Chapter 13: Luis’s POV

Luis’s POV

My phone started ringing at a distance as I remained under the shower and let all the tears fall, but I ignored it.

What more did he have to say?

Was he so eager to hurt me more after all that he’d done? And even if it wasn’t him, I just wasn’t in the mood to talk to anybody right now. I needed time to myself to figure my life out and find my own standing.

I let the cold shower rain on my clothed self until I had no more tears to cry. Only when I started to shiver and sneeze underneath it did I decide to get out.

I turned off the taps and undressed, tying a towel around my waist while rubbing my hair with another. My head ached from the cold and everything else, but I ignored it as I walked toward my closet to start my day again. Just as I did, I heard a knock on my door, but for some reason, my head snapped toward my window like I was expecting someone.

Like I was expecting him to crawl through there again to see me.

“Luis, open up right now!” My sister’s irritating voice shouted from the other side of the door, and I wanted to bash her so desperately but held back and just pulled the door open.

“What do you want?” I asked coldly as I stared down at her.

She had her hair up in a high ponytail, the ends curled, and too many bow clips adorning them.

“Are you going somewhere? You look like a clown with all those,” I gestured toward her hair and watched as her once smug expression started to turn sour.

It was safe to say that I’d picked up her sassiness and was now using it against her.

“They look just fine,” she snapped and stomped her feet in protest as she started to pluck off the numerous bow clips.

I didn’t think my words would affect her so much, and I would have normally felt proud for hurting her the way she did me in the past if I didn’t see the tears in her eyes.

I couldn’t take back what I said, but I could try to lessen the damage I’d dealt her.

Seeing as she had just three bow clips left, I spoke. “Now this is a lot better. You do look like a Barbie doll when you’re not being sassy,” I said and watched her straighten up at my compliment.

Her face brightened up, and she asked, “Really?”

“Yes, now tell me what you came here for.” I said, trying to sound like I didn’t just realize that my stepsister might have been sassy since she moved in, but her self-esteem was even lower than mine. Something about that didn’t seem right, but I wasn’t in the mood to probe any further.

She had a small smile on her face as she explained that she, her mom, and my dad were going on a family trip.

“A family trip? Why wasn’t I informed?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

“It’s ’cause Dad said you were too grown up for that,” she lowered her head, and I could hear some guilt in her voice.

“Too old for family time.” A sad chuckle followed. “I see.”

“But Mom wanted to inform you and ask if there’s anything you wanted. She said not to come down if I didn’t get anything from you,” her voice shot back up with a hint of concern, and I just felt at that moment that maybe I didn’t know my stepfamily well enough. Maybe I could get to know them better.

“Oh, I see. Any apocalypse game and Snickers,” I blurted absentmindedly after ruminating and not being able to come up with something I wanted.

“Okay, we are running late for the cinema,” she typed it on her phone as she bounced on her feet.

“Yes, thanks. Bye,” I turned around and was about to push my door open again when her snarky remark held me, and I turned back.

“Maybe if you were more manly and worked out, Dad would invite you to the next family outing,” and before I could snap at her with a word I knew would hurt, she had raced down the stairs, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she was saying the truth.

Did I really have no friends because of how I looked?

Or did I just look too gay to be in their company?

I looked in the mirror, and for the first time, I noticed and felt bothered about the fact that I didn’t have six-pack abs like others.

I noticed my tiny waist and my almost hourglass figure and became... *turned.*

Garber had run his hands through my body, loved it, kissed it, and I could still see faint marks of the hickey he left on my chest. I rubbed my hand over it, letting out a subtle moan, but it was still a fact that I did not look as manly as boys my age, and I just wanted to punch the mirror and crack it into a thousand pieces as another thought arose in my mind.

Was the reason Garber felt curious about my body because I looked feminine and had soft skin?

Was I truly nothing but an experiment during his drunken moment?

Right when I was at the edge of having my overthinking swallow me up, my phone started to ring. And I would have ignored it and just gone to eat if it had not rung consecutively for three more times.

By the time I picked up the call, I was already starting to hate my ringtone.

“Yo, man, I’ve been calling since like forever. Why didn’t you pick up?” It was Chen shouting breathlessly into the phone.

I took a breather before speaking, or else I’d have let out all my grievances on him. “And didn’t it occur to you once that I either didn’t want to speak to you or I didn’t have my phone?” I asked and wanted to mock myself.

Because despite the fact that I felt angry, I couldn’t raise my voice or be manly enough with my expression—only for me to remember my sister’s taunts. She was right.

“And that’s why I kept calling until you felt like talking to me. Bro, we haven’t seen each other since the night at the club, and you haven’t come online for any games as well. Where the fuck have you been?!” Was that concern, or was he just bored?