Already a member?
Sign in
Truth or Dare, chapter 7
| Title: Truth or Dare? Chapter: 7/9 Rating: PG-13 Summary: Wednesday at WOAK. Luke and Maddie have a heart to heart. Characters: Luke, Maddie Genre: AU (what if Luke was still closeted and using Jade as his beard during his internship at WOAK), Angst Warnings: Disclaimer: This site is no way associated with "As the World Turns", CBS, P&G, or Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann. This is not for profit. No copyright infringement is intended. Authors submit and write their own work. |
Luke was grateful that they’d finished writing and shooting the final episode of “Invisible Girl” last week. All the station full-timers seemed to realize simultaneously that they were losing the extra hands soon, and there was no shortage of busy work. Monday and Tuesday passed by in a blur that was punctuated by fits of awkwardness. They rushed around and juggled their responsibilities to minimize the amount of interacting they’d have to do with each other. Noah was definitely avoiding him, no question. He hates me. Luke caught her eye a few times but Maddie still didn’t seem ready to talk, which saddened him.
On Wednesday, she finally approached him. “Free for lunch?”she asked. Luke set down the stack of disorganized scripts he was supposed to be archiving and smiled with relief.
“Thanks. Let’s go somewhere away from the studio. I’m not sure Noah needs to see us talking to each other, you know?”
“No, I totally agree. My guess is he’ll work straight through lunch anyway.”
They walked in almost-comfortable silence to a nearby pizza place that served mediocre pizza, but it came by the slice. For their non-salaried existences, it was an acceptable tradeoff. They grabbed a couple of slices and sodas to go, and headed into the park. Maddie seemed intent on finding the most private spot they could find and they settled down near a large oak tree.
It’s up to me to make this right. Focus. “Maddie,” Luke began, “I’m so sorry – about everything. I keep changing my mind about what I’m the most sorry for, but right now I think it’s, I’m sorry for not telling you about me a long time ago.” He took a deep breath and despite being in the secluded spot he couldn’t help lowering his voice so as to avoid being overheard too easily. Say the word. “About me being gay.”
Now his words were rushing out. “I couldn’t, I didn’t, I don’t know why. I was being dumb and it wasn’t because I didn’t trust you, I swear.”
“Wait. So, you’ve known for a while that you’re… gay?” she lowered her voice like he had, frowning a little. “Does Jade know?”
“Um, yeah. What’d she say to you, how’d she seem when she took you home?” Luke wasn’t sure he wanted to even know the answer to that.
“I don’t even remember. I was in such a fog and just needed to get out of there. I was pretty much shocked out of my mind. Hang on, so Jade knew but not me? What the hell is that about?”
“No, Jade figured it out on her own, I hadn’t told anyone but she just saw how I was, she could see when I had crushes on guys. I don’t know, I was so scared to let anyone know and it seemed like my dad was wondering, and I let her talk me into playing boyfriend and girlfriend to take the pressure off. I’m sorry. Dumb, huh.” He fiddled with his pizza crust.
“No, not dumb. I mean, obviously I’ve never been in your shoes but I think I can understand wanting some space and time or whatever to figure things out.” She sat up a little straighter. “Well this is interesting. I was kind of dreading having another conversation like the one I had with Noah, but…”
Noah. Luke was dying to know how that conversation went. But he knew Noah wasn’t the point here – he still had more to apologize for.
Maddie asked, “So are you and Jade going to keep this up, still?” Don’t let her do that.
“No, it’s past time we quit that but Maddie, I don’t want to talk about that. I also need to say I’m so sorry about the way you had to find out. Maddie I swear to you, I had no idea that Noah might also be gay, no way would I have let Jade bully him like that, believe me, I should have tried to get her to drop it.”
“No, Luke, I know that. You wouldn’t do something like that.” She squeezed his hand.
“But Maddie, I still feel awful that I let it happen. I should have been stronger than that. As far as I was concerned Noah’s your boyfriend and I shouldn’t have gone along with it.” Keep going. Deep breath. Almost there.
