Don't Tell My Brother

Chapter 22 - When Worlds Collide

"Damien, Lisa says you've got to get back to work. She needs help in the back."

All their eyes are on him now. Mallory's are narrowed, mouth slightly open. He'd interrupted her in the middle of some story. Lucas didn't particularly care.

For a moment, no one said anything. The silence was awkward, everyone watching Lucas, with expressions that ranged from confused to irritated to downright condescending. He'd clearly intruded. Such a small thing, but Lucas felt more and more embarrassed the more the silence drew on. But it was okay, because Damien would laugh, and agree, and then he could go back to work.

Instead, Damien glanced between his friends and Lucas, and for a second a deer-in-the-headlights expression flashed across his face. But then he rolled his eyes. "I'll be there in a sec, Lucas." He didn't even try to sound like he meant it, already halfway turning back to Mallory and the other guys, as if Lucas wasn't even there.

"No you won't." He felt stuck. Lisa needed help, but he was supposed to be working the register, and by the looks of things Damien wouldn't cover that if he went back to help her.

"Very clever. Did you figure that out all by yourself?" Damien had made comments like this before, but those were usually playful, in the middle of one of their pointless arguments. They usually didn't make Lucas feel small, and hurt, and hopelessly out of his depth. Damien's friends laughed. It was very clear that were laughing with Damien, laughing at Lucas.

"Damien, come on. You've got to." He was frowning, partially with confusion, partially with annoyance. Lucas knew how he probably looked to these people: uptight and whiny, getting in the way of their good time. Was that how Damien saw him too?

"Christ, take a hint and piss off. I'm busy." Damien glanced to his friends again, eyebrows raised, a can you believe this guy? sort of look.

"Are you serious? This is your job, Damien. You can't just stop and take a break because you're lazy and you feel like it."

"But I can. Look, I'm doing it right now." He grinned, but it wasn't the kind that Lucas liked. "So why don't you just go away? I'll go help in a minute." Again, he turned back to his friends, as if he was declaring the conversation over.

Now Lucas was angry. And hurt. He'd thought Damien had liked him, not in the way Alex thought, but at least as a friend. Hadn't they had fun? He'd helped him with his essay, Damien had driven him home, he'd thought that'd meant something. But apparently he couldn't act the same way in front of his friends. It seemed like both he and Alex were wrong. Damien didn't care about him at all. Lucas couldn't forget the way he'd looked at him then, as if he were something small and irritating, not worth his time. And what was worse was that Lucas had felt that way, too. Small and annoying, insignificant. It'd been arrogant of him, to assume that Damien would have liked him.

As Damien turned away, Lucas stayed put, crossing his arms and leaning against the counter. He began to drum his fingers on the marble surface, just loud enough to be annoying. Fine. Damien thought he was a nuisance, getting in the way? Lucas was going to make sure he did.

Sure enough, they didn't keep talking. A couple of the guys glanced at him, clearly waiting for him to leave. Because apparently everyone did what Damien said. The thought made Lucas angry. Mallory was giving him her trademark icy glare, but still, Lucas didn't budge.

After yet another painful silence, Damien glanced down at him. "Why are you still here?"

"I'm waiting." Lucas responded, thankful that his voice was cold, and didn't shake. The last thing he would've wanted was for any of them to see him upset. "For you to be done, so you can actually do your job. You said it'd only be a minute."

Damien huffed out some annoyed curse, in a language Lucas didn't recognise. "What?"

"I'm waiting. Please, keep talking. I'll just listen. It's like I'm not even here."

Another look was shared between the group, something like anger and disbelief. They probably hated him, or at the very least found him irritating. Good. He kept drumming his fingers.

"For fuck's sake." Damien muttered. "Fine, fine, I'll go. See you guys tonight." With a scowl, he pushed past Lucas, and disappeared into the back.

When Lucas walked back to where he'd been preparing orders. Alex was still waiting for him. Judging by the outraged expression on her face, she'd seen everything.

"Sorry, Alex, you were saying something about how much Damien liked me?" Lucas laughed, but it sounded sharp and bitter. Even though he'd managed to get Damien back to work, the only thing that was really staying with him was the pathetic, hopeless feeling he'd gotten when Damien and his friends had laughed at him.

Alex's eyes were wide, and she reached out to squeeze his hand. If the bench hadn't been between them, he felt sure Alex would have hugged him, and was grateful that she couldn't. He didn't want this to be a big deal. Clearly his original impression of Damien had been right: he was an asshole, and there was no way Lucas could ever, ever like him.

Another woman stepped up to the counter, and Lucas slid her loaf of bread into a brown paper bag, forcing himself to think of anything that wasn't Damien.