Let's Get Ethan ✔

Chapter 23

Aaron drove him back for class the next day, as he had spent the night over at his friends' house.

Ethan made a quick trip to his dorm to grab his stuff. Thankfully his classes were late that day and it was easy to assume that Lincoln had woken up that morning and gone out, so Ethan felt relatively safe heading back to the dorms.

Ethan wondered about Stephanie constantly. He hadn't told any of his friends about kissing her. He decided it was a rash decision and that it wasn't worth telling them because they would think he was a terrible guy because he kissed his roommate's girlfriend.

Ethan tried to convince himself that Lincoln deserved it, but he also knew that what he did was wrong; he had made quite a large mistake and there wasn't much he could do to solve it. Besides being absent from Lincoln's life and not hanging out with Stephanie. But between all the hang ups in his roommate situation there was something that kept bringing him and Stephanie together. He wondered if she was following him, or if he was subconsciously following her. Either way the verdict stood; they were in trouble.

Ethan barreled down the hallway to his lecture, realizing he was a minute late. He clambered up steps, ran down long corridors, and went into different buildings to get to his first class. He was still keeping a close eye on his schedule careful not to miss a single class. As missing only one lecture was a sign of failure.

The students were like fish expanding and contracting, moving in a flowing state. He went past the old brick building, burnt by sun and battered by rain, to the shiny and new school vehicles lined up on the front parking lot. He carried himself to the building like a hunter in search of his next catch.

He arrived four minutes late. Thankfully the lecture door was unlocked so he opened it quietly, taking his seat in the very back of the hall. A few students turned around. So his stealthy move to sneak in unannounced didn't go as planned.

Luckily, this class was easier than most. The material he absorbed wasn't quite as convoluted as most business school topics to Ethan. He wondered if he would even have the motivation to pass most of his classes. They weren't terribly hard, but they required a whole lot of reading and projects, something Ethan had enjoyed to a certain extent, but if he wasn't passionate about something, he would often procrastinate. Like the typical college student.

As class dragged on, Ethan felt himself drift into another world of sorts, he was back in the study room. Reliving the scene from last night and what happened after.

The kiss kept playing in his head, he was a broken record. And at that point that kiss meant everything. It meant that he wasn't a nobody. It also meant that he had to get out of the dorms as soon as he could. With Lincoln as his roommate it was only a matter of time before Stephanie and Ethan got caught hanging out.

That afternoon before work, Ethan had to go back to his dorm as he needed to grab things he had forgotten to pick up before class. He didn't know if it was safe for him to return, but that didn't matter he reasoned, it wasn't at night, and there were plenty of people around to act as witnesses if he was murdered by Lincoln.

Ethan hoped that his death wouldn't be painful.

To his dismay, he knew Lincoln was in the dorm, as the room was unlocked.

He knocked, then waited a second, then proceeded to go into the dorm. He regretted not bringing a weapon, all he had were two weak arms. Also, unfortunately, all the strength Ethan could muster was currently on hiatus.

Lincoln was laying on his bed, silent, clicking through his phone. He didn't even look up as Ethan entered.

"Hey, Ethan, what's up?" Lincoln greeted, grabbing his attention. Lincoln looked up at him; his face was not nearly as angry as it had looked last night. Lincoln was a capricious guy.