Everybody Else Is Dead

One

June liked to make up stories about the way she'd met Luke or Luke met her. It depends on how she'd be lying that day.

June didn't get to lie much. After all, Luke hated lying. But he made an exception for her stories of their meeting because he liked to listen to them too.

She once told a room full of people that she'd met Luke on a trip to Russia. Apparently, she had gotten lost and had a run in with some really nasty people. Luke, who had conveniently been passing by, helped the girl out of her situation by beating the lot of them up. Then he sent the girl home on his motorbike. According to the story, that was when she fell in love with Luke.

The only flaw?

Neither June nor Luke had ever stepped foot in Russia. They hadn't even gone out of their continent. The furthest they had ever gone out of their own country was to a neighboring one on a school field trip. And that was years ago.

June wondered if that had done it. If that was the reason she was seated alone at their secret spot, with no call or message from her boyfriend.

She trusted Luke. Which was dumb considering the fact that the boy was the definition of a playboy. A young Casanova. Not just in looks but in behaviour too. The boy had been around: a lot. And June knew this before they started dating.

The girl had faith in this faithless man. She believed he had changed. Rightfully so. He became gentler with her. Barely went out to parties. He even picked her up in his moms van sometimes rather than his anxiety inducing bike.

But June was beginning to wonder if trusting him was idiotic of her. People do change when they're in love. He could actually be in love with her. She didn't want to lose him because she was one of those people who didn't believe others could change.

She stared at her phone until it faded to black. She placed it face down beside her, her head tilting towards the sky. She felt the slight heat of the setting sun, the light bright behind her eyelids.

Taking in a deep breathe, she opened her eyes. She bit her bottom lip, a slight nervousness taking over. Was she really going to be nervous over this?

The ringing phone startled her. Her head snapped to where she had placed her phone on the ground, a little bit of light peeking through since the surface wasn't flat.

To ignore or not to ignore. June thought as she made circles on the back of her phone. If it was her mother, she knew she'd be on big trouble so she slowly picked up the phone. The name on the screen made her pause, lips turned downwards.

Luke.

June contemplated the thought of letting it ring until it simply stopped. It was a tempting thought. One that seemed more appealing in that moment because she was mad at him.

Not ignore.

"What took you so long?" June liked to censor Luke's words. As good as the boy was to her, he didn't quite understand her distaste for his crude language. So she censored him as much as possible. Like right now.

June remained quiet, taking note of the loud music playing in the background. She wondered where the boy was. He was supposed to take her out on a date earlier that day but he'd been later than usual. June had thought she'd find him at his hiding spot but even then, she'd been wrong. It had been 6 hours, 42 minutes and 37 seconds since the time he was supposed to pick her up. But hey, who was counting?

"Answer me!" She heard Luke's voice rise on the other end. She wasn't yet offended because her first thought was that he was trying to be heard over the music. But the lack of it in the background gave her pause. Where are you? was on the tip of her tongue.

"So long to do what?" She asked, lips set in a frown. She we playing dumb. Her brows had furrowed as her hand gripped the front of her sweatshirt. The one he'd bought for her because he claimed the colour looked good on her. It was his favourite colour.

"To pick up." He said. June wondered if she was the crazy one. If she had been stalking her boyfriend for as long as they had been dating. Was she wrong to be worried about her boyfriends whereabouts?

"I called you." She said instead, her voice low. She worried if he hadn't heard her. The boy on the other end was unusually quiet. She could only hear him breathing lightly into the speaker. Because she thought he hadn't heard her, she raised her voice, "I called you. A lot."

"I heard you the first time, June." Her first name. He'd used her first name. June was offended, for the second time too. She may not have liked nicknames as much as other girls but Luke did. He'd used every nickname in the world to find the one she didn't cringe at the use of. But now, he used her name.

"Okay." She muttered. She was hurt. As much as she hated nicknames, she loved how he tried to find one just for her. He used the cringe-worthy ones a lot just to annoy her. She secretly loved those too.

"I'm sorry for yelling." She was quiet for a minute, waiting for him to continue but he never did. Luke kept quiet too, as if he was waiting for her to say something. Anything.

"And..." June trailed off, her fingers playing with the grass beneath her. The sky was getting darker with each passing second. It felt like the day would end soon, maybe my relationship too.

"What else do you want me to apologize for?" Irritation dripped from his tone and sunk its claws into her head. Doubt. Was he doubting her or was she doubting him? Were they fighting? June wasn't quite sure.

"Today's Saturday." June simply said before hanging up. He would figure it out. And if he didn't. He was a terrible boyfriend and June deserved better.

At least that's what she told herself.