Death Meet Cute | ONC 2022

Chapter 2

Louie spent a lot of time on his phone, especially for work purposes, but now more than ever, all Louie had was his phone and an empty apartment to come home to. His job had granted him a couple of days of paid bereavement leave, and with his saved vacation days, Louie had managed to convince his boss to take an extra week of vacation after Reuben passed.

He knew of coworkers that would rather work after a family member's death to return to normalcy, but Louie didn't understand that sentiment. There simply was no normalcy without Reuben around. No laughter, no cute gestures like the dozens of post-it notes he'd leave around the kitchen, no flirty text messages. Nothing.

Louie was taking Reuben's death harder than he could imagine, mainly because he hadn't. Unlike that man he met in the hospital a few days ago, Louie had no way of knowing, had no idea that once Reuben had stepped out that door that night, he would never come back.

It didn't help that everything in their apartment reminded Louie of him. There were traces of Reuben everywhere, from his clothes to his artwork and his obsession with propagating plants of all kinds. There wasn't an inch of this place that didn't have some memory attached to him.

Wherever he turned, Louie found himself overcome with emotion no matter how hard he tried to suppress it. After returning from the hospital, he had sobbed when he found an unwashed dish Reuben had left in the sink. And again, when a leaf from one of Reuben's ivy plants fell.

He had gotten better since then, Louie had told himself. He hadn't cried after moving a few of Reuben's unfinished paintings to the side and hadn't cried while cleaning up more fallen leaves off the ground.

And in an impulsive move after scrolling aimlessly through his phone for hours on the couch, Louie decided it was time to listen to those voicemails, to hear his lover's voice again.

He knew it would hurt, but he found himself scrolling to the earliest message his phone had saved, one from nearly a year ago., and pressed play.

There was a pause, a breath before Louie heard Reuben say, "hey, what was it that you wanted from the store again? Sorry, I left the list at home."

Louie's eyelids fluttered, finding the pressure in his chest building again. He shut his eyes after playing the next one. "Babe, I miss you. You really shouldn't be doing all this overtime at work. It's not fair."

Reuben's babe had always given Louie butterflies, even in death.

His hands shook as he scrolled, skipping a couple of short ones that Reuben had butt-dialed before landing on one in February.

"Lou. Lou. Lou. I lou-ve you. Get it? Happy Valentines. Let me know when you get off work. I have a surprise for you."

Louie wasn't sure why he thought this was a good idea anymore. And yet, his finger still inched back to the play button, desiring to hear his voice again, even if it did give Louie another emotional breakdown. He just needed to listen to his voice, the sound of his lover that he'd never hear in person again.

He played another, one from a month ago. "Please answer. I am so sorry, alright? I know you're probably sick of me and think I'm this crazy bitch or something, but I just saw this huge deal for wedding venues that made me think of you."

The words punched him in his stomach, ice forming through his abdomen at the memory of the fights they had. Louie told himself that it had been so stupid, fighting over silly little things like a wedding venue. Fighting over when and where they'd get married, who would be invited, what they'd wear, if they could even afford it. Louie scolded himself, who cared if they had to take out a loan. Now they never could have that dream wedding either of them had wanted.