Heartboxing

Chapter 6

"What kind of piece of shit person do you have to be to let your friend cheat on his girlfriend." Mia screeched as she poured herself another glass.

I was already on my third glass of wine so I wasn't one to judge. I gulped down some more and raised my hands in utter dismay, "RIGHT." I agreed swallowing my drink.

"And he didn't think to tell you this weeks ago?" She screeched.

I giggled, "To be fair, you and Ty barely let him look at me, let alone speak to me."

"Yeah, well we had a good enough reason." She scoffed, taking another sip of her drink before she turned to me with a serious expression "Are you going to forgive him?"

I swallowed hard and found myself very interested in the patterns on my blanket. Am I going to forgive him?

I mean, technically, if he is telling the truth, what happened in London was a mistake on his part. He never meant to cheat, he thought the girl was me.

I love him with all my heart. I never stopped loving him, I just tried to ignore everything that had to do with him. Get all the hurt out of my system and start fresh, that was the plan.

I let out a loud groan and placed my head in Mia's lap where we were cuddled on the couch and allowed her to stroke my hair while I let everything play out in my head once again.

"Oh babe, I'm so sorry you're going through this. You deserve to be happy and not deal with all this drama." She cooed like a mother hen and stroked my hair in a soothing manner.

"Ethan made me happy."

Mia stopped her head rubs and abruptly pulled me up to face her, "Ethan loves you, I know that and you love him. But are you ready to forgive and forget?"

I picked up my glass and gulped it all down, going onto my fourth. "Maybe I should call him." I pondered out loud.

"No." she replied without a second thought, "You're clearly drunk right now and you are not in your right state of mind to talk to him about this ."

I let out a long strangled sigh and picked up my phone, going straight to my gallery.

So many memories, so much of our love story is stored in this phone. Every message, every picture.

A few months ago I was so happy, we were so freaking happy I felt like I was on cloud nine whenever we were together and even when we weren't around one another.

I found an old picture taken by Tyler in our high school hallway, I was leaned up against my locker and Ethan was right in front of me holding a bouquet of pink roses. My favourite.

The smile on both of our faces was breathtaking and just pure happiness. This was valentine's day. I didn't want to make a big deal about it that year, I was sad because my cat had died and Ethan had come over to my house to have a proper funeral for Eddie and he promised me he would always be by my side no matter what.

I scrolled further. The next one was a selfie that he'd taken when we were laying on a huge blanket on the beach. A basket full of food and snacks was in the background as I pulled out my tongue and his head was turned looking straight at me with a massive grin covering his face.

we were so happy.

Suddenly my phone disappeared from my grasp, I looked up to find Mia walking towards the kitchen and placing it on the counter before plopping herself back beside me on the couch. "We are not doing that, sorry."

"Fuck Mia, I'm so confused, I have no idea what to do." I cried out letting my head fall to the back of the couch and letting out my tenth sigh for the evening.

She pulled me into her side and let me cuddle against her, rubbing my back in the process, "I know sweetie, I know." she squeezed me harder, "I wish I could tell you exactly what you need to do but this is your decision, you know what you're strong enough to do. I'll be by your side no matter what you decide. Always."

I genuinely have no idea what I would do without this girl.

"Thank you, I love you so much." I suddenly felt tears brimming my eyes and placed my head on Mia's shoulder, letting it fall as she held me together.

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The week went by in a blur of work, classes, and more work. The plus side of that has been not having a minute to think about Ethan.

"Maybe we should try that new pizza place that opened on campus"

"I tried it. Not the best, I'm not gonna lie."

I groaned as the five of us all sat in my apartment arguing about where we would have dinner tonight. "Guys, I don't care as long as I get something inside of me in the next half an hour."

"I know something that might work for the both of us." Tommy smirked causing everyone to end up in hysterics over his innuendo.

I scowled "I'd rather get myself a dildo and do it myself if that's what I wanted."

I groaned again before more complaints about my immense hunger spewed from my mouth.

Eventually after 20 minutes and about 15 different suggestions we ended up in the same Italian restaurant we always get takeaways from. What a surprise.

My grumbling stomach was telling me to get everything as I looked through the large menu. I looked at everyone around table, eyeing who looked the least hungry. "Hey, what are you getting?" I turned to Brett who was seated on my right.

"Probably the tag team burger meal, why?" He raised his eyebrow.

"I'm going to take the alfredo pasta, want to split with me" I pleaded giving him my best puppy dog eyes.

He rolled his eyes before agreeing and ordering both our meals while the rest of the table still decided what they wanted.

"Hey, how are you doing by the way" Brett suddenly asked while his eyes roamed my face looking for some clue, of what? I had no idea.

I frowned at this, "Always great, how about you" I played along.

"Better now that you're here," He smirked and trailed his fingers sneakily up my arm, leaving a trail of electricity.

I smirked back, hoping the way his touch was making me feel was not visible on my face, "Always ready to charm my pants off huh."

"If it were that easy you would've been in my bed the first night we met."

I grinned at this, "Maybe you're just not as good as you think."

"Trust me Eleanour, I'm better." His gaze trailed and lingered on my cleavage before landing on my lips and causing me to pull my lips between my teeth unconsciously.

I gasped softly as his is warm hand grasped my thigh under the table and squeezed it in warning before growling in my ear, "Don't do that."

"What?" I murmured as he took in my face again with an animalistic desire present in his eyes.

He ignored my question and suddenly his eyes were back to normal and his usual smirk was in place just in time for the waiter interrupted in order to take our friends orders.

The rest of dinner was uneventful in comparison.

The place where his hand had been still burnt into my skin. Fuck I need to get laid.

After everyone had eaten their food, I decided to include everyone in my plan for the rest of the evening, "I have a suggestion" I spoke up, making everyone turn to me.

"Let's go to the fucking clubs tonight!" I screamed causing various whoops and hollers in agreement from the table.