The Lonely State...(S10-E9)

Picking up right where we left off it is still mid February as far as timeline goes. Laura sits in bed and relaxes as best she can. Cuddled up with a book and a glass of wine she tries to take her mind off of Luke and his omission of truth about this Naomi woman. She is hoping he will tell her. Laura hates to be the jealous type, she knew what she was getting into when she chose to take Luke back after his encounter with Rufus. But she can't help but feel like things are changing with him. She knows he is under a lot of stress right now dealing with changes at the record shop and changes in their personal life. Luke tends to bottle things up not wanting to appear needy or weak. Especially now that Peter is not around to unwind and hangout with, it has definitely affected him more than he wants to admit. 

Since Laura cannot fall asleep she decides to start 

on a new romance book that her friend Chloe recommended 

to her.  A bittersweet romance about a homeless

 musician and a girl that steals his heart.

 Laura is immediately sucked into the book as she reads the first chapter. Her heart skips a beat as she reads about Blue. He is a homeless musician with long brown hair, and tattoos from 

head to toe. Remind you of anyone?

 Before she knows it several hours have gone by and she is almost halfway through the book. She needs to know what happened?! 

Does he come back?! Will she ever know the truth?! Chloe was 

right this book is so hard to put down!

As Laura is deep now into the book and totally invested in it. The door to the bedroom swings open. Laura did not even hear him come up the stairs she is so distracted by this rollercoaster of a book. It was exactly what she needed to distract her from reality but now all those thoughts come back to her as she stares up at him. Luke is first to break the silence as he sees her there in bed still awake.

*Luke* "You're still up?...It's late."
*Laura* "Where have you been? You should have been home hours ago!"
The tone in Laura's voice immediately causes Luke to 
close the door behind him. It is obvious she is not 
very happy he is home so late.

*Luke* "I've been at the shop...Where else would I be?..."
Laura pushes a little harder she is hoping he
 will finally come out with it and tell her
 about this Naomi woman.

 *Laura* "Oh really?...It's a little past 2 o'clock in the morning, Luke!..."
The back and forth banter has instantly become more 
tense. Luke is tired and he is not up for
 a lecture right now.

*Luke* "What the fuck, Laura?! I've been at the shop with Jacob. You know
 I'm behind on shit and I've got to get things ready for when
I'm running things solo again...."

*Laura* "I am fully aware of the situation and I've even offered to help
 out! But being out till two in the morning is ridiculous!...
Why won't you just tell me where you've been?!"
Laura is now extremely flustered and anger builds by the second. She cannot believe he is just gonna leave her in the dark again. She begins to wonder if Rufus has contacted him again since his run in with her in January. What else is he not telling her?! Luke picks up on her vibe but tries to stay level headed. 

*Luke* "Tell you what?! I told you several times today that
I'd be home late and to not wait up for me. I don't think
I can get any more fucking specific..."
Laura lets out a huff, rolling her eyes. 
Luke turns and begins walking away. 
He assumes she is just hormonal and that
"Aunt Flow" is on her way for a visit this month.

 *Laura* "Are you serious?! That's it you're just gonna walk away?"
*Luke* "I'm gonna go take a fucking shower, Laura...
It's late and I'm tired as fuck."
Luke continues to walk as he talks turning his
 back on Laura and heading towards the bathroom.

*Laura* "I get more info out of our four year old than I do you!
Who the hell is Naomi? And why is she buying my kid ice cream?"
Luke stops mid stride his back still facing Laura. He only
 mouths out the word not wanting her to get any more upset.
*Luke* "Fuck!..."
He totally forgot about his run in with Naomi earlier
 today. It's been such a long day for him at work that 
it feels like it's been days now since he sat 
down to eat lunch with her.

*Luke* "Babe....She's an old friend that's it..."
*Laura* "Uh huh, is she an ex-girlfriend too? Or just some spy for Rufus?"
*Luke* "So what if she is either?!..."
*Laura* "It matters to me Luke! First Rufus shows up on you in a coffee shop on my birthday. That you so conveniently forget to tell me about. Then Phoenix tells me about some woman
he's never met before that is Daddy's friend and then on top
 of that your gone all evening and half the night!"
*Luke* "So what now you think I'm fucking her?!..."

*Laura* "I dunno! You don't tell me anything anymore..."
*Luke* "Jeezus for fuck's sake!
I'm not fucking her Laura...I made it very clear to her
I was happily married and she respected that."
*Laura* "Is this the same Naomi that you grew up with?"
*Luke* "Yeah... so what if it is. She's a friend, that's it.....Told me she is in town for
work and decided to catch up with me. We had lunch together to catch up and that was it..."
Laura only knows of her because Luke has told her 
a little bit about her. She knows Naomi was 
his first love, first girlfriend, first everything really....

 *Laura* "So why didn't you tell me any of this?!"
*Luke* "Because I fucking forgot! It's been a very busy day, Laura! I don't always have time to fucking fill you in on all the women and ex-girlfriends that show up from time to time!"
And as soon as he realized what he had said he 
regretted it but it needed to be said. Laura
 says she trusts him so she should. 

*Laura* "Shut up! Just shut up!
It's like deja vu all over again with this! The last time you
had some ex-girlfriend
show up you ended up in her hotel room in her bed!
I can't go through this again Luke!"

