Lie Until You Laugh

35- Stella

“No, I’m not okay, Tony!” I shriek at him, losing the last strand of my sanity for the day. “Because you took away the three most important people in my life and yeah, it was three years ago but it hurt so bad. I was so alone. It hurt so bad and it still fucking hurts even though I have amazing friends- I still remember how shitty I felt back then and… and it still hurts, okay?”

“Stella,” He starts to say something apologetically, but I’m embarrassed because I’m crying and everyone is looking at me because I was practically yelling. I get up and grab my now-empty plastic plate, throwing it in the trash can as I sprint out the doors and towards the dorms. Sienna is out with Penn and Mason is out with Brian, so I’ll go back to an empty dorm and cry for a little while before I call my mom and see if they’re still coming today. They called a few weeks ago and said that they would, but they’re very spontaneous people, my parents are, so I’m not sure and I’m not about to go back and ask Anthony if he knows anything about it.

I’m walking through the lobby when I see Andrew talking to Louis, the guy at the reception desk thing. It looks like he’s getting a package or something and if we have any packages that don’t fit in our mail slots, we have to go to the reception desk to get them. I try to make it to the elevator before he can see me because I still have tears on my face and even if I wiped them away, my makeup would be runny and my eyes would be red so it’d still be obvious that I’ve been crying.

“Hey, Stell,” He calls to me just as I push the elevator button that has an arrow pointing up. He can only see the back of my head, so he can’t see my cry baby face, which is good but I know that he’ll be suspicious if I don’t turn around.

“Hello,” I call to him, giving it a try and praying that the elevator comes quickly.

It doesn’t come quickly enough though, because in a few moments, Andrew is standing beside me and he’s asking me with a concerned frown on his face, “What’s wrong?”

“Um, nothing,” I say quickly even though I know he won’t buy it.

“Okay well that’s nice,” He chirps. “So, what’s wrong?”

“It’s really nothing,” I assure him, but I deceive myself by sniffling. The elevator doors open and we walk inside. He’s closest to the floor buttons and he presses the 4, which is the level his dorm is on but he doesn’t press the 2, which is my level.

“Can you press the two for me?” I ask him softly.

“Nope,” He smiles at me. “You’re coming with me.”

“Oh,” I mutter. “Where are we going?”

“To my room,” Andrew informs me. “You don’t have to tell me what’s wrong but that doesn’t mean that I can’t try to make you feel better.”

“You really don’t have to do that,” I tell him with a tired sigh.

“Sure I do,” He chirps and the elevator doors open on the fourth floor.

We walk to his room silently and when we get inside, it’s incredibly messy but I can still tell that it’s empty.

“Where’s Liam?” I ask Andrew.

“He’s going video game shopping with some other video game nerds like himself,” He informs me. “Do you want to watch a movie or something?”

I shrug and sit down on the bottom bunk, which is Andrew’s and I know that because I’ve been to his room before. “Sure.”

“I’m sorry about the mess,” He says sheepishly.

I can’t help but let out a little laugh. “You say that like, every time that I’m in your room.”