Faking Us ✔️

fourteen

Cassie
~

"Moving?"

His question nearly rips my heart in half. This was something he least expected and somehow I'm the one second guessing myself. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything.

I glance at him slowly and shake my head.
"I'm going to college in Los Angeles."

Luca looks away from me suddenly like he has more to say, but he remains quiet. A few students are running in my lawn, almost falling over into the rose bushes around my front porch. I shouldn't have thrown a party tonight. I only did it, because Marcus insisted.

He breaks the silence in the car and says, "Where are your parents tonight?"

I swallowed hard.
"Out of town."

When we step inside my house I'm hesitant to cover my ears. The music is awful. I can feel my eardrums pulsate from the screaming guy blaring through the speakers. I scrunch my nose up in disgust and almost laugh when I noticed Luca and Anderson both giving me the same expression.

"I've got to turn this crap off."
My voice is in pain from yelling so loud.
It's impossible to hear my own thoughts right now.

I quickly turn around and head towards the Echo Dot sitting on my kitchen counter. With a loud yell, I tell Alexa to play Love Again by New Hope Club and I patiently wait for her to change the song. I'm surprised she can even hear me with all the yelling coming from the living room and outside near the pool.

Anderson shakes his head the minute I walk up towards them. "I can't even hear myself think."

"Me either." Luca chimes in.

"Drink?"

I still felt terrible from yesterday.
I didn't want to leave so early, but I had no choice. My dad needed me. My mom needed me. Her meds have been giving her weird side effects lately. Sometimes vomiting or shortness of breath. My dad worries she will have a stroke from the anxiety it gives her.

I feel the same way.

It doesn't help that she doesn't take her medicine properly either. Even after all the help I have done, I have noticed her pills sitting in the medicine divider left untouched.

"Have you ever taken a shot before?" I asked Luca once Kyle from Algebra filled up our glasses. The expression on his face tells me otherwise. He's like a deer in headlights.

"Yeah," he laughs awkwardly. "Of course."

I squint my eyes at him. "Luca?"

He shakes his head in defeat. "No."

"Alcohol virgin?"

"I've had a beer before." He defends.

"Yeah?" Anderson murmurs near my kitchen counter while holding his shot glass. "When?"

"When you learn how to mind your own business."

A sigh of Luca I've never witnessed until now.
Snappy.
It makes me laugh.

I find myself laughing so much around him.
Anderson tilts his head back before downing the vodka in his throat.

"You still didn't answer me."

"I'll drink with ya."

I take another shot with him after clicking our glasses together. Some of the burning liquid runs down my chin and hoodie. My hand instantly covers my chest.

Shit.

Luca quickly grabs a kitchen towel by the sink and hands it to me.

The gesture makes me smile.

"Thank you," I start to say as I wipe my mouth and chest. "I'm not usually this clumsy."

He runs a hand through his light brown hair to keep it out of his eyes. I sometimes fight the urge to do it for him. "I'm not usually at parties."

I hand him a glass of vodka. "Speaking of that," he hesitates before taking it. "Your first party. You deserve to have your first shot."

Luca glances down at the clear liquid for a few seconds. Basically, contemplating on what to do. When he looks back up at me, I almost lose my balance. His look can make my body freeze.

"Only for you."
Only for me

I clap loudly and applaud with Anderson while we watch him tilt his head back. After a few seconds he scrunched up his nose when he came back up and the two of us started laughing. I think I almost peed my pants.
Luca looks disgusted.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

His eyes rolled. "I said only for you."

Those words....

For some reason I leaned up and pulled him into a hug. His cologne invites me again. I can almost hear him smell my hair.

"And I appreciate my boyfriend doing something for me." I whisper into his ear as the music gets slightly louder. It still feels weird calling him that, but I like it.

Luca whispers into mine. "And your boyfriend is never doing that again."

I glanced back up at him as my arms were still wrapped around his neck and winked. "We'll see about that."

• • •

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