Chapter Three
Closing his eyes, Luke dropped his head, pushing his hands into his jeans pocket. Why couldn't Sarah let it go? He'd walked away. Surely, she understood he didn't want to talk about it.
Turning around, Luke raised his head, opened his eyes and stared at Sarah. "What was that you just said?"
Sarah took a step back. "What did you do when you were on the streets, Luke?"
Luke shrugged. "Me and Matt survived. Sleeping in doorways and alleys. Begging for money so we could eat. Does it make you happy, Sarah? Knowing I had to beg for money so that I could eat? That people would walk past me and look at me like I was some stain. Like I was shit on their shoes." Taking a step closer towards Sarah, Luke continued. "I was just a kid, Sarah. I had nothing, and no one was willing to help me."
"What else did you do?" Sarah looked Luke up and down. "You're so fit. I bet you made a shit tonne of money." Shaking her head, Sarah glared at him. "You're nothing but a fucking slut."
"You're jumping to conclusions. Do you really think I want to talk about it? That I want to remember it? I told you I'm not talking about it." Luke slashed his hand through the air. He could feel his heart pumping rapidly in his chest, his blood pounding in his ears. His skin flushed with heat. "Look, we'll talk more in the morning once we've both sobered up."
"No, we fucking won't. It's over now, Luke. Fuck, I'm gonna have to go home, have a shower and scrub myself clean, and then I'll have to go to the clinic and get tested, won't I? Dirty motherfucker."
Luke swallowed, reaching a hand out towards Sarah. "Look, Sarah –"
"Stay the fuck away from me," Sarah took several steps back before turning and walking hurriedly away, pulling her phone free from her pocket.
Luke groaned. He knew exactly what Sarah would do now. Straight on the phone to friends telling them everything that had just happened.
He watched Sarah walk away until she turned at the end of the street, and then Luke also turned and walked home. He wasn't looking forward to Uni on Monday but she didn't know anything, and Luke wasn't going to say anything to change that.
❊❊❊
Luke woke up late Saturday morning. He blinked several times, clearing the sleep from his eyes. Once he could see clearly, he stared up at the ceiling, remembering the events from the night before. Sighing, Luke closed his eyes, breathing deeply for a few seconds as his heart started to pound in his chest. What had Sarah been doing while he'd slept? Who would she have been calling and what would she have said?
Sitting up, Luke reached for his phone and switched it on. After a few seconds, a long series of beeps emanated from it. Luke groaned. So, it had begun. She'd probably gone straight out telling all her friends that he was a rent boy and that he'd sold himself for sex. It was the truth, not that she knew it. She was only guessing and spreading rumours.
Staring at the phone, Luke bit his lip, wondering if he should reach over and open it. After a few more minutes of debating, he picked up his phone and opened it. Sure enough, his phone lit up as messages appeared. Facebook and Twitter went mad, alerts coming to him from everyone he knew. His phone buzzed again as emails came through. Dropping the phone on the bed next to him, Luke closed his eyes again, rubbing his face with his hands, and then grabbed his hair, pulling at it.
Exhaling hard, Luke picked up his phone and opened his text messages. Lots and lots of messages. He opened the first one from Neil, read the message, and quickly dropped the phone back on the bed.
'How much do you charge?' the message read.
When his phone rang, Luke jumped in surprise. Picking it up, he glanced at screen, noticing that the call was from Matt. Swiping the screen, Luke answered.
"What the fuck is going on?" Matt asked immediately.
"What do you mean?"
"What do you mean, what do I mean? I put the phone on this morning, and it lights up with messages asking me what I did on the streets with you. What the fuck have you been telling people?"
Luke groaned, closing his eyes, dropped his head to his chest. "I haven't said anything! All I told her was that we lived on the streets and that we begged until we found a place to live. She didn't believe me and immediately started asking whether I'd sold myself. It didn't matter what I told her, she believed I was a hooker and no sooner did we split up, then she was on the phone with all her mates. I never mentioned you, Matt. I wouldn't do that to you, not after everything we've been through."
