Page 31 of Hittin' the Right Note
He couldn’t miss the sound of Luke chuffing out a reluctant laugh.
“I’m actually…looking forward to it,” Mikey said. “I hope you are, too.”
Luke didn’t say anything and then, so softly Mikey almost missed it, he said, “Yeah, I am.”
They sat there in silence for a few more seconds, until Luke said, “Well, I’m gonna go. See you tomorrow.”
The line went dead before Mikey could say anything.
For several minutes he just sat there in his bed, not quite sure what’d just happened. He hadn’t heard that particular tone in Luke’s voice for…well, for about ten years, ever since they’d been together. He strongly suspected few other people had, either. Luke might have had a soft heart, and he might be a lot more sensitive than he was willing to let on with other people, but he’d had a lot of practice putting on a show for others, making sure everyone saw him as just another good ole boy.
And you helped turn him into that person, didn’t you?He thought.You could’ve done things differently. You could’ve chosen him instead of your career, could’ve chosen to tell your parents to get bent, could’ve reached out to him when he got outed. But you didn’t do those things, did you?
Sighing, Mikey got off the bed and walked over to the window.
They weren’t staying in one of the nicest hotels in the Valley. In fact, they were just staying at the regular old Holiday Inn & Suites in Moundsville. He wasn’t sure how they’d managed it, but the team had successfully kept the reporters at bay, and so he could just relax and look out the window without having to worry about someone snapping a candid photo of him.
Now that he’d finished his conversation with Luke, he found himself wondering what tomorrow was going to hold. Was this going to be a bonding moment between the two of them, or wasLuke going to be the same cold and distant person he’d been so far? His fantasy of the two of them reconnecting and rekindling their teenage love…well, it seemed further away than ever.
He sighed and leaned his head against the glass, taking some comfort in the coolness. Nothing was ever simple where Luke Carter was concerned, and it never had been. He wasn’t sure why he’d thought things would be different now.
Mikey stood there at the window for several more minutes and then, deciding it was way past time he should get some sleep, he crawled under the covers. He might have been hovering on the edge of exhaustion, but it still took him far too long to get to sleep.
Mikey wokeup the next morning feeling like he’d been run over by a truck. The feeling only got worse when he looked over at his phone and realized it was now 12:45. He definitely wasn’t going to make it to the Wheeling Centre Market in just fifteen minutes, which meant he was going to start out the day being on Luke’s bad side.
When he sent a text to Luke–desperately telling him he’d be there as soon as possible, that he was so sorry he was late–he got a very curt message back, which told him yes, he was indeed on the shit list.
After throwing on a plain blue T-shirt, a pair of distressed jeans, and a pair of his less flashy sneakers, Mikey gave his team a hurried explanation of just what was going to happen today. Tricia was, of course, very much on-board and gave him all sorts of inappropriate advice about how he could go about getting Luke in the sack, while Damian just told him, without saying a word, he thought it was a terrible mistake. Having done that, he rushed out to the car.
He floored it, racing up Route 2 as fast as he possibly could. It normally would’ve taken him close to half an hour to get to Wheeling but, thanks to some creative interpretations of the speed limit, he managed to get there in just about fifteen. Somehow, he managed to avoid getting a ticket, but he had a feeling it was a near thing.
By the time he finally found parking and got up to the Centre Market he was a sweaty mess, but he wasthere,and he was going to do this whole tour thing, even if he thought it was a waste of time.
Luke was, of course, standing with the rest of the group who’d gathered for the tour, a glower on his face. Mikey hated to admit it, but it actually made him look even handsomer than usual, and he found himself thinking about what it would take to get the elusive smile to come back. Healsothought about what it would be like to strip Luke out of that tight black shirt and those even tighter jeans, what it would feel like to have his scruff rub against his neck…
Behave yourself,he thought.You’re here to learn, not just to flirt with your old boyfriend.
As he walked up to Luke, however, Mikey felt those old stirrings, the same sense of magic which had drawn him to the other man in the first place. They might both be older, and there might be a huge gulf separating who they were from who they had been, but it was still there, a shining thread between the two of them.
The question was: did Luke feel it too?
At the moment, he didn’t seem to be feeling much other than severe annoyance, and when Mikey tried to say something in greeting he just waved at him and tried to shush him.
Mikey belatedly realized the buxom woman leading the tour–who must have been Katrina–was actually speaking, and he was being very, very rude.
I really have to work on my behavior,he thought.
He gave her his winning smile and was gratified to see her respond.
It’s nice to know his friends don't hate me,he thought.Because I’m pretty sure he’s told her all about us. About me.
“If we’re ready,” Katrina was saying, “and now our most famous guest is here, it’s time to get started.”
Mikey sighed when everyone turned toward him, but at the very least they weren’t taking pictures of him. He didn’t mind it, necessarily, because he’d had a lot of time to get used to it, but he didn’t want the day with Luke to be overshadowed by his own publicity.
Then again, maybe some of them realize who he is, too,he thought.
Katrina led them all to a van parked nearby, and Mikey couldn’t help but admire the extent to which she’d put together her touring company. He honestly wouldn’t have thought a place like Wheeling could even sustain something like it, but given the fact the tour group he was in had at least ten people in it, he was convinced it might be a more profitable venture than he would’ve thought.
