Fake love ✔

XXI

"Hey um, is he—is he going to be okay?" Megan asks me, quietly.

"Yeah, I hope so. I'll try to talk to him when we get back", we start walking.

"Here", she scribbles something down in a page of her notebook, handing it to me. "Here's my number, you know, incase I need to call you again".

"Thanks. I'll see if he wants to take the day off tomorrow, but you can come by if you want to see him, when you're done with school", I let her know.

"Yeah okay, thanks", she chirps. "Bye", she runs off in the opposite direction, to where I assume her class is. I continue walking toward the parking lot, and I see Parker standing by my car. I unlock it, motioning for him to get in. I turn the radio on so it's not completely silent on our way home.

As we approach the house, I let the guards know it's me and proceed to park. Parker and I both get out of the car and walk up to the front door, making our way inside. "Give me a second", I say to him as I walk into the kitchen. "Hey Will, thanks for lunch. Are you going home now?"

"No problem, it's my job", he smiles. "And not yet. I own a restaurant, so I'm going to go there before I go back home", he hangs his apron up.

"Oh, I didn't know you owned a restaurant".

"Yeah", he nods. "Mr. Mazzaro actually bought it for me".

"Romeo bought you a restaurant?" I ask in disbelief.

Where did the nickname Lucifer come from then?

"Yes, he did. A couple of years ago, actually. Anyway, I should get going", he bids me a goodbye as I go up to Parker's room.

"Hey", I knock before walking in. I see him sat on the edge of his bed, his face in his hands.

"Hey", he says, almost inaudibly as he lifts his face from his hands.

"How long have you not been sleeping for?" I ask.

"What?" He says, quickly, turning to look at me.

"I can tell. I may have not been through the same shit as you, but I know what you're feeling. I've felt that before", I tell him. "How long?"

"A couple of nights", he shrugs as if it's no big deal.

"Parker, you should've told me the first night you couldn't sleep. Did you have a nightmare or—", he chuckles, slightly. "What? Why are you laughing", I begin to laugh with him.

"You sound like Romeo".

"Oh god", I groan. "I'm sorry. I just don't want you to go through the same thing I did, you know?" He nods. "At least I got you to smile", I nudge him. "Hate to spoil the mood, but you're gonna have to tell me what happened", and so he does. He tells me that he's started getting nightmares about his uncle, and today, he zoned out and thought he saw him, so he freaked out.

"I don't know why they just started though. If anything, shouldn't I have had nightmares when he was actually hurting me, not after?" He questions.

"Those questions can all be answered when we go to see Dr. Jen", I stand up. "Now, are you going to join me in playing Mario Kart, or are you going to make me play alone?"

"Alright", he drawls as he stands up, following me downstairs.

✯✯✯✯

Parker and I played a bunch of video games for hours until we felt hungry, so I decided to make some food. "It smells really good. What are you making?" Parker asks as he walks into the kitchen.