DENIAL

04

Her eyes always had nasty bags under them, not too harsh but noticeable to the eye. Like she never got any sleep, however, they were better than since the first time they had met.

He didn't waste another second thinking about it and wiped the unnecessary thoughts away. He didn't live with his parents anymore, he moved out as soon as he has turned 17.

Although, he's sure they hardly noticed his absence. He's amazed that they didn't notice until a few months later, even after buying the condo.

He didn't live with them anymore but he still had to go over there every once and a while to get packages, for some reason it slipped his mind and he never switched the addresses on his accounts whenever he'd order something.

Luckily, he didn't have to go over there today. He went straight home, not bothering to stop and talk to the many people on campus who called his name and waved.

Sometimes he wished he could be invisible and insignificant like he was to his parents to everyone else. It was getting quite annoying how everyone treated him, as if he were some god.

A part of him enjoyed it, relishing in the fact people saw him that way. In a way he couldn't even see himself.

When he arrived he immediately flopped on his bed.

His arms and legs spread out as if he was trying to make a snow angel, he closed his eyes and felt the warmth of his bed and the softness of his pillow. He wished he could relive this moment of comfort over and over again. His moment of solace didn't last long as he heard a knock at the door.

Fuck. Why can't I just sleep in peace?

He sluggishly got up and made his way to his door to be met with a face of a friend. "Leigh, where the hell have you been?" Leigh. I hate that name.

Hayden Zhang, one of the few people that Leighton considers a close friend. He was loud, obnoxious, and perhaps a little immature but honest.

He was an honest guy and Leighton admired that about him, he often liked to surround himself with honest and genuine people.

They're hard to come by nowadays.

"You know I hate when you call me that." Leighton says, gesturing for him to come in.

He does and closes the door. "Don't ignore my question, you know there's a party tomorrow right? you should go. You haven't been to one in ages."

"A month isn't 'ages' Hayden."

"Still." Leighton scoffs.

Parties were really never his thing, he just went to get his mind of literally everything else going on in his life. There was a point in time where parties were his salvation, he thrived in the thrill of it.

The hardcore alcohol, the loud and distracting music, the getting lost in himself and everything else around him was like a drug.

Addicting and enslaving.

Parties were only ever a distraction for him and he hasn't been to one since him and Alea's agruement.

Her words burned in his mind, replaying over and over.

He shouldn't be affected by what she says in the slightest, he's just met her. He shouldn't care about what she thinks of him and yet he does anyway, even if it's scarcely.

Ever since then, he's just sat at home.

Sometimes studying more, sometimes just sleeping, and sometimes suffering in his own self-loathing.