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Chapter 7 - He's Lying

Ethan and Jesse spent every possible minute together. Jesse was determined to make the most of her dying summer before having to spend all of her time on school for another semester. 

I'm doing something right, Jesse thought to herself happily, leaning back in a wrought-iron chair outside of the coffee shop where she and Ethan had first properly hung out together. Ethan was sitting across from her, poking disinterestedly at his scone as they talked together. The smell of freshly baked muffins and bagels and other delicacies made the air thick and warm. Jesse glanced towards the sky, where the sun hadn't even crested the buildings yet. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She ignored it.

They were talking about old kids movies- recounting their favorite scenes out of everything from Coraline to Brother Bear. Jesse's phone buzzed again. She shifted in her seat, fishing the phone out of her pocket. 

"You're texting me?" She furrowed her brow, looking from Ethan to her phone. She kept text previews off, so all that appeared on her lock screen was Ethan's name. 

"Huh?" Ethan said, pulling out his own phone. "No...?" His eyes widened slowly. 

Jesse opened the text messages, but they were all empty. A few blank speech bubbles populated Ethan's side of the chatting interface. 

"That's weird," she said, showing the screen to Ethan. "Ugh. I think my phone might be broken." The color drained out of Ethan's face. "What's wrong?" Jesse asked. 

"Oh, I just- just hope you don't have a, a phone virus or something," he said quickly. "That would be bad."

Another text appeared, also blank. Her text alert tone sounded garbled, as if her speaker was waterlogged.

"Think I should restart my phone?" 

"Yeah," Ethan said, running a hand through his hair. He fished his own phone from his pocket, tapping on it quickly.

Jesse's finger drifted for the power button when another text appeared. 

he's lying

Jesse frowned, glancing up at Ethan, who was engrossed in his own phone. 

What? She typed.

he loves you, jesse

but he'd never tell you the truth

Jesse felt a chill down her spine as the text bubble flashed, glitching. Who is this? she typed. 

that doesn't matter. 

think of it this way

things are about to get very interesting

trust me.

Jesse cleared the conversation, shutting her phone off as fast as she could. She folded her hands in her lap and looked up at Ethan, half-expecting him to be grinning at her, laughing. Half expecting him to be perpetrating some great prank, something meant to catch her off guard. 

But Ethan was just looking somberly at his phone, grinding his teeth and tapping agitatedly on the tabletop with one hand. 

"Uh, Ethan," Jesse said quietly, pulling her bag closer to her. "I've... I've got to run."

Ethan looked up, disappointment crossing his eyes followed by- what was that? What was that expression that so quickly vanished? Relief?

"Oh, no- really?" he said quickly, standing up as she did. 

"Yeah," Jesse said, not meeting his eye. "I've... it's school stuff. S-sorry- I just remembered."

She turned her back to him, walking away before he could ask any more questions. She felt nauseous, guilty, as if she'd played a particularly mean trick. 

And Ethan watched her go, sitting slowly back down. He glanced at his phone, sitting on the table. It closed out of the chatting app without a touch, opening Ethan's notes instead. 

hope i didn't overdo it... she'll be back though, the phone typed. 

Ethan hung his head, locking his jaw bitterly. His eyes lingered up to the phone. The screen was going berserk now, flipping wildly through applications at random. Ethan scowled, shoving the phone off his table. It fell to the ground with a crash- the screen shattered in a firework explosion of blue sparks. 

A/N:

Hi! I don't usually do Author's Notes, but I wanted to thank you for reading if you've made it this far :D I'm sorry if this is a little slow, but trust me, things are about to get REALLY interesting. 

Anyway, if you liked it so far, let me know what you think, and please make sure to leave a vote!

Thanks!