Chapter 63: Broken 2

Unable to hold the grief within anymore,
"I hate myself for even having the feelings. You needed to know the words she used to indicate that she was trying to kick me out. I always suspected so. Lately, it's either she says she is busy, or she is always tired whenever we are together. But the attention has been less," Carl voiced out disdainfully, the sadness that was in his heart gradually turning to anger.
Raymond twitched the side of his lips, amused that he had achieved what they wanted to, that is, making Carl release his thoughts in words, without going through so much stress.
He was angry because never for once had he been rejected by a girl, and the worst of it is that it was from Luciana. He liked her more because he did not notice this bitchy attitude in her which he appreciated, but he was certain now that the ones that acted so cool were not the ones to joke with after all.
He clenched his fists, and his muscles became more visible as he thought of all the plenty of promises and plans he made with Luciana, and yet she had the mind to want to push him away. She did not even come straight to him, she had to use the excuse of him giving a listening ear to Cassandra.
"Which girl in her right senses will want her boyfriend to consider another girl that likes him," Carl muttered, having little idea that his words came out, and they weren't just thoughts.
Charles and Raymond that had already been staring at Carl with side glances, furrowed their brows. "The issue was quite bigger than what they felt," Raymond thought internally.
"What exactly happened?" Charles raised his brows to him, now concerned about what may have happened.
In his thoughts, he has had an experience with Jessie, who he felt was Tamara. Although not similar, he felt terrible too then. So, it did not surprise him that Luciana may have hurt Charles, you know transferring Character traits by staying together. One of the major reasons why he was guarding his heart so much from Jessica, even as he has to stay close to be able to hurt her.
Carl closed his eyes as he remembered the exact details of everything that happened earlier, then opened them to meet the guys' curious gazes. On a very normal day, he will have laughed at how curious they were, and probably joke around with them about whatever the secret was, but today was not the day.
"Cassandra came over to me earlier today, and told me about how she liked me, and so many unnecessary feelings she had for me. As I am in a relationship with Luciana, and I have no feelings for Cassandra, I bluntly told her no. Not long after she left, I looked for Luciana and told her everything that happened since she was aware that I was having a conversation with Cassandra," Carl paused as he stretched out his hands to the glass of water that was placed in front of him.
"Is that all that happened?" Raymond asked anxiously, unable to contain the curiosity he felt.
He did not see why that minor issue could cause a problem between the two of them or was there another thing else that they were both hiding?
"No," Carl said bluntly as he gulped in the water he had consumed.
"If you tell your girlfriend that you rejected another girl because of her, should she not be happy?" Carl questioned, making the guys only confused more.
"Sure, was that not Luciana's response?" Raymond inquired, with his hands raised to his temples, massaging them. He had gone through a lot of school stress that day, trying to encrypt and decrypt codes, now Carl was just putting him through another mental work and he was beginning to feel the stress.
Carl let out a forced chuckle, as it was obvious from the sound, making the guys stare at him in askance.
"It was not her response," he let out a painful smile, "you won't believe that she asked me why I did not give Cassandra a chance? That she must have gone through so much stress gathering the courage to tell me, and that my response will only make her feel terrible. Just imagine!" he yelled out.
Carl noticed the guys' face wrinkle in confusion, and the dumbfounded look on their faces, "crazy right? That is what it is."
"Did you try to talk to her? Maybe she had a reason," Charles probed.
"There's no point, I did and she did not give any suitable response. For now, I don't feel like anymore," he voiced out, assuring himself that he was fine and will not have to wrap himself up later, wiping off the tears that accompany the loneliness that hits at night.
"I still think you should try talking to her. If you can't, I will ask Alyssa. She might know better," Raymond explained.
Carl turned his head to him sluggishly, "as I said, I don't care. She can do whatever she wants, the last thing I will do is try fixing anything. Besides, I never destroyed it myself."
The guys took in Carl's words, half-heartedly, as they were aware he was talking from the hurt he was going through. Silence fell on them, as they all mused on what had happened to Carl, and were only called to reality as they heard the ring from Charles's phone that shook so violently.
Charles searched for his phone, anxiously, as he wanted to know who called him continuously. He finally saw the phone beneath a throw pillow that was on another couch, then tapped on the screen to see that the call was from Rebecca.
Staring at the screen, he kept on wondering why Rebecca was calling him, as they had no specific business to sort out. At least for some time, he had not been pleasuring himself with her, so he felt they were over what they had.
"Who is that?" Raymond called out to Charles.
Charles who stood, backing them, forced a smile as he turned his face to Raymond, and Carl who did not pay much attention to what was going on, "it was an unknown caller. I have no idea," he lied.
