that same day, we were ordered to fly back home. i ended up having to get my nose reconstructed, since it had been confirmed that holden had cracked it open.
he wasn't allowed in the hospital room, for everyone's sake. my parents, the lancasters, and serena's parents had all come to visit me.
my dad and mr. lancaster were beyond ashamed of holden, which they should have been. ginger and braxton brought me flowers, and cards. they brought another giant bouquet, which happened to be from holden.
"we can trash it for you, if you want." ginger rested her hand on my shoulder, and waited for my response.
i narrowed my eyes, and took a deep breath. "trash it."
**
a few days after my hospital visit, grayson had a small talk with his mom, about his concern for ethan's sobriety. grayson brought me in, along with his mom, dad, and big sister.
ethan agreed to enroll in his aa sessions again, but there was a catch. he would only go if grayson and i came with him, which was a fair enough request.
**
this friday was a stressful day for everyone, especially ethan. it was his first day off aa, and afterwards, we were meeting the boys' mom for dinner.
i was sitting on ethan's bed, icing my nose. i had helped him pick out an outfit, because he was too nervous to do it by himself. i placed the ice pack on his bed, and walked over to him.
"you look amazing, e. i hope you know how proud i am of you." he bit his lip, and brought me in close.
"i feel so stupid, masey. i was doing so well and... i don't like myself when i'm not sober. i'm afraid of hurting everybody, especially you and grayson." he kissed my forehead, and laughed weakly. "i hate the fact that i couldn't protect you from hol–"
i pulled away, and shot him a look. "first of all, the fact that you've agreed to go back to aa? that's fucking admirable, pancake. you're trying to fix things, do you have any idea how important that is? by the way, you have always protected me. i'm not mad at you, i'm mad at holden. ever since the first day we met, you have been so warm and loving towards me. you need to give yourself more credit."
he coughed, and wiped a tear from his eye.
i reached up to wipe an extra tear from his cheek. "e-tee-wee-tee, are you crying?"
he shook his head, and cupped my face in his hands. "i don't know what i did to deserve you, but i'm really glad that i did it. i have no idea what i would do without you."
**
a/n: ok but ethan and mase>>
also, this is kind of an updating filler chapter.
