I gulped, lifting my fist to knock on the door. I immediately dropped it back to my side.
I couldn’t face him. I didn’t know what I was even supposed to say. I hadn’t talked to him in so long.
Gulping again, I finally faced my fears and knocked on the door. I held my breath until he finally opened it.
“Hi, Riley,” I greeted with a nervous smile. “Long time no see.”
My brother frowned at me. “What do you want, Sadie?”
I gulped. “I want to talk.”
Riley sighed, moving out of the way and letting me inside his room. He shut the door behind him and then collapsed on his bed.
“What do you want to talk about?” he asked.
“I...” I rubbed my arms up and down even though it wasn’t even cold. “I was wondering if you know where Ethan is staying.”
Riley seemed surprised that I asked him this, and he didn’t say anything right away. I was growing more and more nervous.
“Why would you think I know where he is?” Riley questioned without even looking at me. His tone of voice told me that he did know where he was and he was trying to avoid answering.
“Riley, I know you don’t like that Ethan and I were together,” I whispered, looking down at my feet because I didn’t want to look at him. “But you have to know that I love him. I love him a lot. And I need to see him one more time.”
Riley let out a sigh, stretching out on his bed and looking up at the ceiling. Neither if us wanted to look at each other.
“Please don’t be like mom,” I pleaded. “I can’t have you hate me, too.”
“I don’t hate you,” Riley said, but he still wouldn’t look at me. “I could never hate you, Sadie. You’re my little sister.”
“Please, Riley.” I swallowed down the lump in my throat and wiped at my eyes. “Please... I just want to talk to him one last time.”
Riley let out another sigh and sat up. He finally looked at me, and I could tell he regretted it when he saw I was trying to stop myself from crying.
He let out one last sigh, running his hands through his hair. He then pushed himself up off his bed and began pacing back and forth. I stayed silent.
“Fine,” he finally gave him, picking up a pen and paper from his desk and scribbling something in it. He then handed it to me. “Here. It’s the hotel he’s staying at.”
I looked down at the piece of paper as if it was the golden ticket. And it basically was. This was my golden ticket to seeing Ethan again.
“Riley...” My tears finally poured over and I wiped them away. “Thank you so much.”
I took off before he could say anything else to me, though I was sure he hadn’t planned on anything else.
I drove to Bennett’s house to pick him up. He wouldn’t let me go by myself, though I told him I was going to talk to Ethan by myself. He wasn’t happy with that, but he accepted it.
After I picked him up, I drove to the hotel Riley had given me after looking up the directions. I was shaking so much on the way there that Bennett asked if he needed to drive for me. I said no, but I wasn’t so sure.
It was a nice hotel, but I wasn’t surprised. Ethan wouldn’t stay somewhere unless it was the best it could possibly be.
I didn’t get out of the car right away. I was too scared. I didn’t know how Ethan would react to seeing me again. I was sure it’d be a good reaction, but I was still scared...
“You can’t tell Maxxon I’m doing this.” I twiddled my thumbs against the steering wheel as I spoke to Maxxon as we sat parked in the parking lot. “I don’t want him to know. I know he’d be unhappy with me.”
Bennett gave me a look I couldn’t read. “And you care if Maxxon is unhappy with you?”
I nodded. “Of course I do. He’s my friend.”
Bennett gave me another look that I couldn’t read and I chose to ignore it. It probably wasn’t anything good anyway.
We got out of the car and made our way inside. The hotel looked even fancier inside than it did on the outside. I shouldn’t have been surprised.
“I still think you’re crazy,” Bennett informed me as we walked into the lobby of the hotel. “You didn’t even tell Mr. Deveraux that you were coming to see him.”
“I didn’t need to,” I said as I sat him down in a comfy looking chair. “Who knows what he could have done if I told him I was coming? I couldn’t reach him, anyway.”
Bennett’s eyes softened as he looked up at me. He was really concerned. “Sadie, are you sure this is a good idea?”
No, I wasn’t sure. Ethan and I had agreed to never see each other again after our night together. It hadn’t even been a month yet and I already broke the rules to see him.
“Yes,” I nodded. “I’m sure. Now stay here until I’m done, okay?”
Bennett grumbled his response back to me, and I smiled before spinning on my heal and starting off toward the front desk. The women behind it smiled at me. I let out a sigh before I started talking.
“Hi,” I greeted with a smile. “I need Ethan Deveraux’s room number. I’m his sister-in-law and he called for me to bring something to him.”
I wasn’t really lying about everything I was saying... I really was his sister-in-law.
I lifted the travel bag up to show her. She didn’t have to know it was empty.
“If you leave it here, we can have a bellboy bring it up for you,” the women smiled at me. I felt my eye twitch.
