Long Time No See

@ katahdin
When Wren asked about his work liked bit his tongue. He wasn’t sure what to say. He really didn’t know. He hemmed and hawed about what kind of lie he could tell her. After a moment he swallowed and looked over. “I work for my friend’s dad, met him when I got here in school. His dad pays me under the table so I don’t have to worry about taxes and stuff.” He paused and gave her a small smile. “Manual labor and delivering stuff.” He said. these things weren’t technically a lie, but they definitely weren’t the truth. “Fabio, that’s my friend here.” He chuckled. “Nothing like you.”

Like stuck his tongue out at her when she said he could help before moving and sitting at the table again. “I don’t need to cook anymore. I’ve got you again.” He teased. “You’ll teach me or cook for me. I’ll protect you.” He said and winked at Wren. Luke has always tried to protect Wren. Ever since they were little little kids in the playground. “I can show you around some little underground restaurants. Stuff like that.” He told her. Luke just wanted to spend time with her. He didn’t care what they were doing.

Luke nodded in agreement and shrugged. “I guess yea. I dunno they weren’t that cute then. But I don’t think I was anything to look at either.” He told her. When wren finishes cooking he looked through the cupboards before finding plates and grabbing two, handing one to her. He searched the drawers and found forks, handing one to wren as well. He served himself before sitting and beginning to eat. Luke almost moaned as he ate. “This is so good wren. Just like when we were kids.”

@ BadStreetBoys

Wren nodded as she listened to him talk about his job, giving him a look when he said that he was getting paid under the table. "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that.. Especially since technically I work for the mayor." She teased. "But it seems like you enjoy what you do, and I'm glad that you have a few friends here too." She smiled, looking over at him as he moved to sit back down at the table. She laughed as he insisted he didn't have to cook because she'd do it for him, shaking her head as she finished up the cooking. "That doesn't seem fair, but I suppose if you pay for me if we go out, it'll work out." She teased, mixing everything together in the bowl before turning to help him find the plates and silverware, pressing a kiss to his cheek as she moved past him in the tiny kitchen so he could pile food onto his plate, taking a seat at the table after she had her food.

She laughed a little at his reaction to her cooking, kicking him playfully under the table. "You're overreacting, just like when we were kids." She grinned teasingly as she began to eat, humming a little in thought as she looked over at him. "I'm pretty sure everyone in our class thought you were cute. Trisha and her friends were always rude to me about it, but a bunch of the other girls in our class would always ask me to ask you out for them." She laughed a the memory, shaking her head as she ate.

@ katahdin
Luke jokingly rolled his eyes at Wren. “You’ve always been a goody two shoes,” he teased “But hey, it’s not like I’m a hitman.” He said and laughed. Luke thanked her quietly after getting His food, eating happily. He stopped after a moment, looking at wren as she ate across for him. He enjoyed her company but also enjoyed her. All his feelings for her were coming back. He desperately wanted to tell wren about his feelings. He shook his head and continued to eat.

Luke shook his head “Nuh uh.” He paused because of a mouthful of food. “I didn’t overreact. No way.” He said and grinned at her. Luke raised an eyebrow when she said he was cute and everyone thought so. “No way. Colby, rhat football player, was definitely the hot kid in school. I was the bad boy.” He said and finished his food. Luke got up and went to the sink, rinsing his dish, placing it in the sink. He went back to the table and sat with wren. He took her free hand and smiled. “So, you’re gorgeous. You must have some dopey little political science boy after you? Huh?”

@ BadStreetBoys

Wren laughed a little as he rolled his eyes, kicking his leg again as she smiled at him. "I suppose I have that to be grateful for. But don't think I'm not going to try to help you get a real, legitimate job." She teased as she ate, humming a little as he spoke about him being the bad boy in school, while Colby was the typical hot jock. "Yeah, but Colby was a jackass, and everyone knew it. They'd all rather try to date the bad boy who was at least a sort of decent human being that the guy who was an ass to everyone." She explained, finishing up her meal as she stood and brought her dish to the sink, sitting back down once that was done.

