“I’m on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friend.”  - The Fault In Our Stars, now in theatres!

Chapter One 

He was late.

I sighed as I massaged my knees. I’d been waiting for more than an hour here, right at the schoolgate, but of course, Matthew would always be late. It was a trait imprinted so deep within his blonde head that nothing would ever change it.

Not that I could complain. I didn’t want my perfect boyfriend to walk away from me, too.

The schoolyard was almost empty because today was Friday and everyone was dying to have a night out early. The only people who stayed behind were students who studied too hard for their own sanity. And me.

But then, I heard a group of people laughing and talking from behind, and I shuddered in fear.

Their voices sounded familiar. A year ago, it could have been a good thing, but now there was nothing more terrifying than meeting them.

Them. My ex-friends. Them. Now certified as Azalea Walter’s professional bullies. Them. The popular, commanding kids, especially Noelle, because she knew me the longest and she knew how to hurt me the most.

Panic-stricken, I looked for something, anything for cover. There was a large bush near the tree, and I scooted over there before they could notice me. It was like a neverending game for them. Whenever I was around their vicinity, they would pick a fight with me, but they’d do it together in packs, so no matter how hard I fought back, I’d be in the losing end.

As I hid behind the bush, I saw them, all of them were still pretty, still shining, still turning heads. Instead of me, though, Noelle was on the very front, a sure sign of her leadership. Sometimes when I stared long enough, my mind would play a trick that made me believe that I could walk to them and everything would be like before.

But then I saw Kevin walking towards Noelle and kissed her in the mouth, and all the fantasies cracked.

Kevin had been my first boyfriend, and before he was with Noelle, he was with me for two full years. It was because of Kevin that our friendship broke, because I didn’t know that all the time I was with him, Noelle harbored a massive crush towards him.

I shook my head as the pang of pain throbbed against my chest. I didn’t even want to think about it anymore. I’d spent enough nights bawling my eyes out because of this. Even if they couldn’t see me, I’d still feel like a loser if I shed an extra tear for them.

The Popular kids were chatting right in front of the school gates; the excited shrills of the girls and the attractive laughs from the guys rang on my ears as I hoped fiercely, ‘please go away please go away please go away’.

My wish got fulfilled when I saw a few guys pulled away in front of them with a few shiny cars. Their laughter getting a few decibels higher as they all went inside the car, probably to a very cool party in a very cool club while drinking very cool drinks.

I couldn’t even deny my jealousy.

I got out from the bush and straightened my clothes. Right now Matthew had been late for more than an hour and a half, but still I couldn’t muster enough anger to be pissed at him. Matthew, after all, was the only good thing going on in my life right now. He was good-looking, tall, a university student. Plus, he was an alumnus of our school and even until now the jocks still talked about him in awed voices.

I always knew I was crazy, but not crazy enough to let him go.

Twenty minutes later, finally I saw a black Porsche slowing down I front of me. There was only one person that I knew who drove a Porsche, and that person was Matthew.

His blonde head turned up as he got out from the car. A huge smile was on his face as he jogged towards me. “Hey, Lea!”

I summoned the remains of my energy to put on a smile as he lean against me and planted a kiss on the lips. I kept my mouth shut, though, so it couldn’t go beyond a chaste kiss.

Matthew didn’t know.

He didn’t know that I was an outcast now, not the popular girl that he chose to be with before he left for uni a year ago.

He didn’t know that all of my friends had left me and the only interaction I got from them was them pointing fingers at me and then talking about me like I was worse than herpes.

He didn’t know that I was depressed as hell and I felt like my life was going to end in any minute.

When all the disasters happened, Matthew was out in Italy, trying to study food. We spoke on Skype daily but I never mentioned any of it. Right now, however, he had just deferred his next semester so he’d be staying here, with me, for six full months. I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep him in the dark for too long, but I wouldn’t want Matthew to think of me as his pathetic, loser, friendless girlfriend. I wanted to be Azalea Walters, the pretty, popular girl with lots of friends to him. Even if it was just a sham.

Yes, my pride was kind of a bitch.

“I’m so sorry that I’m late, babe,” Matthew grinned sheepishly. “But I’m here now, so can you give me a bigger smile?”

It almost killed me, to do exactly that, but somehow I managed. Matthew put his hands on my shoulders as he guided me inside his car, and as soon as we got there, he hit the gas.

“Been waiting long, babe?”

“Not that long,” I tried to make my tone sound offhand.

