Twice The Trouble Book 2 of 2: Twice The Love

Chapter 69: Shard by Shard

Sophia

"Ann."

Absentmindedly, I turned my head to the right, a finger poking my cheek in the process. I saw Laurence showing me his perfunctory grin.

"Did you just call me Ann?" I asked as I walked alongside him. As we agreed, the two of us were at the mall once again, no longer employees of Snack Attack but as friends hanging out after school hours. We were still in our college uniforms since we commuted straight from Orion University.

"Sure," said Laurence, shrugging his shoulders. "Why not? It's your second name, and nobody calls you Ann, so I thought I'd give it a try."

I studied his carefree face, debating whether it was harmless to let him call me by that nickname. When I saw no harm,I shrugged, also mimicking his action a second ago.

"Hungry?" he asked when my stomach grumbled.

My cheeks tinged pink. "Yes. Are you?"

"Sort of," he said, then held my hand. "Let's go find someplace to eat."

I stared at our joined fingers in surprise. "Laurence?"

"What?" he was looking around the variety of restaurants around us.

"You're holding my hand," I stated, feeling slightly awkward.

His gray eyes glanced at me. "There's nothing wrong with friends holding hands."

I opened my mouth to object but closed it again. He was right: I'd done it before with several friends, namely Cole, Emily, Spencer, Matthew, even with Alexis and the gang. But with Laurence, it made me nervous, and I wasn't sure why.

When Laurence saw my face, he instantly let go of my hand. "Sorry," he said quietly. "I should have known Lucas wouldn't like someone like me getting too close to his girlfriend."

A crease formed between my brows. "What do you mean, someone like you?"

"So he didn't tell you." Laurence suddenly looked embarrassed. "We used to be friends in high school before things got.. really screwed up, and I think I'm partly to blame."

Laurence and I entered a fast food restaurant, then ordered some fries, burgers, and iced teas, before finding a vacant table suited for two people.

"Talk to me," I said, taking a sip of my iced tea. "You can pour out your frustrations on me." I flashed him an encouraging smile. "Go ahead."

Laurence reluctantly began to narrate how he confessed to his friend Vivian in high school but that she had feelings for Lucas, their mutual friend. Everything else sounded like Courtney's story, but from Laurence's point of view. Another friend and classmate, Archer, was in love with Felicity, another mutual friend, but like Vivian with an A, Felicity also wanted Lucas all to herself, and when the second to last person in the group of nine,Vivien with an E, told Courtney that Eric tried to sexually assault Vivien, everything swiftly fell apart like a thin piece of tattered cloth.

"You think he's still pissed off?" asked Laurence in between bites of his cheeseburger.

I winced upon remembering the fury in my boyfriend's brown eyes from the day before.

"Judging by your look, he is," remarked by companion.

Chewing on a yummy french fry, I gazed at Laurence. He was fidgeting in his chair, seeming uneasy after confiding his troubles to me.

"Do you want to talk to him?" I searched his face for answers. "I can try to--"

"No, it's fine," he said, waving a hand dismissively. "You lent an ear, and that's enough."