Lucas ✔️

Twenty-Three

I sat in the café, in my usual booth, sipping a warm hot chocolate and waiting for Janie and Cole. They didn't come to school for the rest of the week, and I was beginning to feel a little lonely with only Shax and Amy to talk to. Sure, they were nice, but I was beginning to realise how much they struggled to understand what 'friends' were. One minute we would be talking like normal, the next they disappeared off the face of the Earth. One time, Amy had gotten up mid-sentence and walked away without so much as a goodbye, and Shax followed her lead. That same day, neither of them had come back and I ended up sitting in the library on my own trying to study maths, since they never showed up for tutoring.

The next day, all I got was a 'sorry' and no explanation. I couldn't really understand either of them – sometimes I thought we were close, sometimes I felt like I didn't even know them. It didn't help that Janie and Cole had been spending every day together, locked inside watching movies at Janie's house with her Mum. Not only were they out of action, but they were out of action together making me feel like an odd-third-wheel in a relationship where I was already alone. Maybe I was just jealous that they were spending time together, as friends, without me. If my attendance record didn't already have me on the brink of being held back a grade, then I probably would have skipped and joined them.

Maybe I should have listened to you and stayed in school. 

If you were here, though, I would have.

I grabbed the ghoul hanging from my sleeve and held him in my hand gingerly for a moment before placing him on my lap. He was small and somehow cute, his little ethereal form wisping in and out of visibility. Lucas had ruined the ghouls for me now – I could no longer look at them and see vicious balls of hatred trying to hurt me at every turn. Now it felt more like I was looking at an injured animal who simply needed some love. I let out a deep sigh and jumped slightly as Janie spoke.

"What's the sigh for, Lil?" she asked loudly, sliding into the seat across from me and leaning against the window.

"Oh, nothing, how are you? Where's Cole?" I asked, looking around until I spotted him at the counter.

"He's ordering our drinks. I'm okay, feeling better. Thank god you sent me home that day," she said with a sad laugh. "I don't know why it affected me so much, but I ended up having a rough few days," she said with a shake of her head.

"You should have called me over," I mumbled, oddly hurt that she hadn't. I could have gone over on my own, sure, but I felt like I wasn't needed... or wanted. She had Cole, what more could she want?

"I did want to it's just..." she hesitated and looked away. "Never mind."

"You can't do that," I whined.

"It's just... I was worried... about you. I didn't want you to have to deal with me like that," she laughed, and I saw the pain in her words behind the happy façade. Her eyes crinkled at the corners as she smiled through her need to cry. "I mean, god, nothing even happened to me! And here I was, falling apart. You must think I'm pathetic," she ended on a whisper, looking away from me as tears brimmed her eyes.

"Janie," I whispered, moving my arm across the table to grab her hand. She pulled it away quickly and sobbed slightly, so I jumped up and moved to her side, pulling her into a hug.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed quietly, her sniffles causing a few people to look at us.

"Don't say sorry," I cooed. "You did nothing wrong. It's my fault – I should have come to see you I just felt... like you didn't need me," I admitted as I rubbed her shoulders, not looking to meet her eyes.

"Of course, I need you! You're my best friend!" She sobbed harder as Cole slid into the seat opposite us, his eyebrows raised high in worry and shock.