Self-Destruction • Luke Hemmings

Chapter 38

"What?" I splutter. I must of mis-heard him.

"I was just in town with Ashton and then I saw her walking down the other side." He says blandly.

"Are you sure it was her?" I clarify. This whole thing is confusing.

"She fucking smirked at me." He suddenly says angrily, hitting the dashboard with his fist. I suddenly get worried, he said he loved her, what if he still does? And now she's back he might go off with her and I'll be left alone...again. I can't let that happen, I think determinedly.

"I'm sorry." Luke muttered, gripping the steering wheel tighter as he continued driving.

"It's fine, she might just be here for a week or something, it's the holidays and she might be visiting her dad, you said he still lives here, right?" I ask, he nods to both pieces of information. Two days after I left for England was the end of the term before Christmas.

"Yeah, I don't know if I want to speak to her at all. I'll just avoid her. She spread so many fucking lies about me." He mutters. I put my hand on his and feel how tense he is, but he immediately relaxed as I trace random patterns on his hand which is gripping the dashboard while the other is steering.

"It's okay. You probably won't even see her again." I soothe, looking up at him, he glances from me to the road in front of him and mutters something about hoping I'm right.

The trip was quick and we were mostly catching up on the week we spent away from each other; which wasn't much. We avoided the subject of Imogen and when we arrived outside my house I was shocked to see Aunt Bess rush out of the house and pull me into a hug.

"Faith! Hello! How was England!" She gushes. I shrug but blush with the attention, I didn't expect her to be so happy to see me.

"I'll see you later Faith, I've gotta go home." Luke waves and I wave back.

"So?" Aunt Bess asks when we both are sitting in the kitchen.

"It was good, you know...considering." I shrug, and smile slightly. I got to see some family, but what made me think was that Aunt Bess never went, she is my mums sister.

"I know this might be rude, but why didn't you erm, go to the funeral?" I ask, fumbling with my fingers slightly. She looks nervously at me before replying.

"I don't believe in funerals, I know it's stupid and it is the way to say goodbye but I can't abide them. I would never want to remember my sister in her coffin being lowered into the ground, I'd rather remember her sitting in your summer room painting." She smiles sadly and I find myself agreeing with her.

"I didn't even finish there, I ran away." I sigh in disappointment at myself.

"The fact you even went was extremely brave, Faith. I'm really proud of you." Aunt Bess smiles, and the way she says it really strikes my emotions, and I pull her into a hug, which surprises her and me.

At first she stills but then hugs back and I don't know why, but I start crying.

"I'm sorry, all I've done recently is cry." I try to hold back a sob, feeling embarrassed at myself.

"Usually we cry because we've been strong for too long." She smiles at me, a genuine smile, and I know that I don't want to move away from here. Everything's just perfect at the moment.

But perfection doesn't last for long.

***
Ew really short but I've been busy revising for exams I'm going to have to take end of year exams for every subject in two weeks😁
-Rebecca x