Killing King

-10-

Of course, I craved love. I had been starved of it for too long. It was almost as if I was the perfect victim in the perfect crime. 

. 

.

.

"What's he doing here?" they both asked at the same time. Luke's green eyes lingered on Eric's hands holding mine, as I quickly withdrew mine. 

I got up, utterly confused, and emotional, as well as completely unable to deal with today anymore: "I don't know about you guys, but I need a drink." 

"You don't even like drinking," Eric scrunched his brows.

"Leave her be, it's been hard on her as it is," Luke sighed, walking to the kitchen for the alcohol and glasses.

"What does he mean?" Eric grew even more confused.

"Can we just not? I don't want to be dealing with any of this anymore," I chose not to tell him about today's events. Luke was right, it's been hard on me as it is, there was no need to make it more difficult.

"Listen, can we talk tomorrow?" Eric asked, trying to reach out for my hand while Luke was in the kitchen.

"I'll just see you tomorrow," I replied, giving him a hug. 

This was all too weird. Eric had always been whom I had thought I'd end up with. Or more like hoped, since he never seemed to feel the same. Now, knowing he did and he always had only made this that much more complicated.

He kissed my forehead, petting Rose on his way out. 

"So..." Luke walked in, setting everything on the table.

I unscrewed the bottle, swallowing a shot straightly out of it. That was how done I was with today. Weirdly enough, I didn't even wince from the liquid. It's as if I appreciated the burn.

"Did something happen with Eric?" he questioned, pouring himself a shot. 

"It depends.." I sighed.

"On what?" Luke chuckled, unable to take me seriously.

"On whether you'll hurt him if I tell you," I looked him dead in the eye. As much as I wanted to be against everything Eric had said, it was obvious he had a point. Luke and I barely knew each other, and then there was this lovely thing called trust issues. It was crazy to think I let a complete stranger into my life without even knowing if all of the rumors were true.

His smile disappeared in an instant, as his green eyes averted to the table and he took the shot. This clearly made him uncomfortable. 

"What are you trying to say?" he questioned, having a sense of where this conversation was going. It was rather clear he felt offended, yet, surprisingly, he remained calm.

I took yet another shot, feeling like I no longer had a care in the world. Today had hurt me too much in too many ways. If I couldn't even trust my own best friend anymore, let alone my own parents, why would I trust a guy I'd met a  week ago? 

"I'm saying I don't know you. Yet here we are acting as if you couldn't destroy my life in one second by releasing all of this to the press, let alone hurt me or my friends physically because of who your father is. I mean... you had no issues hurting those people at your previous school."

"That's unfair," he stated calmly, looking at me this time around, "you go on and on about how no book should be judged by its cover. Yet you judged me the second you met me."