Attached Strings √

Chapter 31

All in all, I was not fine.

"I'm good, mom. How are you?" Of course I lied to my mother because I didn't want to worry her. Besides, she would want me to go into detail about what was bothering me and I couldn't exactly tell her about the issues with my fake relationship.

"I'm great, son but you don't sound too good. Are you sure you're okay?"

Remind me, why did moms have to know their children so well?

"Yeah, mom. I'm certain." I was still not going to admit that there was something wrong. "Oh okay sweetie. Anyway I was calling to invite you and Chloe to dinner tonight."

What?

"What?" I decided to say it again, aloud this time. "We want you and Chloe to join us for dinner. It's been so long since we saw you and we miss you."

"Mom, I'm sorry. We can't make it tonight. We have a ...," Think, think, think, "um... a thing we need to attend and we can't miss it."

A thing, seriously? Was that the best you could come up with?

"Well, can't you cancel?" she asked disappointedly.

"No, mom. We can't, this thing is very important for Chloe and I."

"Honey, please. Ever since we got here we've only seen you for a few times and that's not enough for us. We'll be leaving soon and we just want to make most of the little time we have with you," she told me with words laced with sadness. I felt bad and I knew that she was telling the truth. "Please?" She finished off with the voice of a little girl begging for candy.

"Fine, we'll co-"

"Good, good, good," she answered enthusiastically, denying me the opportunity to complete my own sentence. My mom though, I smiled at the thought. "Be here at half past seven," she added. After that, we spent a few more minutes talking about other random things before she ended the call, telling me she had to prepare everything. I looked at the time on my phone and it read 11:21 am. Now for the hardest part, I thought.

Letting Chloe know.

I dialed her number and pressed the green button. Here goes nothing, I sighed. It rang three times before she picked it up and spoke.

"You have reached the voicemail line service of-"

"Chloe, drop the act. I know that's you speaking," I disturbed her imitation of the voicemail greeting. I could hear her heaving a sigh on the other side of the line.

"What do you want, Paul?" She was trying so hard to sound uninterested but she failed to hide the curiosity evident on the tone of her voice.

"My mom has invited us for dinner."

"Um, okay." She replied instantly. This was because I had not told her when yet and so I decided to drop the bomb at that moment.

"Tonight." I did not even need to explain what I was talking about because she automatically knew that I was referring to the dinner.

"Tonight?" No, tomorrow. I wanted to say but I thought against it since I was still trying to get back on her good books and being sarcastic with her would not entirely work in my favour. "Yes, at half past seven," I clarified.

"Can't we postpone it to another day?" I knew she was not ready to face me but there was nothing I could do either and besides, we were to face each other sooner or later.

"No, we can't." I paused, "I already tried getting her to postpone the dinner but she wouldn't budge."

"Oh, okay then. I'll be there at five," she stated.

"All right, I'll see you then and, Chloe..." She listened, "thank you for agreeing." I finished, meaning every word.

She dropped the call.

I was not even surprised at that. I guess I had sort of expected that reaction from her. Heck, I wouldn't have been surprised even if she hadn't picked up at all. Nonetheless I decided not to pester her with another call and I just sat and thought, staring at my phone.

Minutes passed and I was growing nervous as the seconds progressed. I was not sure of how things would go down between Chloe and I when she got here but a huge part of me was happy. That part was internally thanking my mother for her idea to invite me and Chloe over.

I got up and reached for the packet of cigarettes. Almost immediately, I remembered the expression Chloe had on her face when she saw me smoking. She looked both surprised and disappointed but there was no sign of judgment on her face. I was thankful for that.

I took one cigarette out and started searching for my lighter, which took me less than a minute to find and I lit the poison. I was well aware of what smoking was doing to my lungs and everything but I kept on pulling, inhaling the killer smoke. Smoking eased my nerves and it kind of eradicated the stress. It made me think less of the problems I was facing at that moment. It took my mind to the place I wanted to be - with no worries or cares.

I jumped at the sound of Chloe coughing hysterically. I quickly put the cigarette out and I stood up and rushed across the room to open all the windows. "Hey, I'm sorry. I thought you said you'd be here a bit later."

"I know," she coughed, "I figured I should get here early and give myself enough time to prepare." I was not sure what to say after her response so I kept quiet.

"I'll be in my room." She went up the staircase. I was rather saddened. I had sort of expected her to ask why I was smoking. I wanted her to take interest in and, you know, care about my well-being but I guessed she didn't care.

"Chloe," she froze - still not turning to look at me, "aren't you going to ask why I'm smoking now?" I asked almost desperately and she turned to face me. I took note of the lack of emotion in her eyes and I feared for the type of response I knew I would be receiving from her.

"No," she deadpanned, "that's none of my business." She continued her journey up the stairs and went into her room.

I stood there and took in what I had just heard. It did not take long for me to actually understand the deeper meaning behind her words.

My thoughts had been confirmed. Chloe did not care about me anymore. I supposed that was what she meant when she said she would give me a fake relationship. I did not want this to happen. I hated the distance that I could already see growing between us and it was stressing me out. I needed an escape from this stress, something that would rid my mind of the realisation of Chloe hating my guts and I knew exactly what that something was.

I lit another cigarette.

A/N: Sup, ya'll! Longer chapter because I'm trying to make up for this very late update. Thank you so much for bearing with me, I appreciate it. Til next time!

-Nikita