✔ DRUNK words, SOBER thoughts ✖ hemmings au

49: Close As Strangers

ARI.

Six hours in a car munching on Hot Cheetos, cookies, and sipping on coffee, all while Reese sang at the top of his lungs to every Death Cab for Cutie song ever made, all came down to this: staring at the off-white building that loomed before me as a thousand thoughts chaotically bombarded my mind. The sun had already set and despite the several, intricately designed lamp posts outside of The Cobb Rehab Center, the Napa Valley stars seemed to shine brightly. However, it wasn't long before mother nature wanted to change the game and allowed for dark, monstrous clouds to sweep in.

A roll of thunder shook the entire sky, causing me to shudder slightly from the clamorous sound. Despite the small rattle in my bones, my body was perpetually unmoving, as a bolt of lightning struck the sky. The golden glow seeping through the several windows of the building casted a radiance among myself and the car a foot behind me - one of the only vehicles in the parking lot. Several moments later and another round of thunder and lightening graced the darkening skies, and I knew the brackish clouds were about to burst.

"You better get inside," Reese came to stand next to me, "it's going to start pouring soon."

"Is it wrong that I'm a little nervous?" I asked, not really to Reese, but to the world. I kept my eyes locked in on the massive edifice, my eyes following the employees inside who were aiding the patients by their sides.

"No, not wrong at all," Reese answered without taking a second to think. "But I'm not letting your anxiety get the best of you. We drove six hours for a sole purpose and that purpose is inside those doors."

"What if he wants nothing to do with me?" I wondered out loud. The thought jerked my heartstrings with a icy and painful touch.

"Then he wants nothing to do with you," Reese simply declared. He let out a sigh before standing in front of me, barricading my view of the rehab center. He placed both hands on either sides of my shoulders, prompting me to look up at him. "Luke loves you- I know he does. And I know you love him back. It'll take more than the ground beneath our feet to open up and plummeting into the depths of Hell before you ever give up on him."

I didn't vocally respond because he knew he was right. I've come so far along, pushed through so many obstacles that there was no way I was going to give up. And I guessed mother nature wanted to give me a little push, because before I could even take another breath, I felt a cold drop of water fall onto my forehead. I looked up at the sky, as the clouds split open and a slew of cold rain plunged around us.

"Quick! Run! To the building!" Reese yelled over the roll of thunder that came as his mouth opened. He pointed straight for the building, pushing me towards our dry sanctuary.

I ran next to Reese, trying my hardest to swerve through the rain. As my black boots hit the terra porcelain tiles with a trail of wet shoe prints following behind me, I keeled over slightly to catch my breath. Reese did the same, his back pressed up against one of the white pillars. Just as we locked eyes, a strike of lightning flashed, strobing to the pitter-patter of the falling rain. It seemed to rain stronger as the seconds passed, and as they did, the more I grew nervous.

"Good thing we got out of that," Reese nodded towards the storm a few feet away from us, as we took liberation beneath the porch. Reese ran his fingers through his hair, droplets of rain hurdling from the ends.

"Yea, we would've gotten soak--" my words faded and my eyes drifted over to one of the windows on the far end corner of the building.

Through the glass, sitting at a table with a pencil in his hand, was Luke. I couldn't see his face, only the back of his body but I knew it was him. A hand suddenly rested on my shoulder and without taking a glance, I already knew it was Reese.