Parallel

|21|

Dear Veronica,

William got to know about Laura today.

Damn! I feel like cursing myself for not being more careful.

Here's what happened:

It was 9:30 PM. Dad had returned a little earlier than usual. Mum hadn't made food for all of us, so she took a little more time to make extra. William and I were watching Masterchef Australia on TV and were not willing to move from where we were.

Until mum came to our room and dragged us out.

We were almost through dinner when my phone started ringing. All I could think was "shit". Before Masterchef Australia had started, Laura and I were talking and she said she wanted to call me. I couldn't find my chill, damn. My heart was racing a thousand miles an hour. I prepared everything – I had peed, so the call wouldn't be disturbed by a call of my own, I made sure I had water near me (I get thirsty a lot) and I locked the door (and put a chair in front just in case...) so William wouldn't barge in.

So I waited. For half an hour. She went offline, and I got tired and quite pissed after some time. William knocked and I heard the door bell ring, and if Dad came in after a long hard day of work and saw William screaming, I'd be grounded, with a bonus of a slap in the face. I couldn't risk it and I opened the door.

"Were you making out with your girlfriend?" he scoffed as he pushed his way into the room. He didn't notice my eye roll.

So we were watching Masterchef Australia. And later, dinner. William was done when my phone started ringing loudly. Dad eyed me and told William, "Check who it is and let him know that Sebastian will call them later."

"Yes, father," William said and my heart sunk. I prayed it would be Andrew or someone and not Laura. I swear, even a bite of food couldn't go down my throat until he came back. He came back and sat down.

"Who was it?" Dad asked, taking another bite of food.

"It was for Sebastian..." he began. I knew I was done for.

"I know that, idiot. Who was it?" Dad snapped.

"Um, it was Leo..." William said, excused himself and went.

I finished my dinner quickly and excused myself as well. I practically rushed to my room. My phone was there, lying on the bed and I heaved a sigh of relief. I slid open the lock and checked.

1 missed call from Laura.

Then why did William say it was a dude named Leo?

As if on cue, someone coughed from behind and I realized that William had lied. To save my ass. Wow. I'm a dumb shit.

I froze as he slowly came to face me. He looked at me square in my eyes, nibbling his lip, probably carefully forming his words.

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"You think I'll get a girlfriend?" I snorted back. I (tried) to act cool and chill about it, but Will was the one with more experience here. "That's not an answer, Sebastian."

I sighed. "No, she isn't."

"Your crush then?"

I didn't meet him in the eye, and he sat on the bed. "Laura, huh?"

I nodded and looked at him. He was smiling softly. He got up, patted me on the back and said, "I'll make sure they don't come. You speak to her, but keep low. Alright? Give a call when you're done. I need to speak to you."