44. Luke
CHAPTER 44
Luke
I throw my phone on the mattress, my anger reaching its limit. Fuck Gigi, fuck Aunt Judith, and Fuck Kai for hosting this hangout without asking me first.
“Dude,” one source of my fury says. I can’t see him with my back facing the door, but I know Kai is there. “Don’t make me shoo away a fucking crying girl from the door again. You’re a dick for this.”
“She was crying?” I ask, turning around.
“Might as well be. For what it’s worth, I think she’s really sorry.”
I figured. And God damn it, a part of me knows that she really is. Aunt Judith was brutal. But that doesn’t excuse the fact that she just left. She flew to her dad’s. Aunt Judith spooked her and she pulled away from me. We were saying I love yous to each other like we were supposed to last forever. I guess I was the only one who thought so.
Gigi didn’t break up with me in New York, but she didn’t put in much effort, either. If I have to read another text saying I need space , I think I might explode.
Rejection is never a good thing. Laying yourself bare for the first time and then have the other person walking away, fucking running, at the first sign of trouble? Can a relationship really last like that?
Kai claps me on the back before going back outside to our friends. “Don’t be so fucking stubborn, Luke.”
I groan when I see the sight of my girlfriend running toward me. Her dark hair flies all over her face as she repeatedly calls out to me, clutching her laptop in her hand.
“Not now, Gi,” I finally answer, trying not to cause a scene. “I have class.”
“Skip it. It’s syllabus week.” Her doe eyes are filled with something I can’t make out. Desperation? Hope? Heartbreak? Maybe the three swirled into one, forming two gray circles that look like a shiny stone. “I have something important to tell you.”
“Gigi.” Her name comes out with a sigh. “We can talk about it tonight or tomorrow. I’ll call you. Just not now. I really have to go.”
“Skip your class, Luke. You’re going to want to hear this. There are a few things that we need to discuss.”
“No,” I scoff. “I’m on scholarship. I’m about to lose it.” Because it’s contingent on me performing well, and I haven’t been doing as good since Andrew died. “I’m not going to skip shit. And while I’m there, I suggest you also go to yours. Stop begging your boyfriend to spend time with you like a petulant fucking child.”
We both snap our eyes to each other the moment I mention the word boyfriend. Yeah, I’ve decided that I’m still her boyfriend. She’s still mine. I’m just so goddamn pissed at her still. I’m saving my energy for that inevitable talk that we’re going to have to have. My aunt is my problem to handle, but Gigi is going to get an earful from me about what she did.
“I’m…I’m not…” she stutters. “I’m not a petulant child.”
“Then stop acting like one,” I grit out.
“You need to pick up your uncle’s calls.” My eyebrows shoot up. This is not what I was expecting her to say.
“You’re cornering me in the library because you want me to take Uncle Mike’s calls?”
“Yes,” she says. “Among other things. But this is the most pressing one right now.”
“Why?”
“Because Andrew made a video before he died, and your uncle showed it to me last night.”
I need air. I need to breathe. I need…I don’t know what I need.
My vision blurs as I try to remember what happened before I turned my phone on silent and went to sleep. Kai left my room and a few hours later, Uncle Mike called me about ten times, all of them dodged just like the ones before. Gigi must have tried about twice as much, all of them sent to voicemail as well. I didn’t want to talk to either of them.
I open my messaging app in front of her, cursing myself when I read through the one-sided chain of texts.
Gigi
Have fun at your party. I’m sorry if I embarrassed you in front of your friends.
Luke, your uncle is telling us to come to Marble Crest. He said it’s important.
I swear it’s not a ploy to get you to forgive me. But we do need to talk.
Can you please pick up?
I don’t have a car. I can’t go to Marble Crest alone. The bus is not running anymore.
Your uncle said he’s going to pay for my Uber. It must be really important.
My driver will be here soon if you want to join.
Then I finally read the last one.
We need to talk about Andrew.