Chapter 67 He's back.

Chapter 67 He's back.
Laramie:

It had been an entire week since I last saw Ethan.

He cancelled all of his classes. He didn't come to campus. And his apartment was empty.

I tried calling. I tried texting.

Nothing.

It was like he had vanished from the face of the planet.

I hated him for not being here. I hated him for running away from me like that - from what he had done. I hated him for not being man enough to face me.

But even more than that, I hated myself for missing him so much - hated myself for wanting to see him again so desperately.

At least Zoey hadn't felt the need to attack or accuse me again. When she did see me on campus, she just glared at me through slitted eyes before storming off in the opposite direction.

And everytime that she did, I recalled what Elodie had said and couldn't stop myself from wondering if there might be some truth to it.

The thought still made my stomach turn.

But I just kept telling myself that there was no way that it could be true. I told myself that Zoey had a crush on Ethan and that she was just jealous. And that her jealousy had caused her to grasp at straws.

I knew that it was the furthest thing from the truth, but somehow, repeating it to myself over and over again made me feel better.

I also tried talking to Noah again.

I felt like I needed to explain myself to him in some way - felt like I needed to make him understand that what Ethan and I had wasn't just some dirty affair, but that we really cared about each other and that we wanted a real future together.

I also felt like I had to try and convince him not to say anything to anyone.

But he was clearly avoiding me. He wasn't taking my calls. He wasn't responding to any of my texts. And as far as I could tell, he wasn't even on campus.

Even though I still felt like crap over the pained look on his face when I told him that I loved Ethan and that was the reason I was with him, I felt relieved over the fact that I still hadn't been called into the Dean's office and that I hadn't been expelled yet.

That meant that Noah hadn't said anything yet and all I could do was hope and pray that he wouldn't change his mind.

I had no idea what else to do and I resented Ethan more and more for leaving me here alone to deal with everything that was going on.

At least my bruises had completely healed up and I no longer needed to hide them beneath scarfs and long sleeves. And for the most part everyone had forgotten about my fight with Zoey and Noah in front of Ethan's classroom. They've all found something else to gossip about since.

I was on my way out from my dad's office after having lunch with him there when I noticed that Ethan's office door was open.

A surge of excitement jolted through me, but it was quickly replaced by a white-hot fury that I could barely contain.

Without giving it a second thought, I stormed into his office and slammed the door shut behind me. Ethan looked up from behind his desk, his eyes wide and his face pale. He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off before he could.

"Where the hell have you been this entire time, Ethan!?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but I cut him off again. The words seemed to be falling out of my mouth at a speed that I couldn't control.

I waved a dismissive hand in his direction and began to pace the length of his office as I continued to fire at him.

"You know what, nevermind. It doesn't even matter. The point is, you weren't here! You ran away like some common coward after you hurt me. You didn't even have the decency to face me after what you did."

"I looked for you everywhere, Ethan. Here, at your apartment. I tried to call you. I texted you about a thousand times. And the worst thing of all is that I had to hear from my dad that you were on leave. You couldn't even tell me that you were leaving."

"Do you have any idea how that made me feel? Do you have any idea what I've been through the last couple of days? Do you have any idea how much you hurt me?"

"No! Of course you don't! Because you weren't here. You just left me, Ethan. You just left me all alone! You hurt me and then you just left me!"

"Well, now I'm leaving you, Ethan. I'm done with you! I never want to see you again! I hate you for what you did to me and I hate you for walking away from me. I'm done Ethan! I'm done with you! Whatever this was, it's over now! I'm done!"

I finally stopped pacin and turned to look at Ethan. My whole body was shaking with anger, but I felt better.

I finally told Ethan exactly how I felt and I felt better.

There was nowhere for him to hide this time. He couldn't run away from me or what he had done.

He had to face me. He had no other choice.

For the longest time, Ethan just sat in his chair starring at me. His face was drawn and pale, his eyes so wide that they looked almost completely white.

At first I thought that he wasn't going to say anything. But then, he stood up silently, took a deep breath and walked around his desk to stand in front of it. He crossed his arms over his chest and loosed a heavy breath.

Then, I thought that he might just kick me out of his office - that he might just tell me to leave.

But Ethan didn't do that and I found myself holding my breath, waiting for him to respond in any way at all.

Part of me expected him to yell at me, to tell me that I had no right to speak to him like that and that he didn't care if I was done with him because he was already over me.

But Ethan didn't do that either.

Instead, he steadily looked me in the eye before shaking his head slowly.

And what he said next took me by surprise so much that I actually gasped when he said it.

It was the very last thing that I was expecting.

"You're right, Laramie. You're right about everything and everything that you said is true."