I stand there in shock for a few seconds before my brain registers what is happening. At first, I try to convince myself that I must be seeing things, but I would know that mess of brown hair and those eyes anywhere. After all, they had haunted my dreams for months. I quickly turn and scan the crowd for Landon. He is still over near the keg waiting in a line to get our drinks. I need to get out of here and fast, before he has a chance to notice me. I turn and walk as quickly as I can towards Landon without drawing too much attention to myself. I can hear Aiden from behind me, "Whoa, Sadie! What's wrong?" CRAP! There is no way that he didn't just hear my name.
I get to Landon and he can instantly tell that something is wrong. He wraps his arms around my waist and looks into my eyes trying to determine if I am okay. I look up at him fighting back tears, "We need to go. I have to get out of here before—" Before I can even get the words out of my mouth I hear him from behind me and I freeze dead in my tracks. "Well, well, well. It looks like I finally figured out where you have been hiding out all this time Sadie."
My blood turns cold and that sick feeling hits my stomach again at the sound of my name rolling off his tongue. I go to turn around, Landon is not letting go and keeps his arm firmly around my waist. He is the only thing steadying me right now. Brooklyn is standing behind him with a confused look on her face. I find it hard to believe that she didn't know what she was doing by bringing him here. I finally force myself to talk but my voice comes out as a shaky whisper, "Ethan, what are you doing here?" I can tell by the gentle squeeze that Landon gives me that he is putting together what is happening as well. He looks down at me with a look of sympathy for what he knows I am going through right now.
Ethan just stands there with a smirk on his face, "Oh you mean you haven't met my new girlfriend, Brooklyn." Brooklyn is standing there still clearly confused by how we know each other. Ethan and I stand glaring at each other, I can't find the strength to make myself speak even though I have played out in my head a thousand times what I would say to him if I ever saw him again. Brooklyn finally steps up next to Ethan and motions between the two of us, "Wait, so how do you guys know each other?" Ethan just laughs and says, "You remember my ex that I told you about? Yeah, well you are looking at her."
Brooklyn looks like she is trying to remember back to something he had told her and then all of the sudden a look spreads across her face and I am actually terrified to know what he has told her about me. "I knew you both went to Summit, but I didn't think there was any way that you would have known each other. I mean look at you and look at him." I still find it hard to believe that she had no clue about the connection. If he really had told her about me I'm sure he wouldn't have wanted to leave out the little detail that what he did was bad enough to run me out of town.
By this point we are starting to gather the attention of a few people standing nearby. I can feel it in my bones that this situation is about to go from bad to worse now that Brooklyn has caught on and finally has the ammunition I have been afraid she would get. This was the last thing I wanted to happen here. I am finally starting to make a few friends and settle in to a place where I am actually happy for the first time in months and up until this point I had managed to keep this drama in my past. No one from school knows anything about what brought me here except for Landon and I know he has never judged me for it but the thought that I know have to worry about the rest of the school knowing scares me to death.
Ethan speaks up next, "You know I really have been wondering where your parents drug you off to. I figured they wouldn't want to stay in Hillmont after what happened to your house and all. I mean, I can only imagine what the neighbors had to say about all that." As he speaks I feel like turning to run as fast as I can away from him but aside from the fact that my feet feel like they are glued in place, I don't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me fall apart.
"I'm surprised they were able to sell that house though. You'd think having 'Slut' spray painted everywhere would really effect the value—" Before he is able to finish his sentence Landon is grabbing him by his collar. I finally feel my voice returning and step forward to grab Landon, "Come on, let's just go. He isn't even worth it." He looks at me and sees the pleading look on my face and I can see him visibly relax as he realizes I am right. He takes my hand and we start to walk past Ethan and Brooklyn towards the house, leaving the party behind us.
I'm a little relieved that he let us walk away so easy. We almost make it out of the crowd when I hear him take one last shot at me. One that he knew for sure would do me in, "You know Sadie, it's good to see you moved on so quickly." I feel Landon tense at his comment. "It's not really surprising though. Word of advice dude- She likes to put out at parties." My heart sinks as he says the words and I can't hold my tears back anymore. Quicker than I can even process, I feel Landon's hand ripping from mine and he is tackling Ethan.