CHAPTER 38: As The End Nears...
(MELANIE'S POV)
Unlocking the door to my dorm room, I sigh in defeat, exhaustion, all of the same as I don't look at the room yet, unknowing to the multiple pair of eyes at my back, I drop the keys in the bowl by the door and close it with the back of my leg. I flick the light on, my eyes widen, "What are...." I trail off when Edmund stands, silver orb eyes widened, he looks like a deer caught in headlights, while I stare at his form, emotionlessly, but I act unknowingly as I raise an eyebrow.
"Is this some secret meeting? What's going on?" I ask, turning towards the table, Edmund shoots straight in front of me, wrapping his hands around my upper arm, not a second later, he engulfs me in his chest. I tense, strictly, my spine grows cold when I think of Edmund with muscular arms that tighten around my waist. He tucks his head into my neck and takes a long, shaky breath.
"Lemon." He murmurs, broken and bruised, his arms tightened completely around me. He pulls me in tighter, I pat his arm, tensely. He pulls back slowly, his hand moving towards my cheek. I freeze when his fingers grace my skin, I trail my eyes up his arm, his long coat when he leans in to smooth the tip of his nose along the mid-line of my forehead.
He puckers his lips against the skin there, "You came back." He breathes out. As if he couldn't believe I was really standing in this room, right at this moment.
I furrow my eyebrows, pulling back slightly as I try to look around him, but his hand at the small of my back pulls me closer, "Yes, I don't see why that's so surprising though. I said I'd see you soon." I mutter, trying to pull back as I catch Marvin sternly staring between Edmund and I.
I give him a cautious look, "What is it?" I ask my twin.
He folds his arms, "You wouldn't be hugging him if you'd found out everything he's done, Melanie. He's nothing but a manipulative liar and a coward." Marvin spits, glaring menacingly at Edmund, whom pulls me tighter into his arms, his silver eyes penetrate my amethyst ones. My eyebrows go up at my brother's words. He wasn't far off.
"Lemon, I-" He's cut off by Lorraine.
"Melanie, he knew about the threats. They all did." She spits, looking at Edmund in disgust. My blood boils underneath my fingers, I suspected he was involved, I just wasn't certain how. I step out of Edmund's arms, who struggles as he tries to reach out for me, but I step further out of his arms and step towards the table. I swipe one of the reports, looking at the pictures of Iris and Forthright, before reading Marvin's analysis slowly.
Marvin clears his throat behind me, "You were right, all along." He murmurs to me.
'Iris had secret meetings with Professor Forthright. She knew of the peephole on the portrait in his office, claiming it was Principal Jewel who used it, when in true fact, she was hiding her true feelings for the Professor. The infidelity she shared with Professor Forthright last year, began in April and only escalated, he didn't reciprocate, and was more focused on his task at hand, something he could never explain to her. He fell in love with Melanie, whilst working through his investigations, that were connected. Iris used the peephole on the day Erik was in the infirmary, he was in the infirmary after staging an attack of a Melanie-look-alike. One theory progressed: Iris was the Melanie-look-alike.'
I slowly look up to Marvin. My eyebrows furrowed, "Did you find out why?" I ask him, showing him the sheet and ignoring the others in the room. Lorraine was silent, Iris swallowed. Edmund stares at me with a indecipherable gaze, anger and guilt in his eyes that he couldn't mask, even if he tried.
Marvin nods, "Erik claims it was to divert Principal Jewel from attacking you, somehow. He says he overheard her speaking with Claude Borne about breaking into your room, even if you were present, to remove whatever evidence was presented anonymously to you." He says to me, stoically.
I look back down at the file, 'Iris staged the note in the envelope that was given anonymously, she lied about the identity of the writer, there were no diaries written about Melanie, the written confession, 'I've only had two sessions with her, and I already find myself infatuated with the mere idea that she's here, stuck in this room and must converse with me, whether she is willing or not. Her languid glow teases at my mind like a hissing rose petal, so beautiful yet courageously dangerous. She doesn't hear my heart race when she sits in front of me, and allows me to watch her lips move, and only for me. If only she'd let me close enough to show her how unguarded I am with her. If only she'd let me in...in more ways than one.' It was a scheme written out of jealousy, Iris was likely envious of Professor Forthright's feelings for Melanie, and knew Melanie was disgusted with Forthright after speaking with Edmund regarding what Melanie despises about Forthright. Edmund knew about the note when he saw the envelope after making dinner for Melanie.'
