Page 64 of Show Me How to Heal
“Yeah… Apparently, a fan of yours took pictures of you and Luke kissing and being all cute and couple-y. To me, it looks like it was after opening hours.”
Yesterday. We’d joked about what to do with all the free time on our hands once we didn’t have to plan such a big event any longer. About possibly starting a career as event planners.
Or the day before. Luke snatching up one of the body melts, declaring he needed to check the quality of our stock, and me laughing about him being my best customer. My favorite one.
It could’ve been any day.
“It appears you have followers in Germany, and one of them recognized Luke. Now your picture is everywhere and the media — and your fans — are going crazy. Luke’s been missing for months, and now he pops up on another continent kissing a guy.”
“He’s not out?”
“Well, now he is.”
I… I didn’t know what to do or think anymore. I just sat there on Avery’s chair, blinking, staring into space.
Everything had been a lie. Our whole relationship was based on a foundation of lies and half-truths.
My eyes burned, and I was pretty sure there were tears running down my cheeks.
What did I do?
I couldn’t face him. Couldn’t look him in his eyes that’d promised me the world and had just given me an ocean of hurt.
“Zayne?”
“Sorry… I… I need to go. I have to prepare for the grand opening tomorrow.”
I ended the call, numbly staring at my phone, at the top bar, showing the countless notifications.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube. Unread messages from my family, from Corey, and… Luke.
I ignored all the messages for now. I needed to see it with my own eyes. Needed to see if Luke had really lied to me. Kept things from me. A career as an athlete? How big exactly was soccer? Were we talking about a Gymnasts level of popular and well-known or a star football player?
My hands were shaking as I slowly typed his name into the search bar. Lukas Richter. There. I hit enter and waited… not long.
My jaw dropped when the first thing I saw were several photos of us kissing, linked to various news articles. And then I saw the number of overall search results.
Not a gymnast’s level of popular, then. Not even a football player’s level of popular. Shit… this was… movie star level of popular.
Holy fucking shit!
My stomach knotted itself up tight, my heart sinking as the realization hit me as to what exactly he’d been keeping from me. How big this really was.
I wiped the tears away, steeling myself, before turning the phone off. I couldn’t deal with this. Not now. Not today. Not tomorrow. Maybe not ever.
I had a job to do. An event to plan.
WHO IS THE GUY THAT TURNED LUKAS RICHTER GAY? EXCLUSIVE INFORMATION ABOUT THE ELUSIVE SOAPMAKER FROM RURAL COLORADO!
Chapter 17
Luke
I knew something was seriously wrong when I was woken up by my cell phone practically vibrating off my bedside table. It wasn’t the alarm I’d set yesterday because then I’d be awoken by music, not by aggressive humming like there was a swarm of wasps flying around my head.
My heart got a kickstart, my pulse speeding up, hands shaking while I blindly reached for my phone. The brightness of the display blinded me, making me blink rapidly.
“’lo?” I asked throatily, clearing my throat.