There was silence on the phone for a few seconds, then Matt spoke. "No, you wouldn't, but I gotta tell you, Luke, the shit people are sending me, I don't know what to do."
"I'm so sorry, Matt. Just tell people that Sarah and me broke up and that she's spreading shit about me as a way to get back at me."
Matt grunted. "I've got to tell them something because Josh wants to go around there and beat every fucker up. His words, not mine."
"I'm really, really sorry, Matt. I thought she'd just mention me. I never thought she would bring you into it."
Luke heard Matt's sigh. "Well, I guess it just gives them someone else to have a go at, doesn't it? Both of us on the street at the same time. You don't have to be a genius to believe we were doing the same thing. That what Sarah's saying is true. She's a bitch, Luke. What the fuck did you see in her?"
"Look, she's hurt. That's why she's doing this."
"She's hurt? That doesn't give her the right to go around spreading that shit about us. We left the streets years ago, and we don't need her dragging all that shit back up."
Luke could hear Josh shouting in the background and winced. Josh had a temper and Luke wouldn't be surprised if he turned up at Uni and had a go at Sarah.
"Don't know what else to say. I don't know what to do about this, Matt. I woke up this morning, put the phone on, and it danced around the room, there was that many messages and emails and texts on it. I'm scared to open and read them. The only one so far was from Neil, and he was asking me how much I charged! I don't know what to do." Luke's voice broke on the last word, and he took in a shaky breath trying to calm himself. His eyes itched and his throat felt scratchy, as he tried to hold back tears that threatened.
Why would she do this to him? It wasn't like they'd seen each other that long. They'd barely seen each other over the summer break.
"... Help you."
Luke hadn't heard what Matt had been saying, too busy caught up in what Sarah was doing to him.
"Look, I've got to get going. I need to do some damage control," Luke muttered.
"Okay. But I'm coming over tonight, and we'll talk."
"I don't want the others to know, Matt. Please promise me you won't tell them."
Luke heard Matt's sigh. "Okay. I'll see you later."
Matt hung up, and Luke threw his phone on the bed next to him.
What was he going to do? And what else was being said about him?
Pushing the covers back, Luke swung his legs out of bed and sat on the edge. He picked up his phone and opened it, glancing through the messages. He winced at some of them asking how many times he'd let someone have sex with him, how many blowjobs he'd given, or how much he charged. Some even asked if he was still going, and if he was, how much for them to fuck him. But other messages said they didn't believe what Sarah was saying, and that they knew she was only saying it because they'd split up.
Luke didn't want to look at Facebook, Twitter or any of the other apps and he wasn't sure he wanted to open his emails either.
Putting his phone back on the bed, Luke stood and left his bedroom, slowly walking downstairs. In the kitchen, Luke put the kettle on, leaning against the counter as it boiled. He chewed his lip, his foot bouncing on the floor. Once he'd made his coffee, Luke went back to his bedroom. He needed to clear his phone and accounts, a task he wasn't going to enjoy. He could easily imagine what people were saying about him. The Internet and social media made it too easy for certain individuals to create fake accounts and pick a victim to bully and harass.
Cyberbullying. That's was what people called it.
Luke switched his laptop on and changed while it powered up. By the time he had jeans and a jumper on, his laptop was ready to go. Checking his emails wasn't too bad, once he emptied out his social media folder without looking at it. The rest were the usual ones he received.
Closing it, he opened up Facebook and Twitter and grimaced. Shit. So many people had posted or shared Sarah's original post. Messenger was overflowing. Luke didn't want to look at Snapchat or WhatsApp.
Closing his eyes, Luke slumped back in his chair, opened them and stared at the laptop screen. Monday was gonna be shit. In fact, the next few weeks were gonna be shit. The only bright light was that they would be breaking up soon from Uni, and hopefully, everyone would forget about it.
Sighing, Luke leaned forward and started opening his social media accounts. He wasn't looking forward to going Uni on Monday.