I take a slow seat on the glass desk, "You knew about the letter Iris schemed...the first time you made dinner for me, and you said nothing?" My face curled in something painful as I look over to Edmund. His eyes flicker as he stumbles closer, but Marvin stops him, he drops to his knees in front of the glass table, looking at me, like he couldn't believe this was happening right now, he looked unearthly pale, and sick. He looked greatly sick.
I stare into his silver eyes, my fingers were shaking as I read out, " Iris...knew Melanie was disgusted with Forthright after speaking with Edmund regarding what Melanie despises about Forthright. Edmund knew about the note when he saw the envelope after making dinner for Melanie.' You stood behind me, in my living room while I was about to have a meltdown because I thought the paedophilic professor wrote me a letter, when in fact, you knew it was written in Iris' hand all along?" I ask him, Talon groans from behind me, Iris releases a sob from her lips, I turn to her when Edmund couldn't form words.
She reaches a hand out to me, "Please, he didn't do anything, he-" I cut her off from defending Edmund, with a penetrating glare,
Her puffy red eyes crumble and flicker, "I was afraid of him, and beyond disgusted, Iris and out of bloody jealousy, you staged a note I thought was from him, you spied on us during the times of his confidential meetings, you tell everyone about it behind my back, and you even got Edmund to lie to me, when I accused you of something you actually did do?" I mutter, slamming the file down. She shivers in her seat at the coldness in my voice.
I wrack my hands through my hair as I look down at Edmund, after everything I've learned about him and he says nothing, I shake my head at him, "What is this? Why were you even a part of this?" I ask him, slamming the paperwork down in front of him.
I know he's had an extremely difficult past, I was horrified by how much I'd learned and everything else, but hearing that he was somehow entangled in those threats and cover-ups, I could barely look at the man I had come to know.
I snap my head to the file on Erik, I look up at Erik, he saw my look and his own face crumbled, he raises his hands towards it, "Melanie, please don't. This isn't his fault, I take full responsibility for my actions, please, he was just covering for me, I asked him-No, I begged him not to tell you. You have to understand-" I shut him off.
"Be quiet." I snap at him, flicking the file open.
Pictures of him one hour before the class of Professor Stanley's lecture begun, there are frames of him plugging something in, a USB by the looks of Marvin's analysis, I close my eyes for a second, "You were the one who placed the slides, files and recording inside the monitor, making me believed someone hacked into his desktop, when it was merely a play, to show me the files on those girls." I whisper, not taking my eyes off of Marvin's analysis, which included Lyndon, who confessed to sticking the note on the back of a salad in the cafeteria, he somehow knew I'd go for that particular one.
Erik slowly stands, "I'm so sorry. I am so very sorry. There is no excuse for what I did, I understand that, but please don't take this out on Edmund, he needs you, we all do." He whispers to me.
I pinch the bridge of my nose, "Who created that USB? Did you see what was on it?" I ask him, bitterly.
He shakes his head, profusely, "No, I never saw what was on it, it was locked, it couldn't be opened until a specific time frame, it was an individual hack, a ploy directed for you. I just...I was the one who planted it because...because I was being threatened for what I did in my past, whoever it was threatened to bring not just that out, but everything, everything that had to do with the group. You were so rude to Edmund when you first got here, I thought...I thought you were a spoilt princess who got everything she's ever wanted, I thought it was just a prank, alright? But, when Edmund found you scared in the hallway, I knew what it was, and that it wasn't a prank, something happened and I did everything I could to find out who, I couldn't even come close." Word vomit, literally. I don't bother looking at him, thinking his words over, I just couldn't when I saw pictures of him kissing Principal Jewel, from a year ago.
The file falls from my hands, dropping on the page, my eyes widen at what I see, he grunts in pain, "It was a long time ago and it was the biggest regret of my life, Melanie."
I close my eyes, massaging the back of my neck with one hand as bile threatens to rise up my throat, Lorraine holds my arm, "Melanie. Just breathe." She whispers, dropping her head on my shoulder as Edmund abruptly stands and in concern, he tries to get closer, but Marvin wouldn't allow that for even a second, he shoves him and holds him steady, Edmund, in his anger, rips Marvin aside.
I scream when his arms wrap around me, "Lemon, please. Just listen to me, please just don't say anything for a second. I-I know that this looks horrible, I-it's unthinkable, I know that. Please, don't make any big decisions right now, just try to calm down. Please, I beg of you, lemon." He says into my ear.
