Beware The Water

Secrets

Lux stared at Sing's contact on her phone. Her conscience was saying to warn him about the situation but she remembered that Shorter told her otherwise. "You ignored my call last night." Oz said, "Was everything alright?"

"Yeah. I was seeing a movie with Shorter. It was a bad time." Lux responded.

"Oh. So I'm guessing things with Yuji didn't work out?" Oz had heard a few whispers about Lux spending time with her lab partner. That they even went on a "date" after school.

"Huh? Oh-" Lux laughed off the question, "We're just friends. That's it. I've told you a hundred times not to believe gossip."

Oz couldn't help but feel that his friend was slipping away again. There were times that he felt close to her and times where they felt like complete strangers. He was the last person on her priority list and he didn't like it. "Well you should tell him." Oz nudged Lux to look behind her to see Yuji walking towards them.

"Hey, Oz. Could you give us a moment?" Lux asked, receiving an eye roll as a response. "Hey."

Yuji rubbed his arm to calm his nerves. Ever since the incident, he couldn't help but feel weird around Lux. Like she secretly hated him for what happened. "Hey, I uh. You doing okay?"

Lux gave a soft smile, "I've told you already. Everything's fine. Stop beating yourself up over it. I'm not mad at you."

"Right." He nodded, still being filled with guilt. "Just sucks that your probably never wanna hang out again."

That wasn't true at all. These past few days after being so pissed at Shorter, Lux was looking for someone else to put her attention towards. Yuji was tall, funny, cute. Personality wise he had all the things she liked about Shorter and none of the things she hated about him. "That's not true." She smiled coyly, placing a tender hand on the boys bicep. Lux bit her bottom lip and batted her eyelashes, "Wanna get lunch later?"

Yuji felt his face heat up at Lux's advances. He was usually the one to have girls hook, line and sinker but when Lux decided to make the first move, it had thrown him off of his game. "Uh- yeah. Sure." He stammered nervously. "Just meet me by my car. You know where I park."

Lux gave a wink before walking away to her next class. Shorter had wanted to meet up during lunch hour for something so Lux took this as an opportunity for Shorter to see her leave with another guy. "Let's see how he likes it."
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Lux spotted Shorter's car across the street and met him inside. "Lemme see your phone." He said, holding out a demanding hand.

"What why?"

"Just do it. Both of them." Lux rolled her eyes, pulling out both phones from her purse for Shorter to check. He scrolled through her call logs and texts, finding nothing that was to Sing. "Sorry." He said, handing the phones back. "Just making sure."

"Whatever." Lux rolled her eyes, "Good to know that you don't trust me."

"That's not it." Shorter shook his head. He could feel the tension radiating off of Lux. Part of him wanted her to get back to her business but the other half wanted to make things right. "Now that you're here, wanna get something to eat?"

"No thanks. I'm going to have lunch with a friend." She said, opening up the car door.

"Oz?"

"No."

Shorter watched Lux walk back onto campus. She was approached by a blonde guy who was about his size. He squinted, trying to get a better look. "Huh, she has a type." Shorter sat back, getting this unfamiliar feeling in his chest. It was an almost burning sensation that felt heavy. There was no way he was feeling jealous. He couldn't be. After all, he said they weren't a couple...
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Shorter laid down in his bed, staring at the cracked white ceiling. He rolled over to his side, catching sight of the alley painting that Lux let him keep. It would make him smile every time he saw it hanging up on the wall in a picture frame that he had swiped from Nadia's house. The picture was so beautiful just like Lux. It took him back to that innocent day that they first hung out.