“Seriously, I’m sorry, Lea. If there’s anything-”

I twitched because I didn’t like to be called Lea. “S’okay.”

And that was it. That was the whole conversation that occurred between us.

He hummed a popular song under his breath as I tried not to squirm. I wasn’t much of a talker, especially after everything that happened, and it seemed that Matthew could sense my bad mood. After a while, though, he stopped humming and stole glances at me.

“Are you not going to ask why I’m late?”

“Should I?”

Matthew chuckled. “I’d rather you do. Because this time the reason is legit and I don’t want to look like an asshole.”

This made me smile, and I gave in to his game. “So, why are you late, my good boyfriend?”

“I love it when you call me that,” Matthew put a hand on my cheek, stroking me gently. “I need to pick up my brother at the airport today.”

I found my eyes widening. I never knew that he had a brother. But then again, we had only been going out for one month before he had to leave and give our relationship the dreaded Long-Distance stamp. “Oh, really?”

“Well, he came back from Yale.”

“Did he just graduate?”

Matthew’s nose wrinkled in distaste. “No, he got kicked out.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Really?”

“Yeah, he got pretty wild. Anyway, you’re going to meet him so save the judgment for later.”

The calamity of his words didn’t transpire into me until later. “We’re going to your house?!”

Matthew cast a sideway wink as a yes.

A sudden panic attack reverberated through my body, and my breathing became slow and hard. Oh God. Oh God. I knew that Matthew and I had been going for about a year already, but I didn’t think.. I would never had thought that he would be wanting me to meet his family now.

It was a big deal for me. Meeting his family. When you were dating a person and that person didn’t introduce you to anyone, then your relationship would be sort-of-serious-but-not-really. But when that person started to introduce family to your relationship, then it’d be a different matter.

It’d be the real thing.

And quite frankly, I didn’t know if I was ready for that. Especially with the little interaction that we’d had in this last year. I even didn’t know his middle name, for God’s sake.

He drove to the wealthier part of the neighborhood. There was just something about all the huge white houses that screamed ‘old money’. When we reached his house, Matthew immediately led me to the dining room. It wasn’t the first time I went to his house, but all the times I’d been here I’d been immediately scooped into his room. Right now I was exploring other places, and really, with a house this size, I wouldn’t be surprised if I could get lost for hours.

We passed a few maids (of course taken from expensive agencies), and even they had more tact that I could ever possess. Sometimes I wondered if I weren’t dating him, I might wind up as one of his maids.

“Mom and Dad are inside, waiting for us,” Matthew reminded me, and I, in the midst of confusion/nervousness/anxiety, could only nod silently. Matthew looked pleased, but only for a moment. I could see that there was a personal battle happening beneath his warm blue eyes. Something that he was hesitating to speak out.

Finally, though, Matthew did say it. “You know, my brother… my brother’s not quite on the normal side.”

I wasn’t sure on how to respond that, so I only nodded again. I wondered what kind of defect he might have. Was he handicapped? Did he have burnt skin all over his face?

“He might not be… nice,” Matthew added.

Or maybe he was just really… reallllyy fat.

“I can manage,” I smiled.

He smiled at me back, and then leaned in for another peck. It was a move so surprising that I barely had the time to close my eyes. When he drew back, I still stood there dumbfounded.

Fortunately, Matthew didn’t consider my lack of reaction to be something to bother about, and tugged at me, quite excitedly. “Come on, Lea.”

We entered the dining room, and for the first time, I could ignore all the glamorous paintings that were all over the place. My eyes automatically were set on the two people who were sitting around the huge table.

Matthew’s parents. The Hawthorns.

“Matthew, oh my dear!” Matthew’s mother greeted her favorite son. She was a tall, graceful woman with hair as dark as night. When she moved, her hair swooshed in what seemed like a TV-commercial for Pantene. After she was done smothering Matthew with kisses, she regarded me with a warm smile. Just a second later, I felt a warm tingly sensation as I felt her lips on my cheek.

I didn’t even remember when was the last time my mother kissed my cheek.

“What a lovely girl,” Mrs. Hawthorn said. She turned around, asking for confirmation from her husband. Matthew’s father only nodded, though his demeanor dictated approval.

At least I jumped the first hoop.

The second hoop, Matthew’s brother. The so-called not normal brother who got kicked out of Yale. Now, if only he were here…

Matthew and I sat side by side, and his parents across from us. The food was already set all along the table, but neither of us touched anything. It was like an unspoken tradition, that if all the family members weren’t present, nobody would be eating.

