School Bus [m. clifford]

53

The voice on the other line bitterly chuckles, "Well that's no way to talk to your boyfriend, is it?"

"Ex boyfriend! Why are you contacting me all of a sudden? Are you crazy? Leave me alone!" Laura replies, annoyed with him.

He bitterly chuckles, "We haven't talked in a while, I was just checking in. You're not answering my texts."

"You're such an asshole, I'm going to block this number now."

"You know I'll still be able to get ahold of you, I just wanna talk." He says, lightly chuckling.

"I fucking hate you, you know that right?"

"You made that pretty clear when you dumped me."

"Oh, so you do know you're not my boyfriend. Great. Well my actual boyfriend is waiting for me so I'm gonna go now-"

"Whoa, boyfriend? Wow, I wanna meet him."

"You'll never meet him! I have to go, now stop fucking calling me!" She quietly explains, hanging up on him.

She joins Michael and Chloe again, and Michael wraps an arm around her, "Laur, you good?"

"Oh, yeah, it was actually just my mom this time, you know." She replies.

"Okay, you seem a little off..."

"I promise, I'm okay." Laura chuckles, quickly kissing his cheek.

Laura knew she'd probably have to bring this up eventually. She knew that he wouldn't leave her alone for a while. But she'd be able to keep it from Michael.

Her and Anthony weren't a great couple. She truly didn't enjoy that relationship, and she thought she'd be done with him when they moved here. It was one of the only reasons she was okay with moving here. Having to relive that time with him isn't something she wanted to do. If he just left her alone she could forget about everything involving him.

"Laura?" Chloe calls, snapping her back into reality.

"Huh? Yeah?" Laura replies.

"We're trying to decide if we want pizza or Chinese food. You're not giving any input." Chloe chuckles.

"Yeah, uh, anything is good." Laura replies.

"Babe, are you sure you're okay?" Michael asks, genuinely concerned.

"I swear, I'm okay! Weren't we going to play board games, or Mario Kart or something?" Laura asks, changing the topic, "I think we should just order whatever you guys want so we can play!"

Michael chuckles, "Okay-"

Laura tuned him out as he spoke to her and Chloe. She knew they'd figure it out. She was too distracted by this. She just hoped she wouldn't have to hear from him again.

//

Chloe was sitting with Laura, their game was paused as Michael just went out to smoke.

"Laura? Are you sure you're okay?" Chloe asks, making Laura look up at her.

"Oh, uh, I'm good, yeah." Laura replies, smiling at her.

"I know we haven't been friends as long as I have with Michael or the others, but I know something's up. I just wanted to check in. Sometimes it's not easy to talk to your partner, I'm just offering I'm here if you need." Chloe smiles. Chloe really wanted to be there for Laura.

Laura weakly grins, "Thanks, Chloe. I appreciate it. I just- I don't know. I'm okay though, don't worry about me."

Chloe sighs, "I just want to make sure you're okay."

Laura nervously bites her lip, looking down, "You know, maybe-"

"What did I miss?" Michael asks, joining the girls again.

"Nothing much, you weren't gone very long." Chloe laughs.

Laura was worried. She wanted to talk to somebody about this, and about her past. But she was scared. Laura didn't want to open up, it terrified her even though she wants to.

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hey y'all thanks for reading I really appreciate it