Skinny Love (Luke Hemmings)

Chapter 36

He was lying. He had to be. 

Murphy laughed. "You're cute, but you sure aren't smart. How could you not see that he was cheating on you? Oh wait, that's right. You were somewhere in London waiting for him to come back to you." he faked a sad face and then smirked. 

"I don't understand." I say. "How did he...how-" I sat on the edge of the bed in the middle of the room. 

"Reina, you moved too fast. Luke told us all about how you guys met and within a couple of days, you were crazy for him. Crazy enough to just leave your problematic life and run away with a stranger. Tell me, how much did you know about him when you decided to 'run away together'?" as he spoke, my heart fell through the floor. I was speechless. He was wrong. 

"I-I don't know. Enough." It was a stupid answer, but I couldn't say anything else. I couldn't defend myself because I knew it was true. "I hate to be the one to tell you, because I like you. I guess it doesn't even really matter since, you know, you guys are no longer together."

I didn't want to talk. I had nothing to say. "Hon, that whole story about working for his parents so that he could come back, was made up. Did you really think that his parents would just make him do some yard work and clean the house and then let him move back? He came back so that he could get a break, because he hated pretending. While he was back here, he partied and slept with my now ex." 

"Ok." is all I said. I was angry and confused. I didn't know who to believe or who to trust. I stood up and left the room, dragging myself down the stairs and glancing at all of the teens that had no idea what was going on. "Reina, are you okay?" Olivia seemed to have appeared next to me, gripping my shoulder. 

"You knew." I said. 

"What?" she looked confused. "You knew that it was all a lie and you didn't tell me." I said louder. Her face turned red. "I didn't.. I didn't want you to get hurt. I had hoped that it would blow over and everyone would forget about it." 

"How many people knew?" I asked her. She shook her head. "Not many. Ashton, Michael, Murphy and a few of his friends and...me." she responded. "And Calum?" it would crush me even more knowing that Calum knew and didn't tell me. "No. Calum didn't know anything about it. How did...Murphy told you, didn't he?" she looked me in the eye.

I just nodded. I wanted to cry, but nothing came out. I was just stunned. "I think we need to sit down and talk about this. As friends." she grasped my arm but I jerked it away. "Please don't touch me!" I yelled. I turned away from her and walked out the door, hiding my face so that no one would see me. I was humiliated and broken. 

I ran into someone, but kept walking. I didn't feel like apologizing. "Reina?" 

I turned around. Luke stood there, car keys in hand, confused. "What ha-" he suddenly stopped and dropped his keys onto the sidewalk. "No. Please don't tell me they told-"

"Yes! Yes, Lucas, they did. They told me the truth. Now I see why you didn't want me here. You didn't want me to find out that you never loved me!" I yell. He looks around making sure I'm not causing a scene and then grabs my shoulders. "Let's talk about this in the car." he whispers. I pull away from him. "No! I don't trust you." his face fell. 

"Reina, can we please talk about this? I have to tell you the truth from my lips, not theirs." he sounds so hurt and desperate. I had to give him a chance, though I didn't want to. I walked to his car hestitantly and sat in the passengers seat, pulling my legs up to my chest and wrapping my arms around my knees. He got in the drivers side and started the engine. "What are you doing?" I ask.