Not long thereafter, a guy entered the dining room. He was normal, without any handicaps. He didn’t look like he was sick, although his skin was rather on the pale side. His clothes were a little crumpled, a simple t-shirt that I’d never thought rich boys would ever lay their eyes on. My first instinct told me that this boy must be one of the workers here.

But as I looked more at the guy, my jaw unhinged.

He had the same blue eyes as Matthew, only his lashes were thicker and his eyes larger. They might have looked cute if only they were not paired with a scowling mouth, which was his perpetual expression. His high-cheekbones were prominent on his oval face, and he had strong jaw that would look good in pictures. His hair was darker than Matthew’s, and tousled attractively. I couldn’t quite tell if it was natural or if he used a lot of hair wax to achieve that look.

But his most attractive feature would be his lips, which were rosy pink and looked plump to touch. When he noticed us, his tongue ran along his lower lip lightly, and I found myself staring.

No. He definitely wasn’t one of the workers.

And to further my self-assessment, he nodded at Matthew. “Hey, Matt.” And then, to his parents, “Mom, dad.”

His voice wasn’t as deep as Matthew’s, and his lanky body made him look young.

This was the guy who got kicked out from Yale?

When Matthew first mentioned it, I thought that the brother would be older, I thought that he would be ugly and… well, geeky. I wasn’t expecting a younger brother with a face that could appear in magazines.

Mrs. Hawthorn got up and smiled warmly at him. “Marcus, I’m so glad to have you in this household again.”

Any normal person wouldn’t have the heart to scowl when such a beautiful woman was staring at him like that, but Marcus did. He shot his mother an annoyed look, and it suddenly occurred to me that he only came down because he was forced to. He looked around the table with bored eyes, and his light blue eyes flickered with surprise as he saw one unfamiliar face: mine.

The speed of how his expression changed from annoyed to indignation was amazing.

“What the fuck is she doing here?”

Whoa, and here goes the bad word.

“Marcus,” Mr. Hawthorn’s tone reminded me of the Godfather.

“She’s my girlfriend, man,” Matthew replied, and in a protective move, he put a hand on my waist. My cheeks suddenly heated as I saw Marcus looked at us with unconcealed disgust. “Don’t talk to her like that.”

Marcus snorted, but his eyes never left me. I tried to glare back at him, I needed to show him that nothing he did would intimidate me, but after a while, I felt like I was lost on his light blue eyes and lowered my head. A few seconds later, I felt a touch of warm skin brushed against my arm.

He chose to sit next to me. That bastard Marcus.

There was a mischievous smile as he glanced at Matthew, who drew me closer to him in an instant. I made the mistake of looking at Marcus’s face and was astounded by the amount of sexual appeal that he elicited. Up close, he looked even better-looking.

Still, though, the amount of similarities between the brothers couldn’t be questioned. Large eyes, thick eyebrows, and plump rosy lips. Matthew might be a little tanned from all the football, but looking at Marcus gave me ideas about what Matthew would look like if he were paler and brooding.

And boy, was he hot.

Even though older, Matthew looked happier, with features more childlike. He was taller, though, and had good posture, courtesy of his mother, I noticed.

As for Marcus, even though he looked more handsome than his brother from certain angles, he had dark circles around his eyes. His pale skin needed more sun exposure and the frizzy ends of his hair suggested previous hair-dye jobs. Only one look of his face, and I could assume that he was not a good boy.

“Don’t glare at me, woman. I don’t bite,” his voice was a little slurred, and his smirk annoyed the hell out of me. “Unless you ask me to.”

I was too tired to even come up with a good retort, and instead only tried to focus my eyes on the glorious food in front of me.

Right now, I knew why Matthew was concerned back there. I knew why he felt the need to give me heads-up about his brother. Marcus wasn’t sick, and he was far from being handicapped.

He was only someone who had the sure signs of being a sociopath.

“So, since you’re already dating Matthew for um, how many months it’s been?“

“A year,” I corrected.

“Almost a year,” Matthew said at the same time, narrowly missing our timeframe.

Mrs. Hawthorn only smiled kindly at the mishap of our calculation and resumed her questioning.  “Just tell me, what have you two been doing?”

This was not how my first dinner with Matthew’s parents was supposed to be.

