LUKE' S P.O.V
Dre's phone rings, cutting me off. She reads the caller ID.
"Sorry, it's Nate."
She's about accepting the call, but doesn't.
"You were saying?" She asks, urging me to continue.
I start to talk, but her phone rings again.
"Just answer," I say, the edge in my voice sharper than I intended.
"I'm sorry," she mutters before answering.
She presses the phone to her ear, trying to get a word in — probably to tell Nathaniel this isn't a good time — but instead she breaks into a soft smile.
I get up to leave. Dre looks up quickly, covering the speaker with her hand so Nate can't hear.
"You're not going home, are you?" She whispers.
You mean back to my house, where my Dad still is?
"No," I say and walk out.
Dre's giggle fades as I close the door, sitting at the edge of the staircase.
I wait for her, but the call doesn't end.
Ten minutes, thirty and now an hour.
She's not getting off that call any time soon.
Maybe I don't need to tell Dre about the video. She hasn't seen it. No one has— at least not yet.
At school, I listened for whispers, watched for stares. I even asked Ruth if she had heard anything about Dre. Nothing.
For now, no one knew.
I tap against my phone.
Who sent it? Why send it to me?
It has been hours since the link to the video was sent. I haven't texted the person.
𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠? I type quickly.
The sender answers immediately.
𝐼𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝐷𝑟𝑒?
A question he or she has already asked before.
Who is this? I type instead.
𝐼𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝐷𝑟𝑒?
The person asks a third time, clearly frustrated that I'm ignoring the question.
This can be anyone, someone trying to ruin Dre's life by blackmailing her. But why through me? And why my best friend?
She's the nicest person I know, yes, she makes mistakes, reckless ones like this, but she doesn't deserve this.
So I type back.
𝑁𝑜, 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟.
I hit send.
𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑟.
The person counters, followed by another link.
My heart hammers loudly in my chest. I already know what I'm going to see, and I hate myself for still clicking it.
This one shows Dre's face clearly; the guy's face is blurred— deliberately.
Who the fuck is this person?
I stop the video immediately.
It𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟.
I reply, trying to bait the person into sending another link.
I𝐼𝑡 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑟.
The person replies, thankfully, with no other videos to prove his or her point.
𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡? 𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠?
I ask quickly.
𝐾𝑒𝑒𝑝 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑘 𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑜𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑑.
The person replies.
What does that mean?
𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑟𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐷𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑘?
The person reads my text and doesn't respond.
Out of fear, I want to type again, send another text, but the door opens.
I shove my phone in my pocket just before Dre steps out.
She drops down beside me. She throws her arm over my shoulder and rests her head against me like she always does.
I take a glance at her, she stares ahead, not at anything specific. She's smiling and is such in a good mood.
"I really love him, Luke," she says.
Of course she does.
I don't say anything.
I strongly believe Dre's under a spell, one that only works on guys who don't deserve her.
Dre smiles to herself before turning to look at me.
"The swelling has stopped," she says, gently tapping the skin beside my eye.
I take her hand gently.
I have to tell her something. Not about the video— but something.
"Don't you ever think, he's not right for you?" I ask, not caring if I offend her.
She doesn't look offended, just calm.
"I don't think you notice, but all the guys you date are all the same," I continue.
"Nate isn't like the rest," she calmly responds. "He is right for me."
"How do you know that?" I ask.
"He's different, and you'll see if you actually try to tolerate him, like I've been begging you to," she says.
"Why did he call you?" I ask, ignoring that.
"He's my boyfriend, Luke; he can call whenever he wants to."
I sigh. Dre isn't going to like what I'm going to say.
"Phineas, Richie, Ryan and TJ ..." I start naming the list of her exes, "They're all the same."
I want to say more, tell her the only intentions they had were to fuck her, and once they did, that was it.
But I don't tell Dre, she's in such a good mood.
"I'm just trying to look out for you, and I really wish you'll be careful."
Dre still doesn't sound angry when she speaks.
"I understand," she says, followed by a nod.
"You were telling me something."
"What?" I ask, even though I know exactly what she's talking about.
"Before Nate called," she reminds.
But I can't tell her about the videos.
Dre's always worried about something, always stressed. I don't want to worry her further.
Besides, it's something I can handle.
All I have to do is "keep Dre in check."
"Well?" Dre asks.
"It wasn't important," I reply.
Dre raises an eyebrow, not at all convinced.
"It seemed important," she presses on.
I shake my head.
"It wasn't."
There's no need for her to worry, I'll handle it.
"Okay," Dre responds.
And just like that, I decide to keep this a secret.
Someone out there is threatening to leak her sex tapes under the condition that I keep her in check.
My suspects are Phineas, Richie, Ryan, and TJ.
Maybe even Nathaniel
I don't trust him. He's just another name waiting to be added to her list.
Which one of them is doing this?