To My Dearest Enemy

Desperate Measures

September 30

Ethan rang the doorbell and stepped back patiently. He had to talk to Stella. He was desperate for answers. He was rehearsing the statement JD instructed him to say in his head. The door opened shortly, and Ash was standing on the other side.

"Hey, is Stella home?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah, she's in her room. Is Alana with you?" Ash looked over Ethan's shoulder.

"No, why?" Ethan replied.

"Stella said Alana was coming over." Ash said.

"Oh. No, just me." Ethan said.

"Well, Stella's in her room." Ash replied as she stepped aside. Ethan walked in.

"Thanks." He said before he walked up the stairs. He walked to Stella's bedroom and knocked on the partially closed door.

"Come in!" Stella called out. Ethan pushed open the door and walked in. Stella was lying on her bed and looked up. "Oh, hey. I didn't know you were coming." Stella sat up.

"I guess I have to make this quick if Alana is coming. I know you left your house after Matt left and you went somewhere with someone. I was on my way home from my track meet and saw you. I've been thinking of all of these theories as to why you left, where you went, and who you were with, but I'm totally stumped. I don't wanna believe you had anything to do with Hayden's disappearance." Ethan stated. Stella sighed. She was caught, again.

"I hooked up with a guy." Stella said.

"Wait, after you and Matt made up? What the fuck!" Ethan's eyes widened.

"Yeah, it was a mistake but it's not gonna happen again. I don't know what Matt and I are, but I'm not gonna hook up with anyone again." Stella replied. Ethan sighed.

"Well, I'm glad to know that you didn't do anything to Hayden, not that I suspected you, but that was shitty." Ethan replied.

"I know! I know. You and Ash both said that. Is that all you're here for?" Stella sighed.

"Who was it?" Ethan asked. JD wanted him to find out the person's name.

"Some guy. He doesn't go to our school. He's from Haverford." Stella replied.

"What's his name?" Stella wasn't sure why Ethan was asking, and it was very strange.

"Nolan Van Acker." Stella said.

"Oh." Ethan said. The name didn't ring a bell. But JD did say the person was close to another friend of his. He looked down as he thought for a moment. Alana did tell her friends she was seeing a guy.

"You know him?" Stella raised an eyebrow.

"Is he dating Alana?" Ethan looked up. Stella bit her bottom lip and nodded.

"I didn't know that when we hooked up. When I found out, I told him we couldn't hook up anymore. They had gone on two dates before we hooked up. Please don't say anything to Alana. I would never intentionally hurt Lanzi like that and if I had known who he was, I wouldn't have hooked up with him." Stella cried out.

"Okay." Ethan said. JD was going to love this, but Ethan was going to hate telling JD, since it would most likely result in Alana finding out about Nolan and Stella.

———

"So what's so urgent that you needed to meet with me when I was headed out the door?" Alana asked as she sat down in a chair beside Jill. Stella wouldn't care if she was late, but she hated being late.

"Nolan. He's the guy that called the ambulance the night of my accident." Jill stated. Alana's eyes widened.

"Are you sure? You said you couldn't see the guy." It wasn't that Alana didn't want to believe Nolan was the guy that saved Jill's life, it was that she had no clue why Nolan would be in Maplewood on a school night.