Simply, I still love you. [Sequel to It's Simple. I Use You. You Use Me. ]

Chapter 7

"Luce...look at me."

She sits up and faces me.

"Hey, why are you crying?"

I wipe her tears away.

"What are we doing, Ethan? This was a mistake. This isn't high school anymore. We can't just do what we did in high school."

For her to say it was a mistake, broke my heart. This wasn't a mistake. This was love. To finally be able to embrace her and kiss her, I was so happy. It pained me that she didn't feel the same.

"No, Luce. This wasn't a mistake."

She gets off the bed and stands facing me.

"It is! Don't you get it? I just cheated on Axel with you. He's going to hate me, Ethan! This is all your fault!"

"And how the hell is this my fault? It takes two to tango, if you don't know that!" I say, upset. I shouldn't have been upset at her and I didn't want to be, but the fact that she went back to talk about Axel after what we just did, I was frustrated. I just want her to be mine, but to know she is still with Axel, I couldn't handle it.

"Who told you barge into my apartment and kiss me?"

"You kissed me back!" I tell her like it was obvious.

"You should go..."

"I'm not leaving until you start speaking some truth here."

"I am speaking the truth and I want you to leave. This is my apartment, so leave!"

She grabs my clothes and pushes me out the bedroom door with one hand. I end up outside her bedroom. I could hear her crying against the door.

"Luce..." I plead. She doesn't respond. I stare blankly at the door. I finally got to embrace her, but this is the end result of it. Why couldn't things just be like when I could hold her all night long with her in my arms? I put my clothes on and leave after waiting a bit. She wasn't going to come out even if I stayed. I leave her apartment with a stuffy heart and regret.

Lucille's POV

I hear the front door shut and slowly open my bedroom door to check if Ethan was still here. He left. I kneel on the floor and clench the blanket wrapped around me. I cry and cry until there could possibly been a river in my apartment.

The painful night that Ethan hurt me creeps into my mind. My cry deepens and I can't do anything, but that. If it wasn't for that night, we wouldn't  be here.

1 year ago

Ethan had invited me to join him to go to Chicago for his team's game and a banquet afterwards. We were going to spend a weekend there after the game and have fun. I was pretty excited. With Ethan so busy with training and I with school, this was the only time we could be together.

That night, Ethan had gone off with his teammates to do something. He didn't tell me right away, but he said he would later. I didn't mind. I ended hanging out at the banquet by myself for a bit when a girl who looked no more than 3 years older than me came to sit next to me. She was pretty and looked very mature. She dressed in a black dress that tightened her body. I on the other hand couldn't even match to her, probably. She was kind at first, but I was so naive I didn't expect the worse. I had given her a warm smile and we talked.

"Which one of these handsome guys is yours?" she had asked.

"I'm sorry?"

"Baseball girlfriend, right? I should probably introduce myself first. I'm Bianca."

"Lucille."

We shook hands and talked about the boys. I happily talked to her without realizing a single thing.

"If I tell you who I'm here for, don't be too surprised, okay? He's one of the younger ones," she had said. I laughed along with her without knowing a thing.

"He's a hottie. I tell you," she continued. I continued laughing along.

"I'm here for... Ethan Collins."

When she said his name, it felt like the whole world slowed down. My vision went blurry for a bit and the place felt like it was turning in circles. When I got control of myself again, I double checked that I heard it right.

"E-e-than Collins?"

I stuttered simply saying his name.

"I told you not to be surprised, didn't I?" she said with a giggle.

I cleared my throat.

"I didn't know there were two Ethan Collins on the team?" I double checked again.

It couldn't be right. I knew all his teammates, but he never once mentioned that there was someone else with his name.

"Of course not, silly. There's only one. Can I tell you a secret? He invited me instead of his girlfriend. Don't tell anyone. It's a bad thing, but I mean- we've been together for three months. We're basically dating each other."

I felt queasy. I wanted to barf at the moment. I thought it might have been a nightmare, but it wasn't. I couldn't breathe for a second.

"So which one are you here for?" she then asked.

"I have to go," I tell her without responding.

I ran to the bathroom and threw up a little. I took a deep breath. I tried not to get upset. Maybe this was some deep misunderstanding, I had thought. I had called him multiple times so we could talk and clear this up, but he didn't pick up. I decided to go back to our hotel room, and lay my head there and wait for him. As soon as I got in, I could hear a girl's giggles. From the reflection mirror in the room I saw black hair... like Bianca's. She was clearly on top of a guy. On the ground laid his jersey number. Though I couldn't see the face, I didn't want to see anymore. No one else had access to our room, but us. I obviously didn't let her in. I ran out of the room and to a near lounge room. All I could do there was cry. I ended up sleeping there that night. When I woke up, there was no missed calls from Ethan. Nothing. I ended up going back to the room to pack my stuff. I couldn't stay any second longer in Chicago. When I got back to the room, I saw Bianca on the bed by herself. My heart ached so much. How could he do this to me? After all we had to deal with, he still did this to me. I wasn't angry, but more disappointed that he had to go this route to end our relationship. He couldn't simply break up with me, but he had to hurt me like this. I got all my stuff and ran out. I didn't look back or wait a second for him. I bought an early flight ticket back to New York. It ended that moment. From then on, I didn't see him. I got his calls, but I changed number. I moved out the dorms so he didn't even know where I lived. I gave up on us... I didn't want to try for something that wasn't worth it. I became too heartbroken to care.