There was something comforting in the way Luke let her pull him into her arms. It was almost like muscle memory, the two of them tangled together even after so much time had passed. She’d recognise every inch of him even with her eyes shut, and it was a huge relief to know that he felt safe in her touch the same way he once had.
The moment her lips left his temple, she wrapped her arm snug around his shoulders and held him close. Whatever words Luke needed to get out, she’d let him, with no interruptions. She wondered, absently, if this somehow made it easier for the two of them. He wouldn’t have to look her in the eye as the truth came spilling out, instead speaking it out into the distance, the pages and pages of paperbacks swallowing his secrets and keeping them safe.
“Luke... Listen,” Ophelia whispered, her words softly spoken against the shell of his ear. Even with the loud buzz of the surrounding party, the music that boomed through temporary speakers, the world around her seemed to have stilled and gone silent. The hand that was still threaded with Luke’s shifted as she combed her fingers through his hair, soothing him. “I wish you could have told me. I wish you had, so I could’ve been at your side and held your hand through it, but I’m not mad. You can’t keep punishing yourself.”
The truth of the matter was, everything that Ophelia had endured in the time since they’d broken up had been a consequence of various, growing issues that had been threatening to suffocate her for months on end before Luke had left. The breakup had simply been the straw that broke the camel’s back, but he’d never been the one to blame. She knew Lando held him accountable for her meltdown, and maybe she was naive to still have love for Luke after so long had passed, but she knew better than anybody what it was like to suffer in silence. She couldn’t punish him for that.
“I’m not innocent in this either, okay? I had my own secrets, my own problems that I never...” she sighed, not wanting to divulge too much. Luke was finally confiding in her, and it was a heavy secret on it’s own. The last thing he needed was for Ophelia to add extra baggage on top of his own.
Rocking him gently in his arms – or as best as she was able, given his large stature – Ophelia finally pulled back, cupping his cheek and turning him to face her. With as much tenderness as the moment would allow, a sharp creaking noise startling her as The Monster Mash started to spill out through Billy’s store, she pressed another kiss to the tip of Luke’s nose.
“How about we start over, but this time... We can be more honest with each other? As friends,” Ophelia smiled, sure to provide clarity lest she be deemed too desperate.
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