Thanks, guys, for your continued support! I've basically mapped out and plotted out my next two stories: the next one will be AMC-based and the one after will be another ATWT story. The AMC story will be "The Madden/Myrtle Connection" and explores a more legit, decent way of connecting Greg and Josh to the long-running Pine Valley citizens. ATWT's next tale will be "Enter Christina," which deals with Don Hughes's daughter Christina and her coming to stay with her extended family in Oakdale.

The following part is all one scene, the scene in which Kevin and Luke "talk" about their kiss. This scene was HARD for me to write. I wanted to express so much but didnt know how to. I did it and read it over and decided that I would understand it, and hopefully anybody who reads it can understand too! Here goes...

AS THE WORLD TURNS

"The Luke and Kevin Story" part 6

Luke paced around the guesthouse, waiting for the bell to ring or a knock at the door. Where is he? he thought. Where is Kevin? Did he forget?

No, he didn't forget. Instead, he was sitting in his car waiting to get the courage to get out. He could see the guesthouse from where he was parked and wondered what Luke was doing inside. Was he pacing around, waiting? Was he watching TV or listening to a CD? The only way Kevin would know is if he got out of his car and knocked on the door.

Kevin was so nervous. Last night in the car, Luke had been so quiet and so withdrawn. Kevin was happy with what had happened, the kiss. It chased away all of the hurt that he felt from his parents and he felt loved. He wanted so desperately to know if Luke felt the same way, but he was scared to say anything to him. He didn't know what would make him snap.

Luke heard the knock, but hesitated to answer. He looked at the door from his seat on the couch and a little part of him flinched with each hard knock. Finally, he knocked himself over the head with some confidence and got up to open the door. "Kevin," he said.

"Luke," Kevin replied, then laughed at the cheesiness of the situation.

"Come in," Luke said. "There's tea and pastry, if you're hungry."

Kevin nodded and walked in. Luke closed the door behind him and stood, watching his love walk towards the sofa. Luke was so ashamed of what he did the day before. He had himself convinced that he caught Kevin off guard with the kiss and that his admission of love came from nothingbut shock. There was nothing to do now but apologize.

Tensions were high. Kevin was ready to apologize himself for going too far. He didn't believe that Luke was straight, he wouldn't let himself believe it, but he thought that maybe he jumped the gun. Maybe they should have talked first and kissed later.

"Kevin, I'm sorry," Luke suddenly said.

"Luke, I'm sorry," Kevin said, simultaneously. Neither one heard what the other said, and they both stopped at the same time. "You go first," Kevin insisted.

"No, you," Luke said.

"Hey, it's your grandma's guesthouse. Your tea and pastry. You go first."

Luke swallowed hard. "Okay. Maybe we should sit down."

They both sat on the couch and Kevin looked at him. Luke quickly looked down to escape the pressure. "Kevin...well, let me just say, if you don't want to be here, you don't have to be. If you feel uncomfortable at all, you can leave and I won't have a problem with it."

"I'll never leave you," Kevin said, quickly, firmly, surprising even himself.

Luke tried to look at him but couldn't. "Kevin...I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for what happened yesterday, I swear. I didn't mean for it to happen like that. If I could take it all back, I swear, I would." All of the words spilled out so fast that he didn't know what he was saying. "You have your own problems at home with your parents and I don't need to bring you into my twisted life. I'm just so sorry, and I would understand it if you never wanted to see me again."

Kevin looked down at the floor with thought. He was just realizing something. "You thought that I didn't want it? Luke, I wanted it just as much as you did, maybe even more!" he loudly whispered. "I've been trying so hard for the last few months to make you notice me and it wasn't happening and I got desperate, so I did what I did."

"But you didn't do anything! It was all me!"

"All you?! Hardly!" Kevin exclaimed. "It was me who was prancing around without a stitch of clothes on! It was me who jumped on you on the ground."

"But it was me who kissed you."

"It takes two people to kiss. I kissed you too and now that I know that you wanted it too, I don't regret it."

"Then why were you so quiet about it? Why didn't you say anything to me in the car last night?" Luke asked. He finally was able to look at him, and he wanted to know why this boy who loved him didn't want to talk to him.

"Because you were sitting there like some kind of zombie freak! You didn't say a word to me after it happened and I thought that maybe the less said, the better. I didn't want to do or say something to make you go crazy."

"Kevin, you could never make me go crazy," Luke said matter-of-factly. "I mean, you were sitting there yourself all silent. I thought that you hated me and was polite enough to not say anything about it."

"If I hated you, why would I agree to meet you here?" Kevin asked. They were both loosening up. It felt like they were solving a mystery, figuring out why the other would not say anything after the kiss.

"I don't know," Luke said, almost smiling. "I thought you came to read me the riot act and then run away. You know that saying? 'Too good to be true'? I thought for sure that that was what was going on. I didn't want to assume either way, so I just said nothing."

