Loves Me Not

*REVISED* Chapter Two

I race up the stairs, two steps in front of Ellie. The incessant babbling of words leaving her mouth makes me want to lash out, but I keep my mouth firmly closed, just wanting to lock myself alone in my room for the rest of the week before I leave for Winter break. I speed walk down the 3rd floor hallway, my long legs carrying me to the second to last room on the right side of the hall in a matter of seconds. After shoving my key into the lock I fling the door open, and start to slam it behind me, but Ellie slides in the way, still rambling on about something I can't be bothered to pay attention to.

My irritation level rises as I contemplate asking her to leave, but then I remember. We live together. Great.

"That man whore!" Ellie yells, slamming the door behind her. "I knew he was a little bitch from the first moment I laid eyes on him in 9th grade! Ooo I should have made him fail that group history project when I had the chance."

"Ellie?" I interrupt, my gaze cutting glass as I move to sit on my bed, my posture resembling an emotionless statue as Ellie begins to go on a rampage for me.

"Who the hell does he think he is?" She continues without acknowledging me. "To cheat on you like that? You are Kaiydeen fucking Fox! Any guy at this school would be lucky to be with you!" She takes long strides across our small dorm room, passing back and forth across the carpet. I lean back against my pillows, not even trying to hold back the tears any longer.

"Elysse, holy fuck can you just-" The words get caught in my throat as I throw my hands over my face, hoping if I block my eyes I'll stop the images of them kissing from dancing in front of my sight.

"Just stop." I force out, my eyes squeezing themselves tighter. The room is quiet for a few blissful minutes, until finally my first sob shatters the moment.

"How could I be so stupid?" I hiccup, letting the tears spill down my cheeks. "I'm such a bad fucking judge of character."

I hear Ellie halt her frantic pacing and cross the room to me, just now comprehending how heartbroken I truly am. She lays down on the bed next to me and grabs my hand, rubbing small circles with her thumb on the back of my hand.

"Kaiy baby, this honestly had nothing to do with you." Her other hand moves to force my head to rest on her shoulder, tucking my beanie covered head into her neck. "Dustin had everyone fooled. We all thought that he had changed. Just know, that there was nothing you could have done to stop him from cheating. This is his fault. There's nothing wrong with you."

I keep my head tucked into her neck, moving my arms to wrap around her waist as I find comfort in her arms. I can't help but feel stupid, thinking of all the times Dustin and I hung out together around campus; how many times I responded to the question "Are you and Dustin together?" with a coy smile and an indefinite answer. If only I knew then how indefinite that answer really was.

I finally take a deep breath as I force myself away from Ellie.

"I need to study for finals." I slowly sit up and drag my hands across my face, trying to make myself look less pitiful than I feel.

"No, what you need is to eat as much ice cream as possible while binge watching a series on Netflix." Ellie reaches over and grabs the remote off of the bedside table that is wedged between the two of our beds, turns on the smart television,

and starts navigating through the apps until she finds the Netflix logo. "Maybe I'll even be nice and take out your braids like you've been begging me to."

I just sit on the bed, still numb from the shocking events of the afternoon.

"I can't believe that bastard cheated on me. I promised myself I would never become that girl. And then this little piece of shit had to go and—." I stand up and look closely at my memo board hanging on the wall next to my bed. I gently run my fingers over the few pictures I have of Dustin and me together that are mixed in with all of my other trinkets. Us laughing in the library when we first started seeing each other. Us cuddled up in the Rec Center on game night last month. Us eating dinner in the cafeteria a couple weeks ago.