Chapter 35: Chapter 33

My mouth parted as my eyes locked on his face.

“You what?” I asked, not sure if I heard right.

“You heard me. I know what happened that night,” he repeated.

“H-how?” I asked.

“I was there that night. At the party,” he began to explain.

“Then why did you wait this long to tell me that!?” I exclaimed.

“Because things between us weren’t exactly rainbows and unicorns,” he responded.

My eyebrows pulled in together as I tried to understand his statement. Who in the world says rainbows and unicorns?

“What do you mean?” I asked hesitantly.

“You know,” he prodded. “After the…dinner that night, things between us were quite…shaky.”

“Oh,” I mumbled.

“Exactly,” he said with a tight smile.

“But why didn’t you call me and tell me a few days later!?” I questioned angrily. “Do you know how worried I have been for the past four days!?”

“I-I’m sorry,” he stuttered, taken aback by my outburst. “I was just making up my mind on whether to tell you or not.”

“That’s not the only thing! Ethan isn’t talking to me because he thinks whatever happened that night was intentional!” I bellowed.

“I know!” he exclaimed. “I was thinking about whether I should’ve talked to you about it or not. Yes, I agree it took way too long but when Abby told me what a jerk Ethan was to you, I decided to tell you.”

When I just stared at him with slight anger, he added, “And when I finally decided to tell you, my dad dragged me on that boring camping trip with him.”

I exhaled through my mouth. “Fine, I understand where you’re coming from.”

“You do?” he inquired, slightly surprised.

“Of course, I do,” I responded. “Do you think I wasn’t afraid or hesitant to talk to you after the…dinner?”

“Well, sort of.”

I rolled my eyes. “Typical.”

A smile broke out on his face and he seemed to physically relax.

“Now will you tell me what happened?” I asked.

He took a deep breath before beginning. “I was quite surprised to see you there, but when I realized that the guy you were with was the Austin Ethan kept blabbering about, I decided to keep an eye on the two of you.”

He sat down on a chair while I sat on the table nearest to me. “I would’ve talked to you at the party but I didn’t. I wanted to let things settle down between us before I finally started talking to you the way I did before,” he explained.

“I know, Jared,” I said, nodding in understanding. “What were you doing at the party?”

“A friend of mine had invited me. I thought it was just some party with alcohol crazed teens and dancing to techno music; I didn’t know it was a farewell for that guy.”

My mouth formed in the shape of an ‘o’ as I realized that there were many people there that night that Austin didn’t know. Jared was probably just one of those people.

He continued, not waiting for me to say anything. “Everything was alright; you were talking and dancing with him. But after Austin…”

“But after Austin-what?” I prodded.

“But after Austin got you a glass of drink, he started pulling you along with him forcefully even though you kept refusing.”

I remember that.

I remembered telling him to wait because I wasn’t feeling well but he continued pulling me.

“He was forcing you. I could see it. You kept trying to pull back but after a while, you gave in,” he said. “I should’ve done something. I should’ve stopped him when I saw him pulling you but I don’t why I decided to wait and see what was going to happen. I guess it was ‘cause I didn’t want to create a scene in public but…I refrained myself from doing anything.”

I bit my lower lip to stop it from quivering. I didn’t want to hear what he was going to say. If Austin really did try to take advantage of me, I don’t think I am going to be able listen to it. I didn’t want to know what happened that night all of a sudden. After desperately trying to find out for four days, now that I was getting to know, I didn’t want to. Maybe because of what Jared said. Maybe because he made it sound like something did happen and though, he could’ve done something, he didn’t. Or simply because, I know that after hearing this, I wouldn’t have the strength to tell it to Ethan.

“And then?” I managed to croak out even though I knew I didn’t have the strength to listen to what was coming towards me.

“He finally managed to pull you with him to some dark corner but I caught up with you guys,” he continued, his eyes fixed on the table in front of him. “And then, h-he tried to…touch you…inappropriately.”

My eyes squeezed shut as I clenched my jaw. I felt tears form in my eyes under my shut eyelids. I swallowed and forced myself to open my burning eyes. Jared looked up at me and his eyes widened. He helplessly tried to say something but couldn’t seem to find the right words.

“H-he tri-tried to-”

“I didn’t let him, Ash,” he cut me off swiftly. “I punched him.”

Instantly, my teeth stopped nibbling on my lower lip and I looked up to meet his eyes. He got up and came closer to me and placed his hands on my shoulders.

“Ash,” he said softly, making me stare into his deep blue eyes. “Listen to me clearly. Nothing happened,” he said, drawing out the words.

“I didn’t let him do anything to you. He tried to fight but he was no match for me, of course. I mean, look at these muscles,” he joked, lifting his arm up and pointing at his so-called muscles. His attempt at making me laugh failed but I was truly grateful that he tried.

I faked a smile to mock him.

“Seriously, though, he couldn’t keep up with me.  Before I could cause any serious damage to him, some guys broke us up.”

“And then?” I prodded. “Did he try to do anything after that?”

Jared stared at me with a flat look. “After I just let you have a look at my extraordinary muscles, you’re questioning me if I let him do anything to you?”

“I guess?”

