In Two Years

Chapter 4: Horror

It starts raining again. The drive to my dorm building from the library is only two minutes. Riley hasn't turned on the radio, so we've just been sitting in silence. I watch the raindrops race down my window. I root for the left one, but the right one decides to intertwine itself with the left one. Two become one.

I try so hard to shut up my romantic brain, but it always finds a way to romanticize the little things.

I can feel Riley turn his head to look at me for a second, but he never says anything.

As we pull up to my dorm, I thank him for driving me, and we say goodbye.

When I enter my dorm, I can hear Ella in her room. She's on the phone with somebody. I can't hear much. She's talking quietly. I know I shouldn't be eavesdropping. If she wants me to know she'll tell me.

I'm still hungry, so I ravage through the fridge for anything appetizing.

"Hey," Ella says coming out of her room. She looks so exhausted. I've never seen her drag her feet like this. She's pulled all-nighters before, but she would still be so lively.

"Hey," I say lightly. "Are you okay?" She sits down on a stool by the counter.

"I don't really want to talk about it right now. I know if I do I'm going to start crying." Her voice cracks and tears begin to flood down her cheeks. She covers her face with her hands to hide in. I make my way over to her and hug her.

I try to think of what could make her so sad. Ella is one of the happiest people I know. To think somebody could crack her light like this is unbearable. I hear her say something, but her hands mute the sound.

"What?" I say as I release her. She takes her face out of her hands and keeps her eyes closed.

"Michael cheated on me." My heart sinks to my stomach. When she opens her eyes, a couple of tears roll down her face. I don't know what to say to her, so I just grab her even harder.

I feel a burning sensation in my chest. I don't know if I feel sadder for Ella that the guy she fell in love with broke her heart, or if I am more outraged that Michael could betray her. I have a lot of empathy for people, especially the ones I love. Ella has done so much for me which makes my blood boil.

"Oh my gosh," I say after a couple of minutes of hugging her.

"I broke up with him."

"Do you want to talk about this?" I don't want her to feel pressured into answering any questions I have. I don't even know if I should be asking her any questions about this. It's none of my business. I don't want to be the one opening her wounds even more when she's already been stabbed. I just want to help heal her.

"I found out this morning. Something had been feeling off with us for a month. I thought maybe we were just not trying hard enough to keep our relationship fun, so I would try to hang out with him as much as possible. Last month I even offered to go with him to a baseball game, and you know how much I hate baseball."

"You have always been more of a hockey girl." We both chuckle.

"He told me he wanted to go to the baseball game, but that night he blew me off. I asked him about it, and he just told me that his roommate needed his help moving in early. I learned today that he had been hooking up with a girl from back home for two months!" She starts to get angry and tears flood her eyes, and the tears gloss over her cheekbones.

"He's an asshole. You don't deserve this." I offer her a tissue.

"I tell you what. I am free all night. I just had coffee, so that will keep me awake for at least a couple more hours." She forces a laugh. "We can watch any horror movie you want and order food."