Chapter 48

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Hello guys, this might be a bit annoying for Edwella fans, but please do read until the end. It's worth it, I promise!!

Don't read the comments before you finish reading ;) well unless you want spoilers that is. 

Chapter 48- Ella's POV

"I can't believe you convinced me to come here with you," I mumbled as I walked through the door leading to the small cottage. I put my bag on the stone cold floor and pushed the door closed, then made my way to the unattractive mustard sofa that was in the middle of the room. 

John smiled at me. "I didn't convince you, you needed to get away," he said, and I nodded slowly before sitting down. I had had a rough day, and ended up calling him to take him up on the offer of spending the weekend with him and distract myself from the thoughts that were consuming me. 

It was the same day, Thursday, a few hours after I had a fight with Edward and he broke up with me. I had gotten the bus home and found that there was nobody there. Malcolm was at university and mum was at work. Desperate to avoid answering questions for the reasons behind my tear stained face, I tried thinking about what I could do to stay away from Edward. And the solution was to skip school and stay away from home.

The cottage did not belong to John, but I found out that he rented it out for the whole year so that whenever he needed some time alone, he could just go there without anyone interrupting. I did not understand his ideology since he lived on his own, but I didn't ask about it. I didn't ask what John would be doing for school the next day either since it would be Friday. The cottage was only an hour away from college, and two hours away from my house. 

"Do you want anything?" John asked after a long moment of silence. I shook my head. I was still so consumed in thoughts. 

"No thanks. Could you... maybe call Edward to inform him where I'm at?" I asked him. Not that Edward would care, but at least I would have done my part. He wasn't going to be happy when he found out I was with John. 

"Why don't you?" John asked me. I shook my head for the second time. John nodded, understanding, and stood up. He walked to what I presumed was the kitchen, leaving me on my own. 

I stood up as well and started taking a good look at the room. There was a wall unit, on which was a television and English literature books, the sofa I had been sitting on, and a couple of chairs at the side of the small room. The walls were decorated by picture frames and paintings, giving all of it a more homey feel. I regarded each of the photos and then continued looking around. The floor was made of wooden boards which were polished. The living room, although seemingly bare, was well kept. On the right was the door leading to the kitchen, and next to it were the stairs. On the left, then, was a bathroom, and a door which was closed. I made my way towards it and turned the knob. It didn't move. It must be locked, then, I mused.

I made my way back to the sofa, thinking how good of John it was to offer me to stay with him for the weekend. Then I wondered what his intentions were. Did he care about me or was he still trying to get me to like him? Suddenly I didn't really care. He was being nice and that was all I needed.

I sat down, debating whether to call Edward myself instead of letting John do it. I made my mind up right at that moment, and dialed his number on my phone, pressing the green button. The phone rang for three times before he picked up.

"Hello," he said in a gruff voice. I flinched. 

"Hey, it's me," I replied in a low voice. 

"I know, I haven't deleted your number yet," he answered. I sighed. He continued. "But I will soon. Now what do you want?"

"Edward, please," I mumbled. 

"Stop begging and get to the point before I hang up," he answered. “Why did you call, Ella?” Edward's tone was impatient.

“I-I,” I said with a stutter. “I wanted to tell you where I'm at so you wouldn't be worried.”

“I see,” Edward replied. “And why exactly would you think I would be worried?”

I ignored his question and continued, “I'm with John at his cottage.”

Edward gave out an incredulous laugh. “So what, you're just going to rub that in my face now?”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

I scrunched my face up in confusion. “John didn't call you?”

“No. Why would he? He got what he wanted. And so did you.”

“I don't want John!” I yelled. I looked up and to my dismay he was standing there, next to the door, arms folded and looking crestfallen. Awe, poor guy, I thought. Why did I always have to disappoint everyone? With one simple phone call I had managed to make three people unhappy: Edward, John and myself.

“I'm going to hang up now, Ella,” Edward said sounding annoyed.

“Wait, Ed,” I replied in haste.

“What?”

“I love you,” I said hesitantly.

I waited for an answer. I heard a sigh and I was sure I heard him mutter it back before the line went dead. Warmth filled inside my chest and I realised it was a surge of hope. I must have sat there thinking for a good ten minutes before I looked up and realised that I was still holding the phone in my hand and that John was now sitting next to me staring into space.

