Camera

11 - Photograph

 “I can’t really stay mad at you.”

 “Of course you can,” I grumbled. “You’ve stayed mad at me for weeks on end.”

 Her smile became an outright grin.

 “Well, yeah.”

 I was about to say something else when my bedroom door opened and a familiar fragrance wafted to my nose. I spun around in my chair.

 Maya.

Maya Sumedh

If I was going to bridge the gap, I was going to do it right.

 I wanted to know how Luke’s day at school went, I did, and I was going to ask him about it. I cracked open his bedroom door around half an hour after he’d gone upstairs. He was doing something on his laptop; I couldn’t see what because it was angled slightly away from me. He looked surprised to see me.

 Heck, I would’ve been surprised to see me.

 “Hey,” I said, shutting the door behind me.

 His gaze flickered to the laptop and then back to me.

 “Hey.”

 My hand left the doorknob and a smirk slipped onto my face.

 “Is it not a good time?”

 He blinked and then realization crossed his face.

 “What? No, it’s not that! Oh God, no.”

 Then a voice rang out from the laptop.

 “I made sure of that, to whoever that is.”

 It wasn’t Leo’s voice, it was a girl. Luke’s face went absolutely white, and I raised my eyebrow at him. The voice was smooth and feminine, what I usually call a bedroom voice.

 I walked over slowly, and then stood behind Luke, and then when I saw the face on the screen I felt thankful that I’d just washed my face and changed, and swiped on a fresh coat of eyeliner, because that girl was fucking gorgeous, even though her hair was a mess and she wasn’t wearing any make up.

 Her eyes appraised me too.

 “Why, hello.”

 I kept her gaze.

 “Um, hello.”

 Her eyes shifted slowly to Luke.

 “No one else, my fucking ass, Luke.”

 I didn’t get it. I just looked at Luke, who glared at her with surprising hostility.

 “Shut up, Megs.”

 Megs. That rang a bell. I looked at the girl curiously, who was smirking at Luke.

 “Wait, you’re Megan?”

 She raised one eyebrow at me.

 “You’ve heard of me?”

 “I’ve heard that the head cheerleader in your school is called Megan,” I said, and looked at Luke for confirmation. He was just looking a little bemused.

 “And I’ve never heard of you,” said Megan, smiling at me, but without humour.

 “I’m not surprised,” I told her honestly.

 I didn’t really want to talk to her much. So I turned to Luke.

 “Should I come back later?”