Room 206 - Luke Hemmings

thirty-two

For the remainder of that week and the week following it as well, I kept my mouth shut in English. I wasn't in the mood, I didn't think Hemmings was after our chat, and I wanted to rip this off quickly and as painlessly as possible, like a bandaid. I knew that if I did it this way it would be as painless as possible.

I knew that hiding these from the girls was going to eventually catch up to me and make me feel guilty sometime. When it finally did, I knew I needed to admit what I'd done to someone, so I went to the first person I knew wouldn't judge me for it.

"El," I sat down next to my best friend on her bed and she looked up at me from her homework that she was working on.

"Hey Daisy," she said.

"Do you have a bit of time to spare?" I asked. "There's something I need to get off my chest and tell you."

"Sure," she closed her book and moved it aside. "What is it?"

"We should probably go for a walk."

-

I walked with Eleanor through town, working on how I was going to tell her exactly. I wasn't sure how she would react. She finally questioned me enough times to drag it out of me and I stopped with her outside the coffee place we usually went to together.

"Okay," I said. "You know all those times that I would mouth off to Hemmings in English."

"Yes," she nodded.

"And you know how I would always get detention afterwards?" I said, opening the door for us to go inside.

"Yes?" She looked confused, then her face changed and her jaw dropped. "Oh my god, are you serious?"

I sighed and sat down at a table. "Yes."

"Every single time?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"Goodness gracious, Daisy!" She exclaimed. "I was wondering what ever happened between the two of you after that one night. Why did you keep it from me for so long?"

"Honestly, I was afraid that you would judge me for every time that i'd get 'detention' in his class," I said.

"Are you kidding?!" She laughed. "I would be rooting you on every time!"

I laughed with my best friend, relieved that I'd gotten this off of my chest to someone. "There has been some problems though."

"Oh man, what this time?" Eleanor asked, frowning and I knew she was right. Every time it seemed like things were okay between us, something else happened.

"Well, I asked him the other day if he was married or if he had a girlfriend back home," I started.

"Oh no."

"No, he said he didn't," I said. "If he did, that would be the end. I may be a hoe but I'm not a home wrecker. Anyway, he said he doesn't know if I'm his girlfriend and he doesn't know what we are. And if I'm being honest, Alex seems like he wants to try things out with me again because he asked me out on a date a couple weeks ago. I told Hemmings about it and that I almost said yes because I need more than just sex in a relationship."

"What did he say?" She asked.

"Well, nothing. I got up and left after that. But before I told him, all he said was that he 'needed time to think.' What does that even mean? I know hardly anything about him because we don't have that romantic aspect of a relationship. We haven't even spoken to each other in almost 2 weeks."

"Daisy, I'm sure everything will work out," she said. "I'm always here if you need me. And I'll kick your ass if you ever take Alex back."

"I'm not going to." I rolled my eyes. "I went through enough bullshit with him, I'm not stupid enough to go back to that."

"Good," she said. "You're better than that and you deserve better than him."

I sighed and stared at the barista behind the counter, though I wasn't in the mood for coffee or anything. "How has your love life been, Eleanor?"

"I am in a fantastic, very committed and very serious relationship with my uni applications and homework."

-

Eleanor and I had made our way back to the school before dinner started and we're hanging out with Blair and Eileen in our rooms, who were playing Mancala. Blair ended up winning and Eileen accused her of cheating and threatened to never do her hair for her again.

We all headed down to the dining hall for dinner together, and as I was walking, I felt another presence next to me and turned to see Alex.

"Hey Daisy," he said. "Do you mind if I sit with you guys for dinner tonight?"

"No, go ahead." I smiled. Hemmings doesn't own me and I'm going to show him that.

We sat down to eat, Eileen and Blair were poking fun at Eleanor, who was doing a good job dishing it back to them, while I laughed at all of them. Alex talked to me about football. I wasn't interested but pretended that I was listening intently to him for the sake of pissing Hemmings off at the staff table.

I made a few jokes, and he of course laughed at them and I glanced over to see Hemmings watching us with steam practically shooting out his ears. I looked away and smirked, knowing that maybe this was the last straw with him.

Despite my smug attitude, I was still worried that Hemmings wouldn't want me. What if this was going to just make him toss me to Alex because he thinks that's what I deserve anyways?

I pushed my paranoia aside for the time being. If he needed his "time and space" then I'll give it to him. But if he gets that he's going to know that I can't sit around waiting forever.

-

A/N: this is late and really sucky I'm sorry. I swear I might as well move updates to Tuesday's instead

(just kidding I'm trying my best okay)

but hey on the bright side I'm going to a lunch with a boy I really like today aye