She smiled a little when he sat back down, although she blushed when he took her hand and called her gorgeous, swatting his arm playfully. "You're full of shit." She laughed, shaking her head as he asked if she had a boyfriend or something. "No, no there's no boy after me. I think my supervisor keeps trying to flirt with me, but he's like forty and married, so it's a little creepy. But what about you? Mr. Muscles here must have a hundred girlfriends." She teased as she squeezed his hand.

@ katahdin
Luke shrugged in agreement. “Yea I guess.” He chuckled. Luke was enjoying their time together to reminisce about school. He remembered school was rough, but Wren has always helped him through it. Luke leaned back, rubbing his hand through his hair and chuckling. “Manual labor helps you get ripped. I still feel like the scrawny kid in elementary school. I know I gained some pounds and muscle for high school but still.” He said and shrugged chuckling. “No girlfriends.” He shook his head and laughed. “I don’t think a girl would wanna date me anyway.” He said sheepishly.

Luke swallowed softly when they finished up dinner. He didn’t wanna leave and go home. He felt like he could lose Wren again if he walked out that door. “You don’t have a car yet huh? I’ll help you get one. Can get you one cheap.” He offered. Luke stood up and pulled her jacket on, but sat down again, looking across at Wren. “It’s late, sadly, I should probably start heading out soon.” He sighed softly.

@ BadStreetBoys

Wren laughed a little as he said he still felt scrawny, shaking her head. "In high school you were like a pencil, now you look like a firefighter or something." She laughed, a faint blush on her cheeks. "Any girl would be lucky to date you, Luke. Don't be so hard on yourself. There's someone for you out there." She smiled reassuringly, squeezing his hand reassuringly.

She looked up at him as he stood and pulled on his jacket, forcing a little smile as he said that he had to be heading home. "Oh, yeah, I understand.. I'm sure you'll be spending your weekend with your family like you always did when we were kids, and I have unpacking and errands to run, so I should let you go." She said, trying to hide how upset she was over him leaving. It felt like they'd only been together again for a few minutes, but glancing at the clock on the wall she realized it had been a few hours since they'd run into each other on the street, and it was starting to get dark.

She stood after a few moments of awkward silence after she realized she was staring at him, moving to the kitchen to put away the leftovers from dinner. "I shouldn't keep you... Do you want to bring this home? You can have it if you want.. But if you don't that's fine too, I don't want to pressure you or anything..." She ran her fingers through her hair as she blushed, realizing she was rambling because of her nerves. She was afraid that when he left, she'd never see him again, and she'd go back to being sad and lonely without him again.

@ katahdin
Luke shook his head, shrugging. “I don’t have many plans, just gonna go home, sleep, work a bit tomorrow. Then go home and be lazy I guess.” He said and bit his lip. Luke was looking away from Wren, tying to hide his sadness with going. He took a breath and looked back at her. “Nah. I’ll let you keep them. It gives me a reason to come back here, some good food.” He grinned and walked over to Wren, wrapping his arms around her as he hugged her tightly. “Don’t think I won’t be over here for dinner all the time, or taking you out to eat. I live a pretty lonely life too besides work and family. It’s great to find you here and have you back.” He said and rested his head on top of hers.

Luke wanted to do anything he could to keep wren in his life without her finding out what he did. He knew how upset she would be when she found out. But he didn’t know how upset, he didn’t want to find out. Luke let her go and smiled. “Text me, call me. Anything. Just keep in touch. Please. You give me sanity and keep me grounded.” He said and began to put on his shoes. “Thank you for dinner, hope to see you soon.” He murmured, slowly heading down the stairs and out the door. He checked his phone and saw a text from Fabio, sighing softly. He knew he probably had to go out and take care of something before going home now.

