you're the only friend i need
(you're the only friend i need)

ribs ; lorde

TATE

"ARE YOU even listening to me?" Luke waved his hand in front of my face, making me blink and glance up towards the groaning boy. "Tate!"

"I'm sorry." I pressed my lips together, forcing my gaze to stay on him. "I zoned out."

Luke let out a small sigh, plopping down beside me on the couch as he gave up on demonstrating how Rummikub works.

"What's going on?" He asked, catching me off guard with the hostility in his tone. "Like, with us? This entire summer you've been acting weird."

"What?" I swallowed, picking at my nail beds as the guilt was eating at me. "We've been fine, Luke? I'm not being weird."

Luke shook his head. "Come on, T. We barely even hang out. You've been hanging out with Quinn a lot, which is just weird."

"How is that weird?" I tilted my head to the side, a playful smile on my face as I silently begged he wouldn't be able to read me. "I've been trying to get Quinn on my good side for years, I finally did it. Is that such a crime?"

Luke didn't budge, cocking a brow at me. "I'm not stupid, you know."

My heart sank as I held my breath. He knew? I parted my lips, no words escaping as I just stared at him blankly- like a deer in headlights.

"I know you've had a crush on him since we were kids." Luke rolled his eyes. "It's so obvious."

I breathed again, covering my face with my hands, hiding the relief behind my palms.

"That's not true." I fought. "It went away, okay? A long time ago!"

"Another lie, Tate?" Luke squinted his light eyes at me in annoyance. "Thanks for not acting on it, I'll give you credit for that."

His words were haunting me, echoing in my head. I hated hiding things from Luke, we didn't keep secrets; it was forbidden. But I was keeping one that would absolutely destroy him.

"Of course." I forced a closed-lip smile, nodding slightly. "Look, I'm sorry we didn't hang out as much as we usually do."

"All good." Luke nudged me jokingly. "You can make it up to me by taking me out for a full course dinner after my first game."

I clicked my tongue, narrowing my eyes at him. "You're just saying that because you want me to take you out for dinner."

"Well, yeah." Luke said in a duh tone. "How are you and Luca? He won't budge on telling me anything."

I blinked. Luca barely looked at me, the pained expression on his face was enough to nearly bring tears to my eyes. Despite Luca and I having, well something, it felt like I was loosing a friend.

"Um." I darted my tongue out to glide against my bottom lip. "I'm not really sure. I don't know if we have a connection."

"Oh." Luke hummed. "Is there someone else? Considering you had to be the one to steer him off."

I narrowed my eyes at the curly headed boy, annoyed. "Why does it have to be me? What if we just don't like each other like that?"

"I'm not trying to be a dick." Luke parted his lips, his big eyes going slightly wide.

"Yea, well, you are." I snapped, instantly wishing I had kept my lips sealed as his features fell.

Luke and I had rarely ever fought, on occasions it would be minute long bickers. Luke and I's friendship thrived off being healthy. And now, I was the dick.

"I'm sorry." I apologized quickly, dropping my gaze to my lap. "I just...I don't like him like that. I know you really wanted me to."

"Tate." Luke shook his head, a small chuckle leaving his lips. "I'm not in charge of your love life, okay? I just wanted you to be happy with someone. If it's not with Luca, my world doesn't turn upside down. It's just about you finding someone that's meant for you."

The problem was- I found the person that was meant for me; it just happens to be your older brother that you banned me from.

Almost as if his ears were ringing, Luca popped up, standing before Luke and I as he gazed between us. "Sorry for interrupting. We're all playing a drinking game of Never Have I Ever. We even got Quinn and Jack to play, wanna join?"

Luke nodded quickly, dragging me up with him as his large hand ruffled my hair in a playful manner. "Come on, Tay."

I should've known this would be a bad idea as we stepped outside, sitting at outside table. The summer breeze made me shiver and I watched Quinn hold himself back from reaching towards me.

"Okay!" Dylan clasped his hands together, the bottle of Tito's being placed in the middle. "Do we all know how to play?" The table nodded. "I'll start! If you don't want to answer, you have to take a shot."

Dylan cleared his throat, picking at the deck as he pulled the first card out. "Never have I ever, ghosted someone." Dylan rolled his lips into his mouth, shrugging. "It was an accident, I swear."

"Dukes a player." Jack whistled, teasing the boy.

"Who's next?" Dylan glanced around, his gaze locking on Jack. "Since you want to be funny, your turn."

Jack shuffled the deck, picking one out. His face twisted, his smile hiding behind his hand. "Never have I ever, cheated."

"We all know the answer to this." Luke snorted.

Jack flipped him off before shaking his head, despite everyone at the table knowing the answer, he downed the strong liquor.

"Luke?" Jack gestured, nodding towards the cards.

Luke groaned, covering his face as he read the card. "Never have I ever, been caught watching porn."

"It was a disgusting sight." Quinn sighed, squeezing his eyes shut. "I couldn't look at Luke for an entire day."

"That's dramatic." Luke flushed pink. "You didn't see anything, bro. Luca, you're up."

Luca read his card silently, his brown eyes flicking up to meet my gaze, goosebumps raised on my arms at his intense stare.

"Am I allowed to give the card to someone else?" Luca asked, peering around as Dylan shook his head. "Well, it just says, "Never have I ever had a thing with my best friend's sibling."

I froze, my heart beating in my chest as I stared at Luca, a silent plead in eyes. Quinn rolled his lips into his mouth, not daring to look in my direction.

"Who would you give that to?" Luke snorted, his curious side always getting the best of him.

Luca fell quiet, his eyes darting over to me as he tilted his head to the side. "I'm sorry, Luke."

I sucked in a breath as I shook my head rapidly. "Luca. Luca, what are you saying?"

"Tate." Luca laughed, biting down into his bottom lip. "The difference between us, I'm not a liar. I don't know how you can live with yourself."

"What is he talking about?" Luke turned to me, his brows furrowed. "Tay."

The lump in my throat wouldn't budge as I could feel my hands shaking. I glanced towards Quinn, desperately.

Quinn stared at his feet, his expression unreadable as he couldn't bring himself to stare at either of us.

"No." Luke shook his head, a cackle leaving his lips. "Why are you looking at Quinn, Tate? Tate."

I couldn't speak, no matter how hard I tried. I felt my world being turned upside down and there was nothing I can do about it.

Oh.