Social Casualty {muke}

eleven

Luke

"I have a job interview today." I sit across the dining room table from Michael.

"Where?" He's been dropping slight hints about us needing more money lately and also I feel bad for not paying any rent considering I live here too.

"At that record shop downtown." I stand up and walk over to the sink, setting my bowl in.

"Do you want me to meet you for lunch when you're done?"

"Sure, pick me up at noon?" He nods, "We've only been dating a few weeks and we already sound like an old married couple." I laugh quietly and he runs upstairs, returning a few minutes later fully clothed.

 "Luke you should probably leave soon." I look down at my watch, "Shit, you're right." I grab a coat and head towards the door. I arrive at the record shop within ten minutes. 

I enter the store and I'm met with rows and rows of vinyls. There is a strong smell of dust. I see a guy standing between a few of the shelves taking records off a cart and stacking them in neat rows. I walk up to him and lightly tap his shoulder. He turns around quickly, startled by my presence.  His hair is long and curly and his arms are muscular.

"Hi, can I help you?" His accent is different  than mine. It's actually kind of hot. Focus Luke. 

"My name is Luke, we spoke on the phone yesterday about a job interview?" 

"Oh yeah! Well my name is Harry and I'm the manager. Let's go ahead and get started, yeah?" I nod and follow him to the back of the store. We sit down at an old wooden table and he starts the questions.

By the end of the interview Harry and I are basically best friends. That sounds really weird, but we actually learned a lot that we have in common. 

"I think I'm gonna close up early today," he says, "how about you and me grab some lunch?" I nod and we exit the store, me having compltely forgotten about Michael.

☯☯☯

Michael

I pull into the parking lot of the record store just after noon. The lights in the shop are off and it looks as if nobody's inside. I pull out my phone and dial Luke's number. I hear a few rings and then a voicemail message. Hiii, this is Luke, uh, I'm not here right now so leave me a message. I can literally hear his awkwardness through the phone.*Beep*

"Hey Luke, so I'm guessing you forgot about lunch? No big deal. I'll see you later, I guess." I hang up the phone and pull out of the parking lot, heading back home.

*at home*

I walk up the stairs and into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. Opening the cupboard under the sink, I search for the familiar small piece of metal. I soon find it and set it on the counter, also removing my sweatpants. 

I pick up the blade, rolling in around in my hand. I slide the cold object on my skin creating a thin red line on top of my old scars. I wince slightly as I push the blade deeper into my skin. My thigh is soon dripping red onto the floor. Luke doesn't care anymore, so why should I? 

A few minutes later, the front door opens downstairs. "Michael, are you here?" Shit. 

I quickly clean off my legs and bandage them up. I slip on my sweatpants and toss the red stained towels into the cupboard. i open the bathroom door and am met with a concerned looking Luke. 

"What were you doing in there Michael?"

"I was just taking a shower." I tell him, avoiding eye contact. 

"Your hair isn't even wet." I freeze.

"I just dyed it so I didn't want to wash it?" It came out as more of a question. 

"Oh, ok then."

I suddenly remember something that makes my heart sink. "I went to take you to lunch but you weren't there. You didn't answer your phone either." I say sadly. 

"Oh shit Mikey, I forgot! I'm so sorry, my interview went really well and me and the boss got along so he invited me to lunch." Luke says frantically.

"You went to lunch with another guy?" I look down at the floor. 

"MIchael I promise it wasn't like that, he's just my boss. He's really nice. Maybe we could all hang out sometime, you would love him. We can even invite Ashton if you want." Luke pleaded.

I didn't like the idea of that at all, but I would still prefer me being there than Luke being alone with him. 

"Ok fine, we can invite him over this weekend if you want?" I ask uncertainly. 

"Really? This is great!" Luke embraces me. "I'll go text him now and you can text Ashton!" He leaves bounding down the stairs.