Talk to him

After spending a good five minutes absentmindedly scraping my leftovers around my plate, I stood up abruptly. Jasmine and Chrissie looked up, alarmed, breaking off their chatter mid-conversation. I ignored them and strode over towards Liam. Ryan saw me coming and nudged him, but he resolutely avoided looking at me until I was standing right next to him. “Hey,” he said indifferently. The sheer lack of emotion in his voice made anger begin to rise in my stomach.

“You want to do this here?” I asked, trying to keep my voice level as I glanced around at his friends.

“Sure,” he shrugged.

I could feel the blood in my cheeks starting to boil. “Ok. Fine.” I took a deep breath. “I said I was sorry. You can either take it or leave it.” Ryan frowned, as if he was trying to figure something out.

“Ok,” he nodded.

“Last chance saloon, bro. Tonight or else,” I said. Come on, he had to react somehow.

“Ok.” The same indifference. Goddamn it, you bastard!

I clenched my fist and myself not to slap him. Instead, I turned on my heel and walked angrily back to Jasmine and Chrissie. “Well, that was a fucking good idea,” I muttered, sitting back down.

Jasmine raised an eyebrow. “I told you s– ow!” she broke off as Chrissie elbowed her.

“Dick move,” Chrissie said.

“Yeah, sorry,” Jasmine muttered.

Unsurprisingly, I spent the rest of the day buried in my schoolwork and avoiding Liam. Eventually, the final bell rang and I scooped my books into my bag and weaved through the crowd of gray cardigans and sweatshirts and out of the school gates. Then I stopped. I had nowhere to go.

I didn’t have enough money to afford the motel again. I couldn’t go back to Chrissie’s, not after everything that had happened. I didn’t even want to think about going back home. Jasmine’s was a long shot but might be my only option. Unless I could somehow scrounge up enough cash to pay for the motel.

Sorry for the long wait! Honestly, this story has been on ice for a while and will probably keep moving at a glacial pace, so sorry if this gets your hopes up. Still, I hope you're enjoying what there is!