Intrigue

Chapter 36

Malcolm's POV

I walked into the cafeteria where I was meant to meet Sean after the exam, and took a look around. I spotted Jeremy sitting at a table, typing on his phone frantically. I walked up to him.

"Hey," I told him. He looked up in shock.

"Oh, hey, Malcolm," he said, looking extremely uncomfortable.

I slid in the chair opposite him. "How are you?" I asked, wary that this was the first time that I was meeting someone from Sean's circles and he wasn't present with me. Also, the two of them had a history. "Hey, where's Sean?"

Jeremy frowned. "I'm fine. I might kill your boyfriend, though."

I arched an eyebrow. "Why?"

"He was supposed to message you," Jeremy stated briefly.

"What about?" I took out my phone from my bag and glanced at the screen. There was a new text from Sean, saying, Sorry love, got called into work. Jeremy's there. I hope it's okay. Love you xxxxx.

"What did he say?" Jeremy asked me warily.

"He has to work," I mumbled. Weird. Not like Sean at all.

"Yeah, that's what he told me," Jeremy said. "He left a few minutes ago, actually."

I looked at him curiously. Why would he ask me what the text said if he knew that Sean had been called into work? Was he lying about it? Was Jeremy just following up on what I told him the text said so that neither of them would be caught in a lie? But why lie in the first place?

"Bummer," I muttered. "I haven't seen him outside of his apartment since the day we met you guys." It was very much unlike Sean to just bail on me. But these past few days hadn't been his best, either.

"Yeah, sorry," Jeremy said with a grimace. "So how was your exam?"

I shrugged. "Okay, considering I didn't study much," I said.

"Oh, great," Jeremy said distractedly. I watched him glance around the cafe. "Look, if you want to just leave, it's fine," he said finally.

"No, as if," I scoffed. He was definitely the more uncomfortable out of the two of us, and I wondered why. "I can stay."

"Great." I watched Jeremy force a smile at me. "Lunch's on Sean, apparently. He left a fifty, but if that's not enough we can just transfer the money from his account."

"What?" I asked in confusion.

Jeremy swatted me away. "I know his credit card details by heart."

I blinked. Oh-kay. "That's... not healthy," I murmured.

"The friendship Sean and I have is not healthy," Jeremy shrugged.

I exhaled. It was comments like these from Jeremy that made me feel uncomfortable about how they were with each other. And he seemed to make them very often. On the other hand, I trusted Sean fully...

My thoughts were shattered by the sound of a familiar voice calling my name. I looked up and saw my younger sister, Ella, standing close by. Her eyes shifted from me to Jeremy and back.

"Hey, Ella," I said in surprise as she walked over to us.

"Hey, I haven't seen you in days," she said, looking at me curiously. "Where have you been?"

I chuckled. "Staying with a friend, work, exam, you name it," I muttered. It dawned to me that if Sean had been here, he'd have met Ella. Maybe they did see each other, earlier, before he'd left. Maybe it would have been ideal if he had been there now, and I'd have introduced them right here, no more secrets.