His friends, Raymond and Carl were fully aware of the fact that there was a Rebecca in Charles's life, even though they were not certain if they had any other thing asides from the closeness they showed to the public. But Charles was certain that he was going to receive a lot of talks if they found out he was still having things with Rebecca and he was not ready for that.
The reason why Rebecca was calling him was unknown to him, so he made a mental note to call back whenever there was nobody around. Charles walked back to where he was sitting earlier with the guys and yawned as he sat there.
"I am hungry, is there no food in this house?" Charles spoke with a muffled voice as his hands were raised to his mouth, with his face turned to Carl.
Carl stared at Charles, half amusedly, he found it funny that he was sad, and Charles's problem at that moment was to eat. Such typical friends that he had.
"You care so much about food, you know? There is sauce in the fridge. You can heat it and make pasta or any other thing," Carl pointed out to him.
"Am I supposed to care about you?" Charles smiled smugly as he rose to his feet, "well I'm not interested in you, so I'll pass."
The guys laughed at Charles's sense of humor making the previously gloomy environment light up in excitement.
"You should make enough food, I think I'll eat too," Raymond stated, sounding nonchalant, with his eyes fixed on his phone.
All their eyes turned to him immediately, and it was even more fun to watch, with the way he acted like he didn't say anything.
"Just say you are hungry too," Charles uttered out in a calm voice, grinning widely.
"Am I?" Raymond turned to him, startled. "Well just be quick about it."
"I will," Charles informed and swiftly brought out the sauce from the kitchen.
Carl watched everything that was happening in front of him, smiling. He was thankful that he had friends that cared about his happiness and did everything possible to cheer him up. At least, with his friends around, forgetting Luciana will be quite easy as he thought.
He knew he was just saying out words when he said that Luciana should do whatever she wants to do and that he doesn't care. But inwardly, he was wishing that she unsaid the things she had said and that everything will come back to normal.
For now, he just needs to work on getting back at her, and making her realize how much she needed him, he smirked, as the thoughts rushed through his mind.
*************
Visiting Charles was one thing Jessie dreaded and loved at the same time, and it was yet another day that she was going to his place.
It was the second day since the issue Carl had with Luciana, and since Luciana was not feeling too good, Jessie could not go to school and stayed with her.
Luciana spent the whole day, sulking. Not necessarily because of the issue she had with Charles, but because she felt bad about everything that was going around her.
If she was never sick, then the issue with Charles will not have been a problem. But as fate wanted it, there she was, alone with herself, having no idea who to vent her anger on.
She managed to eat because Jessie forced her, and she had to take her drugs. Almost all through the day, Luciana kept on sleeping, waking up, and going back to sleep. Jessie was sure that all of it was to run from reality, but sadly, life did not work that way.
Alyssa had come again, earlier in the day to spend the time with them. She had to leave school early as the girls were not in school and she felt Luciana needed another person to stay with her as she was certain that Mrs. Ranez was going to be at the hospital.
Alyssa was with Luciana in the sitting room while Jessie prepared food in the kitchen for all of them to eat.
Together, they watched their favorite TV show with the food still getting prepared, whereas Luciana stayed on a couch wrapped up in the warmth of the duvet she brought downstairs with her.
They ate together when the food was ready, chatting about various things to which Luciana paid little enthusiasm. Still sulking, even as the girls tried their best to cheer her up.
And all of it was whenever she opened her eyes from sleep. Or was it pretending to sleep? Because she always closed her eyes whenever they tried to talk about the issue.
The whole day went on the same way, sober, till Charles called Jessie and asked her to come over to his place.
She tried giving him a thousand reasons why she could not, but it turned out her reasons were not valid enough and Charles still kept on insisting to see her.
Typical of Charles, always getting what he wants.
Jessie quickly went to Alyssa when the Call was over and begged her to stay with Luciana as she could not leave her alone, and had no idea when she was coming back. So, Alyssa decided to spend the night at the Ranez home.
Jessie hurriedly tidied up everything she had to do, including cleaning up the kitchen and doing the laundry.
When she finished, she rushed to the bathroom, and washed her hair, rubbing shampoo on it as she remembered every single thing that happened on the night she had a shag with Charles for the first time.
She smiled recalling all of it. Even though he seemed quite tough on the outside, he was so delicate on her skin and Jessie enjoyed all of it.
She was thinking so much about everything that happened with him, that it took a ring from her phone to call her back from her reverie.
"I hope I don't get crazy being in love with him," Jessie grinned widely, as she picked up her phone to check who the caller was.