“John,” I said. He looked up immediately. “I'm sorry.”

He looked at me confused. “What for?”

“You heard that, didn't you?”

John gave me a sheepish grin. “Not if you didn't want me to,” he answered. I smiled back sadly at him.

“Really, I'm sorry. I gave you false hopes and then went to Edward.”

John shook his head. “No, in that case I should say sorry. I knew Ed liked you, I shouldn't have... induced myself on you.” We both laughed at his choice of words.

“You didn't.” We both fell silent until curiosity got the better of me and I found the courage to ask, “Do you still like me?”

John didn't answer, but the look in his eyes was sorrowful and furtive and said it all. The answer was that yes, he still did. He looked away from me, drumming his fingers on the sofa. I took a deep breath. Silence always felt uncomfortable. I looked around, hoping to find a topic, anything really, to talk about. My eyes landed on the door that I had tried opening earlier. I decided to ask John about it.

“Where does that door lead to?” I asked.

John looked up once again and seemed to study the faded brown door for a minute before answering. “The basement,” he said. There's a stairway that leads down to it.”

I frowned. “It's locked, though.”

John nodded. “I know. The landlord never gave me access to it. I went down there with him when he was going to rent it out to me and then told me that the stairs were dangerous... mind you, they were," John said, making eye contact with me. "Anyway, the price for rent here is ridiculous, so when he didn't give me the keys for downstairs I couldn't compain." 

I nodded and didn't answer. He sighed, then turned to me. "What really happened between you and Edward?" he asked. It was my turn to sigh, because I didn't want to talk about it. 

"Nothing," I mumbled. "I lied, he lied. We both found out and we broke up." That pretty much summed it up, but I knew John was persistent. I spent the next few minutes telling him what we argued about. He was sincerely shocked, especially the part where I had failed to mention to Edward that it wasall a dare between Nathan and I. I knew he would not voice the words but he was thinking them: I should be ashamed of myself. And of course, he knew about Edward's affair with Lauren already.

We spent the next hour just talking and laughing together, and then John cooked some pasta. He was horrible at cooking but I still enjoyed the evening. Something was bothering me though: an  inexplicable feeling that I was experiencing. And soon enough I knew what it was, because I had felt it before: it was attraction. 

I sat down on the wooden steps outside, trying to swat what I was feeling away. Being on my own might help. This soon went away though, because I felt someone sitting down next to me. He handed me a mug of hot chocolate. I smiled, scared of my own state of mind. 

John's face fell when he saw the look on my face. "Are you okay?" he asked. I nodded and took a sip. He looked at me in concern. "Do you want some time alone? Sorry for invading." He started standing up, but I put my mug away and grabbed his arm. He froze.

"No, sit down," I said. "I'm grateful for any company I could get." 

He sat back down next to me and looked at me. "It's a one bedroom, by the way," he announced. I looked at him in horror. Was I going to have to sleep next to him? No way, I had just broken up with Edward and I felt attracted to him- I always had, in a way, so there was no way I could. 

He grinned. "But there are two single beds in this one bedroom," he said. I heaved a sigh of relief. At least it was a different bed. 

"You had me worried for a second," I admitted. 

He smirked. "I know. I just wanted to see your reaction."

I blinked and looked away, feeling my attraction to him growing stronger every second. You're just obsessing, I thought to myself. You're not attracted to him.You're only doing this because it's over between you and Edward.

Yet I couldn't help but compare the two of them in my head. Edward was very secretive, while John spoke the truth straight and plain. Edward had lied, John had not. Edward had broken up with me, John had begged me to give him the chance to be with me. 

I felt a hand on my wrist. "You look thoughtful," John commented. I nodded. 

"I'm just thinking how different it would be if I had chosen you instead of Edward," I admitted. John's eyes darkened.

"Don't," he said. "You're only doing it because of what happened between the two of you." 

"Or maybe I've chosen the wrong person," I thought out loud. "All this time I should have chosen you."

John shook his head. "You can't really rely on what ifs, Ella."

I looked up at him. "What are you saying? You don't like me anymore then?" 

"I'm not saying that. It's just, it's easy to make assumptions after you've had a bad experience. And I don't want to let you down, because I'm not perfect either." 