"Why was it too good to be true? You didn't believe that I could love you? I mean, I know I have a reputation at school - "

"That's it right there," Luke said. "At school, everyone sees you has this big ladies' man. There's no way you could be gay."

Kevin shook his head. "Luke, I'm telling you myself right now." He sighed a small bit. He wanted to tell the whole story, but didn't know if he should. He went with his instinct and began the tale. "I guess it all started with that night earlier this year. You probably don't even remember it..."

"We were playing basketball," Luke remembered, like magic, "and your back was sore."

"So I asked you to massage it."

Luke, for a moment, was lost in the fairy tale, but he quickly snapped back to reality. "You're telling me that you just fell in love with me over a stupid backrub?"

"It was more than that, Luke!" Kevin yelled. They were both so tense that everything that came out of either one's mouth sounded like an argument to the other. "You...you didn't give up on me! When your parents told you over and over again to stay away from me, you kept coming back. You was there for me everytime my own parents had one of their fights. Even after your old man threatened to kill me, you kept coming back. And after a while, I knew. I just knew that there was something special and it took me some time, but I grew to accept it...I love you, Luke."

Luke got up and started to pace. He liked pacing. You could always be sure of where you were going. He sorta wished that you could pace in life, that you could keep going back and forth from one special moment to the other. "I'm not mad," he said, to make sure things were clear. "I'm...just confused. I'm just completely confused."

"What's there to be confused about?" Kevin asked. "I knew that I loved you when you kept risking everything to be with me. I love you, Luke," he repeated, this time with a smile and nod to convince Luke that he was being honest.

Luke turned to face him. "I was so sure that you were straight. All of the girls you've dated over the years, how could you be gay?"

"Nothing," he replied simply. "I felt nothing for them. And I thought that maybe I did, but I never did. I had girlfriends because I thought that was the way I was supposed to be. It was never anything serious with any of them. And you know, even before you and the whole backrub thing, I knew I was gay. I just didn't want to admit it to myself because then it would mean that my father was right."

"Your father? What does he have to do with this?" Luke asked.

"You don't want to know," Kevin answered. "The way he gets when he's tired and drunk. No wonder I used to drink so much."

Luke looked at him. He still couldn't wrap his head around it. "So you wanted me to kiss you? It wasn't all a big mistake on my part?"

"It didn't feel like a mistake to me," Kevin said in a soothing tone. He got up and went to Luke, who leaning against the counter. "Come on, Luke, I've never been this real with someone before, not even you. You have to say something. You have to do something."

"Say what?"

"What are the only words that you want to tell me right now? What do you want to do to me right now?"

Luke was mesmerized by the glow in his eyes. He was like a little child looking through a kaleidoscope. "I love you, Kevin."

They played the eyes game once more. Luke had tears in his and so did Kevin. "I want you, Luke Snyder," Kevin said quietly. It was so soft that Luke hardly heard him. It was what Kevin had whispered so many times as Luke walked away, but now that he was saying it straight to him, right in his face, it was a struggle to force the words out. "I need you," he said. "I need to have you. I need you to be with me."

Luke almost fainted everytime Kevin finished a sentence. There was such a raw truth in Kevin's eyes and voice. His words resonated with Luke so vividly, that it felt like an invasion of privacy to hear someone else say them.

Just two days earlier, the hardest problem Luke had was being able to talk to his mother without the conversation turning into a "I don't think I'm gay, I know I am!" debate. That in itself was hard to do everyday, but now this had to come and cause its own stress. Luke quickly analyzed the problem in his mind. Here is Kevin and he loves me. Does he really? Because this is too good to be true, Luke thought. He thought of what Lucinda would say. Just go for it.

And he did. He repeated what happened at the cabin and found his lips pressed against Kevin's. It was full of such passion and such angst, that both of them just did not want it end. It was the perfect end to such a delicate conversation.

Luke could feel that Kevin wanted more. He felt his hand slid underneath his striped shirt. "Kevin," Luke managed to gasp as Kevin began to kiss his neck, "we can't - "

Luckily for him, Kevin broke the kiss. "Now do you believe me," he asked with that smile. "I love you," he said before starting to laugh. "I love you! I love you, I love you, I love you!"

Luke looked at him. This was Kevin, carefree and always in a good mood. "I love you!" Luke exclaimed as well. It was so liberating to say those words aloud and to the face of the person he meant them for. Those were words that did not deserve to be said into a pillow during dreams or to a yearbook picture. They held so much meaning.

"Be with me, Luke," Kevin offered. "I don't mean for forever or until we die, but for now. Because I need you, and I know you need me."

Luke looked at him, just to see the ambition in his eyes. He nodded. "Yes, Kevin. I'll be with you."

TO BE CONTINUED