@ BadStreetBoys

Wren's arms wrapped around Luke tightly after he came over and hugged her, her hands gripping the back of his jacket a she hid her face in the crook of his neck, nodding a little he promised to come over for dinner often, taking a shaky breath to try to compose herself, not wanting him to see how upset she was. "Alright.. I guess I'll have to start stocking up on snacks, huh?" She laughed a little to try to lighten up the mood, looking up at him as he told her to text or call him, as long as it meant keeping in touch. Grabbing a pen from the counter, she carefully wrote out her phone number on the back of his hand, wanting to make sure she gave it to him in case he'd forgotten. "There.. I'll see you soon, promise." She forced a little smile, waving as he headed out of her apartment.

---

Nearly six weeks had passed since Wren had been reunited with Luke, and they'd seen each other almost every day since. They easily fell back into the same habits they had when they were in high school, texting each other throughout the day when they could, meeting up at one of their apartments after work for dinner or to go out to some tiny restaurant that Like liked. They'd even started up their Friday movie nights again, where they'd snuggle up on the couch in Wren's apartment with plenty of snacks and watch a movie or two before falling asleep, Wren usually falling asleep half draped over Like, leaving him to carry her to her bed so he could sleep on the couch. Of course, she'd only fallen more in love with him as she got to know him again, and she bear herself up everytime he left because she was too much of a coward to tell him how she really felt.

Today she'd managed to get the day off, and because it was Friday, that meant she had a long weekend. Luke still had to work though, but they'd agreed to meet for dinner at her place as usual, and now she was headed to the Thai food place they'd ordered dinner from to pickup their takeout, so it'd be ready for him when he arrived at her apartment. She huffed in irritation as she made her way through the crowded streets, still not used to so many people being around, especially at this time of day. She waited patiently at the last crosswalk she had to go through before getting to the restaurant, pulling out her phone to text Luke and let him know she'd almost made it to the restaurant, and that he should just let himself into her apartment with the spare key she'd given him if she wasn't there by the time he got done work.

@ katahdin
Luke has enjoyed every second of life ten times more now that Wren was back in it. She brought stability to his life, she brought happiness. She grounded him and gave him a new chance at life. He knew he had been spending more time with her and less time with the gang and he was worried about he repercussions of that. Fabio has begun to catch on as he began to follow a similar routine and it always involves wren. Luke had put in extra work as of late to show he was dedicated to the gang and was with them. He didn’t mention Wren or anything to Fabio or his father. Luke was excited that they planned to get Thai food tonight. He had introduced the restaurant to Wren and she loved it. He finished a few drug runs and met with a couple of their local dealers to give them some supply to distribute. Luke was finally done and began to head to Wren’s apartment, checking her texts when he got out. He was excited.

Fabio and his father had noticed Luke slowly backing out of the gang and spending less time with tthem and more time with a girl. They followed everyone in the gang when they noticed differences. They wanted to keep tabs and know everything. He had found the apartment of the girl who had begun taking Luke out, and begun to follow her. He watched her go into the Thai restaurant and then got out of his car. He stood nearby in the alley, waiting. When Wren excited then walked by her grabbed her, covering her mouth and pulling her into the alley. “Don’t scream, I’m not gonna hurt you, yet.” He threatened. Fabio held her against the brick wall, holding her mouth shut as he spoke. “You are getting wya too involved with Luke Galloway, okay? He’s with me now, my father and I.” Fabio had a thick Italian accent as he spoke quickly. “Luke is the best guy in our gang. He can do anything and does everything better than any other lackey. He’s got great potential and has a lot of power with the little guys, basically third in line behind father and I. So back off.” He snarled in Wren’s face and pushed her against the wall a little harder, this time pressing a blade against her skin, just to show how serious he was.. “You don’t wanna be involved in this shit. And you especially don’t wanna piss me off. So stay away. Back off. Don’t come back. If I see you with Luke again. One of you won’t see the other ever again.” Fabio threatened. He let go of wren before shoving her away so he could get in the car and get away before she got back to him.