“I think,” he hung his head, “No, I know. Part of me wanted to kiss him. Maddie, I’ve had a crush on your boyfriend almost the whole summer. I just wasn’t strong enough, like I encouraged him by not discouraging him. I’m the worst friend ever. If you don’t want to talk to me ever again I totally understand, it’s just now that I’m telling you stuff, I want to tell you everything, and I’m so sorry for all the lying and the hiding and –“
“Luke, I was there too you know. I think we all let the situation get away from us. It was a dare. Like Jade said. It’s the point of the game. I said it was OK for him to do it, you were pretty nonchalant about it; we all knew Noah was cornered but none of us knew how he’d respond. Weirdly enough, I think him least of all.” Luke was dumbfounded.
“Wow, that’s, um, an incredibly generous interpretation. I can’t believe you don’t hate me. Seriously, how are you really doing?” He made sure to look in her eyes, so she knew he wanted to hear what she had to say.
“Ugh. About as well as can be expected, I guess?” she scrunched up her nose.
“That bad, huh.” They both laughed a little. It felt good.
“Luke, tell the truth, am I a complete idiot? I was starting to think we might really have something. We had sex, for crying out loud. More than once. What’s wrong with me, how did I not pick up on this?”
Definitely don’t think about Noah and Maddie having sex, definitely no. Luke shuddered. But far worse was hearing his friend question herself. No sense telling her that Jade apparently has the best gaydar in the entire town! How’d that even happen?
“I told you, I didn’t have any idea he might not be 100% into you, much less that he might not be 100% into girls. You didn’t do anything wrong, there’s nothing wrong with you. Nothing! I don’t want to hear you say that ever.” Playfully he put his hands on her cheeks and bumped their foreheads together. “So, you dumped his ass, I take it.”
Maddie laughed. “Yeah, you could say that. I guess I know nothing’s wrong with me, exactly. I mean, from talking to Noah the other day he was, he honestly was still talking like he wanted us to be together. Can you even imagine? He didn’t want to be gay. He was trying really so hard not to be gay. It sucks, it really sucks how he used me for that but I do think he was earnest about trying to make it work at least in his own mind.”
“How did you leave things with him?”
“After he finally, finally, finally admitted out loud that he thought, yeah, you know, GAY, we just kind of didn’t say much more. It’s clear that he can’t face looking at me yet, which, there’s an evil gnome that lives in my heart who’s glad he’s suffering a little. But I’m sad for him. I think as much as he wants to hide from me, it’s ten times worse when you’re around.”
Oh God. “Is he mad at me? He is, isn’t he? This is my fault.”
“No, that’s not it. I mean Luke, wake up. Noah lost his shit while kissing you. You. He can barely admit that he’s gay, he’s freaked about his dad finding out. I don’t know if he’s ready to admit that he is attracted to you, and I don’t know if he realizes you like him. I mean, I didn’t know. It’s such a jumbled up mess. Wouldn’t you just want to disappear if you were him?” She checked her watch. “Ugh, c’mon, we gotta get back to work.”
Luke got up and wiped his palms on his jeans. That might be one thing he and Noah had in common. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to contemplate a world where Noah Mayer might just like him back, either.
“Oh, and Luke?” Maddie drained her soda can and grinned.
“What?”
“Buuuu-RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!”
HelenaHandbasket666 |
Latest page update: made by HelenaHandbasket666
, Aug 29 2008, 4:11 PM EDT
(about this update
About This Update
Edited by HelenaHandbasket666
1 word added 1 word deleted view changes - complete history) |
|
More Info: links to this page
|
| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HelenaHandbasket666 | chapter 7 is up for Truth or Dare (page: 1 2) | 25 | Aug 28 2008, 9:28 PM EDT by sweetlikeD | |
|
|
Thread started: Aug 27 2008, 7:45 PM EDT
Watch
Dang. These kids are such chatterboxes!
Would love your feedback and comments. |
|||
