Free Off Limits by Alexandra Vos Page B

speak to her either. I just needed to get
home and sit in my self-loathing whilst I attempted to figure out what I was
going to tell Phoebe.
     
    Because she had to
be told something, really.
     
    It was only fair,
when I’d done something like this.
     
    I wrapped my arms
around myself, suddenly realising that the wind was whipping at my exposed
arms. I’d left my jumper in Luke’s car. Tears streamed down my face.
     
    When a car pulled
up beside me, I jumped and feared the worst. I’d been stupid enough to walk
into the streets when some madman was after us.
     
    Thankfully, it was
only my mum. “What are you doing out here?”
     
    I stared past her
at the man in the passenger seat. He looked like my dad. “I was walking home
from Luke’s.” Maybe she hadn’t noticed the tears yet. It was incredibly dark
outside.
     
    “Get in, I’ll give
you a lift home.” I wiped my eyes on the way to the back seat, knowing it
probably hadn’t done much more than smudging my make-up. “What’s happened? Is
there something wrong?”
     
    “Nothing’s wrong,
just the wind making my eyes water.” As good an excuse as any, I supposed. I
tried to get a good luck at my mum’s new boyfriend, after confirming that it
definitely wasn’t my dad sat in the passenger seat. “I’m Carmen, nice to meet
you.”
     
    “Richard. I would
shake your hand, but it’s a bit awkward in the car,” he chuckled, obviously
uncomfortable. My mother probably hadn’t skimped on the details of how angry I
was.
     
    I forced out a
laugh, before going back to my sulking. Pleasantries were over and done with
and I wasn’t affected by the awkward silence that took over the car.
     
    It was when I
sniffled that my mum turned around. “Oh, tell me what’s wrong.” I could see her
eyebrows had knitted together, even in the near darkness. “Why were you walking
home alone?”
     
    “I just had an
argument with Luke, it’s not even a big deal.”
     
    When she reached
back and took my hand in hers, I resisted the urge to flinch. I hadn’t touched
my mother in over two weeks. “You can always talk to me. I’m sure whatever
you’ve fallen out about isn’t worth your tears.”
     
    And that was when
I really burst into tears. I scrubbed at my eyes to shield my face, but my
mother looked utterly forlorn. “It’s really nothing,” I repeated, voice broken.
“Nothing important. I’m just overreacting.” There was no way I could tell her
what I’d just done when I continued to blame her for my dad leaving. I supposed
we were both just bad people.
     
    “You can always
talk to me,” she repeated, squeezing my knee now my hands were out of reach.
“I’ll always be here.”
     
    “I know. Thanks. I
think I just need some sleep. It’s really not a big deal.”
     
    I felt my phone
vibrate against my thigh a few minutes later and saw Luke’s name on the
display.
     
    Please let me come
and pick you up. You can’t walk home alone.
     
    I really tried not
to let myself smile, but the corner of my lips still turned up. I let him know
my mum had picked me up in the shortest number of words, but clung tight to my
phone and wished there was an easy solution to this.
     
    My lips shouldn’t
have still been tingling and I shouldn’t still have been focusing on it, but I
had to have tonight before I was completely consumed by guilt.
     
    I’d finally gotten
to kiss Luke, and it was as good as I could have imagined.
     

 
    Chapter Eight
     
    It was with a
stony expression that I pulled into the school car park the next morning. I
wasn’t prepared to face Luke at all, and I definitely wasn’t capable of having
a conversation with Phoebe. I had my day all planned out – I wasn’t with either
of them in lessons today and at lunchtime, the library would be my safety zone.
     
    It was foolproof.
     
    I could avoid this
problem until it just went away, was what I attempted to tell myself. There was
no point in remembering that I was supposed