I squeezed my eyes shut and thought of the boy, silver eyes that were obscured by black marks, clear evidence of Oswald's abuse and what may have happened at that institute that was giving me nightmares now, nothing would ever end.
I keep my eyes closed, I was so tired and I just didn't want him doing this now, we could talk, but not right now, "You will let go of me, now." I whisper. He shakes his head profusely, holding my head in his chest and hugging me like he'd never let go, no matter what I did.
The sound of a click resonates and sharp inhales filter the air, Marvin growls, "Leg go of her now, or I will shoot you for physical assault." He says, lowly. The threat was clear, but he was holding a tranquilliser gun, only Edmund didn't know that as his burly arms tighten, he shakes his head, gulping in air, as if he couldn't breathe in this current moment.
"Please, lemon. Don't do this." He pierces the air in a strong hiss, a painful gulp and a sharp groan as he convulses around me, the most emotion I've seen from him. I grab his two forefingers, taking a lungful breath when he was practically strangling me to him. Marvin shoves him a good metre away from me and in Edmund's weakness, he stumbles before drunkenly fixing himself back up. Iris moves to help him, but he snaps away from her, helplessly seeking me out instead.
I lower my hands towards the next file, a dialogue of when Marvin wrote about finding a secret doorway in the library, I read the first sentence and my heart drops in my stomach, 'There were two black-hooded males in the library the night Melanie fell from the isle top. Ten minutes after her identification number checked in, Edmund's identification number was next, it was Talon. Talon was ordered by Edmund to find out who was after Melanie, Talon was there when he identified Claude Borne to enter not a minute after him, and claims he was about to save Melanie when he heard her scream, only it was Forthright who saved her first. They acted in the unknown when Melanie was close to unconsciousness and Professor Forthright was taking her to her room. Talon told Edmund, which is why they were in the hallway at the exact moment Forthright brought Melanie back out of the infirmary. Iris lied for Talon, claiming he left the lake party for a booty call, Edmund made him follow through with the lie, after he himself claimed to be falling in love with Melanie.'
I hold a fist to my lips, the night I truly thought my life would end and to know that he had somehow been a part of it broke me in more ways than one, I honestly felt as though he broke my neck and ripped out my spinal cord, everything was at the edge of a knife, and he just pushed me off the tip of the blade.
"You were all somehow a part of it." I whisper, closing the file.
Lorraine drops her head in her hands, "From the very beginning, you were right about them, Melanie. I should've listened." She whispers in regret. Marvin takes a seat next to her after meeting my eyes, wondering if I needed the comfort, I didn't.
I stare into the fire, completely numb as Edmund sits at my leg, he wraps his heavy arm over my thighs, "Melanie, I did everything I could to protect you. The more I knew you, the more I tried to take it all back. I'm so sorry, baby, I'm so sorry."
I watch each flame caress the other, like lovers on the sun, so innocent yet could be so deadly, I don't even react to Edmund, who pulls me down onto the floor, trying to get me responsive, or at least closer as his pale, trembling hands attempt to revive my frozen form, "Lemon." He repeats, over and over again.
I was so numb.
My eyes are enchanted in the flame, "Is there anything else you've lied to me about?" I ask him, turning to face him. This was his moment, all the times he said Oswald knew about me and wanted to meet me, his mother owning the land the festival was on, his family knowing about me, he deliberately lied about so much, I needed to see if he would still. It was the very last of it that I could handle right now.
He cups my cheeks, "Lemon, there are things about my past that you don't completely understand. Y-You've never met Oswald, my father, because...because...fuck...because he's dead, the man at the hospital..." He whispers. Was that it? Was that seriously all he could say?
Lorraine snaps head up, after being tucked in by my brother with his arm tightened around her shoulders, curled hair around his fingers, he had his forehead dived into the side of her head, entangled in her hair, she spits at Edmund, "Who was that man in the hospital then? Another addition to your never-ending web of lies?" She growls at him, surprisingly.
I close my eyes, it probably was.
"I had to, if you ever found out what happened. Lemon, you would never look at me the same, I couldn't risk losing what I have with you. After everything, can we please talk this out?" He whispers, struggling to turn me back to look at him. I give him an empty look and he shudders at it, his face twists and when he dives to-I don't know-try to kiss me, redeem anything, if there was anything left. I turn my head away and his lips crash against the hollowness of my cheek.
