Neon Nights

Chapter 4. Late Night Miss Yous

"6478-"

It was nearly midnight by the time Luke layed down on his couch, wanting to sleep soon but forcing himself to put Zach's number in his phone before he forgot to do so the next day. After entering it in he looked over at the bright tv light shining on him in the dark apartment, grimacing at it and hesitating on what to do now that he held the key to contacting this person.

"I shouldn't say anything now, right?" He thought to himself, fingers tightening on the phone held above his chest in both hands. "It's late, he's out with friends. He probably just wanted to say a few more things to me before eventually getting dry and not talking anymore."

Then his eyes narrowed at a curious, more pressing thought that crossed his mind. "But he seemed so interested in me at the end, like he really did enjoy having me around. It's like he saw a ghost."

Luke paused, unsure of what to do. After a few minutes he decided "what's the harm?" And moved his fingers across the digital keyboard at the bottom of the screen.

"Hey, it's Luke. Did I get your number right?" He texted, anxiously closing the chat right after to respond to a text from Violet a few minutes ago.

Barely halfway through another text notification came up on his screen, a reply from Zach so soon. Luke finished up his text to Violet and reopened his new conversation with Zach, reading what he sent back.

"Hey! Yeah it's me. I didn't think you'd text so soon and be in bed by now."

Luke began typing again. "I wanted to go ahead and get your number in my phone to let you know. Are you busy right now/ did I interrupt something?"

"I'm with my friends still, we went out to a restaraunt and just got back from a bar. I'm a little tipsy now lol. Did you get home safe?"

"Mhm, just took a while since the race tonight was pretty far from my place. Did you drive drunk?"

"Yeah, sorry. I got excited and wanted to celebrate a little and am kinda a mess now."

"You should probably go lay down then, and drink some water before you wake up with a bad hangover."

"I'll be in bed soon. Hey do you work tomorrow? On Saturdays?"

"No, me and Violet don't work weekends."

"Cool! I really want to see you. Do you wanna hang out tomorrow night? We could play video games and order pizza and stuff."

"Wouldn't you rather do that with your friends? You look like you have one hell of a social life going on."

"I'll kick them out for the night. Just you and me, like old times."

Luke paused, feeling the corners of his lips rise ever so slightly upwards.

"Sure then, send me your address. It's a date."

~~

"Sure then, send me your address. It's a date."

Zach gazed down at the phone in his lap, hiccuping softly through his warm smile. His cheeks were stained red and fingers itching to reply as fast as possible whenever Luke texted him back.

By the time the conversation ended and they said goodnight he could hardly pay attention to anyone around him, their voices drowned out and inaudible as all he could think about was Luke back at the race.

"It's a date..."

~~

Zach lived several blocks down from Luke on the 10th story of his building, a nice place given his newfound career that Luke struggled to navigate on his way up to see him. Being directionally challenged and refusing to ask for help the trip inside took twice as long as it should've, but eventually he was able to find his way to Zach's front door.

Luke stood before it, knuckles rapping against it at a little past 7pm. It didn't take long for him to hear the door unlocking on the other end, watching it swing inwards to reveal Zach in the doorway holding onto the handle.

Luke's eyes shimmered down at the slightly shorter man standing in front of him, not having seen Zach in over half their lives and not having expected him to be so- so-

"D-Damn dude," Luke stammered, feeling his heart pound inside his chest. "You look so different now."

Zach was in awe, hardly able to listen to Luke as he stared back at him. His eyes sized up every part of his body, Luke's hair and developed muscles under his shirt, his nicely built face and stern eyes. Luke was doing the same thing at that moment, impressed as well by Zach's cuter, boyish yet attractive looks and lean muscular build.

"You too," Zach's voice was almost a whisper, before making himself snap out of the daze Luke's appearance put him in. "Uh- come in, sorry the place is pretty messy after the party last night."

Luke came in past him, looking around as the door was shut behind them at the clothes and pizza boxes strewn around the place. It didn't smell bad, just alot like pizza and whiffs of weed here and there, though definitely not as bad as some places he had been.

"You smoke?" Luke turned to Zach, his expression looking a bit more stern now.

"Just with friends, I don't like it that much," the latter replied, coming over to the couch to turn on his Ps4 and tv. "I do like to drink though."

"Was your hangover bad?" Luke asked next.

"Not really, I'm kinda used to them," Zach shrugged. "I've had a few beers already," he chuckled.

"Damn, how many can you take?"

"Bottles? 3. Cans? 5. I've had 2 bottles and 2 cans so far and it's just now hitting some."

"I never took you for a drinker," Luke sat down on the couch, leaning over towards Zach who's back was facing him now. "But hey, thanks for inviting me over. I haven't been to someone's house in a while."

"Huh? Don't you have alot of friends?" Zach seemed surprised to hear that, looking back at the man idly sitting on the edge of the sofa. "Back when we were kids you were always getting invited to sleepovers and birthday parties. I always thought you were the most popular kid around."

"I never really liked anyone back in school, or in middle school or high school either," Luke confessed. "After I left into adult life I made a ton of friends, but now it's just me and Violet. I used to have a whole group like you did and went out alot, but I don't think I could ever handle doing all of that again," he smiled meekly, doubting his ability to be like his past self.

"Did you like me though?" Zach finished setting everything up, handing a controller over to Luke who took it. "It's just. Damn I kind of feel stupid that you're just here to humor me now. It's really weird to try and act like we're friends again so soon and do this."

"Again? Did we stop?" Luke furrowed his brows.

"Did we..?" The other man asked back.

"We lost touch, yeah, but that doesn't mean I started hating you," the ashy-haired man explained, watching Zach sit next to him and scoot closer to his side. "You just moved away before we could figure out how to keep in touch and life got busy after that. If anything I'm surprised you'd go through all this trouble to suddenly want to do all of this with me."

"So... this is weird?"

"Weird doesn't mean bad. I like talking to you right now. And I'm about to kick your ass in Mario Kart which is always fun for me."

"You think you can beat an upper leagues racer in a racing game??? Fuck that," Zach threatened with a chuckle. "Okay it's on then."

"You're gonna lose."

"No you're gonna lose."

"Prove it."