Luella

42 | golden oldies

"She's not chicks," I interject pointedly. "Not even close. She's Luella."

"Speaking of, what the hell went down with Poppy?" Ben makes the mistake of asking. My blood runs cold and he notices, which makes him nudge me. "I mean, you basically kicked me out of the bathroom, dude. What started all the...chaos?"

"She's unbelievable," My voice comes out in a growl and I glare at the ground. "She needs to move on and out of my way."

"What happened?" Ben repeats his question and I sigh, telling him the full events.

// FLASHBACK //

"Are you sure you're okay?" I trace a finger down Luella's arm and goosebumps form all over her skin. She shivers slightly and nods at me with a forced smile.

"I'm okay," she whispers and tries to subtly lean away from my touch so I drop my hand and frown.

"I'm sorry," My voice is dripping with desperation and pleas. Two months ago, I wouldn't have given a fuck, but I'm so deep in now that I don't care anymore how pathetic I look right now. I grip my hair back off my forehead. "I am, Luella. Please, just...just forget about tonight."

Her eyes almost swear me off with the look she gives me. "I told you I'm fine, Harry. So please, please drop it."

I have been holding my breath without realizing it, so I exhale loudly and it comes just as defeated as I hoped it would. Can't she see how torn I am - for her?

"I'll see you tomorrow, right?" It wasn't meant as a question, it wasn't supposed to be a question. We were spending every single day together and enjoying it, which baffles me since I generally get bored remarkably fast.

"Maybe. We'll see," she says and flickers her long eyelashes up at me. When she saw how my face had fallen, she beat me to speaking. "Don't..." she shakes her head mid-sentence, "Don't, Harry. Please."

I frown but don't push it further. "Okay," I hesitantly reply, the bubble of worry growing larger inside me. "I'll just... I'll- Yeah, I'll go."

Luella nodded, having a hard time meeting my eyes. "Okay."

I silently walked out the door of the apartment, closing it behind me. I tried to control my breathing all the way down the steps. She probably hates me. She'll probably never want to see me again. I always fuck up my life with every good thing that happens to me. And those are rare.

Once I reach a random dark alley, a yelp carries its way outside my throat. It sounds painful and angry. I know where to go. Before the rational part of me registers what's happening, I'm walking myself back to the frat house. Walking seems to not just intensify the anger boiling inside of me, but also help me contain it. Outside, the party's calmed down a notch or two, but I know Poppy Nolden will be wide awake, most probably drunk as fuck, right how I left her.

I make sure I'm calm and collected before I have to face anyone inside. I just hope, for the sake of everyone, I can stay as cool when I start talking to Poppy.

As expected, she's chilled on the couch with her girlfriends. Some dude nudges me and asks me about some hot cat fight that went down when I wasn't around. I didn't even know the guy, but even if I had, I ignored him and continued walking, clenching my fists harshly.