Damage

Chapter 10

“Here you go,” the barista hands me a cup of tea (Chai, no sugar) and I hold the cardboard cup between my hands to warm them up.  For September, the air is colder than I thought and it won’t be long before I have to pull out my heavier jackets.

In a second, it feels like the weekend has passed me by and now it’s Monday, my first day of classes. I am every bit as nervous and excited as I thought I would be, but I never expected to have the thought of Luke hanging over my head on my first real day at college.  

For a Monday morning, the campus is surprisingly alive. Students are rushing around, holding cups of coffee and trying to wake up their sleepy bodies for the first day of the school year. For some reason, the people rushing around and buzzing with excitement reminds me of home – of block parties and cheap candy and fourth of July parties.

 As Emily rants and raves about something annoying that Hutch did yesterday, my mind is elsewhere, looking around at my new environment and breathing it all in. I keep telling myself that this isn’t Georgia, and that I shouldn’t miss a place that I was so desperate to leave, but I still do.

“Mia, you alright?” Emily asks after a few seconds, chucking her now-empty coffee cup into a nearby recycling bin. 

“Yeah, I’m fine, sorry,” I apologize, taking a sip from my tea, careful not to let it burn the roof of my mouth. “Just thinking." 

“What about?”

 I wish I had an answer. Every since the party on Friday nothing makes sense and I have more questions than answers, more questions than I could ever ask in the space of time that it takes to walk from our dorm to our first class, English.

“Tell me more about Luke Hemmings.”

 The words surprise me the minute that they fall out of my mouth and I almost want to take my hand and snatch them out of the air, pulling them back and never speaking them again.

 “He’s…He’s trouble.” Emily responds evasively, only piquing my curiosity further.

 “But what about him?” I shouldn’t press further, but I feel like everyone, especially Luke himself is hiding something. Emily has lived in New York all her life, so she’s privy to information that I’m not.  I feel a little guilty for asking but the curiosity has been eating at me all weekend.

 “Why do you want to know?” Emily asks, not suspiciously, just worriedly.  “Mia, trust me, he’s not the type of person you want to –“ 

“He called me.”

Emily’s mouth nearly drops open and for a second, I wish I hadn’t told her. Telling her feels like digging myself deeper into a hole, a bottomless pit that I’m veering closely towards.

“He sounded drunk and upset, and he was asking to make sure I walked back safely after he dropped me off." 

“That’s so….not like him.” Emily trails off vaguely, making me even more worried. I don’t like him, and I have no romantic inclinations towards him whatsoever, but I can’t get the way he was speaking out of my head. He sounded so broken and harsh and it scared me.

“Look, I don’t know what that was about but, be careful. He’s not your typical rich bad boy, okay? Luke has done and still does…a lot of stuff.”

The way her voice sounds nearly makes me apologize for asking but before I can, I hear a voice calling my name.

“Mia!" 

It’s Calum.  Even though seeing him here makes goosebumps rise along my skin, I can’t help but smile.  Emily smiles tightly, obviously uncomfortable and I do my best to give her a reassuring touch on her arm that will go unnoticed.

“Hey,” I say, taking a deep breath and trying not to let my apprehension show on my face. Calum walks towards me and gives me a quick hug, the faint smell of cinnamon and expensive cologne coming from his body.

I almost find comfort in the fact that he’s alone but when I see a tall figure dressed all in black come out of the coffeeshop Calum is standing in front of, it feels like ice water is being shocked into my veins.  

“Luke.”

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