"shit," i groan, running my fingers through my hair and getting all the knots out.
"what?" trang asks, her perfectly done eyebrow raised to give me a perfectly practiced bitch stare.
"i have to hand in my essay today but the internet's down so i can't email it to my professor. can you drive me down to campus so i can hand it in personally?" i beg my best friend, quickly opening my laptop to print my paper.
"drive yourself," trang groans, massaging her temples.
"my license has been suspended, remember?" i roll my eyes, my hands resting firmly on my hips.
"that's your own fault, try not to break the law so many times next time." trang laughs her typical hyena laugh.
"i'm going to piss on you," i threaten.
"michael," trang whines.
"i'm unzipping my pants now," i taunt, pretending to fumble with the buttons of my clothing.
"no! fine, i'll drive you. stop being such a nasty old shit." trang complains, stomping her foot and getting off the couch. "i'll be waiting in the car."
"okay," i reply, turning my head to glance at my printer which buzzes loudly.
i watch as the printer slowly and neatly prints out each individual line with jet black ink. it's mesmerizing almost. when it's done, i quickly yank the warm paper out and run out the door to meet trang who's sitting in the car as promised.
"you're a douche," she says sweetly as i frantically buckle myself in.
"right back at you," i grin, my voice equally as sugarcoated.
i'm not sure why we're best friends. it's probably because no one else likes us so we just have to settle for each other. or, it's just because we hate people in general which helps the two of us bond. nether less, the thought captivates my mind the whole hour long drive. along side that, i also think about luke. two days have passed and no form of communication happened between us. i only have two days left to tell him myself before trang exposes me.
"be quick," trang huffs as she parks outside the university.
"i'll try." i respond briefly.
she's pissed, i can tell. she hates driving me to university and every time i ask her to do so, it puts her in a bad mood. i recently started taking online courses so i don't have to drive the long distance every single day.
"sorry, excuse me! sorry," i mumble, apologizing dozens of times as i bump into random kids strolling around campus.
i desperately search for my english professor's office but considering that it's been two or three months since i've last walked the halls of the university, my directions are a little rusty. i do find the little office with his name tag on the outside of the door after a while of panicked running.
there are voices inside the room but they stop once my knocking interrupts them.
"open up," i hear my professor call out.
i push down the handle with my hand and bump the door with my hip to open up the door. my eyes are fixated on my paper as i re-read it for what feels like
the millionth time.
"hey, sorry professor hemmings. my printer broke so i came to hand my-"
"michael!" i hear a familiar voice call out, sounding genuinely surprised.
my heart races and i snap my gaze forward to the direction where the voice came from. my mouth drops opens when i see luke standing there, next to professor henmings.
immediately, i start unraveling the thoughts in my head. the similarities between the two are uncanny, they share the same bone structure and shocking blue eyes. i never realized before, but i now notice that they also share the same last name.
"wrong class," i blurt in a phoney accent as i back away.
"michael, great to see you." professor hemmings grins, slapping my back gently and pulling me back in.
"i really must get going," i say desperately.
"why the rush? i haven't seen you in ages, not after you decided to get online classes instead." professor hemmings says in his deep, husky voice so similar to luke's.
"what?" luke asks, glancing between professor hemmings and i.
"ah, luke! remember the brillant english student i was talking to you about the other day? well, this is him! meet michael," professor hemmings beams.
"that's impossible," luke says, his skin as pale as a sheet of paper. "he only speaks chinese."
"what? have you been eating candy again luke? you know that messes with your mind right?"
professor hemmings clicks his tongue.
"no. i know michael, he's my friend. he only speaks chinese." luke repeats, his voice sounding determine but shaky. he sounds like he's just trying to convince himself.
"so you do know each other. well michael, this is my son luke." professor hemmings says, completely ignoring the end of luke's statement.
i'm backing up again. this time because of luke's uneasy stare.
"michael. please tell my dad that he's insane and that you only speak chinese," luke begs me, his blue eyes getting slightly red as they well up with emotion. "please mikey."
"i," words get caught in my mouth; that doesn't happen often. my throat is dry and i feel like i can pass out at any given moment.
"nonsense luke. michael speaks fluent english, he's almost on my level. not quite, but close. you can even look at his paper, it's in his hand." professor hemmings scolds, plucking my essay out my hand.
luke angrily takes my paper and reads it over, his blue eyes flickering over every single letter. he takes a moment to look back up at me.
"you've been lying to me?" he asks, his voice stony still.
"luke, it's not what you think-" i try to explain myself.
"it's exactly what i think! fuck you!" luke screams, throwing my paper to the ground and stomping on it.
"luke stop, please-"
"don't even fucking talk to me you filthy liar! everything we had was built off of lies, you bitch!" luke screams even louder as the first tear drips down his face.
"please luke, calm down-"
"no! i won't calm down! i thought you were different, i gave you a chance. fuck, we've hardly even known each other and you've already lied about something so big!" luke yells, his hands gripping at the hem of his sweater.
"i didn't mean to-"
"of course you meant to, if you didn't mean to, you wouldn't have done it! why'd you even lie about it in the first place? did you really think that i was so stupid, i would never find out?"
"luke-"
"you know what, i don't fucking care! delete my number, i'm done."
"you can't be serious," i murmur.
but it seems like he is.
he gives me one last glare before leaving the room with his tear stained cheeks and red eyes. i want to run after him and apologize, but i can't.
i feel empty.