Upon the Gaze (Ghostface X Reader 18+)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN - Father Malice

I waved my mother off as she drove away, and breathed out a long sigh. I looked upwards at the storm clouds threatening to dribble. They always seem to follow me, I thought to myself. I pulled my cigarette pack out of my pocket and drew one. I held it with my lips and lit the end, breathing in for the sweet relief brought on by nicotine and tobacco. I closed my eyes and attempted to empty my emotions. Why not go do something while I'm here, I thought. With that I started walking down the sidewalk of the downtown streets.
Familiar smells of fast-food joints and street vendors lingered along the road. It took me back to my first few days here in Los Robles. I remembered going to a food truck that had a peculiar dish to draw in customers. Pizza spring rolls I believe I remembered correctly. I smiled at the thought of such a ridiculous thing. I wondered what Ghostface would have thought of it. Would he bob his head in enjoyment like he did with regular pizza? Or pancakes with honey? I continued my jaunt down memory lane. I came upon a shop that used to be a flower store. How unfortunate, I thought. However it made sense to me. Romance seemed to be dead for our generation. No more need for flower shops. I used to daydream of a boy I loved surprising me with flowers. A typical bouquet of a dozen red roses. I scoffed at the simple idea of it now. The most I ever got were single english-lawn daisies.
As I continued down the road, lost in thought, I saw a group of people walking towards me. Due to my social anxiety I always tried my best to ignore groups of people passing, and tried to make little to no eye contact, but when someone called my name I looked up, and realized that unfortunately I knew the people of this group. There was Lisa, waving at me vigorously, with that overly saturated pink lipstick wrapping around her fake smile. I wished I would have been walking on the opposite side of the road so I could have ignored their calls and continued walking, but there's no way I could avoid them seeing how we were on the same side of the road, and making eye contact. With her was a couple who we were both friends with from the college, Maurice and Daphne. I didn't mind them so much, they were generally nice people, but Daphne did tend to over share and bother people with her problems to the point where everyone had to play makeshift therapist at one point in the friendship, and Maurice, though quiet, had a nasty habit of getting violent when drunk. Almost like he was taking out all of his aggression that he kept bottled in. It was a wonder why we always still brought him with us when we went out for bar crawls, when he tried to fight every other guy that looked at, or happened to pass by Daphne. As if things couldn't get even more unfortunate, Freddie was also there. I took a deep breath, preparing myself for the coming situation. They came upon me now, seemingly excited to see me here again in the city. "(y/n)! You didn't tell me you were coming to Los Robles today!" Lisa cooed. "It was a last minute thing." I said shortly, hitting a drag off my cigarette. Freddie, attempting to make eye contact with me as if to assert dominance, then spoke to me. "Hey (y/n), how are things? I haven't heard from you since you moved out of Los Robles. Life treating you well?" I'm not sure what sparked this slight boost of confidence in me, maybe I was just living further off the lie I gave my mother earlier. I blew my smoke in Lisa's direction, who was never much of a smoker and said, "Yeah, actually. Life's been pretty damn good." They all seemed surprised, making expressions as though they were expecting me to be bitching and moaning for having moved from the bustling city to practically the countryside. "Really?" Freddie asked seeming rather shocked. "Where are you staying now?" Asked Daphne. "My grandfathers house, about two and a half hours out of Los Robles." I pointed south, in it's direction. "It's a nice, big, old-fashioned house. My grandad had it built to retire in." I further explained its over exaggerated luxuris. "Never really took you to be a country girl." Lisa commented, Daphne chuckled and the boys smiled. Something seemed to snap and contort in my gut to the comment and reaction of my peers at my expense. "Never took you to be a dirty thief," I darkly retorted, numbly. The group went silent and the smiles fell. "Excuse me?" Lisa scoffed. "You heard me." I said, holding onto the confidence that had built up within me as best I could. Th fires of malice built inside myself and I stared daggers, particularly at Freddie, who seemed more surprised of my knowledge then anyone else there. "And let me guess, the two of you knew about it too, didn't you?" I directed at Daphne and Maurice. There may have been a hint of pained emotion in my voice in that sentence. After all it hurt knowing people you put even minimal trust into turned against you so horribly. I continued my questioning. "And how long was it going to take one of you to say anything about it? Or were you all just hoping to let it get swept under the rug? That I wouldn't find out?" The group remained silent, and my blood began to boil. "You always fucking sucked at keeping secrets, Lisa." I took another hit off my cigarette and let the smoke seep through my teeth. "It's not like that, (y/n), really!" Freddie seemed to plead. "Really? Than how is it? You two were fucking behind my back before we even broke up. Not to mention...you were a pretty shitty boyfriend when we were together." My words hissed with aggression. Something was sparked in me, and I kind of liked it. Never in my life did I have this level of confidence, and it felt amazing. "Oh get over yourself!" Lisa shouted at me. "It's not my fault you and Freddie never worked out! We just happened to be better for each other. Can't we just go back to all being friends?" Her words oozed forgery, and her smile felt more menacing than kind. She walked up to me and extended her hand.
"Come on~ truce?" She beckoned. I looked down at her hand, then directly in her eyes. "Right. What are friends for?" I said with a false camaraderie, and grabbed her hand. I looked directly in her eyes, but rather than seeing myself in the reflection of those optics, I saw the face of a white, shrieking mask.
"Right." Freddie said, clearing his throat. "Don't worry, (y/n), you'll find someone better than ol' Freddie here." Maurice piped up, playfully punching his arm. The group chuckled once more, but yet again were stopped in their tracks when I said,
"I already have." I smirked as I hit the remainder of my cigarette. "Oh really?" Lisa asked, seemingly shocked that I had already moved on. "What's he like?" She seemed in disbelief. "Wouldn't you like to know." I said mockingly. "Anyway, I really gotta get going. I have work tomorrow. It was fun catching up." I said as I flicked my dwindled cigarette by their feet, and strode off feeling immaculate. Not one said a word to me.
I had come out victorious from the battle of fake friendships today, and couldn't wait to rush home to my "boyfriend."