divulgence // luke hemmings au

53

It was a rainy spring day, Luke was sitting alone in a booth in Laineys Cafe sipping a cappuccino. The place was packed and the two waitresses on shift were overwhelmed running back and forth to the tables near where Luke was sitting.

He sat there for some time, taking small sips of his drink while checking the time on his phone periodically.

As he was looking down getting lost in his lockscreen picture (it's him and Sabrina sitting at their backyard table drinking wine from the previous summer), he heard someone say "hey" and when he looked up Ashton was standing there wearing a long tan trench coat and his hair was wet from the rain since he didn't have a hood or umbrella.
The two of them shook hands and Ashton proceeded to sit down across from Luke, gliding the menu toward himself with his hand.

"What do you recommend for me to drink here? I saw in your email invite that you come here a few times a week either alone or with your family."

"Honestly, no matter what coffee drink you choose it's gonna be good."

"Have you ever had the hazelnut latte?"

"Yeah, but get it hot instead of iced it tastes so much better"

As Ashton put in his drink order, Calum came rushing over, his sweat shirt soaked, "I'm really sorry for being late the traffic sucks today"

"No worries, sit and order something to drink so you can warm up. It's really raining that heavily now?"

"Yeah, it's coming down in buckets, it sucks"

Ashton scooted over so Calum can sit next him.

"What should I have to drink?"

"Hot coffee, there's so many options to choose from."

"Luke what do you have?"

"Cappuccino"

"Ash, what were you ordering I missed what you said?"

"Hot hazelnut nut latte"

"I'm feeling bold today I think I'll just take a regular coffee, hot, nothing in it"

"That's a bold choice, you stressed?" Luke asked, looking inventively.

"A little yeah, plus I wanna warm up"

"I don't blame you"

After Calum and Ashton both got their drinks, Luke took an extra sip of his own and looked up, making eye contact with his two long time friends.

"I can't believe how long it's been since we've seen each other how's life?"

"My wife and I have been on the outs again, and we had a second divorce. I'm still in Baltimore but she went to Germany to live with her lover."

"Oh I'm really sorry about that,Ash" Luke apologized looking a bit disappointed.

"What about you Calum, how are things?"

"Brianna and I still run the coffee shop but not as much as we used to, we're trying to venture out and do other stuff. We may open another business soon"

"What kind of businesses were you looking in to?"

"Maybe antiques or something like that"

"Interesting."

"Luke how are things for you?" Ashton spun the conversation around.

"Well, first things first, I'm not longer a paramedic if you didn't know. I'm a nurse now, sort of" Luke hesitated as he spoke.

"Okay. Um, what about your wife?" Calum raised an eyebrow.

"She's in real estate, she loves it!"

"That's impressive! I really like the contrast between your career and her career"

"A lot of people say that" Luke giggled slightly then the mood changed.

"Listen" Luke said, he chuckled slightly his eyes fixated on the table for a moment.

"I know you both probably think it's so out of character for me to spontaneously invite you out for coffee and a chat. I know we've haven't been great with communication over the last however many years and I do apologize for that. Time just gets away from me"

"It's alright dude, we're all adults here. We have lives and families of our own to deal with. It's understandable." Ashton was trying to make Luke feel less guilty.

"I just feel bad. I hope it doesn't make me seem like a selfish person"

"No it doesn't, not being in touch all the time has nothing to do with bad intentions. It's understandable because you literally work in healthcare, your busy, you work multiple days and hours, time can easily slip
away from a person when they're in that ongoing cycle."

"But still,Ash, that's no excuse for me to not send a quick text every now and then"

"Don't worry about it"

"I am worried about it because the both of you literally saved my life when I was in my twenties. How terrible is it that I can't stay in consistent touch with people who literally saved me?"

"Don't get too worked up over this Luke, there's no hard feelings"
Calum finally chiming in to the conversation.

Luke switched topics, making a loud sighing noise before speaking to his two friends. "I should've been honest from the beginning the real reason why I invited the both of you here with me today"

"What? What is it?" Calum was beginning to get anxious.

"I'm dying, I don't have much time left."

"Oh my god" Ashton mumbled, while Calum had this perplexed expression on his face.

"Dude I'm so sorry" Calum offered his sorrows to his long time friend.

"It's okay, it's probably my fault"

"No, why would you say that?" Calum questioned, a sympathetic expression across his face now.

"I feel like this is my own karma for the wrong doings in my life"

"Luke listen, you didn't bring this upon yourself, you didn't cause this" Ashton seemed very saddened by the news based on the tone of voice he was using.

"It is what it is, Ashton. I guess I'll just continue living out my days full of regret." Luke was now standing up reaching for his wallet to pay for his coffee.

"There was never hard feelings Luke, you never did anything wrong to us. A dying man shouldn't be living out their days feeling guilty. Live out your remaining days trying to be happy and peace with the life you made for yourself." Ashton offered some words of wisdom as Luke counted out money and placed it on the table where he had been sitting.

"Thanks, I gotta go now." Luke did a slight wave and turned around starting to walk away.

"Take care of yourself you're a good man." Was the last words Luke heard from Ashton as he pushed the door open getting immediately soaked by the rain.