Second Chances

twenty

a l e x

"What the hell was that?" Luke yelled, slamming the door behind him as we entered his apartment. He abandoned the grocery bags by the door, putting his full attention on me.

After what happened, I was surprised he didn't just completely storm out and leave me with a cart full of groceries.

I honestly didn't know what to say to him. He looked absolutely furious, somewhat rightfully so. I'd never seen him that angry before.

"I—what do you want me to say?" I managed to spit out.

Seriously, Alex? That's the best you could come up with? The guy was so mad he stayed silent the whole car ride back.

"The truth, Alex. Simple enough, right?" he demanded. "Is that too much to ask for now? I tell you everything, and you won't tell me about this?"

"I didn't want you to find out this way," I tried to defend myself. Honestly, the words coming out of my mouth weren't exactly helping my case.

He slammed his hand on the counter after he threw his keys to the side. "Bullshit, Alex. You didn't even want me to find out in the first place."

Tears were filling my eyes at this point, but I refused to make myself look like such a victim. I knew I was in the wrong. "Trust me, I was just waiting for the right time to open up about it."

"So you just casually lead me on, make me believe like there was actually something between us, and then just have some guy on the side to mess around with, is that it?" Luke was beyond furious at this point. But he had it all wrong.

I made my way over to him and tried to reach for his hand, but he quickly pulled it away. "Don't touch me. You're just playing me."

"Luke, it's not like that," I insisted. "He's nothing to me. He's been nothing to me for a long time. Way before you were back in the picture."

He rolled his eyes and plopped himself on the couch, distancing himself from me. "Yeah right."

"He and I were never anything. He used me, and I stopped it before anything horrible could happen," I persisted. "I promise, just hear me out."

"Fine, lay it on me then," Luke sighed, refusing to meet my eyes. "If you're so sure that I'm going to forget all about this once you explain, go ahead."

I quickly composed myself before starting. "I met Darren back in college. We got close, and before I knew it, we were going out on dates every few weeks. He was nice at first, and I finally convinced myself that I'd moved on from you."

"We were never official, not to me at least, but everyone seemed to think we were. He started becoming selfish when we became more like a couple. Again, no labels, but he didn't seem to care. He would let me pay for dates, use my car, stay over at my place all the time, heck, even had the nerve to ask me for an expensive ass gaming console for his birthday."

"Seems like a big downgrade, Alex," Luke chimed in, stopping my story.

I couldn't help but smile and laugh a little. He was right after all.

"Yeah, well, I realized that eventually. I started to distance myself from him and a few months after we first met, he was out of my life. Until now. And he still seems to think whatever we had back then still applies now. About a year ago, I found out he was going out with this other girl around that time too."

"That guy looked at you like a walking bag of money," Luke got up and finally looked me in the eyes. "He fucking used you."

It was my turn to look away. Luke looked so conflicted, and I couldn't stand seeing him that way.