@ BadStreetBoys

Wren had paid for the Thai food and was headed out of the restaurant, focused on texting Luke to let him know she was headed back to her apartment when Fabio grabbed her and pulled her into the nearest alley, dropping her bag of takeout as she shrieked in surprise, although it was muffled by his hand. She stared up at him with wide eyes as he spoke, her eyes only widening when he mentioned Luke, growing more and more terrified as he revealed that Luke was in a gang, and now one of the leaders of that gang was threatening her. She whimpered in fear as he pressed the blade up against her skin, closing her eyes tightly as she nodded in understanding, wanting him to know that she understood his message. She gasped for breath when he released her, taking a moment to compose herself before grabbing her bag of takeout to head back to her apartment, shaking out of fear.

She made it back to her apartment in record time, leaning against the door once she was inside her apartment as her emotions finally got the best of her, slowly sliding down until she was seated on the floor and sobbing into her hands. She couldn't believe Luke had gotten involved in a gang. And now they were threatening her because she was taking his attention away from them. She was terrified of losing her best friend, the love of her life again, but she had no choice. Once she'd cried herself out a bit she stood and grabbed a piece of paper, quickly scrawling a note on it telling Luke that she couldn't see him anymore and that she was sorry, before taping it to the bag of takeout and leaving it outside her door for him to find when he arrived.

@ katahdin
Luke arrived at Wren’s apartment. He saw the bag outside, and confusedly picked it up. He grabbed the note and read it. He was confused, pissed, and hurt. He had no idea what happened. Luke was standing there like a confused idiot. Before something finally clicked. He knew Fabio must have somehow found out about Wren and done something. He grabbed the key from his car and took the Thai food up to her apartment. He let himself in before yelling into the apartment. “Wren! Please come here.” His voice was panicked and shaky.

Luke has tears welling in his eyes and he didn’t want to show that to Wren. But he knew he had to find her. Luke shut the door behind him and locked it, putting a plate in front of the door so he could hear if someone followed him in. After that Luke went around the apartment searching for wren. “Please wren. I can explain. Please come out. I won’t hurt you.” He was looking everywhere for her.

@ BadStreetBoys

Wren had pulled her curtains on the windows shut and turned off all the lights in the apartment before hiding herself underneath the counter in the kitchen, holding a screwdriver she'd had laying out in her hands tightly, as if that would stop someone from shooting her slitting her throat if they really wanted. She panicked when she heard Luke come into the apartment, whimpering faintly before biting her lip to try to stay quiet, terrified someone would hurt him.

"Y-You need to go, Luke.." she finally said after a few moments of silence, although she didn't budge from her hiding spot. "Y-Your boss made it clear that I'm not supposed to see you anymore, and that if I did he'd.." she choked on the words, squeezing her eyes shut as tears leaked down her cheeks. The thought of anything bad happening to him because of her broke her heart. She'd rather have to suffer through life knowing he was alive than do so knowing she was what got him killed. "If you don't leave.. I'll.. I-I don't know what I'll do, but you can't be here, Luke. You need to leave, and never come back."

@ katahdin
When Wren began to talk like followed the sound of her voice. The apartment wasn’t big so it was easy to centralize it. He stood silently in the kitchen waiting for her to speak again. When she did he let out a sigh of relief. Luke kneeled down and opened the cupboard, looking in at wren. He reached in and gently took the screw driver from her hands and placed it on top of the counter. “Please, tell me what happened befor you make any decisions.” He whispered to her. Luges grabbed one of wren’s hands then put the other on her hip as he helped her out. When he got wren out from under the cupboard he hugged her tightly. He wanted to reassure her. But he mostly wanted to keep his emotions away from her.

Luke was holding back tears as he held wren. “Talk to new, what happened?” He practically was begging her. “You know is never hurt you or let you get hurt.” He mumbled. Luke let Wren go before he moved across the room, opening the fridge, and grabbing a beer. He had bought a case to leave here for when he was over. He cracked open the cam and sipped it as he moved to sit at the table. His day was rough and he knew it was only going to get tougher.

@ BadStreetBoys

Wren tensed when he opened the door to the cupboard she'd hidden herself in, holding the screwdriver out menacingly, although he easily pulled it from her hands before pulling her out of the cupboard as well, despite not making it easy for him. She tried for a few moments to push him away when he hugged her, but when she felt his tears against her head she let out a choked sob, her arms wrapping around him tightly as she buried her face in his chest, clinging to him desperately. When he let go of her she wiped her eyes quickly as she tried to regain her composure, watching as he grabbed a beer and calmly sat down at her table, like nothing was going on. Like his boss, the leader of a gang, hadn't just threatened to kill her for spending time with him.