We were supposed to be talking about the future; we were supposed to be talking about how compatible we were with each other or how we met and such. But Mrs. Hawthorn was no ordinary woman and she was very interested in the juicy details of our relationship.

It didn’t help that Mr. Hawthorn was looking palpably red in humiliation.

“It’s… It’s not,” I stammered, unable to choose the suitable words to answer her rather crude question. “I don’t… know.”

“It’s nothing out of ordinary, Mom,” Matthew helped me out. “Besides, we can’t discuss that part of our relationship over dinner. It’s not appropriate.”

Mrs. Hawthorn put a hand over her mouth; genuine surprise was sprawled all across her face. She giggled then, and somehow it didn’t sound sickly sweet but graceful instead. How she cultivated her giggle to be like that was something beyond my grasp.

But five minutes later, she asked another inappropriate question.

It should have bothered me, all of that, but all of it accounted to nothing compared to the annoyance that Marcus, the brother who got kicked out of Yale, provided.

“Do you know,” he said, food was still inside his mouth as he tried to grin while speaking. “that my dear brother Matthew had dated twelve different girls before you?”

And then his eyes peered over me like I was there with a skimpy bunny suit on instead of a cardigan.

That.

That kind of demeanor, like he knew everything, that kind of tone, like he was demeaning everything around him, that kind of question, like he was trying to put me off my guard all the freaking time. And his eyes. His light-colored, thick-lashed eyes.

That bothered me the most.

“I know. He told me.” He didn’t. The grapevine and the gossips told me.

“What do you think of that?” Marcus still didn’t let go of it. “He’s kind of a player, isn’t he? What kind of things do you think he’s done to his previous cupcakes?”

How magical it was, that each and every word that Marcus uttered could reach the back of my head in lighting speed. I tried to breathe but still I couldn’t control the fuming anger that was bubbling inside my chest.

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“You understand what I’m talking about,” Marcus said.

I exhaled sharply. “No.”

“Oooohh, she’s getting angry!” he exclaimed happily.

I could feel Matthew’s hand outstretched to squeeze mine firmly from behind the table.

“Patience,” he whispered.

“You’ll be doing me a favor if you’d act a little more polite to our guest, Marcus,” Mr. Hawthorn finally couldn’t take anymore of his son’s impertinence.

When Marcus turned his head to his father, I saw a flicker of disgust inside his eyes. “Oh really? You’ll actually favor me over your pet dog?” he inclined his chin towards Matthew.

My boyfriend kept eating calmly, as if he didn’t hear anything.

Mr. Hawthorn’s face got red, and the hand on the table curled into a shaking fist. “You’re such an insolent child! A disgrace to the family!” each of the word was enunciated slowly and it delivered a vast amount of hatred. Two sentences and already I knew what was Marcus’s role to the family: the black sheep.

Marcus threw both of his hands up, the corner of his lips tugged into a smile. “Now I’m the focus, huh? Why don’t we just turn the spotlight back to the golden boy-“ he threw a menacing look to Matthew- “and start the ‘Oh, how perfect Matthew is’ chat? It’s the usual table conversation, right?”

“Marcus, please stop harassing your brother!” This time, it was his mother that chimed in. Everybody was shouting at this point, but only Matthew remained silent. He ate slowly and kept his eyes on the table. If I were deaf, I would have thought that he didn’t see or hear anything that was happening around him.

After a while, though, it was impossible for even Matthew to pretend like there was no pandemonium in the making right in front of him. “Lea… could you please… wait in the other room? I’ll come to you later.”

I found hesitation residing inside my chest. Both of his parents clearly stood up for him against Marcus, but this was exactly why Matthew didn’t want to say anything. His brother’s hatred towards him couldn’t be anymore clear, and having two fervent defenders would only make things worse.

The smile on Matthew’s lips looked odd. “You’re done eating, right?”

Actually, I was far from being done, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to sit through all the family arguments. Nodding at him, I got up from my seat and exited the dining room as surreptitiously as possible.

-

-

-

I never heard Matthew’s voice during the family argument. I heard everyone going on in the screaming match, of course with Marcus’s voice as the definite winner if the volume was any indication.

So this was Matthew’s family. So this was what he saw when he got home.

Of course Matthew had briefed me a bit about his family. Often, he would got into a sudden bad mood because of ‘family problems’, but I’d never thought that ‘Family Problem’ would translate into ‘My brother, who possesses acute criminal tendencies.’

It was a little hard for me to find a room that would be close to the exit of the house. After getting lost twice, finally I ended up in the living room. I sat on one of the sofas, waiting for Matthew to come.

