We step out of the cinema, still holding hands. “I wasn’t expecting the plot twist at the end” I say as we walk down the street. “Me neither, I thought for sure the villain was the guy with the weird beard.”
“Haha same, it’s because every time we saw him the weather was all dark and evil-looking, and everything he said was cryptic and evil” Laurence laughs.
“I know you’re referring to the use of pathetic fallacy but I prefer ‘evil’ weather” I slap his arm playfully with my free hand. “It looked evil, ok!?!”
“Asher?” A voice calls out from behind me. I turn around, assuming one of my friends from my class is there. I don’t recognise the guy though.
He’s tall with black hair and an eyebrow piercing. I don’t remember anyone having an eyebrow piercing.
“Um hi?” I say, glancing at Laurence in confusion. He just shrugs, as confused as me. Piercing dude steps towards us, and instinctively my grip on Laurence’s hand tightens.
“You look healthy. I heard you lost your memories. That true?” His voice is like black slime and I hate it. I hate this guy and have no idea who he even is.
“Who the fuck are you and how do you know that?” But I already know before he answers. I can just tell. “Byron. Your boyfriend.”
He smirks, and everywhere his gaze lands on me feels disgusting and dirty. “If that’s the case, then I dumped you, please leave me alone.” I turn to go, pulling Laurence with me. He looks as uncomfortable as me.
“Is that what your sister told you?” I stop in my tracks. Just go. I should just leave. I don’t want to hear anything this cockroach has to say. I put one foot in from of the other.
“She always hated me, said I didn’t deserve you, that I was a bad influence on you. What a bitch.” I whip around, anger bubbling in my throat.
“Well, she was right, wasn’t she. And how dare you say that about her!” I feel so angry I could cry. It’s like my whole body is telling me to hate this guy, and God I really do.
Laurence squeezes my hand, stepping in front of me. “Hey, you should fuck off, ok? You can’t just try and barge back into his life, insulting his family as you go.” Byron’s oily smirk shifts to pure annoyance.
“You know, you should be grateful to me. Alicia blames me for your accident, but actually, I was the one who saved you.” His smirk returns, but his eyes seem darker. “But you wouldn’t remember, now would you.”
I glare at him, pure hatred seeping out of my gaze. “I wouldn’t put it past you to try and gaslight me.” He laughs, and it’s a revolting sound, like metal being scraped and crushed.
“It’s the truth. You ran out of my apartment without even letting me explain myself, so naturally, I went after you. And when I got there, you were already passed out with blood gushing from your head.” He shakes his own.
“A disgusting sight, really.” Laurence’s hand is gripping mine hard enough that I can feel the anger waiting like magma beneath the surface.
“Anyway, you were still on the phone to Alicia, so I hung up and called an ambulance. The driver who hit you drove off as soon as I went over to you.” That asshole just left?? What the actual fuck.
Byron steps towards us again, so that he’s directly in front of me now. “You should be grateful, Asher. Grateful to me. Like you used to.” I slap him. Straight across the face, sending him reeling in surprise.
“You disgust me!” I yell at him, grabbing Laurence’s hand again and running. We run until I’m gasping for air, shaking and crying hot, angry tears. “I’m so FUCKING PISSED!”
I cry in to Laurence’s jacket at he holds me, breathing heavily. “I know babe, you should be pissed. I’m so glad you slapped him because otherwise I might have broken his nose.”
I laugh, gasping for air still. “My God I must have been a dreadful judge of character, that guy is a literal maggot!!!” Laurence hugs me to him harder. “No way in hell did that guy ever deserve you.”
I pull away, wiping my face. “Sorry to end our first date like this.” Laurence shakes his head, cupping my cheek. “What better way to end a date than slapping an ex?” I laugh and kiss his hand.
“At least the only memory I have of him is me slapping him.” Laurence laughs, taking my hand and leading me in the direction of the campus next to ours.
“You probably wanna tell Alicia about it, don’t you? She’s the only other one who knows the story.” I squeeze his hand gratefully.
“Thank you” I rest my head on his shoulder and let out a breath. Alicia will be so pissed.
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