two doors down (e.d.)

chapter twenty-five

riley~

he never knocked again.

i sat on my bed for 30 minutes, praying to hear his voice.

i felt silly.

i felt foolish.

to ever think he would waste his time with me when there's a whole other party waiting for him.

"we should go meet up with him." elanor says with an evil glint in her eyes

"why?" i ask

i called elanor so she could be here with me to sulk and give me bad advice.

"to see if he's with other girls, obviously."

"but he's single. he can do what he wants." i say and realize how untrue that is.

i want ethan.

"but you guys are like, exclusively talking to each other, right?" she asks, sitting on the edge of her desk chair and leaning forward

"yes?"

"then it's perfect!" she throws her hands up in triumph, "we go meet up with him at the party and spy."

"are we in high school?" i giggle

"loosely," she replies with a smirk

"i feel... wrong doing that." i admit, biting my nails.

"why?"

"because he can do what he wants-"

lies.

"- and i would feel creeped out by someone watching me."

"he doesn't have to know, silly." elanor rolls her eyes

"but isn't trust a big part of a relationship?" i ask, "wouldn't that be breaking his trust?"

"what relationship?" elanor asks, eyebrows raised and ready to cause trouble.

"good point."

...

"el, we look stupid." i scoff and look in my iphone camera once again.

"it's called disguise, genius." she rolls her eyes

i frown at my black lipstick and over dramatic makeup.

"he's going to know it's me," i say

"only if he sees you," el smirks, "the makeup is a backup plan. we'll be hidden the whole time."

"how did you do all this?" i laugh

"i know a guy who lives in this apartment," she shrugs with a playful smile.

we walk up to a building containing four apartments.

they're spread out within a lot that stretches about a mile.

"this is the one?" i ask

"yep," elanor takes a deep breath, holding the door handle, "let's go. take cover as soon as we get in."

i nod nervously and the door swings open.

"woah," i whisper, "that's a lot of people."

"we can find him. it's not as many as it looks."

we quickly ducks under people's legs and scale the wall closely until we come across a staircase.

"oh my god i see him!" i whisper and point across the house, seeing ethan talk with a big guy, holding a red cup.

"and he's drinking." i frown

i thought he quit that.

"dude," elanor hits my arm, looking at a totally different area, "someone's walking over to him."

a tall, blonde girl makes her way over to ethan and i can't help but hate her.

he smiles when he sees her.

a smile i thought was for me.

"oh," i say softly, "but this doesn't mean anything. what if she's just a friend?"

"a friend who sits on his lap?" el says rather loudly and points

the girl has made a point to drape on ethan's lap dramatically, throwing her head back in laughter.

i gulp, wanting to cry.

"he's single." i repeat, more for myself, "and he's aloud to have friends who are girls."

"honey," elanor says, her voice dropping a few notches, "does she look like she's just a friend?"

i turn my head to them again and my mouth drops open at what i see.

he has a hand on her lower back and he's kissing her cheek. she's smiling looking at him all dreamy.

and to think i thought he'd changed.

as soon as i don't want to follow him around like a little puppy, he goes off and gets someone new.

"i'm done," i whisper to elanor, tears stinging my eyes.

i make a break for the door, and i hear elanor call after me.

she's telling me to stop, but i don't.

i keep plowing my way through drunk people until i smack into something hard.

"ow," i stumble back and hold my head.

"riley?"

i look up and see ethan.

still has his hand on the girl.

i look between the two of them and back at ethan once again.

"so i was just a toy?" my voice breaks in the middle, a sign of tears.

"no-" he starts to say, retracting his hand front be blonde.

"stop," i hold up my hand, "you're single. i have no control over you."

"riley let me explain-"

"actually," i cut in, "you're more single than you've ever been."

his lips part a little and hurt flashes his eyes.

i feel eleanor's hands dragging me back and i let them.

once we get outside, i don't hide my tears.

"i thought maybe he was for me," i say and eleanor wipes away the droplets on my cheeks, "but maybe not."

"i honestly didn't even expect this," elanor shakes her head and kicks the ground.

"i thought in my little dream world fantasy," i laugh in between sobs, "that i would come and see him being lonely, or sad, or wanting to turn back for me, but he wasn't. he was drinking and partying, and getting new girls."

"he's going to realize sooner or later that they're not you," elanor says, "and that's his loss."