Mikey wokethe next morning to the smell of eggs and bacon.
Is he going to serve me breakfast in bed?He thought, then immediately laughed at himself. Of all the things Luke Carter was likely to do, serving him, Mikey Smiles, breakfast in bed was almost certainly dead last on the list.
Indeed, a few seconds later Luke knocked on the door and, when Mikey didn’t get up fast enough, actually opened it and poked his head in.
“We follow farm hours around here,” he said. “So if you want some breakfast before it’s all gone, I suggest you get your ass downstairs.”
Mikey threw a pillow at the door, but Luke closed it quickly before it managed to hit him.
“You could’ve at least knocked!” Mikey shouted. “I could’ve been naked or all you know!”
He might have been mistaken, but he could swear he heard Luke chuckle from the other side of the door, and it made him feel all kinds of things, things he probably shouldn’t be feeling.
A short time later he managed to get himself dressed–just a T-shirt and a pair of joggers–and dragged himself downstairs, even though it was way earlier than he was used to getting up. When he saw the breakfast spread Luke had prepared–in addition to the eggs and bacon there were also biscuits, pancakes, and a large bowl of fruit salad–his eyes almost bugged out of his head.
“How’d you manage to get all of this put together? And how long did it take you?”
Luke gave him a level look as he poured them both cups of coffee and gestured for him to sit down.
“I told you, we follow farm hours around here. I’ve been up for a couple of hours already.”
Luke was dressed in his usual outfit–plain white T-shirt and tight jeans–but somehow he made it lookgood.He was, Mikeyreflected, the very picture of country masculinity, and it…well, it did it for him, that was for sure.
They both took their seats and began to eat, and for once they actually managed to engage in small talk. It was surprisingly easy and comfortable to talk like this, neither of them with any expectations or goals, just two guys talking about life in general.
Neither of them said it, but they seemed to have reached an agreement they weren’t going to talk about music just yet. That particular subject would bring them too close to stuff neither of them were quite ready to talk about because it might put an end to the little bit of peace they’d been able to find.
Finally, though, breakfast was done, and so they started edging closer and closer to the edge of the stuff they were trying to avoid.
Instead of dealing with any of that, though, Mikey went the well-traveled route of sarcasm.
“I didn’t really peg you for the domestic kind,” he said. “Not to stereotype or anything.”
“For not stereotyping,” Luke said dryly, “you sure are doing a lot of stereotyping.”
Mikey could've kicked himself. Somehow, when it came to Luke Carter, he always managed to say exactly the wrong thing.
I’ve really got to learn how to actually talk to him.
Instead of falling down a rabbit hole of self-recrimination, however, he just shrugged.
“Sorry, but remember, I knew you from way back when, and even then you weren’t the type to make breakfast or,” and here he looked around at the rest of the cabin, which really was quite well put together, “keep a place like this clean for more than five minutes. What changed?”
The question was a simple one, but the air was now charged. It occurred to Mikey–hit him in a way it hadn’t before–just how many years separated the two of them from what they’d beenbefore. The last time they’d spent any real time together, the last time they’d actuallysharedanything with each other,they’d been teenagers. Now, they were in their twenties, and so much stood between them.
He thought briefly of all the times he’d seen Luke from afar–on TV at awards shows, during interviews and once, though Luke didn’t know it, at one of his concerts–and sadness hit him. For so long he’d yearned for Luke Carter, and now…well, now they were together, but he could still feel the gap between them.
For a few seconds Luke just looked at him, reallylooked,and Mikey felt like he was drowning, like Luke’s eyes were pulling him in and were never going to let him go.
I’m in so much trouble,he thought.
Finally, Luke answered.
“I decided I was tired of relyin’ on other people to do my work for me,” he said, so softly and deliberately it was like he was measuring out each word, making sure each of them landed just the way he wanted them to.
I wish I was efficient with my words,Mikey thought.
“Go on,” he said, suddenly desperate to learn more about Luke, to learneverythingabout him, really, from the way he thought to the way he moved through the world. This Luke was an enigma he didn’t quite understand, but he wanted to. Just as importantly, he wanted Luke to want to share with him.
