Chapter Two
Friday night at Connor's home, Luke sat next to Sarah on the sofa. The party was in full swing, with lots of people there. Some of them Luke knew, and others he didn't. There were plenty of people drinking and some doing drugs.
Luke had a can of beer in his hand with his arm thrown over Sarah's shoulders. She was slumped into his side, having already had several glasses of wine. Luke talked to Jack and Toby, two guys on the same course as him, discussing the assignments they had and how revision was going for their exams. They also talked about Professor Stapleton, who they all hated.
"The guy's a bastard!" Toby stated, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm sure he gives us this much homework because he's a twisted fuck and he wants us to suffer. Who in their right mind would give the students this amount of work, on top of revising for exams?"
Jack shook his head. "Fuck, I agree. Bastard hates students and wants us to suffer."
"The teaching assistant doesn't seem too bad. Krish, isn't that his name?" Luke asked. He may be dating Sarah, but he wasn't blind to the fact that Krish was gorgeous. Tall, dark hair and dark eyes, Krish was multiracial, and Luke loved the colour of his skin. Not that Luke would ever do anything, even if he weren't with Sarah. He wouldn't be with a man again.
Sarah chose that moment to laugh. "You sound like you have a little crush on him, Luke," she joked.
Luke smiled down at her, leaning forward to kiss her full lips. "He seems nice. You can always approach him and ask for help. Which is more than can be said for that bastard Prof."
"You got that right, mate," Toby agreed. "The other day I was having trouble with the assignment he gave us, so I asked if he could give me any pointers on how to sort out the problems I was having. Do you know what that fucker said? Told me to come back during office hours because he was too busy to deal with my little problem." Toby threw his arms in the air. "My little problem? My little problem was with his fucking assignment! I hate the fucker!"
Shaking his head, Jack added, "I was stood there with him, Luke. The bastard wasn't bothered at all."
"Dr Jacobs isn't too bad, is he?" Luke asked.
Both Toby and Jack shook their heads. "Now, he is a nice guy. Any problems I've had, I've been able to speak to him about them. Always there for his students," Toby muttered.
Shouting in the doorway drew their attention. There was a fight occurring. Two men, probably drunk or stoned, punching each other as their girlfriends screamed. Luke sighed. He enjoyed going to parties like every other student, but he could do without the inevitable fighting. He never got so drunk that he couldn't control himself, and he didn't do drugs.
He'd been asked plenty of times in the past, but he'd always refused. Luke's time on the streets had taught him a valuable lesson. He'd seen what drugs could do to a person. How it sucked you in and never let you go. How you lost yourself to it. The streets were full of drugs and alcohol. People living there needed a substance to help them escape their dreadful existence.
Adam had fallen into the drug trap, though none of them living with him had known that. They'd only found out after Adam had been murdered and an autopsy had been performed.
Shaking free from those memories, Luke watched Aafiq, who lived with Connor, try to break up the fight. Shaking his head, Luke was about to help, when Connor and Tim, who also lived there, joined in. They managed to separate the two fighters, pushing them away from each other.
"This is my fucking house, so get the fuck out!" Aafiq shouted.
"Yeah, get out," Connor also shouted, grabbing the arm of one of the fighters and dragging him towards the front door. Tim and Aafiq grabbed the other fighter and followed behind Connor.
Sitting on the sofa, the only thing Luke could do was shake his head again.
"What a bunch of idiots," Sarah muttered. "You always have to have one that tries to ruin the party because they drank too much."
Luke nodded. "Yeah. It's like they forget what the word no is, isn't it? Just carry on drinking, eventually puke up somewhere or have a fight." Standing, Luke bent down over Sarah and said, "I'm gonna grab another can. Do you want a top up?"
Sarah also stood, grabbing hold of Luke's hand. "I'll come with you."
Holding onto Sarah, Luke walked out of the living room, along the hallway, and into the kitchen at the back of the mid-terraced house. Pushing his way past the people, Luke noticed more than a few were already very drunk, leaning or slumped against walls or over furniture with a bleary-eyed look to them. Luke shook his head again. He didn't need to get drunk to have a good time, and booze wasn't the answer to having a good night out.
Passing four people sat against the wall, Luke paused, watching them pass a bong between them. One of them was busy eating custard creams, giggling inanely at something Luke clearly couldn't see. At least when they smoked a bit of pot, they didn't want to go out and fight people. They just wanted to sit down and eat because they had a bad case of the munchies.
Once they made it into the kitchen, Luke opened the fridge, searching for Sarah's bottle of wine. He eventually found it pushed at the back, and when he pulled it free, he stared at the contents. He didn't remember the bottle being quite this empty. Bending at the waist, Luke passed the bottle to Sarah, scanning the fridge. "I thought you had more than this?"
"Damn right I did! I bet you some bitch here's been drinking it. Teach me to bring my own," Sarah fumed. She snatched the bottle from him, lifting it up and staring at the liquid inside. "Are there any other bottles in there, Luke?"