"At least you're not a liar," I mumbled, resting my head on his shoulder. He put his arm around me. I grabbed my mug, realising that my hot chocolate was going to get cold.  I sighed and put it back on the step next to me. "I like you, John," I said. "The truth is, I always have. I just ignored it."

He didn't answer immediately, but when he did, he said, "I like you too. You know I do." He didn't say anything else.

When I realised that he wasn't going to reply I asked impatiently, "So what do we do now?"

"I don't know," he answered. 

We sat in deafening silence, looking up at the starry night for what seemed like forever. My drink must have gotten cold but I didn't really care anymore. And just when it seemed to be the end of the world and I had gotten frozen by the coldness of the night, John moved a little and turned to me. His green eyes melted into mine and he lifted my face up and kissed me slowly. Our lips moved in sync softly, and then more quickly and deeply. We broke apart, out of breath. John smiled at me. 

"Let's call it a night," he said, tapping on my leg. "It must be like midnight and I'm knackered." 

He helped me up and we went inside. I put the mug in the sink and proceeded up the stairs. We took turns in using the bathroom so that both of us were changed into pyjamas, and shared another kiss before we went to our separate beds. John was mature and we were going to take it slow. 

Meanwhile, it felt like paradise to me. 

* * *

I woke up with a start and checked my phone. It was 4.36am, way too early. I internally groaned. From the faint light that there was in the room I could just make out John sleeping soundly. I closed my eyes and tried to get back to sleep, but didn't manage. After tossing and turning for a good half an hour, I decided to get up from bed and do something, maybe watch some tv or something. I looked at John once again, he was still asleep, looking like an angel. 

I jumped out of bed and tiptoed out of the room and down the stairs. Nothing was stirring. Everything was in darkness. I turned the torch on my phone and looked at the time. It was past five am. I sat down on the sofa and turned the television on, making sure to put it on mute before the sound woke John up. I had put the light on so at least I didn't look like an idiot sitting in the dark. There was nothing on tv. My eyes made their way around the room, hoping to see something interesting. At least the stalker didn't find me here, I thought. 

My eyes landed on the strange wooden door that I had found locked. The door leading to the basement. But I could see now that the door was not locked now, it was ajar, and there was a key attached to a string dangling onto it. I frowned. Weird. I stood up and made my way towards it, then started contemplating on what to do. Should I go check it out? I was scared of the dark and did not like unfamiliar places, plus John said that the stairs were dangerous....

But curiosity got the better of me and I opened the door slowly and turned the torch on my phone back on. I gulped and entered, pulling the door behind me, but leaving it ajar like I found it. I wondered what I was going to find. I started going down the steps, which really were dangerous like John had said. I couldn't wait to tell him that I'd found the door open in the morning. 

When I reached the bottom of the ugly wooden steps, I looked around me. There was nothing, except for another door, which was in aluminium. I frowned for the second time. The whole place was deserted yet there was a new door here. I tried my luck and pushed the door open. It wasn't locked. 

I entered the room. It was a strange room, filled with monitors which were depicting different cameras from various places. I recognised Edward's house and the art room on the monitors, and stopped in my tracks. I knew what this room was.

I took a good look around me. There was a computer on the left, on a desk, a laptop to the right, and there were various photos, stuck to the wall. Photos of me and Edward and John and everyone else who was significant in this whole thing. On the desk there were print outs of various notes which I knew I had received. Others were addressed to Edward, et cetera. On the whole, this room was terrifying. 

I gulped. I had just stumbled upon the stalker's lair.

But I still had no idea who it was. All I knew was that I had to warn John that the stalker was using this room to spy on us, and that was why the landlord did not give him the key. John wouldn't know what was happening as he rarely went to the cottage.

I turned on my heel to go back upstairs to tell him. And just as I did, I saw a figure standing by the door, arms folded and looking at me with a menacing expression. My heart started pumping blood much more quickly. It was him.

John looked at me, eyebrows raised. "I see you've found my hiding place," he said. 


Helloooo guys :) Well, well, well I've finally updated and given you answers. Were you expecting that to happen? What do you think? 

Please vote and comment! I would really love your feedback. What do you think will happen now? Do you think it's really him?

Decicated to AvalonRose1314 for getting detention for me hehe. Hope you like it :) 

I'm soooo happy, I've been planning this chapter for ageeees. I hope you guys enjoyed it! Thanks for your support. Take care xxx

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