“He specially asked if I’d bring it up,” I lied, really hoping she’d just give me the room number without contacting Ethan. “Also, he’d have to tip the bellboy. He’s really hate me if I made him spend any money.”
The woman behind the counter seemed to think about this for a moment. Finally, she let out a sigh and began typing away at her computer. I felt like I was going to throw up from the nerves.
“He’s in room three-oh-eight,” she informed me, and I had to bite the inside if my cheek to stop myself from smiling. I thanked the woman and turned away.
I waved at Bennett as I hurried toward the elevator. He nodded at me. I was so glad to have a friend like him that would sit down in the lobby and wait for me.
I tapped my fingers against the empty travel bag as I waited inside the elevator. Ethan was so close. I was so close to seeing him.
No one seemed to think it was strange that a teenager was in a hotel as fancy as this all alone. I was surrounded by people in business suits and fancy clothes as I continued to wait for the elevator to get to Ethan’s floor. He was only on the third level but it took forever with all the people getting on and on.
Finally, I got to the third floor. I hurried off before something could stop me. No one else got off the elevator with me.
I walked down the hall in search of Ethan’s room number. I found it almost immediately.
I stood in front of the door much like I had stood in front of Riley’s. But this time, I was even more nervous than I was before. Ethan was behind that door. We hadn’t been this close to each other in weeks.
Just as I raised my hand to knock, the door suddenly opened and someone I never expected to see stepped out.
I couldn’t even speak. When she saw me, her eyes went wide and she shut the door behind her so Ethan wouldn’t see me. I was actually glad.
“What are you doing here?” she scowled as she fixed the collar of her shirt. I took a step back as if she was going to hit me or something. “You shouldn’t be here.”
I couldn’t find my voice. I didn’t know what I was supposed to say. Why was Anna here?
“I...” I had no idea what I was supposed to say.
“I don’t know how you found him, but that’s not important.” She shook her head and took a step toward me. “You’re going back downstairs.”
I was the one to shake my head now. “No,” I disagreed.
Her eyebrows rose. “Excuse me?”
“We’re not at school, Miss Ryder,” I sneered, as if her name was an insult. “I don’t have to listen to anything you have to say.”
Anna scowled at me, reaching out and grabbing onto my wrist. “Listen, you little brat!” she snapped. “I am not going to let you ruin Ethan’s life any longer. Now you’re going to come downstairs with me and you’re never going to see him again.”
She was squeezing my wrist so right it hurt, but I didn’t back down. I only smiled at her. “How would the school feel if I told them you’re assaulting a student, Miss Ryder?”
This made Anna immediately let go of my hand. “I’m not assaulting you.”
I rubbed my wrist. “It’s your word against mine.”
Anna scowled at me, and then looked down at my wrist that she had just grabbed. No doubt their would be bruising. That definitely wouldn’t look good to the principal.
“I don’t think it’d be a good idea for me to ruin two teachers’ careers, right?” was all I could say to her.
Her scowl only deepened, and she knew that I had won. She had to leave me alone or else I’d most likely get her fired. Or I’d just ruin her reputation, which was almost just as bad.
“If you do anything to hurt him,” Anna warned, and though I waited for her to continue, she let out a sigh and shook her head. “Just don’t hurt him again.”
Again. As if I had meant to hurt him in the first place.
I said nothing else to Anna and she turned away. I didn’t move a single muscle until I heard the elevator doors open and close.
Anna had been here. Why had she been here? Why was she in Ethan’s hotel room, assumedly alone with him? I didn’t want to think about it. I couldn’t think about it. Not when I was already this far.
I let out a sigh. Alright. This was it. I was going to see Ethan again.
I knocked on the door, quietly at first. When there was no answer, I realized I must have not knocked loud enough. I knocked again.
Ethan answered the door, his face going white. “I probably should have looked to see who it was before I opened it,” was all he said.
I frowned. “You didn’t because you probably thought I was Anna, right?”
Ethan said nothing to this. We just stood there, our eyes locked. He almost seemed like a completely different person.
“We need to talk,” I told him.
He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
He moved to close the door, but I was not about to let him get away that easily. I stuck my foot out, pushing the door open again and making my way inside. I practically slammed it shut behind me.
“How’d you know I was here?” he questioned.
“Riley told me,” I answered.
“Damn,” he swore. “I didn’t think he’d tell you where I was considering how much he hated us being together.”
I didn’t think he’d tell me either. But he had. And now I wasn’t so sure I wanted to be here any longer.
I placed the empty travel bag on the table so I’d no longer have to carry it. I felt the lump in my throat tighten. “You were with Anna.”
