✔ DRUNK words, SOBER thoughts ✖ hemmings au

33: With You I do Adore

LUKE.

Mum knew something was wrong. Coming home with bruised jaws and a jittery disposition had really tipped her off to a much bigger picture. I didn't want her to worry and I didn't want her to stress about it. So naturally, I did what anyone else would've done: I lied about it. I reassured my mum that I was clumsy, irritable and stressed about my classes. She didn't need to know that bullying had become a prevalent thing in my life again. But although I kept smiling at her and kept a facade up, I wasn't exactly sure how long I could keep up with the act.

"Hey quiff boy, wanna grab froyo or something?"

I slammed my locker door shut to reveal Ari whose shoulder was leaning against the metal locker next to mine. She had her books pressed up against her chest and a small smile painted on her face. Her long hair was messily piled atop her head, emphasizing the features on her face that I grew to know and love. But in the midst of her golden skin, and brown, almond-shaped eyes, there was a strange hollowness to Ari's face that made her look underfed and under slept.

"Don't we have dance practice?" I asked, slinging one strap of my backpack on my left shoulder.

"Canceled," she simply informed with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Why?" I questioned. Not that I minded, I was feeling more lazy than normal and didn't have the energy to learn the tango.

"Mia can't come down and neither can some of my cousins," Ari told me. She tugged onto my hand, pulling me down the hall towards the main campus doors. "Can we just hang out or something?"

"Sure. Do you and the guys want to come over?"

"Would you mind if it were just the two of us? I honestly just want some quiet time without being alone and you know how rowdy things get when you guys are all in the same room together,"

"Very true," I agreed, a light chuckle escaping my lips. I could tell something was up with Ari. She seemed anxious as opposed to her normal laid-back disposition. "Are you okay?"

"Yea, why wouldn't I be?" Ari answered, furrowing her eyebrows in my direction. Yup, definitely irritable. Was she on her period again? Can girls be on their period twice a month?

"Nothing, you just seem tense. And you never are tense about anything," I pointed out, just as the two of us scaled down the concrete steps and proceeded into the school car park.

"Well whatever got into your morning tea is addling with your brain because I don't know what the hell you're getting at," Ari didn't really mean to snap at me, at least that's what I perceived. She hardly ever takes her anger out on anyone else unless it's intended for that someone specificly. Unless I personally did something to spite her, there was definitely something going on with her that she's not telling me.

"Ari, what's going on?" I asked her again, walking through a row of cars.

"I told you nothing's going on," Ari insisted. She kept her eyes to the asphalt of the school car park, as if the black, textured ground were more interesting than the person she's having a conversation with. "Look, if you don't want to hang out that's fine. Just tell me and we can do our own thing."

"I want to hang out with you," I reassured, stopping at my car. I unlocked it, using the button on my keychain and popped open the trunk. "But I can tell that there's something on your mind," I dropped my backpack into the trunk, next to a pair of old Vans and an unopened bag of Hot Cheetos, "and I want you to know that you can talk to me about anything. You know that. Ride or die, remember?"

Ari let out a drawn out sigh, tapping her fingers on the side of my car. She still hadn't lifted her head to look at me and instead concentrated on something else. She licked her lips, biting the bottom one in bothersome as her forehead began to develop worry wrinkles. I took another look at my best friend and while I didn't say anything about it earlier, her choice in clothing was barbaric. Ari had an earring missing, wore baggy basketball shorts that went just above her knee, and unless she purposely decided to wear red Vans on her left foot and a purple Nike runner on the right foot, there was no denying in my deduction: this girl had something lingering in her pretty little mind.