Back To You

Chapter 10

Recap

"Hey Sis, who's at the..." Ethan stops and glares at Blake.

Suddenly my heart drops.

Oh no.

"What the hell is he doing here?"

End of Recap

An angry Ethan stood behind me, his hands in fists. Meanwhile Blake stood there with shock written on his face.

"I asked what the hell he was doing here Bailey." Ethan says through gritted teeth.

"Go inside Ethan. We can talk about this later." I replied brushing him off.

"I uh should go." Blake says ready to turn around. "I'll talk to you later Bails."

Ethan scoffs. "I don't think so." And slams the door in Blake's face.

Anger rushes through me. "What was that for Ethan!?" I screamed at him.

"Are you serious? After all the pain you went through because of him? You expect me to be okay after everything he has done?" Ethan screams at me.

Kasey walks into the room with shock written over her face. "Maybe we should just go sit down and talk this through."

I shake my head. "What is your problem Ethan? I'm almost 19 years old. I can take care of myself."

"My problem?" He scoffs. "You wanna know my problem?" I nod trying to figure this out. "He almost took my sister away from me. That's my problem." He yells, his voice breaking at the end.

I immediately go silent. I didn't even think of it that way.

"My only sister. He tried taking that away from me and you expect me to welcome him with open arms?" The tears in his eyes were clearly evident. "When I found you like that and figured out the real reason why... I wanted to kill him."

I shudder. He sounded so cold. So broken but I under stood why. "Ethan I'm so sorry I didn't tell you before. Honestly I just found out he was back a few days ago and E, it's almost like he never left."

"Does he know?" Ethan asks, quietly. "Does he know what happened after he left?" I nod. "And how did he react?"

I lick my now chapped lips. "He cried E and kept apologizing. He said that he was also really depressed when I left. He turned anorexic and ended up losing his modeling job."

He shakes his head. "Your situations as lot different then his Bail. I" he chokes on a sob. "...almost lost you." He says in whisper.

"Wait what does he mean he almost lost you Bail?" Shit. I totally forgot Kasey was here.

"I uh..." I couldn't find the words. How could I tell my best friend that I tried to kill myself?

"She tried to overdose on pain pills." Ethan whispers, helping out my lack of explanation. "I found her after she downed the whole bottle."

Kasey gasps and grabs my arm, pulling myself to her. "Why Bail?"

"I was depressed. I was so dependent on Blake, I didn't know how to live on my own. I shut everyone out until it was too late." I say through the sobs erupting from my throat. "But I'm better now. I'm clean from drugs. I don't drink as much as I used to. I'm better Kase. I promise."

And so we sat for minutes, hours, with our arms wrapped around each other. I don't know how long it was before we pulled away. Ethan joined in at one point as well.

"E I want to apologize." He looks up at me confused. "You shouldn't have been the one to walk in on me. You were 15. No 15 year old should have to witness..." pausing I try to find the right words. "...that."

He shakes his head. "Bailey. If I didn't find you, who knows what would have happened? As awful as that was, I'm glad I found you. I've never been more happy about anything in my life Bail." He hugs me again. "You're my sister Bail. I love you. I'd do anything for you and you know it."

I look down at my lap, a question on the tip of my tongue. "Ethan, would you be alright with Blake and I getting back together?" He looks up. "I mean, we are not anything yet but if anything was to happen in the future, would you be alright?"

He sighs. "I'm not going to stop you from being happy Bailey. I can't. But I want to talk to him. Alone. Could you arrange that?"

Quickly nodding, I pull out my phone to text Blake. "Where would you like to talk?" He shrugs. "There's a coffee shop on campus if you want." He nods.

Bailey: Hey. Would you be willing to have a meeting with my brother at the coffee shop at 10? He wants to talk to you.

Not even a minute later I get a text back.

Blake: Are you sure he's not planning my death as we speak?

Bailey: lol no. He wouldn't do that to his only sister.

Blake: did you tell him about us?

Bailey: Blake, I'm not even sure what 'us' is.

Blake: would you like to come over later and we figure 'us' out? Around 6:30ish? I'll even supply dinner.

Bailey: I would love that but you have to talk to my brother first.

Blake: 'sighs' okay I'll be there in 10.

Bailey: I'll tell him. Thanks

Blake: sure thing sunshine.

My heart pounds at the one word.

Sunshine

That was my nickname. Blake called me it for the first time at the party and when we dated he would never call me by my actual name. It was always Sunshine.

At the time, I loved it. It was unique. There was no babe, or sweetheart or baby cakes. It was Sunshine.

But now, my stomach churns at the mere sound of that word.

Looking up from my phone, I see Ethan and Kasey waiting for any news. "He said that he can meet you at that coffee shop in about 10 minutes. I can bring you if you want."

He's about to nod but Kasey cuts him off. "Actually I can bring him. I'm going to go meet Asher there anyways."

"Oooo are you and Asher having a coffee date?" I ask picking on her like she does me.

"We are going out to lunch." She says matter-of-factly. "Even though it's none of your business."

I laugh. "Ha you're funny. Of course it's my business. Well have fun!" and then I look at Ethan. "And you be nice. He's changed E. Let him show you that."

He nods and with that, they both walk out the door, leaving me alone to collect my thoughts.

When did my life get so complicated?

~~~~~~
What do you think of Kasey's reaction of the news? Too weak? Should have cried?

Quote of the chapter:
"You can count on me like one, two, three. I'll be there."
~Bruno Mars