But instead, the one coming towards me was his brother, someone that I was learning to hate. He didn’t look at all upset from the previous berating, and instead smirked as he saw me.

“Feeling at home already, babe?” Marcus said to me, and then, without any warning, sat beside me. He sat too close. Our elbows bumped against each other and automatically I budged away from him.

“Where’s Matthew?” I tried my best to remain nonchalant about our proximity. I didn’t want him to get the satisfaction that he was making me nervous

“Fighting with Harry,” he answered casually. It took me a while to realize that Harry was how he referred to his father.  His hand reached for his pocket and drew back a pack of cigarettes. “Maybe with Kalina, too. I don’t know. The last time I saw him, he was bawling his eyes out as he shouted profanities to me. Want some?”

I shook my head, my heart swelling with so much disgust I was afraid I’d be exploding in mere moments. I didn’t like the fact that now Matthew was the one fighting his parents because of this cretin.

“You’re the most impolite person I’ve ever met,” I said.

Marcus blew smoke off to my face. “You’re not the first person to say that.”

“I don’t like people like you,” it had become a personal goal for me to hurt him. The smell of smoke engulfed me, and now my face and my throat were hurting.

“And what makes you think those kind of words will hurt me? Try harder,” Marcus didn’t look at the very least bothered by it.

“You’re a jerk.”

This made Marcus’s smile widened even more. “Nope. Ruder, please.”

I’d never met someone like him, who didn’t understand what an implied ‘no’ meant. He was up on the sky with his clouds of confidence, unable to take no for an answer, and probably he’d never had anyone refusing him either. He didn’t have any morals, and he possessed a mouth that could only speak nasty things. He was such a poison, and yet thinking about him made my heart go batshit crazy with cardiovascular exercise.

“Can’t you go away?” I demanded, after I got into the corner of the sofa. “Personal space, creep.”

“You forgot your place, sweetheart. Right now, you’re in my house,” Marcus reminded me. And then, as if to challenge me, he blew more smoke right in my face.

There were so many urges to kick him in the groin. I could care less if he ended up impotent. A guy like him shouldn’t be allowed to have spawn.

I was just counting to three, when finally, I heard a familiar voice.

“Marcus!”

The corners of Marcus’s lips curled up into a smirk, but since he was sitting close to me, the grief that showed in his eyes didn’t go unnoticed by me.

I didn’t even have the chance to begin to question why he looked sad, because Marcus reverted back to his asshole alter-ego. “Why should I, dear brother? Afraid that I’ll steal your girl again?” when Matthew only stayed quiet in shock, Marcus tipped up his chin. “Oh wait, was she even yours?”

I saw Matthew’s jaw tensed. “Shut the fuck up, you bloody bastard.”

These kind of bad words were not something that Matthew would say. I couldn’t even remember the last time Matthew swore, except probably when he was playing in the field. Being such a polite goody-goody was Matthew’s forte and it was something rare, because no guy could ever imitate that without being seen as a wimp. Seeing him losing control like this make me afraid.

And I felt the need to protect him.

“Let’s go to the movies, sweetheart,” I said to Matthew.

I never called him sweetheart. I never ever called him with any terms of endearment.

Matthew looked puzzled, since we hadn’t made a pact to watch any movie after dinner, but then I sent signals with my eyes and he finally understood.

“I’ll start the car, babe,” he said before stalking off. I followed him, but Marcus’s hand quickly grabbed me by the elbow.

In a swift motion, Marcus pulled me towards him so that my ear nearly touched his lips. The tender skin around my earlobe could feel his chapped lips, the shape of it, and when he inhaled, I shuddered because of the heated air coming from his mouth.

“Call me” he whispered hoarsely. “I insist.”

My eyes were still bulging when Marcus walked away. My eyes couldn’t stare anywhere else but his broad back, the way the simple t-shirt stuck on his body and stretched against the ripped muscles that he had.

Hell. Why did I take notice of his body? I couldn’t care less if he was working out or not. I didn’t like over-confident guys like Marcus, guys like him weren’t the type of guys that would make good boyfriends. He’d only stomp me around and bury me and dance like crazy on my grave.

And besides…

I checked on my pocket, my bag, even I checked all around my body for some sticky notes.

How in the freaking hell I could call him if he didn’t give me his number?!