He pouted and put his hand over his chest. “I’m hurt, Ash.”

I laughed at the look on his adorable face, which made him smile instantly.

“Finally!” he sighed. “I thought I was going to have to attempt to crack more of those lame jokes. It would have been very embarrassing if you didn’t laugh…again.”

I chuckled as the tension seemed to slowly fade.

“What happened after that?” I asked, too eager to be patient anymore.

“Nothing.” He shrugged.

“Nothing?” I asked, raising my brows.

He nodded. “I got you back home and using the keys in your bag; I got into the house and tucked you into bed.”

Just as his words registered into my head, a huge breath escaped my lips, lifting the weight off my clenched stomach. I stood on my tiptoes and wrapped my arms around his neck. His warm arm wrapped around my lower back while the other gently stroked my hair. If Jared wasn’t there to help me, I don’t know what that monster would’ve done to me. I let out a shaky breath.

“Jared, thank you,” I breathed.

“Pfft, what are brothers for?” he said, making me smile.

After a few moments of standing together in an embrace, he asked, “By the way, do you need me to beat the crap out of Ethan?”

I laughed. “No, I think I can do that myself.”

He pulled away with an amused smirk. “I think so too. I experienced it a while ago myself.”

I grinned at him sheepishly.

“Thank you, Jared,” I repeated as I hugged him again.

“Stop thanking me,” he waved me off.

“Jared, could you do me one last favor?” I asked, pulling away.

“Yeah, sure,” he said, nodding.

“Could you-do you think you could tell Ethan about this?” I asked. “It’s only because I know he won’t listen to me,” I added quickly.

“Consider it done,” he said, flashing me a grin.

I exhaled and hugged him once more before we left the classroom together. I felt my mind wandering back to that night, forcing my brain to recollect even the tiniest detail. But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t.

Ethan was right; I should’ve agreed with him.

“Why are you walking like that?” Erica asked Jared, quirking an eyebrow as we approached them.

I stifled a laugh when Jared glared at me sideways.

*

Grabbing my heavy Chemistry textbook off my shelf, I slumped down on my soft rug, using my bed as a support for my back. After a few minutes of reading, my concentration started wavering. Did Jared tell Ethan everything already? No. Of course not.

If he did, Ethan would’ve already called me or at least, texted me. He would’ve tried to contact me in any way possible. I sighed and tried to get back to studying. I haven’t been able to concentrate at anything for the past few days.

Coming to a conclusion that I couldn’t study without concentration, I unlocked my phone and texted Jared.

Talked to Ethan yet?

He replied after five few minutes, much to my dismay.

Yep.

Yep? Yep?! That’s all I get after five minutes of waiting?! A three letter long word?! That’s all?

And?!

And what?

My shoulders sagged at his reply and I dialed his number and called him instead.

“What’s up?” he asked as soon as he picked up.

“What’s up is that you sent me a ‘yep’,” I replied.

“Okay?” he said, unsure of what I was talking about.

I rolled my eyes with frustration. “What did he say?!”

“Oh!” he said as realization dawned on him. “Not much.”

“Not much?” I questioned with nervousness.

“Well, I didn’t exactly give him time to talk,” he explained. “I told him everything and then I had to go, so I told him I’ll talk to him later.”

“So, he didn’t say anything?” I interrogated. “Not even a yep?”

“No,” he said slowly.

I sighed. “Is he really that angry at me?”

“Nah, I think he’s mad at himself for getting mad at you for such a silly reason,” he said.

“What? That doesn’t make sense.”

“See, Ash, when it comes to guy, most of the things don’t make sense,” he explained. “There’s one thing you have to keep in mind, a guy has way too much pride in himself. And if he makes a mistake, he’s going to think about it for hours before deciding on how to apologize. But when he does apologize, you need to understand that it took a lot in him to do that, so simply forgive him. Forgive him for realizing his mistake.”

“Wow,” I breathed. “It’s strange, taking advice on guys from you.”

“Well, I expect some advice on how to win hearts of girls’ in return,” he responded with a laugh.

I chuckled. “I’m not as good as you, though.”

“Of course you’re not,” he replied and I could imagine him sticking his tongue out.

“Totally,” I joked. “But it’s not my fault that he misunderstood everything.”

“I know but just forgive him, alright?” he insisted. “You should’ve seen the look on his face when I told him everything.”

“I’ll try-ah!”

Hearing the knock on my window, I yelped and jumped. I turned towards my window to see Ethan outside, struggling to keep his balance.

“What’s wrong?” Jared asked, concerned.

“I’ll call you back, alright?” I said and disconnected the call.

A/N- Yayy! So, everything's finally revealed! Did any of you guess it? Based on the comments that I got, none of you managed to guess this. :P

Well, yes, another cliffhanger-ish thing. Not really. But at least, you guys know what to expect in the next chapter! :D

By the way, I know my update's are quite slow now but that's only because my exams are approaching. They're towards the end of June, so after the first week of July, I'm absolutely free! So, expect frequent updates after that and I might even put up another book (not a sequel to this, just an entirely different one.)

So, make sure to follow me if you like my writing so that you can get notifs when I put up stuff :P :)

Thank you for reading, sweeties! <3 Love you guys <3