Proxy [l.h]

18. Long Talks and Terrible Truths

I THOUGHT I UPLOADED THIS YESTERDAY BUT SOMETHING WENT WRONG SO HERE IT IS DJKNHAHXBAAbjhbhd SORRY

+

«DAY 10 cont.»

Lissa

I chase away all remaining thoughts of Michael with a sigh. Only then I realize Calum had been waiting - quite a while now - for my answer. Leaned against the counter and I beside him on the kitchen stool, his eyes burn with curiosity.

"So what happened between you two?" He repeats impatiently, a sly smile forming on his lips.

"What? Nothing!" I blurt, a little too loudly. "I swear, nothing happened." The lie immediately stirs guilt in my stomach, heavy and thick, as if I'd swallowed a pail of rocks. I really don't like lying  - especially to people like Calum.

The Aussie pauses, raising a brow at me in disbelief. But he doesn't ask any more questions, and although he notices me flush a bright pink, he pretends he didn't.

Feeling incredibly grateful - and a little more relaxed - I gulp down the rest of my coffee, hoping it'll wash out whatever's left in my system from last night.

Still, my stomach definitely doesn't feel any better- I still feel dirty and disgusting and I'm not sure if it's the fact that:

1. Michael drugged me and lied to me,

2. I let him do it just so I could use his stupid phone and expose him,

3. I'd actually made out with him,

...or all three.

If I'd asked Luke about this, he would've deadpanned that the answer is simple: Michael was an ass. The thought of it almost brings a smile to my lips, but it only lasts so long until I feel like scowling instead.

Luke.

I look away from Calum and behind his shoulder at Luke's door, which was clammed shut and tight since yesterday. And come to think of it, Luke had been way too quiet (if he was even alive) in there. He hadn't made even the smallest of sounds or showed himself since his last interaction with me- where he yelled profanities and cornered me against the wall.

"Don't worry about Luke," Calum interrupts my thoughts, noticing me staring at the door behind him. "Ben's been after him since the moment you two arrived last night, and I figure he'll be forced out by this morning at least."

Oh, I swallow.

"Well, what's Ben gonna do? To Luke, I mean," I ask him tentatively, and immediately feel the urge to slap my hand over my mouth. I shouldn't care about what happens to Luke, I tell myself. I shouldn't care about him after all he's done to me.

Well... Should I?

After all, I was the one Ben should be blaming for the trip to California, not Luke. No matter what happened between Luke and I, it wouldn't be fair if he got the beating instead of me. I can't help but imagine Luke sitting in Ben's office, surrounded by the cold-hearted publicist and his mad-drunken father, facing the worst possible scolding for flying out to Cali in the middle of a tour. Those two had a knack for hateful words- and I'd already seen how terrible his father got on a bad day. Ben was always a little more relaxed and composed, but that was scarier, like if you let a snake free in the dark. You'd never know when he could strike, in that cool, ice cold way of his that hurts people.

"Ben?" Calum says. "He's probably gonna yell at him a bit, but it's nothing we haven't seen before," he answers me with a shrug.

"But I'm the one that convinced him to go to California with me," I blurt, shuddering at that thought of Luke in Ben's office. I hate myself for feeling nervous at a moment like this.