Luna

29 | face me

Max closes the door behind him, and when our eyes meet, my heart thuds. He must have a lot of questions in his head.

"I'm sorry for what happened." I sigh. "My brother is kind of protective. Sorry for the misunderstanding."

He doesn't say any word, just staring at me. I hate the fact that facing him again only makes me realize my feelings for him even more, so I break our eye contact, walking toward the bed.

I'm still feeling a bit dizzy from being knocked out last night, so I sit on the bed to compose myself.

"What's going on?" Max finally asks, more like urging. "What the hell happened last night? You didn't go back to the hotel. Instead, you went to that fucking pill party. Did you know how dangerous it was--"

"I didn't know," I cut him off, burying my face with my hands, because I'm so ashamed of myself. "I didn't know that it was a drug party."

"Did you go there with your friends?" Max asks, raising his tone. "The very same friends who dragged you to that pill party?"

I sigh, still not removing my hands from my face. "I met some people at the fashion show--"

"You met some people?" Max asks in disbelief, raising his tone even more, and when I finally look up at him, my breath catches in my throat because of how angry he looks. His nostrils flare. "You should have never gone to a party with some people you couldn't even trust," he barks. "Is that why you lied to me?" There's hurt in his eyes, because he knows that I was trying to avoid him.

"Please, Max," I beg. "I've got scolded enough by my brother. I'm sorry that I lied to you. I shouldn't have done that."

His lips form into a thin line, and sadness glints in his eyes. "Why?" he whispers. "Why did you do it? I could have looked out for you. Did you know how I felt when I heard you at that party, sounding drugged?" He sounds like he wants to break something.

I tear my gaze away from him, because I can't hold it anymore. He should care less about me -- all of this makes me hate myself even more.

"I know that I should have been more careful," I whisper. "I made a great mistake. I wasn't in the right state of mind." My voice is shaking, and when I realize the next words coming out of my mouth, it's too late. "I just wanted to escape."

My eyes widen at the sudden realization that I just blurted that out. I snap my head toward Max, whose brows furrow in confusion. "Escape? What were you trying to escape?"

The muscles on my neck move as I swallow. I should say something, but my mind is running out of ideas.

Max frowns, noticing my expression, and scoff of disbelief leaves his mouth. "Is it me?"

I gulp as the doubt on his face is gone. My pulse quickens, and my hands are sweating when I ball my fists on my lap.

"Fuck. It's me, isn't it?" he concludes, finally solving the puzzles. "You've been acting strange since yesterday." Confusion skates all over his face. "Did I do something wrong?"