"H-He said if he caught me with you again, h-he'd make sure we never saw each other again... I-I can't let anything happen to you, Luke. You have your family to take care of.." she ran her fingers through her hair, wiping the tears from her eyes as she tried to calm down, although she was still shaking in fear. "I-I can't believe you were stupid enough to get involved with a gang..." When she finally looked at him she was glaring, clearly upset, especially when he said he'd keep her safe. "Your boss.. your friend just pulled me into an alley and held a knife to my throat while threatening me because of you. I don't consider that to be a great job of protecting me." She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest in frustration. "I tried to help you.. I got you and your brother signed up for that scholarship from the mayor's office, where they'd pay for your tech school tuition.. But I guess you're the leader of a gang now, and don't need my help cause you can get whatever you want that way."

@ katahdin
Luke sighed heavily, he knew he was screwed now. All he could do, all he could think of doing was drinking his problems away and hoping to forget the issue. Everything felt like it was going to come down around him. His life has been ruined. He thought he had a good thing going, but he let his reaponsibilities with the gang dwindle enough that they thought they had to get involved. This was it, everything was over for him. He’d either get killed for disobeying orders, shed get hurt and he would probably end up killing himself, or he would have to have no contact with wren which he didn’t think he could do.

When Luke heard what Fabio did he was pissed,Muttering under his breath “what the fuck.” He looked up at wren, got up and held her against him again. “He won’t touch you, I promise. I’ll protect you.” When wren got mad at him he frowned and stepped back. Luke raised an eyebrow when she seemed to scold him and cross her arms. “Excuse me, wren?” He said and frowned. “Don’t talk to me like that.” He paused and took a deep breath. “I’m not a leader. I’m like third, not even really.” He paused again. “But also. You don’t know what the fuck I’ve been through. I’ve had to support my family since my father died. We were alone. We were cold. We were starving. I haven’t stopped working to take care of my family since I was 15. I did what I had to to survive. So don’t scold me like you’re my mother.” He said, more sad than mad.

@ BadStreetBoys

"Well he found me without you knowing and threatened me, so forgive me for being a bit skeptical when you say you'll protect me." Wren frowned, pulling herself free from his arms, looking up at him as he got defensive about his choices. "Joining a gang wasn't your only option, Luke! There were a million other ways to help your family, but you're too stubborn and prideful to admit when you're wrong and when you need help." She pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest. "You could have signed up for one of the programs through the mayor's office, could have picked up different part time jobs that weren't illegal. You... You could have called me."

Her last words sounded broken coming out of her mouth, tears leaking down her cheeks as she looked at him. "You knew my phone number and address by heart, even if you didn't have a phone... You could have called me, and I would have done anything and everything to help you.. But instead you were a stubborn ass and ignored me for seven years, while you climbed the ladder in some gang instead of trying to get out, to be the good person I know you are." She snapped, turning away from him to go sit on her couch, burying her face in her hands as she tried to get her thoughts together.

"Your friend made it clear, as long as you're in the gang, we can't be friends.. And I know you put your family before everything else, and I understand, so I don't expect you to explain or apologize.... Just take your beer and the Thai food and leave, before your friend comes and slits my throat like he promised."

@ katahdin
Luke frowned as he listened to Wren. “I can protect you. I didn’t know he knew of you. Now I do. Now I can protect you. I’m going to. I would never let you get hurt. You know I would die for you wren.” He argued back. “those weren’t options! I wasn’t good in class, I wasn’t good at anything. No part time job would accept me because I was just some scrawny poor kid that lived in trashy neighborhoods. No one wanted to help me.” He choked out. He took a deep breath and sighed. “I didn’t have anything else. I had nothing. Nothing at all. I barely had the close on my back. Don’t tell me what I could have done, you weren’t in my situation. You’ve never even been close to it. Your parents make six figures each!” Like was frustrated and turned away as tears welled up in his eyes, refusing to show Wren this weakness.

