Neon Nights

Chapter 41. Overanalyzing Wispy Nightlife

By the time Luke had finished his business with Ryker night had fallen, nearly 9 pm when he was walking out of the building back to his car. He was halfway there when Zach called his phone, answering it immediately after feeling bad for not answering his texts the past few hours.

"Hey," Luke spoke to him.

"Luke? Hey you doing okay dude?" Zach sounded worried, leaning against his kitchen island with his free arm wrapped around his chest.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Sorry, it took a while going over things with Ryker, I'm almost to my car now leaving out."

"Were you able to sign up and everything? Did you talk to Pierce?"

"I met him for a sec, nice guy, told him I'd stop by his office sometime soon to work out a contract with him. Mostly was going over the by-laws with Ryker on what things will be like with me coming back."

"And it all went well I hope..?"

"It did, yeah," Luke sighed, not liking how that response automatically came out. It wasn't a lie, but, it didn't feel like the truth either. He still couldn't stomach telling it to Zach without further explaining to ease his conscience. "-Well honestly it feels weird, I don't know how to explain it."

"Weird?"

"Like bad sort of weird, I dunno," he grumbled to himself. "I'm feeling a lot of things right now... there's a lot to do and think about."

"I...I'm sorry, I can call you back later if you don't want to talk right now."

"No, it's fine baby," Luke's eyes shot over in the direction of his phone pressed against his ear, his senses growing more alert now that he had gotten close to making Zach sad. "I love having you around to talk to, you know that right?"

"Y-Yeah? I love having you be there for me too," Zach's saddened face grew more joyful and lit up a bit, his voice becoming more relaxed. "You mean so much to me."

Luke cracked a wide grin, his depressive behavior quickly fading into nothingness now that Zach had begun tugging at his heart. "God, I love you. I wish you were here right now so I could hug you."

"Do you wanna come over?" Zach asked him, excited at the idea of having Luke around after hearing such sweet things. His mind already raced with thoughts of the neat future, cuddled up on the couch wrapped in Luke's strong arms while they talked and drifted off to sleep in the dark. It was something he yearned for so badly. "We can cuddle and talk."

"Not tonight," Luke got to his car, staring down at it with keys in hand. As much as he wanted to be with Zach he needed some time alone tonight, it felt better that way to process everything Ryker had told him. "There's a lot on my mind... I'm not feeling the best. We could meet up after work tomorrow if you want?" He asked.

"Yeah, sure," Zach was disappointed, but understanding. He was bashing himself for coming off so clingy during this delicate time in Luke's life, should've having known better that Luke needed some space while processing his issues. "I'll text you tomorrow."

"Sounds good. Love you, baby, I'll see you then. Goodnight."

"Night, Luke. Love you too."

~~

"You've been quiet today."

Luke's eyes switched off his computer over to Violet in his office doorway, the woman wearing a nasty grin on her face that had blotches of purple and red spray paint etched onto the sides of her cheeks. Her gloves were coming off and her hair being let out of the ponytail she had trapped it in, letting long waves of dark course hair flow out around her shoulders as she stepped in. "You've been cooped up in here ever since work started, not even a bathroom break and it's almost 4 now."