Aberrant

Chapter 20 - Best Friend

I manage to get through about three days of avoiding Cree about the subject of my how my exam was and without annoying Acth too much. Well, I did annoy Acth but it's kind of impossible not to when just my breathing seems to get on her nerves. However, every time I spot Cree I'll catch his look of frustration and anger as I walk in the opposite direction.

The fifth time I spot him I'm not so lucky. I had just finished work with Acth and I decided to take my time walking to the train station since the next train wasn't due for another twenty minutes. Obviously, I didn't realise that Cree may be trying to find me and that my slow pace would be what let me down.

"Trula!" I shiver at the sound of the smoky voice that belonged to the person I was trying to avoid. The voice came from a few metres behind me which means my chance of running has flown out of the window.

I spin around, trying to look innocent, "Oh, hi Cree." I wait until he catches up and I lean in to give him a kiss but when he turns his head to the side I stare at him wide eyed. I know I shouldn't be shocked that he doesn't want me to kiss him, but somehow, I still am.

"Trula, don't." He tries to say this sternly, but he's struggling not to take the easy way out of this conversation.

"What?"

"I don't want you to act like everything is okay. I know that you were upset after your test, but I've given you enough space and you can't keep avoiding me." He shakes his head like he can't believe I did it in the first place.

"I wasn't av-"

"Yes, you were Trula." He clenches his jaw and narrows his eyes at me. "Don't lie to me. I'm not stupid and it's not like you were very subtle."

"Okay, maybe I was. But don't get angry at me just because I didn't want to talk about it." I try not to get angry, but I find my face getting flushed in response.

"Oh, I'm not angry because you didn't want to talk about it. I'm angry because you think that it's a better idea to talk to complete strangers about your problems and not me." He huffs and crosses his arms.

"What in the hell are you talking about?" I furrow my brows and throw my arms outwards.

"You may not realise this, but everyone knows each other here and it doesn't take long for word to get around." He runs a hand through his hair roughly, looking annoyed.

"Or rumours." I suggest, still not really understanding what he's talking about. "Because I have no idea who this stranger is."

"You mean to say you don't even know her name?" He laughs bitterly, shaking his head in disbelief. "You know the girl with the black hair and purple eyes?"

"Essri?"

"Oh, you do know her name." This just seems to make his angrier as a sour expression unfolds.

"Essri?" I yell incredulously, "I've barely talked to her. And I definitely didn't talk to her about why I was upset!"

"Really?" He says with skepticism.

"Yeah, really. The only reason I was talking to her was because she helped me get out of work and since I didn't have anything to do I thought that I may as well hang out with her." I clench my fists, I can't believe him, "We only went to a cafe together - not really the best place to talk about really depressing things."

He shakes his head again, "But why would Dainu say that you were talking to Essri like that?"

"Excuse me, but who the fuck is Dainu?"

"The guy that was working at the cafe you were in."

"Wait. You're saying that little shit said this to you?"