Chapter Ten
Luke woke up and blinked his eyes several times to clear the sleep from them. Rolling his head over the pillow, he looked at the room he'd slept in. Posters covered the dingy brown wallpaper, and there was a wardrobe in the corner that looked well used. Next to that was a chest of drawers and next to the bed he lay in was a bedside cabinet. All of them were a dark colour. Typical, cheap student furniture.
Luke smiled, rubbing his hands over the covers. Nice and soft, just like the mattress. He tried not to think about how many other people may have slept in this bed and on this mattress, doing God only knows what.
There was a knock on the door, and then it slowly opened and Krish stuck his head in.
When he saw Luke was awake, he smiled and stepped into the room. "Morning. I've brought you up a cup of tea. How did you sleep?"
Luke felt his face heat up and he glanced away. He bit his lip, embarrassed when the previous night played through his mind. "Okay, thanks," he mumbled.
"Are you hungry?"
Luke rolled towards Krish when he sat on the side of the bed, and Luke finally looked up to him. He was smiling as he held out a cup of tea towards him. Luke pushed himself up, so he was resting against the headboard and reached for it. "Thank you." He hadn't brushed his teeth the night before or that morning, so his mouth felt grungy.
Taking the cup from Krish, Luke swallowed eagerly, moaning as the taste hit his tongue. There was nothing like a cup of tea in the morning.
"I'll see you downstairs then, and I'll put some toast on for you." Krish stood, walking towards the bedroom door. "The bathroom is the next door to the left. You'll find everything in there. No spare toothbrush, though."
Luke nodded. "Thank you. I'll be down in a few minutes."
Krish closed the door quietly behind him and Luke continued to drink his tea. How stupid had he been last night? How could he tell Krish everything that had happened? Dropping his head back against the headboard, Luke closed his eyes, squeezing them tight. Shaking his head, Luke muttered, "I'm an idiot."
Sighing, Luke lifted his head back up and opened his eyes, looking at the cup he held in his hands. He drank the contents and put it down on the cabinet, then got up. Leaving the bedroom, he found the bathroom where Krish said it was, and after doing what he needed to, he went back into the bedroom, grabbed the empty cup, and went downstairs.
When he walked into the living room, he found two men sat there talking to each other. When they saw him, the conversation stopped, and they both smiled at him.
"Hi! You must be Luke," the man with the red hair said. "I'm Danny, and this one sat next to me is Simon."
"Hi," he mumbled, glancing around the room looking for Krish.
"Don't mind those two dickheads," Krish said, as he walked into the room carrying a plate of toast.
"Hey, who're you calling dickhead?" Simon asked, throwing a piece of crust towards Krish.
Krish laughed. "Come on, Luke, here's your toast. Once you finish that, I'll drop you off."
Luke walked over to the chair and sat, taking the plate of toast from Krish. "Thanks," he said in a quiet voice.
He looked up to see Danny, Simon and Krish staring at each other, and eventually, Danny rolled his eyes. "Nice meeting you, Luke. Come on, Simon. We've got things to do."
Simon waved at Luke, and both Danny and Simon got up and left the room. Krish sat on the sofa and sipped his drink. Luke didn't know what to say after everything last night. He just wanted to leave and go home to his own bedroom away from everyone. He sighed, picked up the toast and took a bite, chewing it carefully as he glanced at Krish.
"You're okay here, Luke," Krish told him. "I haven't said anything to Simon or Danny, and I won't. I gave you my word, and I plan to keep it."
Luke nodded but didn't say anything.
They sat in silence as Luke finished his toast. Once the plate was clear, he stood, walked into the kitchen, and placed it on the side. Coming out, he found Krish stood by the living room door waiting for him. "Come on. It won't take long to get you home at this time."
Luke followed Krish, and once they sat in Krish's car, Luke gave Krish directions to where he lived. They didn't live close to each other, so it took around thirty minutes, and eventually, Krish pulled up outside his home. They sat in silence for a few seconds. Luke didn't know what to say.
Twisting on his seat, Krish said, "Your secret's safe with me. I'm not going to tell anyone and thank you for trusting me."
Luke looked at his clasped hands on his lap and slowly nodded. "Thanks for last night," he whispered, darting his eyes towards Krish and then looking away again.
Krish's hand gripped the back of his neck and Luke looked up at him. The grip tightened as Krish spoke. "Whenever you need to speak to me, I'm here. I will never judge you for what you did, understand?"
