They said goodbye to Katie and headed back into Olde Town. For the most part they just walked around; Luke would point out the best restaurants, his favorite music store and other little things along the way, getting lost in the thrill of actually showing Reid around his home town. They stopped at Al's for lunch and Reid knew he'd found his favorite hangout in Oakdale as soon as he smelled the chili. They sat at a table along the windows, doing what they always did; eating and chatting. When it came to what they did best together, these two things definitely came in second and third.
The afternoon seemed to be going well and Luke had no reason to worry or complain. His predictions for a great day were so far quite true, and they would have remained that way if he hadn't looked up just in time to see a tall, handsome brunette walk past Al's.
Luke practically stopped breathing, staring out the window at Noah, who was walking with Casey. Reid had been in the middle of a sentence and when he realized Luke was no longer listening, he followed his gaze out to the two boys laughing out front. He turned to Luke, snapping his fingers in front of his face.
"You're depriving your brain of oxygen," he said flatly. Luke jumped and turned to him, eyes wide and fearful. "What is it?"
Luke gulped, glancing back outside. This time Noah saw him.
"It's Noah," he said shakily. Reid tensed, glancing through the blinds. He knew instantly which one was Noah; it wasn't hard seeing as the blond was looking around in confusion, while the brunette was staring like a kicked puppy back at them. Reid cleared his throat uneasily and sat up, reaching for a napkin and wiping his mouth. Luke blinked and shook his head.
"I don't know what he's doing here, he's supposed to be out of town," Luke said, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples.
"Hey, hey, calm down, it's alright," said Reid, holding his hand out across the table and hoping Luke would take it. It took Luke a few moments to open his eyes but once he did, he instantly reached back for Reid's hand. That alone gave Reid confidence. "Do you want to talk to him?"
Luke looked out again. Casey and Noah were just standing there, staring back. Apparently Casey didn't understand the big deal, as he waved like a fool at them, smiling. Luke forced a smile in return.
Before Luke could decide if he wanted to talk to them, Casey and Noah made their way into Al's. Casey led them to the back, standing beside Luke. Luke released Reid's hand, who shifted uneasily in his seat.
"Hey, Luke," said Casey happily. "Didn't know you were gonna be in town this weekend. Who's your friend?" he asked, nodding to Reid. Noah walked up beside him and Luke tensed.
"I'm Reid," the older man said quickly when he realized Luke had apparently forgotten how to speak, forcing a smiling and offering his hand. Luke breathed again.
"Ah, Reid! Yeah, I've heard about you, you're from Dallas, right?" said Casey.
"Yes I am."
"Awesome. Glad you finally came up here for a change, I've barely gotten to hang out with Luke the past few months," Casey laughed easily. As much as Luke normally adored Casey for being the happy-go-lucky one in the group, right now he really wished he'd just stop talking. His wishes were answered in part when Casey finally gave into the tension between the other three men, stepping back a bit and putting his hands in his pockets, looking at Noah. "Noah and I were just on our way back from the movies," he explained, hoping someone else would take the conversation wheel. At first it was silent, but Noah finally cleared his throat.
"Uh, yeah. We saw Avatar, they're finally playing it at Midway," he smiled uneasily. Luke did the same.
"Sounds fun," said Luke weakly. More silence. "I thought you were supposed to be out of town?" he added hastily.
"I was… but the festival was postponed last minute, we're not presenting til next weekend," Noah explained.
"Oh."
More silence.
"So… how are things?" Noah asked nervously.
"Things are good," said Luke awkwardly, his voice raising with each syllable. Noah nodded again, looking away. He finally forced himself to look at Reid.
"So you're from Dallas?" he asked. Reid noticed that they skipped introductions, but he had a feeling that Noah already knew perfectly well who he was. "What do you do down there?"
"I'm a doctor," Reid answered simply, relieved that Noah didn't appear to know as much about him as he expected. For once he didn't take the opening to brag. He suddenly felt very tense, especially since he could see Luke's shoulders twitch across the table.
"Oh, wow," said Noah, sounding only half impressed. "What kind?"
"Neurosurgeon."
Noah nodded, trying to look politely impressed.
Silence.
Crickets.
Awkward.
"Well… we should probably get going, we're meeting Allison at Java," said Casey. "It was nice meeting you Reid," he smiled. Noah grudgingly smiled as well and followed Casey out. Once they were out of sight, Reid slouched in his seat and folded his arms. Luke leaned on the table for support.
"I'm so sorry, Reid," he said breathlessly, leaning on his hands and hiding his eyes. "I wasn't expecting… I wasn't prepared," he stuttered. Reid leaned forward on the table.
"You apologize way too damn much," he said in a monotone voice. Luke looked up. "C'mon, let's get out of here."
Luke eagerly accepted the suggestion. They paid the bill and then headed back to the farm house. Reid drove since Luke was practically shaking the entire way home. He made only two wrong turns, which Luke corrected with a whisper, but all in all had the simple drive down pretty quickly. He was silent the entire trip, just frowning and staring at the road, trying to decide how to take this reaction from Luke. He wanted to believe it was just because Luke had been caught off guard and was afraid of what he, Reid, would think, but he couldn't help but wonder if maybe it was Noah's opinion he was really worried about.
