the beginning of us

Thick Skin

Chapter 6

April's POV

As soon as I heard that name, my phone dropped out of my hand.

I stared into space, utterly confused.

"Why?" I said, my voice breaking.

"Is it so bad to reject someone's feelings?" I said, rather angry this time.

"Calm down, April. I will fix this." he said.

"What are you gonna do? Sue for defamation?" I said, sarcastically.

"Of course, if you want me too. No one can treat you like this and get away with it." Lucas stated.

He's always been such a great friend.

"Are you coming to work tomorrow?" he asked, looking worried.

"I will, I'll try at least. He'll get full satisfaction if he sees that I'm too scared to go to work." I said, standing up.

I had to pretend to have the thick skin that I wasn't sure I had.

"Lucas, I don't want to work right now. Can I finish this tomorrow?" I asked.

"Of course."

I went to my house and saw Ethan there.

"April, are you okay?" he asked, standing up.

"Yeah." I replied and walked into my room.

"I hate that we're not close enough for her to tell me the truth." Ethan mumbled under his breath before I closed the door.

To be honest, I hated it too.

The sun literally woke me up the following day.

I reached for my phone to answer Hazel's call.

"April! I haven't heard from you in forever." Hazel squealed.

"Hi, Hazel. How are you?"

"I'm fine, but more importantly, how are you feeling? Ethan texted me and told me that you didn't look so good last night." she said, sounding worried.

"That's right, I have something to tell you."

"I'm all ears." she said.

"Someone sent an anonymous message to the company group chat saying that I'm involved with Lucas."

"Shit, no way. Are you okay?" she asked.

"No. I'm really not okay and today, I have to go to work and pretend to be okay. I have no one at work except Lucas and everyone else thinks I'm like a slut or something." I ran my hands through my hair in frustration.

"Calm down, April. Should I come over?"

"Of course not, I'm going to work."

"Don't listen to what those people say, they don't know you like I do. I'll see you after work." she said.

"You wanna know the worst part?" she scoffed.

"What's that?"

"The bitch who did this to me was just angry that I didn't like him back." I scoffed.

"What the hell?! I even thought it would be a girl. Don't worry about it, though. I'm sure Lucas knows exactly how to handle this." she said.

"Yeah, I guess. Bye, Hazel."

"See you later, April." she whispered.

I got ready for work and took the bus like every other day.

I walked into the building, with my head held high.

Unfortunately, knots formed in my stomach as I heard not-so-quiet whispers around me. There was nothing I wasn't called.

During lunchtime, I couldn't even go out to eat because I had a lot of work to do.

After, getting my food, engrossed in my own thoughts, I bumped into a colleague and my food would've stained her dress if she hadn't moved quickly.

"What the actual fuck?" she exclaimed.

"Oh, I'm s-"

"So because you're Lucas Calloway's side piece, you think you can do anything you want?" she glared at me.

"I was actually about to apologize to this bitch." I said under my breath.

"Are you scared? Speak loudly." she rolled her eyes.

"I can't believe I was about to apologize to this bitch." I said, looking straight at her.

"How dare you?" she was about to hit me but I dodged it and she stumbled.

She looked around in embarrassment and I simply walked away. I wasn't ready to go upstairs and work with Lucas' office right in front of me.

I left the building and wandered around. I could either get drunk with Hazel or go home to watch dramas.

I could do something else on the other hand. It had been a while since I visited my dad so I decided to visit him.

When I got there, I went to meet him immediately.
I placed a flower on the top of the headstone of his grave.

"Hey, dad. I know you're always watching me because well, I'm your favourite kid but I'll give you the gist anyway." I smiled.

"My new job was pretty okay until I met Aaron. He spread lies about me and I wasn't even strong enough to take it. I ran away," I paused, then continued, "like I always do."

"The visit wasn't planned so I didn't bring any food and I'll go back to work now, so, I guess I will see you later." I wiped my tears way.

After I left the cemetery, I wandered around a little.

Suddenly, I felt a hand grabbing my arm.

I elbowed the stranger in the chest and turned around to see that it was Lucas.

"Lucas? Oh, I'm so sorry." I helped him up.

"I've been searching all over for you. Do you have any idea how worried I was?" he looked into my eyes.

"I just needed a break. I was going to come back and give you an excuse." I said.

"I'm not joking, April."

I smiled brightly and stretched out my hands for a hug.

Childishly, he looked the other way but I went in for the hug anyways.

"I went to visit someone that really cheered me up. Let's go, Lulu." I said as I patted his back.

"Who?" he asked me as he pulled away.

"It's a secret." I whispered into his ear.

"How did you deal with Aaron though?" I asked.

"You should be happy to hear that he left the company." he grinned.

I arched an eyebrow. "Willingly?"

"Something like that." he winked.

Lucas is so bf coded
next chapter: Jealous