Beauty and the Beat

Beauty and the Beat (33)

I gulped, lifting my fist to knock on the door. I immediately dropped it back to my side.

I couldn’t face him. I didn’t know what I was even supposed to say. I hadn’t talked to him in so long.

Gulping again, I finally faced my fears and knocked on the door. I held my breath until he finally opened it.

“Hi, Riley,” I greeted with a nervous smile. “Long time no see.”

My brother frowned at me. “What do you want, Sadie?”

I gulped. “I want to talk.”

Riley sighed, moving out of the way and letting me inside his room. He shut the door behind him and then collapsed on his bed.

“What do you want to talk about?” he asked.

“I...” I rubbed my arms up and down even though it wasn’t even cold. “I was wondering if you know where Ethan is staying.”

Riley seemed surprised that I asked him this, and he didn’t say anything right away. I was growing more and more nervous.

“Why would you think I know where he is?” Riley questioned without even looking at me. His tone of voice told me that he did know where he was and he was trying to avoid answering.

“Riley, I know you don’t like that Ethan and I were together,” I whispered, looking down at my feet because I didn’t want to look at him. “But you have to know that I love him. I love him a lot. And I need to see him one more time.”

Riley let out a sigh, stretching out on his bed and looking up at the ceiling. Neither if us wanted to look at each other.

“Please don’t be like mom,” I pleaded. “I can’t have you hate me, too.”

“I don’t hate you,” Riley said, but he still wouldn’t look at me. “I could never hate you, Sadie. You’re my little sister.”

“Please, Riley.” I swallowed down the lump in my throat and wiped at my eyes. “Please... I just want to talk to him one last time.”

Riley let out another sigh and sat up. He finally looked at me, and I could tell he regretted it when he saw I was trying to stop myself from crying.

He let out one last sigh, running his hands through his hair. He then pushed himself up off his bed and began pacing back and forth. I stayed silent.

“Fine,” he finally gave him, picking up a pen and paper from his desk and scribbling something in it. He then handed it to me. “Here. It’s the hotel he’s staying at.”

I looked down at the piece of paper as if it was the golden ticket. And it basically was. This was my golden ticket to seeing Ethan again. 

“Riley...” My tears finally poured over and I wiped them away. “Thank you so much.”

I took off before he could say anything else to me, though I was sure he hadn’t planned on anything else.

I drove to Bennett’s house to pick him up. He wouldn’t let me go by myself, though I told him I was going to talk to Ethan by myself. He wasn’t happy with that, but he accepted it.

After I picked him up, I drove to the hotel Riley had given me after looking up the directions. I was shaking so much on the way there that Bennett asked if he needed to drive for me. I said no, but I wasn’t so sure.

It was a nice hotel, but I wasn’t surprised. Ethan wouldn’t stay somewhere unless it was the best it could possibly be.

I didn’t get out of the car right away. I was too scared. I didn’t know how Ethan would react to seeing me again. I was sure it’d be a good reaction, but I was still scared...