"Well, bud, I'm a little too old for you," she started. Harry and Charlie's mom's heads popped up after hearing the conversation taking place. Luz's fiancé hid a grin behind his hand while his mother sighed exasperatedly. "And think about it this way, friends love each other too. We're friends aren't we, Charlie?"
Charlie thought about it for a moment. "Yes. You're my best friend."
"Right. So we love each other like friends. And friends don't get married." That wasn't entirely true, and Luz could feel Harry's questioning look from where she was kneeling by the front desk, but her explanation would work for now.
"Oh," he said, but he still sounded glum. "Are you sure? You said Harry was your friend, but now he asked you to marry him."
Well shit, Luz thought. Before she could think of another response, Charlie's mom was there to take him from her. "They're friends the way Mommy and Daddy are friends, kiddo."
Charlie wrinkled his nose as he looked at Luz. "You mean you... kiss and stuff?"
Luz laughed a little and nodded her head. "We do. That a deal breaker?"
Charlie nodded his head and made a disgusted sound, agreeing that he and his doctor were better off as best friends.
Luz waved goodbye to Charlie and his mom after they booked their next appointment, his mother telling her congratulations on their way out. She collapsed onto the front desk chair and tilted her head back.
She felt Harry walk up to the desk, but she wasn't ready to open her eyes yet.
Harry didn't mind, just leaned against the front desk and rested his chin in his hand. "Do I have some competition?"
"Depends, did you bring lunch?" Luz replied, still keeping her eyes closed. She heard the sound of something being set on the desk. Peaking one eye open, she saw a takeout bag from her favorite café down the street. "Have I ever told you I love you?"
"You have, but I could stand to hear it again." Harry came around the desk and knelt in front of Luz who had sat forward in her chair. She reached out to take the bag from him, but he pulled it back at the last second, his request loud and clear even though he hadn't said anything.
She took Harry's cheeks between her hands and kissed him. "I love you very, very much. Now please hand the bag over because I'm not above tackling you for it."
"As much as I would love to see you try, here." Harry handed the bag over, and the two of them sat and ate together for the remainder of Luz's lunch break.
A few months later, Luz was wheeling Charlie out again, but before his mother took over, she ran over to where her purse was stored beneath the front desk and came around to kneel in front of his wheelchair.
"I have something for you," she said, handing him an envelope with his name printed on it in fancy script.
Charlie picked it up in his hands and looked it over. "What is it?"
"Remember when I said Harry asked me to marry him and I said yes?"
Charlie nodded his head. He was still bummed sometimes when he thought about it. Doctor Price was very pretty and very nice, and she always made him laugh. But his mother explained to him why he had to wait for someone else to get married and that he also wasn't old enough yet.
"Well, I thought I would formally invite you to our wedding," she told him.
Having overheard their conversation, Charlie's mother took the invitation from her son, not quite believing her ears. True to Luz's word, though, there was a formal invitation to the young doctor's wedding.
"Why?" Charlie asked, and his mother thought the same thing. She was very grateful for everything Charlie's doctor did for her son, but she never thought he would be invited to her wedding.
"You're my best friend, bud," Luz said with a grin. "And best friends do things together. Like how I went to your career day, remember?"
As one of Luz's first long term patients, Charlie held a special place in her heart. She knew she wanted to invite him and his mother, but she initially waited because she worried that Harry would tell her no.
He didn't, of course. Harry found that he could rarely ever say no to his fiancé, but this was something he happily agreed to, telling Luz that he wouldn't want it any other way.
"I remember," Charlie said now, a small grin on his face as he recalled the day in question. He'd felt so cool for bringing Doctor Price to his school as she explained everything they did together at their appointments. He also remembered some of the parents coming up to Doctor Price and asking about Harry, which Charlie didn't understand. He was just her friend that brought her lunch sometimes and high fived him on his way out of the office. Doctor Price was so much cooler than Harry, so he didn't get why they were so hung up on her friend.
Luz bopped Charlie's nose with her knuckle, the ring on her hand shining under the office lights. "Good. I hope you and your mom can make it. Best friends have to stick together."
Charlie's mom steered him out soon after that. She was speechless by Doctor Price's kind gesture, but she wasn't totally surprised. She was always so kind and so good with her son, always careful with him during his exercises and with his heart when he confessed his "love" for her. Before she drove Charlie home, she made it a point to mark the date in her phone's calendar. They would be at that wedding, Charlie's mom would make sure of it. After all, that's what best friends were for.
Strangers Part 1
Start from the beginning
