Castaway ➳ cth [EDITING/HIATUS]

Chapter 14

Recap

All of a sudden, the phone in my pocket started to vibrate, cluelessness overcame me as I studied the screen.

The ID displayed the name 'Luke Hemmings'.

***

"Hello?" Was the first thing I brought out, my hands started to tremble lightly.

"June Bellatore?" Luke's voice appeared to incredibly unfamiliar to me, almost like I've never heard it before. "It's Luke Hemmings."

Luke and I were very close friends. When I was sixth grade up to the day of his party, we always clung together. People mistook us for being a pair, but I never had serious feelings for him. Heard he had a girlfriend anyways.

"Yeah, I know who you are, Luke", I deadpan, slightly offended by him thinking I don't even know his name, although we were best friends for three years.

"Why are you calling? Don't you have other things to do besides bothering around with June Bellatore?"

"June, please, stop being like that", he responded in annoyance. "I just wanted to ask something."

"No seriously. Can you stop calling me? The way you ignored me for almost two years by now, showed me how uninterested you are in our friendship." Why was he calling me at such a random time?

Shortly after the party happened, I gave up after he declined the sixtieth time I called him. I wondered what made him such an unfaithful friend.

"June, I'm not here to bully you are whatever you think. I'm here to ask you a question."

"Shoot it out", I answered. There was no point in fighting with him over the phone, I realized.

"So... I'd like to hang out with you."

My first instinct was to hang up, but then the memory of him asking me to hang out every week during Middle School prohibited me from doing so. Perhaps he decided to catch up.

"Okay", was the only word I brought up. After a long hesitation, I asked: "Where and when do you want to meet?"

"My house, and if you have time, right now. Just want to talk to you."

We both hang up, my stomach feeling awakened by curiosity. It was odd how he called me on a random day, asking me to talk to him. But my heart felt different. It felt like it was slowly dropping, as if I was just being told some bad news. The night at the party, nearly two years ago, at Luke's house, was the main reason.

Something inside of me rebelled against going to Luke's. I promised myself to never go to Luke's house ever again, especially not entering the basement that left its mark of me getting almost violated. I hope we can walk somewhere outside, maybe the park we used to hang out too. The thought of us taking the swings on the children's playground in eight grade brought a tiny smile onto my lips.

Checking my hair on the mirror, I only combed through it with my fingers and stepped out of the room. It was five o'clock in the afternoon.

Trying to not make any sound, my feet carried me towards the entrance, opening the door carefully. The hinges squeak every time you open the door forcefully.

Shoving my keys and my phone into the pocket of my jeans, I made my way to my mother's Range Rover.

Luckily, she didn't peek out of the window, otherwise I would be in trouble. She never wants me to leave the house after four, due to trust-issues she developed over the time.