I feel his eyebrows furrow in despair as his hand scrunches my curls in his fist, but not pulling or hurting my scalp. I would have head butted him if he did. His head dives for my shoulder and his other hand curls around my neck. Iris hails her tears, sobbing on the couch behind us like a dramatic little girl pining for attention. Edmund tries irrevocably hard to get me to talk, to get me to say something, he even shouts at me, begging me to yell at him, to scream at him.
He only wants me to show that I care, that he hurt me and forgiving him was a possibility if I exploded in his eyes, if I showed him that kind of raging betrayal. I only felt numb, as if I just had a migraine and was recovering in an almost comatose state. My shoulder becomes wet with hot, bitter tears that slid down my pale skin like butter in a pan. Only instead of sizzling hot, I was freakishly cold as Edmund pulls me into his chest, making me lean on his shoulder as he shudders his hands over my head, I close my eyes and sink into him, inhaling that damn scent of his that I loved so much.
I was so tired.
I was so very drained from everything, the past couple weeks had been a nightmare all in one, learning about his past, piece by piece and just when I give him the chance to tell me the truth, he can't face giving all of it to me because he's so afraid of losing me. What he doesn't see, is I can't respond to him anymore, everything that has happened, traumatised me even more than Johnson did.
A pair of lips, watered and scared, slam into mine. He moulds them so tightly, he indents the feeling in my mind as desperation, despair, and so much ran through him and into me. I grab his shoulders, he grunts, "Don't, lemon. Don't." He begs of me, cupping the back of my neck and kissing me again. He tries harder, he presses harder, but it was no use.
I shake my forehead against his, pulling my lips away, I stare at him, eyes locked onto his, I slide away, dissolving, I profusely tell him 'No', "It's over, stop it, Edmund." I whisper. I needed time, I wanted to talk to him about New York, but learning about this and everything I had gone through these past few months, I needed space.
His face twists, "No, you really think I'd accept that. This is just 'us' having a fight, this is something couples talk about and overcome, you're not giving up on this. Lemon, you just have to give this time, okay, babe. I will be sorry for the rest of my life for causing you this pain, but let me be the one to fix it, to fix this." He whispers, getting me to really look at him as his hands grip my neck. I close my blurry eyes and shake my head more, trying to move away from him as I struggle to breathe properly because he wouldn't stop touching me. He thought I was breaking up with him. It wasn't the case, but I had no idea how to explain that to him.
He presses his forehead to mine, "Stop saying 'No', Lemon. There is still so much you don't know and to explain all of it, I could crush us both." He murmurs, roughly. I close my eyes, gripping both his arms. He was so reluctant to tell me, that kind of trust, it was important in a relationship like ours. I saw his past, and I'm still here, aren't I?
"You have already crushed me." I whisper, it was barely audible, but he slides his hands to my waist and lifts me onto his lap, his silver orbs watch my amethyst eyes with a scorching look, so heated, so raw and emotional and so unlike him as he tries to cocoon me into him, like curling into a burrow, one hand slides to the back of my head.
"No, Melanie. Because in doing so, I would have crushed myself. This is a step, an obstacle that we-you and I-just need to overcome. I will tell you everything. You can scream at me, yell at me, even throw things at me, but I will still be there to catch you when you fall. Stop saying 'No' because I will never accept those words. I am in love with you. I am so deeply in love with you, lemon." He pierces the air with the huskiness, and the vulnerability in his voice.
He finally said those exact words. Six months-it only felt like three since I've been gone for so long.
I was drowning, I was falling deeper and deeper into those dark lake waters, shacked to the wet sand below and he was the blurry image above me with his hand reaching out, but his body locked still, stopping him from saving.
It was every lie that shackled him to the grass surface at Sylvan point and I was the cost of each lie, sinking further through the pitch-black and blue water, cold and alone.
I close my eyes, shaking my head, "Everything you've done to me, it could have stopped you from getting shot, it could have been prevented if you just stopped lying, but it never ends with you, Edmund. You're wearing too many masks, I can't do it anymore. I almost died, twice. I was afraid of forthright and you knew that, but you still accused me of feeling for him, and allowing him to keep going, when...all I have ever done was shown you what you mean to me. You do not trust me enough with your world, your demons. I cannot keep playing this game anymore. It's over." I whisper, so damn spent and drained, he must have seen that in my fatigue.