Twisting back to face the fridge, Luke moved mouldy food and cans around it, but couldn't find another bottle in there. Twisting back towards Sarah, Luke shook his head. Grabbing a couple of cans, Luke slammed the fridge door shut and stood next to Sarah.
She slammed the bottle down on the counter and turned to face him. "Can't believe someone's nicked my fucking wine. It's not like there's no alcohol in the house, is it?" Sighing, Sarah unscrewed the cap and poured what little was left in the bottle into her glass. Pushing the bottle to one side, she leaned back on the counter, looking at Luke. "So, what are you doing for Christmas?"
Luke mirrored her action, taking a sip from his scan. "I'll probably spend it with Seb and Tom like I did last year."
"The two men you live with? They're partners, aren't they?"
Luke nodded. "Yeah. Been together for over three years now. Matt, who also lives with us, will be moving in with his boyfriend, Josh, after the exams. So, there'll just be the three of us living together."
"Doesn't it make you feel weird?" Sarah asked, frowning.
Luke returned her frown. "Feel weird? What you mean?"
"Living with two gay men. Have you ever seen them looking you up? Have they ever asked you for a threesome?" Turning, she leaned on her side against the counter. "I've heard all about gays. They don't give a shit who they fuck, do they? That's how AIDS started, isn't it?"
"I can't believe you just asked me that, Sarah. You of all people should know the history of HIV and AIDS. Your friend's gay, isn't she? Do you ask her about AIDS?"
Sarah's mouth dropped open. "Of course I don't ask, Luke. She's not like that. She's been with her girlfriend since the beginning of last year."
"So, it's just men then?"
"Just forget I said anything, please? I don't want to argue about this. I know it must be very hard for you, because you live with two gay men, and I don't have a problem with gays. I just don't want it in my face."
Luke gritted his teeth, his lips thinning. He wanted to correct Sarah and tell her he knew all about gays and what they did, but he chose not to. His past was that. Past. The less Sarah knew about it, the better. In fact, the less anybody knew about it, the better. The last thing Luke needed was people to find out what he'd had to do when he was living on the streets.
"So, won't you be seeing the foster parents this Christmas?" Sarah asked, sipping her wine and avoiding Luke's stare.
Sighing, Luke shook his head. "No. I haven't spoken to my foster parents since Matt and I ran away."
Sarah's eyes snapped to his. "You and Matt ran away?" Shit, he shouldn't have said anything. Now she was going to ask questions about it, and it was another subject he didn't want to discuss. "You ran away from home, Luke?"
Luke nodded. "Yeah. Our foster father wasn't great, so in the end, me and Matt left."
"What, did he hit you?"
Luke glanced around the kitchen, looking to see if anybody was paying attention to their conversation. When he noticed that everyone appeared occupied, he glanced back at Sarah, shaking his head. "No, he liked me, Sarah." That was all he was going to say on the matter.
Sarah gasped, her hand covering her open mouth. "He liked you, liked you?"
Luke nodded. "Yeah."
"Oh my God. Did he... Did he touch you?"
Luke sighed again, looking at the can he held in his hand. "No. When I told Matt what was happening, he slept in my room which pissed Frank off." Luke raised his eyes to Sarah. "It was Matt that Frank hit."
"Because he was in your room?"
Nodding, Luke answered, "Yeah."
"Why didn't you report it?"
"Who would believe me? I was just a foster kid. No one believes foster kids."
"So, you and Matt left? Where did you go?"
Luke rubbed his forehead, watching Sarah. "We lived on the streets, Sarah. Me and Matt, together."
Sarah opened and closed her mouth several times before asking, "What did you do?"
"I survived, Sarah." Putting the can down, Luke stepped away. "I'm not gonna talk about it. It's in the past now. Let's enjoy tonight, Sarah. We came here to have a good time."
"You did, didn't you?" Sarah whispered.
Luke frowned, barely hearing her. "Did what, sorry?"
Sarah glanced around the kitchen before looking back at Luke. "Sex. You had sex, didn't you?"
Luke's chest tightened, a fine sweat developing over his skin. He clenched his hand into a fist, his jaw hardening. He wasn't doing this. He wasn't going into the past. He did what he had to do, to survive, and he wasn't going to apologise for it, but he certainly wasn't going to discuss it either.
Luke decided to change the subject. "So, you're going to your parents this Christmas then?"
Sarah tilted her head at him. "Why won't you answer the question, Luke? I need to know."
"What do you need to know?"
"What if I have to get tested? What if I caught something from you? All those people were paying you for sex."
"You have no idea what you're talking about." Luke scoffed. He desperately needed to change the subject. "Just drop it please, Sarah. I don't wanna talk about my time on the streets."
"No! I'm not gonna drop it. I'm your girlfriend. You should be telling me shit like this. I shouldn't be finding out weeks after we've been together."
Luke shook his head. "You know what, Sarah? I'm leaving. I don't want to talk about it. It's in the past, let it go." Luke put his can down on the counter, and pushing past Sarah, he walked out of the kitchen. He barely glanced at anyone as he walked down the hallway towards the front door. Stepping outside, he paused on the pavement, rubbing his hands over his face.
"How much did you charge, Luke? Fucking slut!"