𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐘𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇|𝐆𝐄𝐍 𝐕

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

Parties often meant that people stuck to each other like cement. Margaret wiped the sugar from her lips that were a result of the cherry vodka Jordan had offered her soon after walking inside the club, claiming that it would "take the edge off." Margaret hated being a in a position where her friends felt as if they had to baby her, holding her hand and coddling her as if she was incompetent of caring for herself, when in reality that wasn't the case whatsoever. The only person so far who hadn't treated her like some sort of glass object was Marie, and that was only because the pair had known each other for 0.2 seconds.

Besides that, Margaret was a bit excited to let loose, only if it was for a singular night before she was thrown right back into the pack of wolves, answering frantic calls and texts from her father demanding her whereabouts. Margaret considered blocking him all together, saving herself from the torment that was Richard Sawyer. But with that came consequences, and after the events she had experienced the previous night, she wasn't sure if she was ready to face any of those so called consequences.

Margaret still hadn't made an effort to tell Luke that she saw his dead brother, for how could she? How do you even explain that to someone without making them go borderline insane? Hey Luke, so you know how your brother committed suicide and was presumed dead? Yeah, uh, turns out he's actually alive and I found him murdering a bunch of innocent people! Surprise!

There was an immediate guarantee that Luke would think Margaret was crazy, and she wouldn't blame him whatsoever. Hell, looking back on it she thought maybe she was going crazy. Perhaps she hit her head a little too hard when the guard had shoved her and that had caused her to hallucinate, making her see her boyfriend that was supposed to be dead. But he just looked so real. The eye contact they had made for the first time in three years, it was a moment Margaret would never forget, just like most of the moments her and Sam spent together. The one main goal of the night was to keep her distance from Luke as much as possible, for if she even got an inch close to him she would spill her guts, not even having time to consider what would happen next.

"Hey, Margo," Luke greeted, Margaret almost crushing her glass cup of soda in her hands at the sight of the Riordan boy approaching. So much for keeping her fucking distance. "You seriously just wanna hang here all night?"

"I'm just trying to like, ease into the party, you know? Jordan tried to throw me in head first and I almost slapped them," Margaret replied, staring out at her friends who seemed to be having the times of their lives. Versus her who sat in the corner of the room awkwardly holding a glass of now warm soda in her hands. She was such a loser it was nauseating. "Go have fun, Luke. You don't need to babysit me."

Luke slowly shook his head, moving to sit beside Margaret who stared at him with furrowed brows. Holy shit this was going to be a lot harder than expected. She chewed on the inside of her cheek, continuing to stare out at the party to avoid having to make eye contact. Anything was better than this at this point, that was for sure. "Hey, Margo, I never really got to tell you this earlier because of all the shit happening, but you know you're doing really well, right? Sam would be really proud of you. I know he would."

Margaret's head snapped over towards Luke's, feeling her blood run cold at the kind sentiment. It was as if the universe was taunting her at this point, just begging her to release the secret that could possible ruin everything. Margaret sipped on her soda, hoping that it would somehow calm her nerves. It didn't. If anything, it made them so much fucking worse. Luke staring at her didn't help the matter, his hand slowly reaching out to gently squeeze hers. Margaret felt overstimulated, a panic attack on the rise if she didn't get out of the situation as quickly as possible.

Don't tell him don't tell him don't tell him don't tell him—

"Thanks, Luke. I'm trying," Margaret whispered, forcing a tight lipped smile at the older boy, slowly standing up and sipping on her soda once more. "Alright, guess you convinced me. I'm gonna go party with you guys, but just for tonight! Don't make me do anything stupid."