Don't Tell My Brother

Chapter 51 - Blood

It'd been a long day of studying, made even longer by the anticipation. Four thirty rolled around, and found Lucas slumped over his third economics essay. He'd been practicing writing them under timed conditions, but he didn't know how much good it was doing him. He kept getting distracted. He'd resorted to chewing on the end of his pen, and it was now a mangled, twisted mess.

Lucas glanced at his phone. The bus would be there in seven minutes. Six, now. He stood up, brushing non-existent dust off his shirt. Twitchy, slightly nervous movement. It was time.

Walking down the stairs, he tried to look as casual as he possibly could. Casually heading out to see some casual friends on a casual day. Down the stairs, through the living room, into the hallway, towards the front door on his very casual time leaving the house.

"Lucas?"

He froze, hand on the doorknob.

"Yes, Mom?"

"Where are you going?" She didn't sound suspicious, did she? Lucas couldn't tell.

"Out." That was too vague. He hurried to add detail. "To see Alex. And Mona. We're doing a thing."

Lucas hardly ever lied to his parents, which was probably why he was so bad at it. He'd never really had to. If anything, they probably would've wanted him to rebel a little. Sneak out. Drink, even. But 'I'm going to invite my boyfriend over to hopefully have sex with him' certainly wasn't a conversation he wanted to have with his parents. Maybe he should've practiced a lie.

"A thing? That sounds riveting." His mother laughed, and Lucas rolled his eyes. "When are you getting back?"

Lucas paused to consider it. He certainly couldn't bring Damien over while his parents were still there. "I won't be out long. When are you guys leaving?"

That wasn't subtle at all, but his mother didn't seem to notice. "In half an hour."

"Oh...uh, damn. I won't be back by then." Did he sound convincing? "What a shame."

"Have fun!" His mother called, just as the door closed behind him.

He would. Wouldn't he?

***

It wasn't hard to spot Damien and his friends. The football field was bigger than he'd remembered, a wide, green expanse that felt as vast as a lake underneath his feet, especially with Damien on the other side. They were in a tight knit little group, several guys and what looked like a girl or two. Even from this distance, he could hear laughter.

As he drew closer, he could make them out. Most of the guys he'd seen at the cliff were there, including Leon, the one who'd asked him if he was gay like he was asking about a terminal illness. Christina, April, and a long-legged girl dressed in baggy clothes he didn't recognise. He hoped April wouldn't try to set him up with someone again. It'd been a little awkward the first time, despite her good intentions, and with Damien, his boyfriend (he never got tired of calling him that), right there, it'd only be worse.

The new girl was talking to Damien, looking up at him, and even Lucas could see that she was into him. Something in her wide eyes, the laugh that lasted a little too long, the way she nudged her shoulder against his arm. Or maybe he was overthinking it.

"Your hands are so big! Look, look, mine are so much smaller."

Okay, he wasn't overthinking it. The girl looked so hopeful, too, holding up a hand with nails she'd painted with alternating pale blue and silver. Lucas felt a little flare of something, something a little sharp, a little angry, a little he's mine, back off, but he couldn't blame her. She didn't know. And Damien was very attractive, in his (definitely unbiased) opinion.