And here it finally is. I'm not even going to lie. It was so hard to find time to write more over the last few months. I had to get used to some outside things first. But alas, here is part 13 in our story. I've decided on no more than 20 parts to the story, so things will start to move faster and faster to a climatic end! Stay tuned!

AS THE WORLD TURNS

"The Luke and Kevin Story" - Part 13

It was the next morning in Oakdale and if Luke Snyder wasn't a male, he would have sworn that he was suffering from morning sickness. He'd been throwing up for a good twenty minutes now. Luckily for him, his parents were nowhere in sight, so he didn't have to answer any of their third degree questions.

He knew for a fact that he had not been drinking the night before. He did absolutely nothing wrong last night. All he did was show a little love, and then he got back home and went off to sleep. He couldn't think of anything wrong that he did the night before, so why was he throwing up like this? Maybe I'm just sick, he thought. Wouldn't be the first time.

As he came down the stairs in the living room, the doorbell rang. It was good old aunt Meg. "Good morning, sunshine," she said. "Is your father in?"

"No, ma'am," Luke replied, putting his hand up to his face to block the sun. The intense summer light hurt his head and at that moment, he wanted nothing more than to crawl back up the stairs and back into bed. "He and my mom took the girls over to my grandma Lucinda's for breakfast and stuff. They'll probably be back later or they might go over to the farm or whatever."

"Ah okay," Meg said. It was clear to her that something was on Luke's mind, but she remembered the days when she was a teenager and decided that maybe it was best to just step away and leave him be. "See you later," she said, but just as she turned around and began to walk away, a thought crossed her mind. Indeed, when she was his age, she didn't want anyone's advice or help, but thinking back, she sure needed it. "Luke, what's wrong?" Meg asked, turning back around to face her nephew.

"Nothing's wrong, Aunt Meg. What makes you ask a question like that?" he asked, forcing a smile so he could convince her that there really was nothing wrong. "I'm fine. You're fine, I assume. Everything's fine."

"Oh really? Well then you won't mind if I come in for a cup of coffee?" she slyly suggested.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Sure. Why the hell not?"

~~~~~~~~~

At Lucinda's, the atmosphere was light and airy. It had been such a long time since Holden, Lily, and Lucinda had really spent time together without stress. At that moment, the proud mother couldn't be any more proud as she watched her daughter playfully frolicking on the sofa with her own children. Lucinda briefly caught eyes with Holden and they exchanged smiles, knowing they were both feeling the same emotion: relief.

But Lucinda wondered if there really was something to be relieved over. She knew that firing so many workers at Worldwide would drive some of them to partake in desperate actions, but never did she expect someone to kill himself. Never mind the fact that the man who killed himself happened to be the father of the young man that her very own grandson was spending extra time with. Somehow, some way, she felt that maybe this might put a strain on either her relationship with Luke or Luke's relationship with Kevin. That was something that Lucinda Walsh could not let happen. I'm gonna make this family happy, dammit! she thought to herself.

"If you sillies would excuse me," she announced through a small chuckle as Faith gently rolled off the sofa onto the floor, "are you okay, my dear? I hope you didn't hit your head too hard. You might end up like your mother! No, seriously, if you sillies would excuse me, I have to take a walk out to one of the guesthouses. I believe I left some important paperwork there one afternoon when I was enjoying the summer breeze and glow."

"I'll come with you," Holden offered.

"No, no, it'll only take a minute. I'll be back before our Faith here takes another spill from the sofa to the floor."

"No, I insist," Holden said, catching Lucinda's eye enough to let her know that he wanted to talk to her about something. Lucinda's eyes grew beady as she nodded.

"Okay, if you must, you must."

"Sure, and leave me here with these two terrors," Lily said jokingly.

"Oh please, you'll be fine. Nobody knows more about taking care of terrors than the queen terror of them all," Lucinda replied.

"Funny, mother, very funny."

~~~~~~~~~

"So, what's up?" Meg asked as she and Luke sat down at the Snyders' kitchen table. "Fill me in on what's going on with Luke Snyder."

Luke took a deep breath, looking at her as he exhaled and flashing a quick grin that told her to prepare for some drama. "Well...for one, I have a boyfriend."

