|Harper|

Ethan had been gone for some hours but I knew his shift would be over soon. All I had been able to think about was what Jason could've said to him. I probably would never know what it was because of Ethan's stubbornness. If I pried more, he wasn't gonna tell me, and then I'd get mad. I wanted to avoid an argument, so I just dropped the curiosity. Mostly.

My laptop was sitting on my lap and I was in bed. I'd started the paper for the book I'd finished, simply because it was a distraction. I heard the front door open and close and the curiosity from earlier came back. Ethan walked straight into the bedroom and set his keys on the dresser.

"Hey, baby," he greeted me and started taking his clothes and stuff off, "Still have a headache?"

"Hey, how was work? And no, I feel better now," Hell, I'd already forgotten that I told him I had a headache. He'd reminded me. Ugh, I was lying to him entirely too much...

"Good," he nodded, "And we got some new decks that are pretty cool, but otherwise it was pretty boring. I'm gonna shower really quick."

I nodded, "Oh, okay." He grabbed some pajamas out of the dresser and left the room. I sighed and tried to put something on the Word document in front of me, but it wasn't working. My brain was too foggy to focus. By the time I'd written merely three sentences, Ethan was out of the shower.

"What you working on?" he asked as he laid down next to me.

I rubbed my temples out of frustration, "This stupid paper for Rogers. I've been on the same paragraph for ages."

"How about..." he dragged and moved my computer to the nightstand, "You take a break." He cocked a brow and moved to kiss my neck. Flashbacks of Jason invaded my head yet again and I started to panic. I pushed Ethan away and brought my knees to my chest. "What's wrong, Harper?"

"I-I'm on my period, Ethan," I managed to get out.

He sighed and shook his head, "No, you're not."

I sat up, getting a bit nervous, "How are you gonna tell me that I'm not?"

"Not one of the pads or tampons in the bathroom have been touched, so what's going on? Do you just not want to have sex with me?"

Shit, shit. I was too caught up in my own head to think about making it actually seem like I was on my period. "It's not like that."

"Then what's the issue?" He was staring directly into my eyes. I didn't know what to say and didn't want to tell him the truth. I couldn't bring myself to. "I've been hearing some things about you and Jason..."

What the hell? He couldn't have known what'd happened to me— Jason would never own up to that. Plus, Ethan wouldn't have even been that calm if he knew what Jason had done... right? Of course not; he beat the guy at that party's ass over way less. Ethan would've gone ballistic if he knew about Jason (another reason why I wasn't telling him about that night...). So if it wasn't about that, what had he heard?

"Me and Jason barely even fucking talk," I said with knitted brows.

He scoffed and looked away briefly, "Yeah, sure."

"What are you trying to say, Ethan?"

He looked at me again, his expression extremely serious, "Did you hook up with him?"

Hook up with him?! "What?! No-"

"Then why did he tell me you did? And how else could he have given me a perfect description of your panties? The blue ones with the strawberry heart on the front. The ones I bought for you."

He WHAT?! That sick fucking liar tried to make ME out to be bad? And the creep kept my fucking underwear! That's what he'd picked up off of the floor.

"I-I didn't hook up with him! He's lying and fucking with your head!" Everything I was saying was coming out in a rambled mess. This is fucking insane. So that's why Ethan had been upset earlier. "You're gonna believe him over me?"

"You lied about your period, you've been acting weird around him all of a sudden, and multiple people have told me that they saw you alone with him at the party you went to," he listed, "You didn't even care to mention that the party got crashed. I had to fucking find out from Jason."

I froze. All of my lies and secrets were coming back to fuck me over.

"Are you, or are you not fucking him instead of me?"

I sat there with my mouth slightly open and my heart pounding, contemplating everything. He thought I was fucking cheating on him, all thanks to a seriously fucked up individual. I wanted to tell him everything so bad. I just... couldn't. I pressed my lips together and just looked at him.

"I knew you were lying..." He moved to sit at the opposite edge of the bed, not looking at me. After a long pause, he spoke, "I think we need to break up."

I started to panic, "Ethan, I didn't cheat on you! I would never cheat on you. You have to believe me-"

"Well, I don't, so it's done," he deadpanned. His words made me sick to my stomach. He was breaking up with me...

"What do you mean? What's done?" I asked even though I already knew the answer.

"This. Us," He still hadn't looked at me. I let the tears welling in my eyes fall and I got out of the bed. I felt a panic attack coming on. Fuck; I couldn't stay there. I had to get out. I went into the closet and found one of my duffle bags squished at the end of the shelf.

I threw a bunch of my clothes and stuff in the bag in a hurry. I grabbed my laptop and put that in there too. When I had enough packed, I grabbed my duffle and left the room. Ethan never did look at me, and he hadn't moved a muscle. I grabbed most of my shit out of the bathroom and stuffed that in my bag too.

I put on my jacket and threw the strap of the bag onto my shoulder. I grabbed my keys and left without looking back. The entire time I drove I sobbed. I'd lost Ethan because I couldn't tell him the truth.

There was only one place I thought I could go. Alyssa's. I walked into her apartment complex and found the call box near the elevator. I typed in her number and prayed that she'd pick up. It was late and I knew she had to work the next day, but I needed her desperately. After a few rings, she answered.

"Alyssa," I said, my voice cracking.

"Harper? It's like 12 o'clock, what's going on? What're you doing here?"

"Can you let me up please?"

"Of course. Come on."

"Thank you..." I hung up and got in the elevator. It took me right up to her floor and I found her apartment. I knocked on the door and she answered in her robe. Her face went from confusion to worry, probably because she saw my tear-stained cheeks and a big ass bag hanging off of my shoulder. I was a mess. I started to cry again, "Can I please stay here with you?"

Alyssa wrapped her arm around my shoulders and pulled me inside. She shut the door behind us and wiped some of my tears away, "Hey, hey, what's wrong?"

I dropped my bag onto the floor, "Ethan just broke up with me."

"What?! Why?!" She put her hands on my shoulders.

"He thinks I'm cheating on him with his friend Jason because he told Ethan we hooked up," I choked out.

She raised her brows, "But you didn't, did you?"

"Of course not. Jason is just after me and can't have me, so he's making my life hell."

"After you how?"

"He wanted to hook up with me but I didn't want to," I said. That wasn't the full story, but I wasn't gonna tell Alyssa about what'd happened. If I wasn't telling Ethan, I definitely was not going to tell her. "I hate him so much, Alyssa."

"They're both fucking assholes. Ethan's gonna realize he fucked up, just you wait. You can stay here as long as you'd like. Sit at the island, I'll make you some tea," She grabbed my bag and put it in her spare room before turning on her kettle. It was extremely thoughtful, but I was gonna need way more than tea to make me feel better.

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