Loves Me Not

*REVISED* Chapter Forty-one

I pace the length of my dorm room, the walls constricting as I wait nervously for Ellie to show up. She was supposed to be here an hour ago. It doesn't take that long to drive here from the Hamptons, especially with Jeremiah driving. But maybe he isn't driving.

I play with one of the many braids dangling over my shoulder as I glance at the door for the fifth time in as many seconds. I palm my phone again as I fight the urge to send him another text, but I know even if I did he wouldn't answer. He hasn't answered any one of texts I've sent him over the last four days, and he's rejected all of my phone calls as well. At least Charlie has been messaging me, although he hasn't been able to rescue me since New Year's since he was out of town on vacation.

My head jerks up as I hear a key in the lock to our door, my braids slapping me in the face as I jump across the room and fling myself onto my bed, trying to act natural. I raise my phone over my head, pretending that I was just chilling here the whole time instead of pacing the room.

I casually look op when the door swings open, hoping to see Ellie and Jeremiah standing there with all of her luggage. But Ellie stands alone, her key still dangling from the lock as she struggles to carry her duffle bag on her shoulder. I look on either side of her, but Jeremiah is nowhere to be seen.

"Do you need some help with that Ellie?" Ellie mocks as she extracts her key and waddles into the room, lugging her bag behind her. "No Kaiy, I'm good. I needed the work out anyway."
I frown at how casual she is. My eyes quickly glance over her overcoat and her curly hair, barely tamed by a headband. She ignores me as she struggles to lift her bag onto her bed, a sure sign that she went shopping within the last few days and tried to shove everything into that one duffle instead of packing another one. I look out at the empty hallway as she finally drops her duffle onto her bed, hoping I can catch Jer before he leaves to apologize.

"He's not here," Ellie calls out as she walks back to the door and closes it.

I look at her, watching as Ellie flops back on her bed and kicks her feet onto her duffle. I shut the door, avoiding eye contact as I look around for my phone that I discarded at some point in the last few minutes.

"Who?" I ask.

"Charlie," she smiles, and then shrugs. "Or Jeremiah, for that matter. But you should already know that Jer wouldn't be."

I don't ask the obvious follow up questions, my phone held above my face as I unlock it and open my messages. I open the conversation between Jer and I so I can draft a new message. Maybe he'll respond this time.

"Jer can you talk to me please? I want to explain what happened the other night."

I send that before quickly sending him another one, "At least let me know that you're still alive. I'm worried about you."

I stare at my phone, praying I'll see the little bubble pop up that he's responding. Hell, at this point I'd even be happy to see the little message saying he read any of my previous texts. But the screen remains unchanged; Jeremiah remains distanced.

"He's not going to respond," Ellie states as she turns on the TV and start to scroll through the options on Hulu.

I look at her to see how she knows what I'm doing without even looking at me. "Who?"

"Don't play dumb, KD. You're messaging Jer, right?" She sighs as she exits out of Hulu and logs onto Netflix. "He wouldn't even come onto campus. That asshole practically made me walk half a block with this bag because he didn't want to accidentally see you."

"He said that?" I ask.

"He didn't have to! I can read that boy like a picture book." Ellie laughs, although there is no humor in her tone. "Same as with you."