Luke nodded. He got out of the car, and before slamming the door shut, he bent and looked at Krish. "Thanks again." He closed the door, waved at Krish through the window, and walked up the path towards the front door. Luke let himself in and paused, listening to the sounds of the house. Both Seb and Tom were up.
Walking into the living room, he found them both sat together watching TV. They both glanced up at him, and Luke smiled.
"Hey, where were you last night? Everything okay?" Tom asked.
Luke walked into the living room, dropped his bag by the side of the sofa, and sat down on the chair, slumping back and closing his eyes. "Look, I need to tell you something."
"Is everything all right?" Seb leaned forward on the sofa.
"You know me and Sarah broke up. Well, she started spreading rumours about me, and it got really bad for a while and I had to delete all my accounts. I didn't want to tell you guys. I didn't want to drag you into to my mess."
"What the fuck! Why wouldn't you tell us something was going on?" Tom said. "We're your mates, and we've been through too much shit to keep secrets from each other. We're not going through what we just went through with Matt and Josh."
Nodding, Luke opened his eyes and sat up, leaning forward. "I know. It's because of that I didn't want to drag you into my mess. Look, Sarah was asking questions about my past, and I was evasive because I didn't want her to know. When I told her I'd been on the streets, she jumped to conclusions -- of course, they were the right conclusions -- but because I wouldn't say anything, wouldn't discuss it, she told everyone. It's been a nightmare."
"Is that why you've been spending more time in your room?" Seb asked.
Luke nodded again. "Yeah."
"How bad has it been?"
"It was bad at first, but since I got back after Christmas, it's lessened. Now that I've deleted Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, she can't reach me, though I'm still getting the odd text message." Luke shrugged. "I'll get a new number as well, and that should take care of the rest." Luke sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just wish they would drop it. I mean, she's got a new boyfriend now, but she's still hanging around trying to cause problems for me." Luke shook his head. Why couldn't she just let it go?
"Have you reported her?" Seb asked. "All universities have an anti-bullying policy now, don't they?"
"One of the professors overheard Sarah having a go at me and reminded her, so she's not said anything since. And I spoke to the TA on my course, Krish, and he's supportive."
"You told him? You told him what we fuckin' did?" Tom stood, and walked towards the window, crossing his arms and staring out.
"Yeah, that's where I was. He let me stay over, and I never mentioned anyone else's names. I just told him that I lived on the street for a couple of years and what I had to do. He wasn't bothered and said he knew some students who were escorts."
Seb glanced over at Tom, frowning, and then looked back at Luke. "So, he was supportive?"
Luke nodded. "Yeah."
"Good, I'm glad. Anything else we should know?"
"I also told my friends, Toby and Jack. Well, I didn't really need to tell them, they'd already figured it out, and they weren't bothered by it. I told them before Christmas, and they've kept in touch with me, and we still sit together on our courses." Luke shrugged, looking at his jeans and picking at them to avoid looking at Seb.
"Well, we knew there was a chance this would happen, and we talked about it, didn't we?" Seb stood and walked over towards Tom, pulling him back against his chest and wrapping his arms around Tom's stomach.
"Okay, okay," Tom muttered, bending his head back to kiss Seb on the cheek. "And they're supporting you? Not saying shit?"
"No, they're still my friends."
Tom nodded and sighed. "Right, don't know about you, but I've got a fuckin' lot of work to get done."
"Yeah, I've seen it on the desk. Get going, and I'll get dinner started. Roast chicken?"
"Roast chicken on a Saturday?" Tom asked, smiling at Seb.
Seb smiled back. "Why not. We can have the leftover chicken in a curry tomorrow."
"I've got a load of work to do as well." Luke stood up, stretched, then reached down and grabbed his bag.
"I'll shout you both when it's ready."
"Nice one. Thanks, Seb."
Luke quickly jogged up the stairs and entered his bedroom, closing the door behind him. He walked over to his bed and dropped down face first on it. As he lay breathing, his phone beeped, and Luke twisted around, pulling it from his pocket. He glanced at the screen, seeing that he had a text message from Krish asking how he was. Luke smiled and swiped his thumb across the screen, quickly replying that everything was fine and he was going to do some work, then dropped his phone on the bed next to him. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling, breathing deeply, trying to relax the tension in his muscles.
Taking a final deep breath in, Luke sat up, picked up his bag from the side of the bed, and walked over to his desk. Pulling his assignments out of his bag, Luke sighed. That was his weekend taking care of.