Beautiful people // Ethan Dolan (2)

The plot thickens

Ethan's POV

I heard the plate hit the floor and flinched. I wiped the icing out of my eyes and slung the pieces of cake to the floor before turning to follow Haley to try and explain what happened. I made it about halfway down the hallway before I was all but body blocked by Jaelyn.

"Don't even think about." She said holding her hands in front of her.

"Just let me talk to her, explain what happened." I said, trying to get around her.

"That is definitely not happening."

"But-"

"Shut your mouth. I don't have all the details but I don't need them to know that you majorly fucked up."

Jaelyn's glare was vicious and I knew that she was not above punching me in the face if I tried to get around her, but the only thing on my mind was getting Haley to listen to me. Getting frustrated, I stared at Jaelyn and considered moving her out of the way. As if she could read my mind, she widened her stance and her eyes hardened. She didn't need to speak for me to know what she was trying to say... Try it and see what happens. Behind her, I saw Anisa move from the couch to stand in front of Haley's door, sensing the tension between me and her friend. Jaelyn took a step forward and came almost toe to toe with me, not the least bit intimated and every bit furious.

"I'm going to say this once, and only once. This is the second time you've fucked up. That's two times too many. So until Haley says otherwise, your boyfriend privileges have been revoked. Any contact from you will go through me first. You will not spam her with text messages and voicemails about how sorry you are or how it's not what she thinks. You will not show up here or ambush her anywhere else." Jaelyn paused, raising her chin at me and lowering her voice to a deadly tone before speaking again.

"You are going to take your ass home and wait for Haley to decide when and if she wants to speak to you. You are going to give her time to deal with the fact that her boyfriend, who she trusted, not only lied to her but cancelled date plans to be with his ex. And you're going to do as I say because if you don't, I will personally put the last nail in your coffin and and do everything I can to convince my best friend that you are not worth the heartache."

When I first met Jaelyn, I knew that I'd need to stay on her good side. More importantly, I knew that I'd need to earn her trust. Any man who thought his girls' best friend didn't have some kind of say in his relationship was fooling himself, and Jaelyn reminded me of that a few months ago when the first Claire situation went down. Looking at Jaelyn, my stomach sank like I'd swallowed ten bricks. I'd just started to earn her trust back, but now there was only fire and disdain in her eyes.

I knew fighting her was no use. Even if I managed to get past her and Anisa without Jaelyn calling the cops or severely injuring me, Haley didn't want to see me. She didn't know everything, but just like Jaelyn, she didn't need to. The bottom line was that I lied to her. Again. Even worse was that I cancelled time with her to be with Claire instead, regardless of what happened when I saw her. Jaelyn was right, I shouldn't be here. It wasn't fair to Haley.

Defeated, I took a step back and looked at Haley's bedroom door again. Anisa was still in front it, looking at me with a mix of anger and pity. I swallowed the lump in my throat and started to turn towards the front door, but Jaelyn cleared her throat.

I turned around, waiting for her to rip into me again. Instead, she did a lot worse. She held out her hand and gestured to it with a nod.

"Your spare key," she said, not a hint of sympathy in her voice.

I felt the air leave my body like she'd punched me in the chest. I stood there and stared at her feeling like she just asked me to hand over one of my kidneys. She raised her eyebrow impatiently, her hand still waiting. Reluctantly, I fished my keys out of my pocket and removed the spare from the ring. I gripped it tightly in my hand and hovered my fist over her open palm. My voice broke as I choked out what I needed to say, dropping the key in her hand.