Dormies |E.C|

|12 - Nightmares|

|Harper|

One Week Later

I gasped as I woke up from another nightmare. I'd been having them off and on for the entire week and I was barely getting any sleep. A bunch of people in the lecture turned to look at me weirdly. I didn't even remember falling asleep in my class... I was too tired to remember most things anyway.

I slid down in my seat and focused back on my professor. Everyone that'd looked at me turned around and went back to what they were doing. I managed to stay awake for the remainder of the lecture.

I was dreading having to leave when the class ended. I was supposed to be meeting up with the squad for lunch. That meant being in the same breathing space as Jason. I had to go because it'd seem suspicious if I didn't.

We were meeting at the restaurant in Rieber Hall and I was the closest to it. I got there quickly and stood off to the side of the entrance. I pulled my phone out to look less awkward and scrolled through Instagram. My stomach turned when I saw a photo Ronnie posted of her and Jason. The caption read 'baby 💘🥰.'

When the fuck had that happened?! She had just rejected him the week before and suddenly they were together? Hell, he probably lied about that just so he could get me feeling sorry for him... I exited out of Instagram and shoved my phone into my pocket. Just when I thought I couldn't feel sicker to my stomach, the new couple themselves strutted up to me, hand in hand.

"Hey, Harper!" Ronnie greeted with the biggest smile on her face. Jason was smiling as well. Fucking prick. I still couldn't look him in the eye.

"Hey, Ron," I smiled back. In that moment, I grew some balls and decided to be petty. If Jason could be so fucking fake, so could I. "Hey, Jase."

He furrowed his brow, probably caught off guard, "'Sup..." Mhm, fuck you.

"So, when did this happen?" I gestured toward their linked hands.

"After the party," Ronnie started. What? They fucking got together right after he... "We had a heart to heart."

I nodded awkwardly and shoved my hands into my pockets. Harper, calm down. I was so mad on the inside, but I had to play it off. Pozzi and Ethan strolled up, saving me from a conversation I didn't want to have.

"Yo! It's the new 'it' couple!" Pozzi said dramatically and wrapped his arms around the two. I wanted to roll my eyes for all of eternity. I fake smiled as Ethan threw his arm around me.

The whole time we were sitting in the restaurant, I was uncomfortable. More than I'd been the whole week. It was merely because Ronnie was with someone so awful and she was unaware of it.

Fuck that. I wasn't gonna just let her get hurt by him too.

"Hey, Ron, can you come to the ladies room with me?" I asked, interrupting a conversation I had no part in. I hadn't talked much the entire time.

"Sure," she replied and we excused ourselves. We got to the bathroom and I checked all of the stalls to make sure nobody else was in there. "Harper, what's going on?"

I took a deep breath, "I need to talk to you about Jason."

Her brows knit, "What about him?" I wasn't gonna go all out and tell her exactly what'd happened; I'd take myself out of the story.

"I heard that he did something really bad..."

"Like what?"

"H-he took advantage of a girl at that party last week," I felt the uncomfortableness wash over my body, thinking about the fact that it was me he'd taken advantage of. I crossed my arms tightly.

"What're you trying to say? That he raped her or something?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes," Even though I hadn't told her it was me, it was relieving to get that out to someone.

Ronnie scoffed, "Whoever told you that is a liar. Jason might've slept around a lot, but he isn't a rapist."

She wasn't believing me. Shit, no... "Ronnie... he-"

"-Why is it that as soon as I get into a relationship with him, you try to mess it up? Weren't you the main one saying I should give him a chance?"

"I'm not trying to mess anything up," I tried to reason with her, "Your boyfriend isn't who you think he is."

"Why don't you just worry about your relationship and leave mine the fuck alone?" She was being so fucking hostile. They'd only been together for like a week and she barely even liked him before that. It was pissing me off.

I scoffed, "Whatever. I tried to fucking warn you." I brushed past her and went back to the table we were eating at. Ethan and Jason were laughing and talking, which made me cringe. Pozzi was off flirting with some girl at another table. "Ethan, can we go home?"

His laughter stopped and he grabbed my hand, "Why? What's wrong?"

"I have a headache," I sighed. It was a lie, but I just needed to get out of there.

"Oh, okay, we can go," He stood up and grabbed his plate, "Me and Jason are gonna go empty these plates and then I'll be ready, okay?"

I nodded and the two gathered our empty plates. I walked out of the restaurant and stood by the entrance. A few minutes later, Ethan finally came outside, but he looked upset.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Jason did something that pissed me off. It's nothing."

"What'd he do?" Jason pissing someone off wasn't a new thing, but Ethan usually didn't get that upset over the shit he said or did.

"Just running his mouth about bullshit as usual," he replied and we started walking, "It's irrelevant."

It didn't seem too irrelevant since he was upset, but I didn't want to pry so I left it alone. He and I walked to the parking lot in silence and got in his car. We had similar schedules on Mondays so we rode to and from school together.

Ethan was kind of tense the entire way home. I'd glance over at him from time to time but he never looked at me. Had I done something wrong? All I did was ask what was going on...

When we got home, Ethan went straight to our room. I took off my jacket and shoes by the door and went to stand in our bedroom doorway. Ethan was changing for work. I knew he had a shift that day, but it wasn't for another hour.

"You going in early?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied dryly.

"Why?"

He slipped his shoes on and stood up, "I'm still pissed off and I just wanna take my mind off of it."

"What did he say that was such a big deal, Ethan?" I needed to know at that point. He was still too upset.

"Nothing important. I'll get over it as soon as I start working," He threw his jacket back on and kissed my forehead. I just sighed and let him leave without more questions.

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