“Well, we’re not dating anymore, so I can see anyone I want, can’t I?” He shrugged as if it meant absolutely nothing to him.
What was going on? Was this Ethan? He was acting completely different... We’d only broken up three weeks before! Why was he acting like this?
“Do you still love me?” I found myself asking.
He seemed surprised by my question. “What?”
“Do. You. Still. Love. Me?”
He didn’t say anything at first. “No.”
I felt like my heart shattered, but I wasn’t going to give up. “Liar.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re a liar. You’re lying. You have to...” I had to swallow to stop the tears from falling. I squeezed my eyes shut, clenched my fists, and shook my head. “You have to be lying.”
I couldn’t believe this. There was no way he could have been telling the truth, not after everything he’d ever said to me. He couldn’t have done the things he’d done if he’d never been in love with me.
“I’m not lying, Sadie.” He didn’t come any closer. He didn’t hold me like I wanted him to. He was so... cold. “I’m dating Anna again. I don’t love you. And honestly, I don’t think I ever did.”
"But... but you and I..." I was at a loss for words. "We made love."
Ehtan made a face. "Don't call it that," he grimaced. "We didn't make love. We had sex. It was nothing more than that."
I felt like I was going to be sick. I really thought I was going to collapse or throw up. I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do.
It really was over. And in the worst possible way.
“You...” I started, my face red with anger and embarrassment. “You’ve never changed! You’re still the immature, selfish, conceited brat that you were when we were kids!”
He let out a sigh. “I think it’s time for you to leave.”
“I don’t think so!” I shouted when he reached out to direct me toward the door. “I can’t believe I let you trick me into thinking you actually cared about me!”
He shook his head. “Leave, Sadie. You’re becoming hysterical.”
“Hysterical?” I almost laughed at how stupid I felt. “I’ll show you hysterical!”
Without another thought, I reached out and knocked a lamp right off the dresser. It crashed onto the floor and shattered into a million pieces. Ethan didn’t even flinch.
“I came here to see if there was any hope for us,” I rasped, coughing when my throat began to go dry. “But I guess there really is none. Now I won’t feel bad for moving on with Maxxon.”
Ethan went rigid at this, but I didn’t care. He shook his head. “I hope you have a good life together. You’re two dumb kids that deserve each other.”
“You absolutely repulse me!” I continued, my throat constricting do much it was almost too hard to speak. “I never want to see you again! If you want me out of your life so badly, then fine! You’re getting what you want, like always! So just stay away from me!”
When my hand struck across his face, I was surprised with myself. Though he just stood there, his head off to the side, I could tell he hadn’t seen that coming either. He didn’t retaliate, but I didn’t think he would.
I let out a sigh before turning away and running out the door. I ran to the elevator and began clicking the button as quickly as I could. I knew it wouldn’t speed the elevator up, but it sure felt like it would.
I kept my head down as I entered the elevator full of people. I bit my lip to stop myself from sobbing. I felt so weak and broken that I just wanted to collapse.
I practically ran out of the elevator once we got to the lobby. I looked around to see Bennett was in the spot I had left him, waiting for me. He was such a good friend, and I wished I had listened to him. Seeing Ethan had not been a good idea. Seeing Ethan had been an awful idea.
When he saw me, he immediately knew that something was wrong. He got up to come to me, and we met halfway.
“Sadie,” Bennett frowned. “What happened?”
I couldn’t even get two words out with bursting into tears. I collapsed into Bennett’s chest, causing many people to look our way. A few workers gave us looks, telling us to leave.
Bennett led me out of the hotel and back to my car. He helped me into the passenger’s seat and he got into the driver’s. I was in no state to drive.
“Alright,” he said once we were situated. “Tell me everything that happened.”
So I did. I told him about Anna and everything Ethan had said to me. I was surprised he understood any of it, since I was blubbering like an idiot and couldn’t control my tears. But he understood and wrapped his arms around me and let me cry into his chest.
I couldn’t believe what had just happened. The last time we had seen each other, we were so happy... But now everything was ruined. I shouldn’t have tried to see him again.
I then remembered that I’d left the travel bag in Ethan’s room. Oh, well. I never used it anyway.
“I want to go home,” I sniffed after I had cried for a good twenty minutes. “Please take me home, Bennett.”
He did as I asked, driving me home without any sort of complaint. Bennett was such a good friend and I hoped I’d never lose him.
I couldn’t stop thinking about Ethan, which meant I couldn’t stop crying. I never thought I was able to hurt this much. And Ethan probably didn’t even care.
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Team Ethan or Team Maxxon?
This entire chapter was written on my phone. So if there're typos, that's why. Sorry!
I think the song on the side is pretty accurate...
Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :)