28. Here with you

Chapter 28: Here with you

Kelsey's POV

*****

My head quickly snapped to where Ethan was standing, a horrible feeling at the pit of my stomach. I felt terrible, I couldn't even imagine how much my actions had hurt him. I promised him that I wouldn't do so, and yet I was. It was never my intention to do so, but if I were in his place, I would be horrified as well.

I flinched as Zack started screaming at Zack to get out of the house, his face red as his fists clenched, the veins in his arm popping out at how tightly he was clenching them. What horrified me more was the fact that Zack didn't seem intimidated one bit by Ethan's behaviour. He smirked, his eyes shining in amusement as he looked straight at Ethan.

"Aww what is it, is Ethan sad that Zacky boy stole his first crush too?"

I froze. It was like I could hear Zack's words but my brain couldn't process them. Ethan's eyes instantly widened along with mine as he instantly glanced at me. I knew that Ethan liked me, but I couldn't understand what Zack meant when he said first crush.

I could sense their voices as they talked, yet I couldn't register what they were saying. The only thought in my mind was that Zack said I was Ethan's first crush, and no matter how much I tried to make sense of it, I couldn't. In my head it didn't make sense, and I didn't know what to make of it.

"See, she didn't say anything, that means she agrees with me" Zack smirked, suddenly breaking me out of my thoughts as my attention snapped to him.

My eyebrows instantly creased in confusion as I took in Ethan looking at me with a pained look, shattering my heart into thousands of pieces. I couldn't understand what happened or what they were talking about, but I could instantly tell that it wasn't good for me at all.

"You agreed to be his girlfriend?" Ethan asked me, his voice breaking on the last part, leaving me shocked and confused at what he was talking about.

"What? Girlfriend? No eth I-" I started before I was cut off.

"Get out," he screamed, clearly furious. "Both of you get the heck out of my house before I do something we all regret," he said, his nostrils flaring, giving me a look that broke my heart.

He wasn't angry, he didn't hate me, but he was hurt. I had hurt Ethan Walker and there was nothing I could do to take it back. The damage was done, and all I could do was try to think of ways to pick up the broken pieces.

"Ethan please le-" I started.

"Out!" He yelled with a dangerous look, not wanting to hear anything I had to say. "You too Jenna, get out, I don't want anybody else here," he yelled.

My eyes quickly snapped towards Jenna as soon as I heard her name, my eyes widening in realisation. Zack wanting to talk to me upstairs, Jenna being there in that exact same moment. Everything made sense.

"Ethan, what happened, why are you yelling?" Noah asked with Lara and Ellie on both sides of him, all three of them clearly worried about what was going on.

"Good news, Zack is leaving early, and so is Kelsey," he said before shooting me a look and storming off in his room, making sure to slam the door behind him.

The last part of his sentence hurt me, but I couldn't even be mad at him for it. I was in the wrong, and the guilt that was gnawing on my insides wasn't going to be subsiding any time soon. My eyes got filled to the brim with tears as everyone looked at me, expecting answers which I couldn't give them.

I couldn't take it anymore, the weight which was making my heart feel so heavy was unbearable, and instead of trying to convince the guys to make Ethan forgive me, I walked out downstairs, right out of the house. I stopped in front of Meg's house, about to ring the doorbell, before realising that Zack would have been able to catch up with me if she took too long to open, and I wasn't ready to face him. There was only one place I had left to go which was near enough, a place which I hadn't gone to for years, but one where I was always able to get the best advice.

"Kelsey?"

"Hi Leah. Can I talk to you and Aaron?"

*****

"Kelsey, why are you crying?" Leah asked after Aaron led me and Leah to his room, my vision still blurred from all the tears I had shed.

I asked him to take us to his room since I knew that Jenna would have been returning, and I did not want to face her. I would have ended up ripping every single hair that she had on her head, and probably end up in jail, none of which were things I actually wanted to do. I knew that Jenna had something to do with all of it, and I couldn't forgive her.

"Was it Ethan?" Aaron asked, looking worried as I sat down on his bed, trying to compose myself in order to be able to get at least one word out.

"Not exactly," I replied, trying to regulate my breathing again.

Thinking of everything that happened and trying to formulate it into a concrete story was harder than it seemed, and the only thing that I was able to form was a lump in my throat at the thought of it all. I still couldn't believe how things could have gone so wrong. One second we were happy and having a good time, and the next it all went downhill. The worst part was that it was all on me.

"Is it okay if I ask Meg to come join us?" I asked, knowing that having my best friend there would have made things much easier for me.

I knew that Aaron and Leah weren't exactly her favorite people at the moment, but I needed her. Meg would do anything to help her friends in need-that was why I loved her so much. I knew that she wouldn't question me too much about it.

"Yes of course, but are you sure she would want to come?" Aaron asked. "She's not really too fond of me."

"She will if she realises that I need her," I said as I dialed her number, hoping that she picks up.

"Hello?"

"Hey Megs, can you do something for me? I'll love you forever," I sobbed.

"Kels, are you crying? Should I come over there?" She asked, concern clearly etched in her voice.

"Meg, don't get mad but I'm at Aaron's. Before you make assumptions please just come here and let me explain. Please," I said, trying to calm myself down.

I knew that she was going to get a little bit mad as soon as I told her that I was at Aaron's house, and I knew that I wasn't wrong as soon as she questioned me what I was doing with him, clearly sounding mad. Yet, being the good friend she was, she quickly understood as soon as I told her that I would explain as she got there, and to make sure that no one was following her.

Zack knew that Meg was my best friend, and I didn't want to risk him following her and finding out where I was. I was petrified of him, and all I wanted was for him to disappear out of my life forever. He was a dangerous person, and I couldn't understand why he was the way he was.

*****

Meg didn't hesitate to ask me why she was there as soon as Aaron led her into his room. Her question was quickly forgotten, however as soon as her eyes landed on my face, which by then probably looked hideous with all my crying.

"Kels, your eyes are red and swollen, what's wrong?" She asked, her voice full of worry as she sat down besides me and pulled me in for a hug, her anger seemingly ebbing away. "And why did you come here and not to me?"

I could sense the hurt in her voice, as she was probably asking herself why I didn't go to her first. All of my thoughts kept jumbling up every time I attempted to even think of where to start from. The story was so complicated that it seemed ridiculous even to myself.

"I couldn't risk coming to your house Megs." I took a deep breath, knowing that what I was about to say was probably going to shock them all, and when I felt ready, I told them everything.

Needless to say, they were all mad at Zack, but they quickly shoved that under the rug as soon as they noticed how hurt I was about what happened with Ethan.

"Kelsey, I know Ethan and I'm sure that he'll let you explain. You can't stay away forever anyways, half your clothes are over there," Meg said.

I knew that I had to go back to the house at some point, but what I was scared of was Ethan not wanting to be around me anymore. I could never forgive myself for hurting him, so I didn't know how I could expect him to do so.

"I know Megs but I hurt him. I feel horrible," I said, feeling my tears about to spill once more.

"Kels, he hurt you too once, and you know that," Aaron said, making everyone snap their heads towards him. None of us could understand what that had to do with anything.

Just because he hurt me first did not mean that it was okay for me to hurt him too. I was never one up for revenge, I knew better than that. That had always been a dangerous game to me, and the more it kept going, the worse it would get-it always worked that way.

"Not helping," Leah said, glaring at him.

"Okay okay, sorry. What I mean is that he knows what it's like not having someone letting you explain. Not that you did a wrong thing it's just he also did something wrong, and I'm pretty sure he's regretted it by now. I'm sure that after what happened he will let you explain," he continued.

I gave him a small smile, hoping that he was right. Ethan was a lot more stubborn than Meg and I combined, that much I had learned about him from the number of years I'd known him. He had always been a proud guy, and if I were to think about all of the things he had done to people who hurt him at some point in his life, I would probably start considering never returning to the house.

Ethan was always surrounded by a lot of people, and he was loved by numerous teachers. He could make your life hell just as much as he could make it amazing, and that was what scared me. Yet what scared me more than him trying to get back at me was the thought of him never talking to me again.

"Yeah, I hate to admit but Aaron's right," Meg said. "Tell you what, I can talk to Jake and ask him to talk to Ethan for you. He's his best friend, they always take advice from each other."

I shook my head, not wanting to bring anybody else into that story. It was my mess, and I was the one who needed to fix it.

"No, I don't want to get Jake in to this, although we are going to have a talk about you and Jake once this thing is over," I grinned as a blush appeared on her cheeks.

I felt horrible about everything that was going on, but I couldn't deny how glad I felt seeing my best friend smile every time she mentioned Jake. I loved seeing her happy, and that in itself made me feel slightly better.

"Okay, look Kels, I think you should go over there right now and explain," Aaron said, making me look at him in shock at how direct he was being. I had never heard him say something so straight forwardly before.

"He lowkey ships you two," Leah whispered with a smile playing on her lips.

"Hey that's not true!" He argued. "I highkey ship you two," he proudly grinned.

I never thought I'd hear that coming out of Aaron's mouth, but I was surely happy to have done so. He did a lot of stupid things, but sometimes I honestly felt like I could proudly say that I had the best ex-boyfriend ever.

"I mean, yeah he hurt you, but he makes you so happy, your eyes light up when you talk about him. You're crazy about him," Aaron smiled, seemingly genuinely happy for me.

No matter how happy his words made me, I couldn't help but frown at them. I did care for Ethan a lot, and he certainly made me happy, but we were just friends, and I was scared that I ruined that as well.

I was about to reply as we heard the faint sound of the door opening, that chilling voice making my blood start to boil

"Guys, I'm home" I heard Jenna's voice saying.

"I'm gonna give that thing a piece of my mind," I said, getting up and preparing myself to go downstairs. I couldn't understand why she was so bound on making my life miserable, I had never done anything to her, and I hated the fact that she thought she had the right to hurt me.

"Kelsey, relax we'll take care of it," Leah reassured me as she placed her hand on my shoulder, trying to quieten me down.

"Alright fine," I said, giving in. They were right, it was better if I didn't do anything stupid-nothing good would have ever come from that.

Aaron gave me a reassuring nod before he peeked his head out of the door, clearly planning on calling out for Jenna. I was initially shocked, fearing that he was going to ask her to go into the room with us, but my fear quickly subsided as all he did was ask her if she was alone.

A chilling sensation went down my spine as soon as I heard Jenna reply that she was with Zack, who was planning to spend the night. Even hearing his name was enough to make me go cold. His words from earlier kept replaying in my head, and it was as if I couldn't shake the thoughts away.

Aaron went downstairs, asking us to follow him and to make sure to hide in order for them not to see us. As he was talking to the two of them, I made sure to take a picture with Zack and Jenna. I wanted to have something in case Ethan didn't believe me, and that photo proved for certain that neither one of them was mad at the other.

"I thought you two broke up?" Leah said after she handed Meg her phone that was recording everything that was happening.

"Broke up? Who gave you that idea? We haven't even fought once. We're partners in crime," she giggled as Zack nibbled on her ear lobe, making me shudder in disgust once more.

Meg turned to me in a triumphant smile as soon as she caught that, quickly sending the recording to herself. "We have everything we need. All we need now is to find a way to get out of here."

As if reading our thoughts, Aaron quickly offered to make the couple a sandwich, sending a wink our way as they all made their way to the kitchen and left the doorway free for us to go out from.

"Great I'm starving," Zack said as he led himself in to the kitchen making Aaron and Leah roll their eyes at his rudeness. I had no doubt that he would act as if he owned the place anywhere he went.

"Alright, let's go," Meg said as we rushed out, not even sparing a look back.

We walked for a couple of minutes before she stopped and turned to look at me with a small smile "Okay, maybe Aaron and Leah aren't that bad."

I smiled at her words, hoping that maybe something good was about to come out of something so horrible. I had wanted to give Leah another chance for a while, but I knew that I couldn't do so without Meg. She stood by my side when things got rough, and I wasn't going to betray her.

"Do you want me to talk to Ethan before you do?" She asked.

"No, I should do the entire talking, but can you come with me?" I asked.

I needed some type of moral support. I was really fond of Ethan and I was hoping that he would at least give me a chance to speak. I knew that by having Meg there, I had a bigger chance of succeeding. I smiled as Meg nodded her head and we started making our way to his house, my heart beating out of my chest, making me feel as if I was going to faint at any given moment.

"Megs I'm nervous," I said as I could feel my breath start hitching nervously.

I could feel the heat creeping up my entire body, my palms instantly becoming sweaty, and a sudden urge to cry suddenly crept on me. It had happened many times before, that was why I knew that I was about to have an anxiety attack.

"I'm here with you," She replied as she took my hand and intertwined my fingers with hers, sending me a smile which I returned.

I was glad to have a best friend like her. I was used to a lot of people leaving in my life, but I knew that Meg would never do that. The fact that she was always able to forgive me for the numerous stupid things I did was a proof in itself.

*****