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13 - Bitter Pill

look at the picture on the side. it's sad Luke :(

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 13 - Bitter Pill

 

Luke Waters

According to Sam, Teagan Russell liked me.

 According to Sam, that is, so his information was probably not from trustworthy sources; so when I asked him “How the hell would you know that?” he just gave me a ‘dafuq’ look and said, “Isn’t it obvious?”

 I didn’t think it was, so I just nodded, and my mind drifted to a certain curly-haired, wide-eyed girl in the next room, wondering if she could make it obvious too.

 At dinner later that night, though, all was silent when Maya spoke suddenly.

 “Ma, Dad, I’m going out tomorrow evening.”

 “Okay,” Mrs. Sumedh responded absent-mindedly. Mr. Sumedh, however, was more alert. Even Sam’s ears pricked up.

 “With whom?” Mr. Sumedh asked, raising his eyebrow.

 She shrugged next to me.

 “I have a date.”

 I froze.

 The mouthful of food in my mouth suddenly had an acrid taste, and I stopped chewing. Swallowing hard, I stared at the corner of the place mat my plate was resting on, vaguely aware that my grip on my water glass tightened considerably.

 “Oh,” Mr. Sumedh said, “That’s okay then.” And I felt like getting up and shouting No, that’s not fucking okay but I didn’t.

 “Stick to the curfew,” Mrs. Sumedh piped in. “Eleven pm. No negotiations.”

 “Okay.”

 And she was just – she sounded so blasé, as if…

 Were the past few weeks all in my head? Did that night on the terrace mean nothing to her? Was I cooking up a whole fantasy for nothing, based on nothing, leading to nothing?

 “Um, Maya,” Sam said from my other side, “who exactly is taking you on a date? Erm, I mean…”

 He trailed off.

 “Zayn,” Maya replied simply, and suddenly I felt…angry.

 “Zayn Malik?” Sam mumbled stupidly, and Maya giggled.

 “No, you stupid, Zayn Farrukh. First year psychology student at DU. Not gay member of stupid boy band.”

 I would’ve laughed. I could’ve laughed. But I didn’t.

 I couldn’t even stomach the food on my plate. I felt sick. I pushed my plate away from me.

 “Excuse me,” I muttered, getting up. Mrs. Sumedh gave me a concerned look.

 “Luke, sweetie, you’ve hardly eaten.”

 I chucked my napkin down on the table, trying not to use too much force.

 “Sorry, Mrs. Sumedh. But I’m not hungry.”

 Sam was looking at me. Maya wasn’t. I turned and left the room, making up my mind then and there.

*

 “Gun-Gun. Is that you?”

 “Luke! Hey!”