it's so lonely here

Disappear

Ethan's POV
We landed in LA around 9 am and I could barely contain my excitement for seeing Emma. We stopped for coffee on the way to Emma's apartment so I could grab her a drink. As we pulled into her complex butterflies circled inside of my stomach. "See you later bro," I said to Gray. "Yeah, do you know what time you'll be back?" he asked. "Not sure but I'll text you," and with that I shut the door and headed inside. Emma had given me a key before I left for Jersey, which was perfect because I didn't want to wake her up. I unlocked the door and headed inside. I put her coffee in the fridge and quietly made my way up to her bedroom. When I got to the top I saw a mountain of blankets covering the
bed, with her buried somewhere underneath. I lifted the covers and saw her little body soundly sleeping. I snuggled in next to her and wrapped my arms around her waist, resting my neck on her shoulder. She slowly stirred and turned to face me. When my eyes met her face my heart sunk. The bruise around her eye was much worse than I thought and I knew it had to have been something more than a simple trip up the stairs. "Hey," she whispered, looking my face up and down. She took her hand and let her thumb stroke my cheek. "I missed you," she said as she snuggled into my chest. I pulled her in closer to me. "Me too," I replied, placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head. We laid in her bed for the next few hours, her sleeping while I thought of ways to bring up her bruise. I looked down at her, she was so small and innocent, especially when she was dreaming. I closed my eyes and tried to get some rest when I woke up to the sound of Emma crying. "No no no, please stop," she begged, still completely unconscious. She was having a nightmare. "Em," I said while shaking her, "Em, baby, it's just a dream, Em wake up." Her eyes fluttered open and tears started streaming down her face, "I'm sorry," she said as she dug her head deeper into my chest. "Em, there's nothing to be sorry about, it was just a dream," I tightened my arms around her and rubbed her back until her cries subsided. "You okay?" I asked, looking down at the tiny girl in my arms. "Yeah, just a dream," she quietly laughed as she stared deep into my eyes and leaned in for a kiss. God I missed her. As we pulled away I suggested that we start thinking about finding something to eat, since it was well past one at this point. "Yeah, let me put on some makeup quick and then we can go," she said while sitting up. I took out my phone and started to yelp different restaurants while she got ready.

Emma's POV
Having Ethan back has never made me happier, but I was so anxious he was going to try and talk to me about my eye. I know I told him that I had tripped up the stairs, but the way he was looking at me gave me the feeling that he knew something else had happened. Around one we decided that it was time to get food, so, while Ethan yelped some restaurants I went to the bathroom to try and fix my face. I took the same foundation as yesterday and made sure to load it up around my eye. I didn't want to have any mishaps today. I slowly brushed the product around my face, but something wasn't looking right. It was cakey and you could tell that I was covering something up. I rinsed my face and tried again but got the same result. With each try I got more and more frustrated until I gave up and started to cry. Everything was becoming too much again. I couldn't cover my bruise, I lied to Ethan about what happened, I drank the stupid fucking drink that Logan gave me, I couldn't get away from him at the party, I was so fucking lonely and sad inside, and to top it all off I had to somehow keep all these emotions inside or else I was going to die. My sobs got louder and I didn't know how to stop myself from crying. I thought about running to my razors, but I wasn't going to chance the possibility of Ethan walking in on me. I couldn't control myself and began to hyperventilate. My head was spinning and I couldn't catch my breath. It felt like the walls were caving in on me and I didn't know how to stop it. I heard a voice behind me, but it sounded distant. Two strong hands spun me around as Ethan embraced me into a warm hug. "Breathe Em, slow deep breaths. Match my breathing." I listened to his voice and slowly started to calm down. I looked up and saw the sadness in his eyes. "I think we need to talk baby," he picked me up and brought me over to my bed where he cradled me and stroked my hair. "Emma I need you to tell me what really happened to your eye." My heart rate picked and I felt my anxiety spike. How was I going to tell him? I couldn't tell him, I had to stick to my story. "E I told you, I tripped up the stairs." "Why is it so dark, it looks like someone punched you," he said while searching my eyes. I could tell he was trying to read me. I traced his jaw with my fingers and reassured him, "E, nothing bad happened, I just need to keep track of my feet," I replied. "Promise?" he said, rubbing his hand gently down my arm. He unknowingly brushed over my cuts, causing me to quickly sit up. "Promise, let's go and get some food," I said while grabbing his hand.