Getting It Straight

24th♀

24th ♀

aprenaorlcde: You okay?

lucashughes143: I'm fine...

aprenaorlcde: Want to talk about what happened?

lucashughes143: I'm just tired...

aprenaorlcde: Are you sure?

lucashughes143: yep...

aprenaorlcde: Want to talk about it?

lucashughes143: ...

aprenaorlcde: Do you want me to come in?

I exhaled, pulling myself out of bed. I did it twice, the pulling, I mean. The comfort of my bed was hard to resist, and also, Lucas Hughes' poster stuck in my bedroom ceiling. But as much as I wanted to just stay in, I knew that I should do something, before he would decide to barge in my room.

And see the crumpled tissues underneath my bed.

He was good at dealing with people—happy normal people. Dramas? Not quite. He freaked out at the first sight of tears streaming down the cheeks. And comforting him was even harder than dealing with my own issues, which was really plenty by now.

I opened my bedroom window, and said to the man hiding behind the bushes, "I'm fine. Stop sending me instant messages, Dad."

He was guilty as charged, momentarily refusing to meet my gaze as he stood back up on his feet. Spying, I found out, was not really his and my expertise. Like it was the only thing I had taken from him. Team Pearce Duo had no skill with this one.

"Hey," Dad said with an awkward smile.

I wasn't really into smiling with all teeth shown mood, so I only stared.

"So," he carefully said, while putting his phone back in his pocket, "do you want to talk?"

"There's nothing to talk about," I uttered. "I already told you everything."

"You don't look okay, honey. Are you sure everything's all right?" Dad worriedly asked.

It was tempting to say no.

"I'm good!" I said with a shrug, covering up the sudden surge of sadness that I felt. "I'm feeling okay. Swear."

"You don't look okay." Dad wasn't convinced. "I know something happened. We can talk about it. We can get some professional help if you want."

What professional help was he talking about? Sometimes, I feared what he might be thinking right now. He couldn't possibly be thinking like Paige, right?

I bit my lower lip, unsure if telling him now would be okay. Since I was already out of Corner Stone, didn't that make me free from the witch octopus' grasp? However, doubting that this was the best time, I just settled on continuing my silence, which was really new for me.

Translation? Five hours at the most.

The corners of my mouth were already itching. I had to tell someone something. But first, I had to make sure that there would be no traces of witch octopus ruining everything, and making me feel like I was an utter failure. Okay, that might be the best definition of me at this moment. And surely, it didn't in the least make me feel any better.

But setting those aside, I still needed to make sure that the coast was clear before I'd say a thing. How so? I had no idea. Summer wasn't around my place, or dropping sinister calls, as I imagined she would. At least she kept her promise of not saying a word about it.