He grips me tighter, "I'll rip off every mask, I swear it. We're not playing a game, I wouldn't go this far just to win something, Melanie. I want you in my life because I can't cover these scars, but you're the only one that I..." I give him a look, it was useless. I didn't want to talk about it now, I just wanted to sleep. I wanted to be in a world that didn't make me feel this much overwhelming biting pain. I didn't want this anymore.
I grip his wrists and shake my head, "No more, Edmund." I whisper, his entire face looked numb, everything I him looked to stop, but I lifted myself away from his arms and step towards my door, he was only a breath behind me, my hand was on the handle, Marvin was standing, looking at me in shock and concern as I look over my shoulder when Edmund slides between me and the door. Getting in my way.
Edmund drops his forehead on mine, "Please, just listen, lemon. I swear to tell you everything." I needed time, why couldn't he understand that?!
I lean back, "Just move." I mutter, trying to reach for the scanner on my door, he moves in front of that too.
I give him a dark look, he closes his eyes, "Just wait for a second, lemon. I'm not letting you do this, I couldn't. Oswald is dead, he has been for a while now, he wasn't my foster father, he was my biological father." He whispers to me, holding my hips tightly in his hands.
He continues when I don't say anything, "He was an abusive man, worse than the orphanage and the...the institute he forced me into when I was eleven. God, lemon, if I told you everything, you'd...look at me like I'm a..." He scrunches his entire face, pain and despair locking him in as he barricades the door to my room.
Talon speaks up behind me, "Melanie, you have to understand, what the institute does to people, once you know, you cannot not know, it's something no one could forget, the horrors, everything." He whispers, looking at Edmund, they share the same pain.
I clench my jaw, "What is it? What institute?" I ask, trying to remove Edmund's hands from tightening around me, they practically round my waist twice as he holds me and shakes his head down at me. I wanted to see if they would tell me, but they were only giving me pieces.
"Melanie." Marvin gets me to look at him. Glancing at the arms that vine around me, so possessively.
I rip away from him, twirling out of his arms, "You still lied, I almost got killed from everything that has happened at this bloody academy and you-YOU-were a part of it!" I point at him, menacingly.
He purses his lips, looking at me, "I never meant to hurt you." He whispers.
I give him an incredulous look, "Oh, that makes me feel a lot better. I don't understand why you keep lying to me. First, it was about that fucking threat on the monitor, the library, the note-EVERYTHING! Fuck, this isn't what love is, Edmund. It sure as hell isn't this, you used me, lied to me, ridiculed me and have done so much worse. Hating you right now wouldn't even begin to describe what I feel." I spit at him, turning away as he squeezes his eyes shut, hurt couldn't describe what I saw on his face. I shouldn't have said that, I know that, but I was so angry and fed up with all the lies.
I close my own eyes, the room was silenced, completely silenced, before my phone vibrates in my pocket, I huff, wiping a tear as I open the phone, pulling it up to my ear, "Who is this?" I ask, harshly.
"Ah...Melanie?" He has a Japanese accent.
I furrow my eyebrows, before gasping, "Oh my, Kenji?" I ask in surprise. Hideyoshi's son, Kenji, we use to play in Hideyoshi's flower garden whenever Dad would allow us to visit, he was fond of Kenji, just not Hideyoshi.
"I was wondering when you'd remember, you sound...strange, is everything alright?" He asks me, softly. I roll my lips in, reddening slightly.
"Yes, I'm quite alright. It's been so long." I murmur, Marvin giving me a raised eyebrow.
"Indeed, it has. I thought I'd call upon you for a visit to Shanghai, regarding the renovations for employee lounges that your Mom emailed my Dad about, apparently both agreed to let us handle those, I wanted to call you in advance." He says to me, tenderly.
I lean against the bridge of the fireplace, staring down at my heels, stupidly facing Edmund, but not once looking him in the eye, "Lord, that sounds like them, yes, I would love to drop by, but it might take a few weeks, I just got back from New York, it's quite hectic already." I murmur, softly. I had missed Kenji, he always had a soft aura about him, calm and collected. I needed that just about now.
"Yes, a congratulations is in order for gaining a few divisions in your name, you're seriously lucky, it's almost as if my father won't let go, not even a little of his management in the company." He says to me, sighing in defeat.
I smile softly, "Well, I guess this is a good start. I apologise, I'm currently dealing with something here, but is it alright if I call you back, regarding those renovations, I understand the urgency in it. Do you think you could send me those files via email?" I ask him, meaning the computer-aided designs drawn up.
He chuckles, "No worries, I'll fax them through, actually. I was also wondering if you would be flying over, maybe we could get drinks?" He asks me, slowly.
