Page 12 of Twisted Minds

The same watch that my mother would skin me alive for if she knew I didn’t have it.

I need that fucking watch back.

While it may seem like a stupid watch—I mean, who even uses watches anymore—it’s so much more than that. Blinking back the well of tears that spring to my eyes, I try to breathe through the rush of emotion. The last thing I need to do is have a full-on breakdown in the middle of this class.

Every summer my family would go to Sweden to visit my mother’s family. Those summers meant everything to me. While my father works hard for all of us, he’s not exactly . . . how do I say this? Loving? I grew up very comfortable, but there were some nights I wished that my father was with us instead of another client, or another crisis.

Those summers with mymorfar, though, were life changing. He taught me the art of watchmaking, and while designing video games may have been something so far removed from what he knew, he always supported me. I could talk for hours with him about my plans for games I wanted to create. He’s the reason I fell in love with engineering to begin with, with math and science and learning the way things worked.

He was a master watchmaker, one and only of his kind, and that watch is the last thing he gave me before he passed three years ago. My mother didn’t want me to bring it with me to college, but I couldn’t part with it. It means too much to me.

Now it’s evidence.

For now.

Only until I catch Derrick in his lies.

The bell rings and we all stand. I gather my shit quickly, trying not to lose Noah in the crowd. He has English after this, and I need to talk to him beforehand. I shove my way through the crowd, ignoring all the dirty looks as I try to follow him, and spot his curly brown hair as he makes his way down the hall and out of the building.

“Noah!” His head turns before he sees it’s me and starts walking faster. “Noah, come on!” I walk faster, shoving people out of the way. I’m shocked no one decks me. “Wait.” I grab at his hoodie . . . my hoodie I now notice. He has to be wearing it to taunt me. “Not now! I’m busy.”

“Wait, come on. Please. I just want to talk, I swear. Just hold on.”

“Careful Mark, you’re so irresistible I might accidentally jump on your dick right here in front of everyone.”

My faceburns.It takes everything in me not to look at anyone around us. Mortification with a side of internal shame. Thank you, Noah. “Okay, okay.” I tug his hoodie—my hoodie—pulling him in between two buildings. “I just want to apologize.”

“Whatever you want, my king.” He curtsies.Jesus.“I am here to serve.”

“Can you stop! I’m sorry about being a complete douche the other day.”

“The other day?”

“And all the other days.”

“And?”

“For being a selfish prick and making you walk home at night each time we hooked up.”

“Ah okay, almost there.”

“And for treating you like shit when all you wanted is to be friends.” He cocks a brow. “And thinking you’re obsessed with me.” Which now, hearing it back, sounds so dumb. God, I ampeople stupid sometimes. Math? Got it. Science? Got it. Coding? Perfect. Understanding people and their emotions and social cues? Nope, missed that one completely.

“Great. Have a nice life.” He turns, walking back to the sidewalk.

“Come on, Noah!”

“What!? Why do you want to be friends so bad now?”

I freeze up at the question. Why do I want this now? The answer is easy. I’m tired of being on my own, and if I really let myself think about it, I like Noah, too. Not in that way, but I like his company.

“I didn’t realize how much I like it when we hang out.”

“Sweetie, don’t you remember? We don’t hang out. We fuck, because apparently that’s all I’m good for.” He turns away from me.

“No. No wait. No. That’s not it.” Noah just crosses his arms, pursing his lips. “I think I was afraid this may turn into more. I don’t want a relationship, so I was trying to keep my distance. I panicked and it was shitty . . . is, is shitty. I’m so sorry.” Letting go of my pride, not that I had much to begin with, I look at him. “I want to try being friends.”

“I’m not sleeping with you anymore. It’s not happening.”

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