Page 7 of One Twisted Lie

Things are—to put it plainly—tense as fuck. Well, at least they are for me.

Sitting at a table in the courtyard with everyone, Carter is the picture of aloofness. He’s leisurely scrolling through his Calculus textbook, probably going to finish the homework that took me two hours, in five minutes. I can admit that Carter is a god at math, so I know he doesn’t need much concentration to get the right answers.

Since he doesn’t need to concentrate, and he’s so calmly solving the problems, why won’t he fucking look at me? It’s been a few days since the event in the classroom, and I’m freaking out. I’m still confused about a lot of things—why I’m suddenly attracted to him, why I sucked his cock like a whore, why his filthy words turned me on to a point I’ve never reached before. I’m a mess, and yet he doesn’t seem even slightly bothered.

It irritates me on more than one account. For starters, was I really that bad? I got him off, didn’t I? My pride is taking a hit because I couldn’t have sucked at sucking. Second, I hate how needy I feel for his attention. I keep waiting for him to look at me, glance at me, or simply acknowledge my existence. The annoying part is that I have no idea where this sudden need for attention came from when I’ve been content thus far to avoid social interaction with him as much as possible.

He finally looks up, but not at me. He asks Daniel something and Daniel—with a dreamy look on his face—doesn’t reply. Carter huffs. “Daniel, are you paying attention?”

Daniel is knocked out of his haze. “Um, what?”

Beside him, Magnus chuckles, and I can’t ignore or miss the way his gaze sweeps over Daniel in appreciation.

Interesting.

“I asked what you got for number nine on our calculus homework,” Carter repeats, his eyes narrowed suspiciously at our friend. “You sure you’re okay?”

I smile subtly at this. Daniel looks like he’s been caught doing something wrong. His pale cheeks are red, and he nibbles on his bottom lip adorably as he casts a glance at Magnus.

Oh yeah, something definitely happened between those two. I think it’s hilarious that Daniel pretends that none of us notice.

“Argh…”

We all turn our attention to Avery. He’s buried under his hoodie, his forehead plastered to the table with his arms at his side. Carter reaches over and pulls back the hoodie, frowning as he takes in Avery’s dirty hair. “All good, man?”

Another groan, and we all share a look over the state of Avery. It’s happening again. Our dear friend Avery feels everything so vividly, and this isn’t a new occurrence for us. He’ll go through periods where everything is perfectly normal and he’s perfectly himself and then he’ll crash. Sometimes there’s a reason—like when Bunny ran away—and sometimes there’s not—like when the cafeteria was out of tater-tots.

Even though some people might doubt it, I worry about him a lot. Avery is a great guy. He’s nice, embraces everything at face value, and is overall an incredible friend. He’s seen past all my bullshit, always with a smile on his face, and I appreciate—and sometimes resent—how he looks at life like it’s actually good.

“What is it?” Daniel asks him.

“Sebastian dumped me.”

Okay, that’s weird. I noted that Avery took a liking to Sebastian at the party, but I truly didn’t consider that Sebastian would give him the time of day. No matter how great he is, Avery isn’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea.

Magnus cocks his head. “Wait, when did you start dating? Am I the only one who didn’t know about this?”

“We weren’t.”

I purse my lips in confusion. “How can he dump you if you weren’t dating?”

“He turned me down.”

“You know, there’s a difference—Ow! Fuck you!”

I stare daggers at Carter for hitting me. Okay, I see how it is. I’m genuinely curious and worried about our best friend, and now Carter’s suddenly giving me the time of day. I know that sometimes I come off with some rough edges, but I’m a little offended that Carter believes I’m making fun of Avery. It’s like he thinks so low of me.

Oh, wait. He does. Cock sucking aside. “Fine,” I snap, leveling him with a glare before turning back to Avery. “Avery, buddy, tell us about it.”

“I asked him to be my friend and he said no.”

Avery sits up, and I suck in a little breath. He lookswrecked. The poor thing has dark bags under his eyes and pale cheeks, and I getpissed. Who the fuck does Sebastian think he is, doing this to Avery? Where the fuck does he get off making an amazing person feel like shit?

I clench my jaw. “Do you want us to talk to him?”

It wouldn’t take too much work. I could easily find out everything about Sebastian. There’s nothing money can’t buy. Addresses, phone numbers, names, social security—

“No, I just want to crawl in a hole and die,” Avery groans, retreating back into his little cave.

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