My eyes widen, "Oh...um, sure, yes, we can get drinks. I'll let you know when I plan to fly over. Thank you, Kenji." I say, softly.
He sighs, "You too, take care." He murmurs, before I hang up. I pinch the bridge of my nose, the room is still eerily silent.
Talon looks at me as if I just vomited all over him, "Did you seriously just orchestrate a date right in front of him?" He nudges his head to Edmund, who stares at me closely, eyes red-rimmed, mine probably is too.
I give Talon a pissed off look, "No, you fucking imbecile. He's a client," I mutter, just as Marvin chuckles darkly.
"Oh, he's more than that, Melanie." He mumbles.
I give him a deadpanned look, effectively telling him to 'shut up'. The sound of my door slamming has me snapping my head in Edmund's direction, I give the door an incredulous look, "He did not just..." Talon places himself on the solo seat, where Edmund usually sits.
"Well, that's the decision made. We're not leaving." Talon mutters as the others take a seat comfortably.
I blink five times, disbelief washes over Lorraine, Marvin and I, "You can all leave. Right now." Lorraine says, harshly.
Talon raises an eyebrow, "There's three of you and five of us. You figured everything out, what's done is done, the only thing we can ever do...is ask for your forgiveness and to continue on with this friendship." He murmurs, softly. He acts like he only stood on my toe or something.
He looks at me, I scoff, "You let Borne almost break my neck, I'm through with you, and your stubborn, cowardice friends." I spit at him, strutting to my door, my jaw drops when I rip it open.
Edmund. Shirtless. Changing my bed.
He stuffs the last pillow on the bed and opening the duvet, he slides in, folds his arms and looks at me. I outright laugh and point at my front door to the door, "Put your shirt back on, get the fuck out of my bed and then proceed to get out of my dorm!" I snap at him.
He raises an eyebrow, "We're talking this out." Is all he says.
I look over to Marvin, I really couldn't believe what I was seeing, he blinks twice, before strutting in next to me with a scowl, "He's not seriously...What. In. The. Hell?" Marvin moves from my door when he sees what Edmund did.
He gives me a long look, "He just changed your bed? And is now, suggesting you both sleep in it?" He says, slowly. Not believing this, either.
I blink, Marvin cracks his knuckles, "Two against one if we lock your door." He says to me. Talon stands and halts, waiting.
I work my jaw, shaking my head, "If they won't leave, we will."
"Lemon, if you even think about leaving this dormitory-" I stop him by slamming my door closed. And, locking it. Lorraine struts out of her room with a bag in her hand, ready as she places her laptop inside.
I hadn't unpacked, so that wasn't a problem, Marvin looks down to me, "I'm taking my car." He says, death-glaring Erik and Lyndon, who try to stop them, Lorraine kicks Erik in the shin as Edmund begins banging on the door behind me. Screaming my name, but it's muffled.
BANG!
BANG!
"LEMON! OPEN THE DOOR!"
I stare at Talon, who steps in front of me, "Don't make me do this, Melanie." He says, lowly as he squares his shoulders. I tilt my head at him, before kicking my leg up and right in-between his.
BANG!
BANG!
"LEMON!"
Talon's eyes bulge out of their sockets as he groans and drops to his knees, I shrug, "I almost fell off the library shelf that night, and you left like a dog with it's tail between it's legs. It's mighty time you paid for that." I whisper, ignoring Edmund's screaming.
I grab my phone and keys, "You better all be gone before the weekend is up." I point at them, flabbergasted shock parading each one as Edmund kicks my door down as I slam the back porch one closed and mechanically lock that too when his horrified expression, wide and raw locks onto my stoic eyes. He slams his half naked form into the door, it does nothing.
He mouths to 'open the fucking door'.
I step away from it, folding my arms, he continuously slams his shoulder against the glass, banging it with his hand as Marvin pulls out of the drive. I throw myself into mine when I catch Edmund running out of the dorm altogether, I pull out the second I see him and the others sprinting from the other side. I rev the engine and accelerate along the grass, he ran for me, damnit.
I watched him, bare-chested in his shorts spring for me, but I made it to the road with Marvin far ahead, Edmund stopped, dropping to the grass. I turn my blurry eyes back to the road when I watch him buckle with his head in his hands, shaking even from this distance.
He's lied to me for far too long.
He has to learn...no relationship lasts long when all it's built upon is lies. I will talk to him, just not now. I couldn't do it now.