"Really? Are you serious? That's awesome, Luke! Who's the lucky guy?" Meg seemed to be really happy for him.

"Kevin Davis, you don't know him. We've been pretty good friends for a long while now and I told him that I was gay a few weeks ago and somehow, by some fricken miracle, he told me that he was waiting for me to come out to him so he could do the same and from there, we just winged it. And now we're together."

Meg was astonished. She sipped from her mug of coffee without blinking an eye. "That's creepy yet amazing at the same time. I'm proud of you, Luke, for having the strength to do something like that."

"Yeah, well, it gets better from there, believe it or not," Luke said, almost trivializing his melodramatic life. "Kevin happens to be the son of one of my grandmother's ex-employees."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, and this ex-employee was laid off a few months ago when my grandmother returned to work. She felt that there were too many people on the payroll and he was one of the many that were fired. Now this man was a drunk, a complete alcoholic."

"Wow..."

"Mhm," Luke said as he sipped some coffee. "Mr. Davis was too drunk to go out and find another job, so he did what anybody would do. He got drunk - of course - and came up with the bright idea of setting his house on fire so he could get the insurance. But he didn't get out in time and he died in the fire."

Meg's face showed disbelief and she started to laugh. "Okay, okay, I get it. You're trying to teach me a lesson about prying into your life. I understand. If I try to offer my services, you'll just make up some overly dramatic story."

"Aunt Meg, I tell you no lies. This is all the truth. You can call my parents and they'll confirm it. As a matter of fact, I need to be getting over to Kevin's cousin's apartment. That's where he's staying for now."

Luke stood up and lead Meg back into the living room. "Well...I'm sorry for not believing you there. I didn't realize how much stress you were under. You don't feel bad or anything, do you?"

"Well, yeah I feel bad. My boyfriend - who my mom hates - just lost his father and I'm pretty much all he's got now. I'm the only person who truly knows the real Kevin. He's so used to keeping up appearances around the kids at school and I'm trying to let him see that he can be himself."

Meg beamed with pride. "Luke, I want you to know that if there's ever anything you need from me, don't think twice about asking. I'm always here for you, and so are your parents, and Mama, and everyone else. We all love you."

"I know," Luke said. He gave Meg a hug.

"Now I have to get going to work before I'm late. I'll see you later?"

"Definitely."

~~~~~~~~~

Holden and Lucinda were only about 20 feet from the doors to the living room of Lucinda's home before they stopped and Lucinda asked, "Now why were you so adamant about joining me for my little journey?"

"What? A son-in-law can't take a peaceful stroll with his darling mother-in-law anymore?" Holden asked, giving her that handsome smile that no one could resist.

"Of course he can," Lucinda snapped. "But I know you, Holden, I know when you have something on your mind. You're either worried about that wife of yours or that son of yours and you, being the good man that you are, decided to come right to me and ask for my advice."

"You know, Lucinda, you hit the nail right there on the head."

"Because I swing a big hammer. Now tell me, what's troubling you?"

Holden looked back to make sure he couldn't be heard by Lily. He put an arm around Lucinda and they started to walk. "It's this whole thing with Luke."

"Ah yes, continue."

"Tell me what you think. Do you think that we should let Luke continue to see this boy?"

"Well...the decision of whether or not Luke sees him is not up to me, is it?"

"No, and I know what you're getting at."

"Do you really?" Lucinda asked, sure that he didn't.

"You think that it's up to me and Lily."

"Absolutely not. It's up to Luke and Kevin, and them only. They're teenagers. They're not going to listen to you. And especially now that Kevin's going through a rough time...come on, I don't see them breaking up any time soon."

"I know that, I really do, but it's convincing Lily that's the hard part. She's so overprotective and she doesn't want to see Luke get hurt. I don't know how to make her stop worrying."

"She's a parent! She'll never stop worrying! She'll just have to learn that Luke can take care of himself and when he needs her opinion, he'll ask. It's something that I wish I had found out a long time before I did."

"I guess you're right," Holden said. "You always are, aren't you?"

"Of course I am."

TO BE CONTINUED...