Dave stares down at me, clearly not effected by my screaming or shoving. I decide to go with my gut and lift my hand up, slapping him across the face. That, thankfully, takes him by surprise.
He stumbles back and I open my car door, getting in and shutting it quickly behind me. Dave lifts his head to stare at me. He reaches out to open my car door, but thankfully I locked it immediately. I fumble around with my keys and put them in the ignition. I pull out of the spot and drive quickly out of the parking lot. I turn down the road that leads into a residential area.
I turn down multiple streets without having a clue where I am anymore. Tears are streaming down my face and I can hardly contain my breathing.
I glance in my rear view mirror to make sure he wasn't following me then I pulled over near a house. I got my phone from my bag and immediately opened my call logs.
I press Ross' name and put the phone to my ear. By now I am full blown sobbing.
"Hi baby," he says nicely as he answers. I can't even form a word as my dry heaving goes into the microphone. "What's wrong? Are you okay? Where are you?"
I'm trying my hardest to form a word. I attempt to answer, but it's all mumbled. "I don't know," I manage to get out.
"Hayley, calm down. Tell me where you are and I'll come to you."
I glance around and all I see are houses. "I'm in some development," it's whiny, but he was able to understand.
Ross asks, "can you drive? I don't want your car towed. Fuck, um, your apartment is closest."
"I can drive there," I reply.
I rub my eyes and thank the heavens that I did not wear any makeup today. "I have to go. I'll talk to you later," I hear Ross say. He then directs his attention back to me. "Alright, baby. I'm heading toward your apartment."
I nod. "I am too," I say softly.
I begin the ten minute drive and am constantly wiping away tears as I continue my drive. They aren't stopping.
I pull into the parking lot and pull into a spot. I wait patiently for Ross. "I'm about to pull down your street. I'll be there in a minute, okay?" He says.
"Okay," I whisper pathetically.
My eyes are puffy and my skin is blotchy. I look like shit.
I see his car peel into the parking lot and park right beside me. I get out of the car and begin crying all over again.
"I'm here, I'm right here," Ross says as he rushes over to me and pulls me against him.
I sob into his chest as he has one hand against the back of my head and the other against my back. My hand is gripping his t-shirt tightly as he lets me just cry. He doesn't ask any questions.
Once my body stops shaking and my body is calm, I lean back to rub my eyes. "Dave, my ex, came into the store," I explain.
"Let's go upstairs, baby. It's cold, I don't want you getting sick. We can talk about it there," he says sweetly, his hand moving down to grab my bag that I let fall to the floor. He put it in the crease of his elbow and put his other hand onto the small of my back.
I was beyond happy to see my roommates weren't home so we went right into my bedroom. Ross climbs onto my twin bed and kicks his shoes off then extending his arms to me. I kick my shoes off and climb beside him.
I bite down on my lip, diverting my eye contact away from him. "Dave came into the store," I repeat. Ross leans down and grabs onto both of my hands, an action that I always do to him. His thumb moves slowly. "And he said he wanted to catch up and called me out for not responding to the text he sent me when we are at the ski resort. I don't know, I guess I felt pressured and didn't know how to say no, so after my shift we talked."
His eyes are intently watching my mouth as I speak. "Why were you crying? What did he do?"
"He told me he loved me." I say, Ross' eyebrows furrowing. I can see the anger growing across his face. "He kissed me. He forced himself on me when I wasn't paying attention – when I was getting in my car."
I decide to get it out all at once.
"What?" Ross yells making me jump. "He forced himself on you?"
I nod, tears surfacing to the top. "Yeah. I slapped him though."
"Come here," he says, tugging on my arms. He pulls me into his chest and I curl up in between his legs.
I push my head against the soft cloth of his jumper, my hand touching the fabric. We stay quiet for at least a minute and I know it's because Ross is processing everything I have said.
"He really scared me," I confess into the silence of the room.
He nods. "I'm so sorry, babe." Ross leans down and presses his lips to the top of my head, his hands rubbing my back gently.
"Where were you when I called?" I ask.
I know he wasn't home in his apartment because he told someone he'd talk to them later.
"I was with Chance and Ellington," he informs me.
I lean my head up so I stare up into his face. "You can go back, I'm okay. I was panicked."
"I don't want to leave you," Ross replies, his hand moving up so his thumb was rubbing my cheek. His thumb moves down to my lip, lightly dragging it across my bottom lip as his eyes are focused on my face.
"You can stay for a bit, but you should hang out with them more today. You haven't seen them in a while. Deal?"
He nods. "Deal," he answers. I continue staring up at him as his thumb moves around the features on my face as he stares at me with soft eyes. "I'm really pissed off he touched you like that," he says.
"I know, I'm pissed off, too." I say honestly.
Dave has hurt me so many times before and he thought he had a right to touch me in that way? To forcefully push me around and kiss me? And to tell me that he loves me still?
It sickens me.
Ross' hand drops from my face and I turn my attention back up to him.
"I'm sorry that it happened to you. You don't deserve it," he says, his head now leaning against the wall.
I shrug. "I shouldn't have agreed to meet with him, I should've known better."
Ross leans up abruptly and scoots himself back so he can see my face entirely. "What did you just say?" He asks, his voice laced with aggravation.
"It's true," I defend myself.
"Absolutely not true, Hayley. How can you even say that? You are in no way responsible for his actions. You did not ask him to kiss you, you did not ask him to follow you, you couldn't have known better," he snaps.
I nod, my eyes shifting from his face down to the blanket.
Ross continues. "So you're saying that if it was Rydel in the situation, you'd blame her? Say that she should have known better?"
I shake my head, extremely ashamed of the two sentences I said only moments ago. "No," I reply sternly.
"You didn't do anything wrong, Hayls."
I sigh, "I get it, okay? I was wrong, thank you." I rub my face in frustration and move my palms so I can jump off of the bed.
As soon as my feet are planted on the floor, Ross stares at me. "Where are you going?"
"Bathroom," I answer shortly before walking inside of the bathroom and shutting the door behind me.
I lean against the counter and stare at my reflection. I look like utter shit and can't wait to shower to wash away the day.
I wash my face and throw my hair up in a high ponytail before walking back to the bedroom.
Ross' head pokes up from the bed and he places his phone down. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you. I know you had a long day and I made it worse. I'm sorry."
I nod as I climb back onto the bed. "It's okay. I wasn't thinking right." He is sitting horizontally on the bed so his back is against the wall. I sit right beside him.
"I'm probably going to head back over to Chance's. They want to drink and play video games," he says.
I nod. "Okay. Call me if you need me. Have fun," I say as he climbs off of the bed.
Ross smiles, "I will. I love you. You call me if you need me too."
I can tell Ross is hesitant to kiss me because of today's events so I lean over and push my lips onto his. His hand reaches up and holds the back of my head to hold me close as he kisses me back.
Once we pull away, Ross smiles again at me before walking out of the bedroom. Shortly after I hear the front door close.
I have hope that Ross won't try to get in contact with Dave. But will he?