ᴋʟᴜᴛᴢ | ʟʀʜ

𝟐𝟒. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐒𝐢𝐜𝐤

"I- I don't know," Luke murmured, pulling his head away from hers so that he wouldn't have to see her broken eyes. He pushed off from the wall of the hot tub and sat opposite from her. The distance between the two was only about a couple of feet but it seemed massive due to their prior position.

"You don't know," Alina repeated slowly, feeling the unwelcome words on her tongue. She tried to act like his answer didn't hurt her, but she failed. She failed as her throat dried up and her eyes pricked with tears, his silence only worsening these qualities.

She didn't want to taste the saltiness of her own tears; she didn't want to drown in the bitterness of her own thoughts. What she wanted was to have his arms around her, his fingers pushing her hair out of her eyes to kiss her temples sweetly as he chuckled and assured that this was all a hoax, a humorous deception.

But she couldn't have this.

With this belief in mind, Alina wailed— the sound of her suddenly strong voice shocking the man: "Then why did you kiss me, Luke? Why are you leading me on like this?"

His heart about cracked at her vulnerability, the way her fingernails dug into her thighs to feel some other pain besides the one in her head. Yet, what made him feel like shit were her next words: "Can't you fucking see that I feel things for you?"

"I don't know why I did it and I didn't mean to- fuck. I-" He broke off, knocking his head back as he searched for the right words. There were no words to describe how he felt, so Luke merely sighed, "I'm sorry, Lina."

"Don't call me that," she begged, desperately holding onto her anger — the only thing keeping her from breaking down on the spot. If he called her that again, she knew that she'd come running back into his arms, forgiving his every misdeed.

The girl had put herself out there, a risk she hardly ever took, and now she remembered why.

"I- I didn't mean to hurt you."

"What did you mean to do then?" Alina asked, exasperated, throwing her hands in the air.

"I don't-"

"That's right," she scoffed, sniffing quietly before continuing, "you don't know." Holding onto the edge of the tub for support, Alina climbed out shakily. Hardly giving him a glance, she spat, "Well, you know what? I'm sorry that I thought I could have been anything more than a rebound."

"Alina, don't," The dirty blonde began to get up from his seat, not wanting her to leave but not knowing how else to make her stay.

"Figure it out, Luke. Until then-" Alina's voice cracked and she left it at that, stopping herself from going any further. Wiping the tears that began to stream down her cheeks, she bit her lip — the same lip that Luke had teasingly bit down on only minutes prior — to keep the sob in.

She grabbed a towel off from the ground near the hot tub and raced towards the door, yanking it open and stepping inside. The chill of the air-conditioned room hit her immediately, goosebumps popping up on her arms.

"Alina?" Ashton asked from the couch, looking up from his FaceTime call with Ariana. He eyed her red, swollen eyes and her tight expression.

"Bathroom," The petite girl laughed awkwardly, fidgeting on the wood-paneled floor. As the water trailed down her legs and pooled at her feet, she nodded to herself before pointing to the hallway, "Uh. Yeah."

"Was that Alina? Tell her I said hi," she heard Ariana say excitedly as she walked to her bedroom, eager to have a moment to herself.

Her phone buzzed on her bed, alerting her of three recent texts from Nina. Taking her phone in the bathroom with her, as she wanted to change out of her swimsuit into something comfier, Alina read the messages: