Twerk or Dare

TD [53] Not Alone

Chapter Fifty Three

Something was wrong.

Pearce couldn't understand why but something was definitely wrong.

"So Brooklyn has a phone?" Renée enthused at the table during lunch.

"Yeah, he cried too." Gigi added, twirling the fork for her pasta salad before taking a bite. She seemed to take forever just to chew each piece.

"That is precious." chuckled Sierra. "Did you get it on film?"

"No."

"Ugh, waste. That type of shit definitely would've gone viral online." A dark haired brunette named Queen commented.

"Nah, that wouldn't be viral," Connor disagreed. "One million at best. What would go viral is..."

All attention was on the blonde as the conversation steered to another course. Pearce was only partially listening to what he knew would no doubt be a grotesque tale as he studied his girlfriend intently. Her eyes flickered to his direction but swiftly reverted in the span of a blink.

Again. She'd done it again.

Since meeting up in class and the caf, Gigi had dodged directly looking into his eyes. She'd be smiling the same as ever but something wasn't right. She hadn't even sent him a single morning text either. Then in the midst of lunch, Daniel appeared.

He was Pearce's prime suspect to the mark on Gigi's arm. He was positive the creep had done it but Jessie would argue his judgment was clouded due to biasness. Pearce didn't care. He knew he was right. However, he had no idea how to prove it if his girlfriend kept being secretive. All the smiles she'd been wearing lately wasn't as bright. He couldn't put his finger on why.

Furthermore, the instant Daniel showed up, Gigi announced there was somewhere they needed to be and everyone at the table assumed it was related to the drama club. His girlfriend walked out of the caf with the prime suspect and Pearce didn't see her for the rest of lunch break.

Pearce decided to question her friends if they'd noticed anything strange going on. He probed from the perky club associate, to the snarky one. None of them had anything to say about her behaving out of the ordinary so it just ended up being a waste of time. Something was definitely wrong. Why was no one else seeing it?

"You're overthinking it." stated Jessie.

"No, I'm not." Pearce denied. "Something isn't right I just... don't know what it is yet."

"You normally say your mother says that and does something completely unnecessary."

Pearce scowled. "I am nothing like my mum, Jessie. The lady is paranoid and jumps to conclusions over a napkin out of place."

"Right and believing something is happening with no sign of problems or anything evident to awry isn't paranoia?" Jessie countered.

"No."

"Look Pearce, Gigi's been busy with the whole upcoming play and can't spend as much time with you..."

"Yeah, so?"

"Don't you think that maybe, just possibly you're feeling lonely and misplacing it as something bigger?" Jessie probed delicately.

"No..." Pearce said but not as confident.

"Just talk it out with her and let her know what's on your mind." Jessie advised. "Communication is key."

Pearce debated on taking his friend's words, entertaining the very slim probability that maybe, just perhaps it was generally all in his head.