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ミ☆ chapter five; till death do us part
☾
It felt like the entirety of their friend group was begging for Ghostface to slaughter them all at once.
Claire had learned a numerous amount of things from her past experience, as stated before. One of them was that being in a large group doesn't magically keep you safe from Ghostface's merciless wrath.
So, when Miles informed the girl of the dinner they had planned that night, Claire immediately counted herself out for the evening.
Mindy and Chad were the niece and nephew of Randy—a man who never lived to tell his story. However, Claire happened to have a father who had been through it all and survived. Though Miles wasn't interested in any of it, the McDaniel girl wanted to hear all of it.
As disturbing as the information may have been, she found that it was also incredibly helpful. It gave her the insight she needed, especially for a setting like college. She couldn't be alone, but she couldn't be in a big group of people either, whether she knew them or not. Either the second Ghostface would strike ( if there was one ), or one of them would go on a massacre right then and there.
Instead of spending her night with the rest of the group, she spent it with Ethan. Not only because she liked being in his company, but because Claire knew that if Ethan just so happened to be the killer and made any sort of attempt to attack her, her friends would automatically know who Ghostface was. Which meant her death wouldn't be in vain.
Sure, it was a twisted way of thinking, but it was fairly smart.
Claire snuck into Chad and Ethan's shared dorm, due to the fact that Chad was going to be out for the night and she wanted to be as far away from everyone as possible. The curly-haired boy told her that he had Econ, so she offered to wait outside of his dorm, where they were many students lounging around in case Ghostface wanted to make an unwarranted appearance.
"Hey." Ethan's voice caught Claire's attention.
She pushed herself off the wall and sent her boyfriend a smile. "Hey, you. I thought your study session ended at ten thirty."
"It does," he replied, digging into his pocket for his keys. "But you are a lot more entertaining than Econ."
"As sweet as that is, you can't skip sessions like that," Claire scolded him as he opened the door. "You're on the verge of failing, you do realize that, right?"
"Thank you, mom," he remarked sarcastically, entering his dorm and plopping down on the bed.
Claire snorted at his comment, choosing to brush it off. "Wanna watch a movie?"
Ethan nodded. "We should watch Star Wars."
"No."
"Why not?" he inquired, his tone raising an octave.
"Because every time you even mention Star Wars, I think about that time I walked in on you crying—"
"I wasn't crying," Ethan corrected with a frown.
"Okay, well, whatever you were doing, I get flashbacks about it every time you mention that movie," she stated. "Plus, Spiderman is way better than Star Wars."
Ethan flipped open his laptop. "Can't argue with that."
Claire examined her boyfriend as he pulled up the movie, considering whether or not to ask the question that had been bugging her since Mindy's monologue that morning.
"Ethan," she whispered. He hummed, not quite understanding the seriousness of her feelings, so she called his name again, "Ethan."
He finally turned away from his computer screen and to Claire. "Yeah?"
"Why'd you almost throw me under the bus earlier?" she inquired.
"What?"
"When Mindy was doing her dramatically long monologue," Claire clarified. "You made it seem like you were about to tell everyone the private stuff I've told you about."
Guilt took over every part of his face. "Oh."
"Did you genuinely think for a second I could be Ghostface?"
"No, Claire, of course not," he reassured her immediately, frowning upon hearing that Claire believed he'd actually think she was the killer. "I know you're not the killer."
"So, why'd you do it?" she pushed, slightly fearful of what his answer would be. With Ghostface on the loose, she couldn't blame him for thinking that she may have lost her mind and actually became him. "I get that there may be a part of you that believes I'm capable of being that freak, but that was just messed up, Eth. You already know that I feel like a monster in my own, I don't need anyone else contributing to that."
"I know that, and I'm sorry," Ethan apologized in a way that seemed sincere, at least to Claire. "Mindy was just suffocating with her accusations, I didn't want the friend group hating me because what she said. That's why I stopped as soon as I realized what I was doing."
The brunette girl nodded slowly, allowing his words to properly sink in. Before she could respond, Ethan had conjured up another question. "What about you? I mean, do you think I could be Ghostface?"
"Well, I can't rule it out, but, I don't know," Claire responded truthfully. "What I do know is that I don't have time to be scared. I'm not gonna miss the chance to say things that I may never get to say."
"Claire, don't talk like that. This time could be different. Maybe nobody dies."
"Oh, I'm not gonna die." she could've laughed. she almost did. "My dad lived through all of this. Being a final girl is, like, in my blood."
A smile crept onto his lips at her words, one that Claire returned before continuing. "I'm not big on love, you know that. My last relationship turned out to be completely fake, and she was basically cheating on me with some grown ass weirdo. Anyway, the truth is, I was scared to make things official with you. I wanted to, because I really do like you a lot, but I just couldn't take another heartbreak. And now, Ghostface is back, so I'm even more on edge than usual.
She paused, taking a breath. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling. What I'm trying to say is, I think I can love you. I wanna try to."
Ethan took a moment to reply, the type of moment that drove Claire mad as she anxiously waited on his reply. She lowered her eyebrows when he cleared his throat to speak. "Would I be pressuring you if I told you that I do love you?"
Her eyebrows went back up as her lips tugged upwards until she broke out into a toothy smile. Claire leaned closer to him, pressing her lips to his with a force that made him lay on his back.
And just as quickly as she had kissed him, she pulled away from him. He chased after her lips momentarily, but she placed a hand onto his chest.