Luke shook his head as he followed Wren into the living room. “I’m here and he won’t hurt you.” He said, sternly. “I’m not losing you again, Wren.” He said and moved closer to her. Luke stood across from wren, only the coffee table between him and her on the couch. “I need you in my life. I would do anything for you. I love you!” His voice was getting louder and louder as he spoke. But as he spoke the last sentence his face dropped. He didn’t realize what had come out for a moment, but when he did , he took a step back and swallowed. Luke turned around and hid his emotions like he always did.

@ BadStreetBoys

"You had me!" She shouted back at him as he talked about how she didn't understand, and how he'd had nothing. "You were my best friend, and I told you a thousand times that if you ever needed anything you could call me. My parents thought of you as a son they never had, you know they would have given you and your family whatever you needed. How dare you say you had nothing, when you had our friendship, when you had me." She glared at him as tears leaked down her cheeks, sniffling as she wiped at her eyes. "I've always, always tried to do everything I could to help you, to be a good friend, and you always turn away from me, like I'm garbage, and it hurts, Luke. It hurts so goddamn much knowing that you never tried to contact me after you left, knowing that Trisha and all her friends were right, and that you'd only been my friend as part of some weird joke, or because you felt bad for me. It hurts knowing you never cared for me when I loved you so much."

She wanted to scream for having accidentally admitted her feelings for him at a time like this, but before she could stumble through an explanation he was admitting something similar. Wren stared up at him in disbelief for a long moment, although when he turned his back to her she looked away from him, wiping her eyes quickly. "You don't love me... You don't trust me enough to open up to, you lie to me, you don't care about our friendship... I-If you really needed me in your life, you would have called me seven years ago liked you'd promised."

@ katahdin
Luke felt there was a bomb inside his chest, tightening as it got closer and closer to going off. He couldn’t deal with this feeling. He didn’t want to deal with the pressure, the accusations, the feelings. He was clenching and unclenching his fists over and over. Luke frowned and turned around when she told him he never cared. “Don’t you dare tell me I don’t care about you!” He screamed, tears finally coming out and he wasn’t able to control it. “I loved you! I did everything for you!” Like walked up to Wren, grabbed her chin and lifted her face to his. In a second he leaned down and kissed her deeply. After a moment he pulled away, tears still running down his face. But for once his face finally looked defeated.

Luke stepped back and turned away. “I couldn’t drag you down with me. I couldn’t risk it” he choked out. “I didn’t want you to hurt or worry.” He glanced back at wren and shook his head. “I told you I’d do anything for you, and I still mean that.” Like stormed off into the kitchen. He sat down and out his head in his hands and he just cried. He was sobbing. It was as if the years of pain, suffering, and bottling up his emotions were all coming out tonight.

@ BadStreetBoys

Wren fell silent as he shouted at her, trembling from being so overwhelmed with emotions. She tensed when he walked over and grabbed her face, attempting to push him away for a moment before she melted into his kiss, gripping his shirt tightly when he finally pulled away, tears leaking down her cheeks to match his. She felt her heart beating a mile a minute, and figured Luke could probably hear it he was standing so close to her. She watched as he walked over to the kitchen table and sat down, taking a moment to compose herself before she walked over to him, gently running her fingers through his hair to try to soothe him.

"Hey... Don't cry, Luke... I'm sorry, I didn't mean what I said.. I'm sorry.." she apologized softly as she managed to slide into his lap, wrapping her arms around her best friend tightly as she rubbed his back soothingly and ran her fingers through his hair gently, her head resting comfortably against his. "I'm sorry... Please don't cry, Luke. I know you'd do anything for me. I didn't mean to upset you... Please forgive me." She murmured into his hair, nuzzling her nose against him as she did her best to comfort him. "I know you love me, and I love you too, and everything will be alright.. We'll figure this out together, I promise. You just have to let me in, Luke... you can't keep shutting me out."