shook him and Scott again flushed with embarrassment as he realized where his mind had just been.

"So what did you get?"

"Well, I wasn't sure what you liked so I got all my favorites. There's sesame chicken, spicy beef and broccoli with noodles, deep fried chicken wings, pork egg rolls and cream cheese wontons," Luke smiled and dug right in. He hadn't eaten since breakfast at 8, nearly 9 hours ago, and he was glad that Scott had rescued him from a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats and Vanilla Soy Milk. Luke hated to admit it, but it felt good to be having dinner with someone. Not that he was interested in Scott, but he was so use to being alone that this change was nice.

"So, snowboarder or skier?"

"Huh?" Scott asked he slurped a noodle into his mouth.

"Do you snowboard or do you ski?" Luke asked again, gesturing with his chop sticks. Scott was surprised how adept with the sticks Luke was, he was still relegated to silverware.

"Snowboard, but how did you…,"

"When you showed me around the building, you said six inches of powder. A person who isn't into winter sports would have said, six inches of snow, so I guessed snowboarding or skiing,"

"You're pretty observant aren't you? Pretty proud of yourself aren't ya?" Scott was relaxing, but Luke made it easy.

"Yeah, well. I'm a writer, by birth we are an observant race,"

"So, you're a writer. Been published anywhere?"

"Yeah, I'm working for the Park Heights Gazette. Very, very small paper,"

"I have to pick one up," Scott said obviously flirting. And Luke took it as such, his cheeks quickly flushing. Maybe Luke was reading too much into what Scott said. Just because he's gay, doesn't mean that he was hitting on Luke.

"So, no fortune cookies?" Luke quickly asked to change the topic. Scott pulled the bag to him and pulled out four cookies.

"I ordered so much, they probably thought it was for four people," Scott and Luke just laughed at that observation. There was over half left and both boys were stuffed to the gills. Luke had eaten more than normal and he could already feel the heartburn kick in. Scott opened his cookie and read it out loud while Luke put the food away..

"Opportunities are everywhere, one need put be aware. Ohhh, profound. What's yours say?" Luke cracked open his fortune and pulled the paper flat.

"Someone will leave you a large sum of money,"

"Ugh. I hate that one,"

"Well, thanks for dinner, but I really need to go to bed,"

"Yeah, sure. We'll have to do this again some time. When you're not so tired,"

"Yeah," Luke said as he opened his door to let Scott out.

"Night Luke," Scott hesitated for a moment, fidgeting with the food bag, before he walked down the hall to his own apartment. Luke shut the door and leaned heavy against it. He held the fortune up and read the real words out loud.

"Just open your eyes and true love will be found. I didn't need a fortune to tell me that," Luke huffed in annoyance as he walked into his bedroom and collapsed on the bed. In five minutes, he was asleep.

Well, how'd I do? Hit the review link and let me now what you want to happen. Some of my plots have changed do to demand!

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