Page 42 of It's Only Make Believe

I go to his nose next and begin to clean all of the dried blood off his top lip and chin. He keeps sucking breath in between his teeth when presumably I hurt him, but he doesn’t moan or pull away and I try to get on with it quickly to get it over with for him.

I dab at the cut on his bottom lip next. This one is pretty deep, and I get up and get a pair of kitchen scissors. I cut the steri-strips into small strips, and I hold the wound together and stick the strips over it to keep it closed. When I’m done, Justin looks a fair bit better, but it’s still clear to see he has taken one hell of a beating.

“What happened to you?” I ask again.

He just shakes his head.

“Where was Luke when this happened?” I say, trying another tactic.

Justin just looks down at the table and refuses to look at me. It makes me wonder what state Luke is in and if Justin got him into some sort of fight and doesn’t want to have to admit it to me.

“Look I’m obviously going to find out,” I say. “If you don’t tell me, I’m going to call Luke.”

“No, don’t do that,” Justin says, looking up finally.

“Then you tell me what happened,” I say.

He’s quiet long enough that I don’t think he’s going to tell me, but then he starts to speak and I kind of wish he hadn’t told me.

“Luke did it,” he says.

I have to have misheard him, surely. Or misunderstood him. Yes, that must be it. Maybe it was Luke who got Justin into a fight. That doesn’t seem likely either, but it must be what he means.

“Did what?” I say.

“This,” he says, pointing to his face.

“What? No,” I say shaking my head. “Luke wouldn’t do that.”

He wouldn’t. Not Luke. He’s not the sort of guy to be getting drunk and fighting.

“Why would he do that?” I ask.

“Because he’s jealous. Because he knows I still want you and I think he knows deep down that you still want me too,” Justin says.

I want to believe Luke couldn’t be capable of doing such a thing to someone I consider a friend, but I have seen his jealous side once or twice myself and while he has kept it under control, maybe this time, he just saw red. If Justin said to him what he just said to me, I could see Luke being almighty fucking pissed off. But to do this?

It doesn’t make sense to me that Luke would go this far, even if Justin wound him up. But at the same time, Justin was out with Luke and clearly someone has done this to him.

“Please don’t talk like that Justin,” I say. “We’ve been over this, and we both have agreed we’re better as friends.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” he says. “I worded that badly. I just think Luke thinks that’s what’s going on.”

I’ve done nothing to make Luke think that I want anyone else but him. I know I haven’t. But I have to wonder what lies Justin has been feeding him. Nothing is going to be resolved until I speak to Luke, and as much as I want to speak to him now, I don’t want this to be a conversation we have over the phone. I want to be able to see Luke when I confront him so that I can see his expression.

“I’ll call you a cab,” I say to Justin. “And I will talk to Luke about this tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” Justin says.

I go and get my cell phone from the living room and quickly call Justin a cab. I go back to the kitchen and tell him it’s on its way. He stands up.

“Thank you, Tee,” he says. “For sorting this out.”

He points to his face as he says it.

“Of course,” I say. “I would tell you to go to the hospital with your nose, but I know you won’t.”

“I’ll be ok,” he says.

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