-

-

-

The road to the cinema, fortunately, wasn’t nearly as bad as the dinner, although it was a tough feat. Matthew was still in a bad mood, and the bitter taste from the family’s war still lingered in the air.

“We’re here,” Matthew said. I quickly got out from the car before he got the chance to open the car door for me. That was one of Matthew’s most annoying and most endearing traits. He was too much of a gentleman he could make me feel like a princess, and at bad times, a disabled person.

Matthew looked disappointed by my independence. “What do you want to watch?”

“Anything. I’ve watched it all.”

“With your friends?”

To be honest, alone. But Matthew didn’t need to know about that. I’d been humiliated enough today. Besides, he looked like he had enough stress already. I didn’t want to put myself in the list of his misfortunes.

“Just pick something. My treat,” I tried to smile to him.

“Are you kidding me? I won’t let a girl pay for my movies. Guys should pay!”

Just like I thought, Matthew would protest. He never let me pay for anything, because in his opinion, guys should maintain their pride by providing for their girlfriends. He chose a romantic comedy with bad actors and a clichéd storyline, and upon seeing him choose that, I knew that he had no intention of watching anything.

And I was right.

The Cinema was almost empty because the film had been up for a few weeks already. We were sitting at the very back row, the hallowed place for couples to make out or even more. I could practically feel Matthew’s desire growing exponentially as the minutes passed.

And true enough; at minute seventeen, his hand strayed far away from my shoulder to my waist, and then to my lap. Not long thereafter, our limbs had been tangled towards one another, our lips never lost contact.

At normal times, I’d be losing all of my wits to think clearly, especially since Matthew always chose to wear very expensive, very intoxicating cologne. But when Matthew’s mouth reached for my ear, my eyes snapped open. Just one second, I wasn’t thinking about him.

I was thinking of his brother.

Of course, this revelation shocked me beyond belief. I admitted that I hadn’t always been the most faithful girlfriend towards Matthew. Some nights I spent thinking of other guys, be it the Barista of the coffee that I’d bought earlier, or the guy that I saw on the bus, anyone could qualify. But I never, ever thought of someone else when I was making out with Matthew.

But it seemed that Marcus wouldn’t let that happen. I tried so hard to kick his face out of my mind, but he kept coming back with more intensity than the last. Matthew’s mouth and teeth had different structure than his brother’s but I found myself remembering when his mouth was enclosed around my ear, and Matthew’s cologne suddenly smelled like cigarette.

Ew.

When Matthew’s cold hand reached my back, I snapped back to reality. And then, my mind started to devise a plan. An evil one.

I let him roam his hand around my back, and I started to reach for his jeans. I groped the bulging area around his pocket and slid my hand inside, feeling the cold metal feeling of his cellphone. As he was kissing my neck, I pulled out his cellphone and pushed him away from me.

He looked at me quizzically, his face a little red because of all the work he’d been doing.

“I need to go to the toilet,” I said. “Right now.”

“Okay,” he said awkwardly.

I dashed right out of the film and straight to the ladies restroom. I occupied one stall and with shaking hands, I unlocked Matthew’s phone.

I searched for the ‘Contacts’ feature, looking for the name ‘Marcus’ or  ‘Brother’. But then I remembered that Matthew rarely gave the names of his friends their real names. He was a fan of nicknames and that’s how he’d put their numbers in his phone. I knew that I was ‘Sweetie Pie’ on his contact number, and sometimes this ticked me off in the wrong way. I didn’t want to be associated with a food, much less a pie.

But what would he call his own brother?

I scrolled down the names. Since Matthew was friendly and popular, he had close to a thousand names inside his phone. All of them were like cryptic messages. But then I found out a few names that looked suspiciously like they were meant for Marcus.

“Bastard Son,” I muttered as I typed the numbers to my own cellphone. There were a few possibilities, ‘Obnoxious Psychopath’, for example, and ‘Failed Dreg’. Marcus did look like he could be one of those three.

Since time was ticking, I entered all three numbers to my phone, hoping that I’d made the right choice because my maneuver had been quite a nerve-wrecking one. I pressed the flush and sauntered out from the toilet. When I got back to the cinema, he of course resumed the making out, and using the same method as before, I slid back his phone to his pocket.

Matthew didn’t seem to notice.

But when he smiled sweetly at me, I felt a huge slam right on my chest. The weight of the things that I’d done, the deceit that I’d pulled on him… and more importantly, the three numbers that could potentially be Marcus that were inside my cellphone.

What the hell had I just done?