Luke climbs onto the bed to get closer to her. 
He's trying but at the same time he's frustrated and tired as well. Things have been tense lately between them and with work. The last thing he wants is to argue again but Laura keeps pushing the matter.

*Luke* "Laura....C'mon babe you're being too paranoid about this..."
*Laura* "I think I have every right to be after everything that has
 happened in the past and recently..."
*Luke* "I'm being fucking honest here just because I don't tell you
 shit right away doesn't mean I'm fucking lying to you!..."
*Laura* "The last time I took your word for it. Your phone went off
with text messages from Rufus about your little make out
session with her. This is exactly why I need you to be transparent with me..."

Luke reaches into his back pocket and tosses his phone

 down onto the bed for Laura to have. He is tired and tired of being given the third degree interrogation about his whereabouts today. If she wants to believe the worst then fuck it.

*Luke* "Take the fucking phone if you don't
believe me. I'm gonna take a shower. I'm done with this shit!"
About thirty minutes later Luke finishes his shower 
and bathroom routine. He finds Laura asleep and his 
phone on his charger on his bedside table.

 He knows she is still mad otherwise she would have made it clear to him before she fell asleep.  Luke fluffs his pillow and crawls into bed. He's got to be up again in about four hours and back to work. 
He only has a few weeks left with Jacob before he leaves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning Luke wakes up much later than he had wanted to. Laura is already awake and taking care of the boys. He could hear their voices as Laura does her morning routine with them. 
He quickly gets dressed and begins to head out of the bedroom phone in hand as he checks his emails....

Completely distracted he does not even see Phoenix come running out of his own room, smiling brightly as he approaches Dad. Phoenix is hoping that Dad will pick him up from preschool 

again today and get ice cream! Oh boy! 

Laura meanwhile is busy brushing Finn's teeth

 in the hallway bathroom...

*Phoenix* "Daddy, Daddy! I get ish crweam today?!"

Luke is distracted by an important email he received early 
this morning, all the while Phoenix continues to drive
 home his excitement for ice cream.

*Luke* "Yeah hang on little man..."

Luke walks over to take a seat on the stairs 

that lead up to his home office. While Phoenix 

begins to grow impatient because Dad will not answer him.

*Phoenix*  "Daddy?!..Daddy?! I want ish crweam!!! I want ish crweam!!"

 *Luke* "Yeah okay, hang on Phoenix!..."
As Luke types a reply email on his phone, Phoenix begins
 to wiggle with frustration from being ignored by Dad.

*Phoenix* "DaaaaDeeeeee! I want ish crweam!"
Phoenix squeals with frustration the high pitched
 sound rattling Luke's eardrums. Which undoubtedly sends Luke over the edge. A squealing kid will undo you quickly...

*Luke* "Jeezus, Phoenix stop screaming!! I"ll pick some up later after work,okay?"
*Phoenix* "No, after school!!! I want ish crweam..."
*Luke* "I can't Phoenix I have to work!...I'll bring it home later."
*Phoenix* "Noooo!...."
As tensions rise Laura comes into the small hallway 
with little Finn sitting on her hip. If she doesn't intervene Phoenix will be in full on meltdown by the time she drops him off at school.

*Laura* "No ice cream Phoenix. Now go brush
 your teeth it's time to go!..."
*Phoenix* "No! I want to stay with Daddy!!!..."
*Luke* "Don't talk back to your mom...Go brush your teeth."
Phoenix stomps off to the bathroom while 
everyone else hangs out in the hallway. Phineas 
reaches out to Dad but Laura and Luke are
 too caught up in their own drama.

 *Laura* "You know he's dying to spend more time
with you. This is why he's acting out."
Luke can sense the frustration in her voice and body
 language as well. She is no doubt still mad about
 the whole Naomi situation.

*Luke* "I know but that's not possible right now...."
*Laura* "Well...It was completely possible for you to have lunch
with an ex-girlfriend yesterday..."
*Phineas cries* "Dada!!!"
Before Luke can give any kind of response Laura
 snaps at him again. Her red-headed 
temper is still on fire this morning...

*Laura* "Will you be home by dinner tonight or is that
not important either?"
Luke snaps back instantly as he loses his patience with the whole situation. Phineas' cry becomes a little more intense as he too 
picks up on mom and dad's emotions.

*Luke* "Get the fuck off my back Laura!...I already 
told you what happened."
 *Phineas cries* "Da da!!...Da da!..."
Luke gets up and heads towards the stairs. Laura just needs
 time to cool off and so does he. At least he hopes 
so...things have definitely been unpleasant between 
them since early last month. He pretty much dreads 
any conversation between them now.

*Laura* "Luke?!...."
*Luke spins around* "What?! I've got to go, Laura!..."
When he turned back around Phineas was now in full 
on tears. The sight of his baby boy in distress
 forces him to calm down to a more stable tone.

*Luke takes a deep breath* "I'll be back by dinner...I promise."
Then he turns back around heads down the
 stairs and out the door.

Things are really getting tense between Luke and Laura. Let's
 hope they can work it out before this gets too serious. Even the boys are feeling the tension now between mom and dad....

To Be Continued!....

Thanks so much as always for tuning in! I truly do appreciate all of your support and interest in what I do. I hope to be able to continue to post

 episodes on a regular basis! From now on 

Wednesdays

will be the day for new episodes to drop!

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