𝑬𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕

18

"It's fine." I cut her off with a fake smile tugging my lips. "You're right. I shouldn't take advantage of your hospitality. I'm not a kid anymore so I should act my age. I'll leave by the end of the week."

After that, I called Dad to come pick me up and take me home. Brooke and I hadn't spoken much since then. She would leave a few texts here and there, checking how I was doing and asking if I was still hurt by her words. I would either leave curt responses or just leave her on read.

I hadn't seen much of Maren when school opened. 

She was mostly busy with her dissertation and getting ready for her finals which made her unavailable for the most part but we still kept in touch. The only time I ever go to see her was when she'd come around my place after school if she wasn't buried in schoolwork or when she needed a ride to Queens for her sessions with Matthew.

Matthew...

I hadn't spoken to him since he dropped me off at Brooke's place, nor did I see him that much unless it was during his sessions with Maren. We never really talked - rather, I never really talked to him. It was how it was like before Eaglesvale, but the difference was that I was keeping my distance and setting boundaries.

I had initially planned on avoiding him entirely, making excuses to Maren as to why I couldn't take her to Queens like: I have some assignments to catch up on and a tests to study for; I have a group discussion to attend to; I'm not feeling too well; any excuse to keep me from going to Queens and seeing Matthew there. But I realised that would draw suspicion, so I resorted to switch between making excuses, dropping her off and picking her up afterwards.

I was lucky that Matthew got too busy with work that he was unable to call her for sessions.

...for both of our sakes, can we just forget it happened and move on?

That was easier said than done. No matter how hard I tried and how bad I wanted to, the memories of that night couldn't fade away. The images, the feelings, every detail was stuck in my head like a fly suck in super glue.

It was my first time. I had given a part of myself to him and I didn't know if I was going to get it back. What was worse about it was I gave myself to someone who thought I was someone else - someone I can assume was from his past and that, in many ways, was a hard pill to swallow.

"Hey, Bee?" Maren said.

She had come over to spend time with me at home after school. I didn't mind having her around since that was one of the few times we got to hangout before she got busy and unavailable. As long as she didn't disturb me while I was busy.

"Yeah?" I answered, eyes focused on my laptop as my fingers were moving around the keyboard.

"What's going on between you and Matthew?" she asked.

"Nothing is going between us, Mare." I answered, dismissing the subject.

"You know what I mean."

I gave her a brief glance before looking back at my laptop. 

She sighed. "What I mean is, what changed between you too? Y'all were pretty tight back at Eaglesvale, but now...y'all are acting like stranger - or that you're the one acting like he's a stranger. I asked him what's up, but he ain't saying shit."

I paused what I was doing, taking in what she had said, and went back to what I was doing. "It's nothing for you to worry about. I just don't want to overstep my boundaries with him whilst he's working."

"Okay? So explain to me why he sent you three texts in you Instagram DMs begging you to talk to him - which you left on read, by the way."

I looked up from my laptop and found her scrolling through my phone.