Haunted

Chapter 69

Songs for this chapter

Better Left Unsaid - Ariana Grande

Bang The Doldrums - Fall Out Boy

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"Luke, you forgot this!", I hear someone shout.

I turn around to see Max running after me, my book in his hand. "You left that at your table."

"Thanks", I sigh and continue my way to my locker. "No problem", he replies and follows me.

Doesn't he have anybody else? Ariana for example. Why doesn't he follow her around, like always?

"So how are you?", he asks behind me and I roll my eyes. "As shit as always", I tell him.

"Oh, sorry for-" "Max!", a familiar voice interrupts him.

I turn around even faster than him, just to see Ariana looking at us awkwardly.

After a few seconds she seems to decide on just ignoring me and starts talking.

"Do you.. well, I was wondering if you have a clue who.. brought me home on Saturday..?"

She looks a little bit embarrassed, probably because she can't remember anything. She really was pretty drunk, I'm not surprised she forgot everything.

"As far as I know-", he begins and turns to face me. "Max did", I quickly cut him off. Ariana looks confused for a second, then she nods.

"Oh, good, sorry for that", she says and he looks at me surprised, then he smiles.

"It was a pleasure", he says and I awkwardly look at my feet.

"But you can't drive", Ariana suddenly says. "He gave you a piggyback ride", I jump in.

"Yeah..", Max mumbles and Ariana sighs. "He can talk, Luke", she says. "He doesn't need your help."

"Sorry", I say quietly and look back at my feet.

I was the one who helped her. I am the one who'll always be there for her. But why didn't I tell her? Right, because she already hates me enough.

"I'll see you later, okay?", Ariana asks and I look up to see Max nodding.

She walks away and I feel myself getting angry. She doesn't have to ignore me!

"Bye, Ariana", I say loud enough for her to hear and she turns around again.

I raise my eyebrows and wait for her to reply. "Uhm.. bye", she says and quickly walks away.

"Don't be so mean", Max says and a laugh nearly escapes my lips. "Mean?", I ask.

"I think I did much more for her than any of you ever will do. Don't act like you're something better."

"You just embarrassed her", he tells me. "I just said bye", I snap. "She could at least acknowledge my existence, don't you think so?"

"You hurt her", Max shrugs. "Oh, and no one else ever did, huh?"

"A lot of people did but it's different in your case. Because she loves you."

With that he leaves me alone.

He said she loves me. Not loved.

Is that true? She can't actually still love me, right? What if she does?

Just the thought of it makes me smile like an idiot.

I reach my locker and put my books inside, suddenly in a much better mood.

Maybe everything will be okay.

***

"I don't feel like going to the movies right now, Michael", I sigh into the speaker.

"You never do", he replies. Well, he's right.

"I'll be at your place in ten minutes", he tells me. "No, no, I'm not home. I'm at the park near my house, you know which one?"

"What are you doing there again?", he asks and I can nearly see him rolling his eyes. "It's boring."

"Ariana and I used to go there a lot", I shrug. "I like it."

He tells me again how idiotic that little park is, then he ends the call. I have a few more minutes to spend here. It's pretty calming, coming here.

Suddenly I hear silent sobs. Where does that come from?

I follow the noise and find myself behind a park bench - find myself behind Ariana on a park bench.

"Ariana?", I ask quietly and she winces, then she turns around. Her eyes are bloodshot and I start to wonder for how long she's been here.

"What's wrong?", I ask and take a step closer. "N-nothing", she sniffs and I kneel down in front of her.

"It doesn't look like nothing", I say and she looks down. "I don't think I should talk about it to you", she mumbles.

"Why not?", I ask and she takes a deep breath. "Because it's weird telling my ex-boyfriend about my new relationship."

"What did that asshole do?", I ask and clench my fists.

"He cheated on me", she sniffs. "Over and over again because I didn't wanna sleep with him. He looked for another toy."

I knew it. I fucking knew it. Why couldn't she listen to me?

"I'm gonna kill him", I say through gritted teeth. "No one hurts you."

"Except for you", she whispers and I feel a sting in my heart. She's right. I hurt her. But I love her, unlike Brian.

"Where is he?", I ask and stand up. "I'm gonna.."

I don't finish the sentence. What am I even gonna do?

Just anything. Who cares if he beats me up. As long as he gets a few punches..

He's probably at the sportsfield in school. Without saying anything else I start to walk away.

"Wait!", she hastily says. "Don't!"

She grabs my arm and turns me back to her. "You know he will hurt you worse than you can hurt him."

I look down at her hand which's still holding onto my arm and there I see it.

Her wristbands aren't covering what they're supposed to cover - fresh scars.

"What's that?", I ask alarmed. She looks down at her wrist and quickly jerks her hand away, trying to cover her arms.

"You should leave. Luke", she says quickly. "No", I tell her. "You cut again!"

She shrugs, then she looks away from me.

"Did he do that? Did you cut because of Brian?", I ask quietly. If she does this because of him, he must've hurt her a lot. Means he must mean a lot to her.

She looks at me, clearly surprised. "What? No!"

As she whispers her next words I wish, she would've said it's his fault.

"I did it.. because of you."

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Thank y'all for reading!

Aw Ariana cut again and that's pretty sad even though she's been quite annoying in the past few chapter haha

Vote and comment, hope you enjoyed this :)

Bye xxxx