She straightens and regains her self-control.
“Ethan, listen to me. You need to act normal for your own good. I need you to keep your cool and everything can go ahead like I’ve planned it.”
“What do mean ‘like you’ve planned it’, planned what?” I ask incredulously.
She takes a deep breath and carries on. “Once your scholarship’s confirmed and I know the balance of your tuition, I can use the money in our savings account to pay the whole thing off. There should be a little left over to get you by, but it would probably be wise for you to get a part-time job to subsidize it. As soon as the money clears you’ll be fine. You won’t need your father or me for anything. We can both break free of him.”
I stop pacing and stare at her blankly. She actually thinks this is going to work; I can see it on her face.
“If he finds out about this, Ethan, I don’t know what he’ll do but it will be bad, I can promise you that.”
I shake my head. I’m done. I need to leave now; it’s all just too much to take in.
“I’m going to Blair’s…I can’t handle this,” I tell her, ignoring her pleas as I pass her and walk straight out to my car without looking back.
My life is one giant clusterfuck. I need to go and see the only thing that I’ve ever managed to get right. I turn the key in the ignition and pull out of my drive. I need to go find Blair.
“HI IT’S ETHAN, you know what to do…Beep” I end the call again. I’ve already left a voice message and sent two texts. At this point I feel like I’m bordering on stalker status, but it’s not like him to make plans and then just bail without word. He knows how much I hate that. I decide that I should just call Casey and catch a ride with her to the movie theater; Ethan can meet me there if he ever decides to get back to me. I call Casey and ten minutes later we’re en route.
“So what, he just didn’t show up?” she asks as we turn off my street.
“Yeah, he’s not answering his calls or my texts, either. Hopefully he’ll call me back soon.”
“I’m sure he will,” she says, but I have a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
What if something’s happened with his dad? I should have just driven over to his house; instead, I’ve stranded myself without a car by riding with Casey. The more I think about it the more panicked and convinced I am that I’m correct. God, I hope I’m not.
We make idle small talk until we reach the movie theater. I’m anxious and I think she can tell. We stand in line to buy our tickets as the others spot us and make their way over. My eyes do a quick scan of the group but I can’t see Ethan with them.
I sigh audibly as Jackson reaches my side.
“Gee thanks, nice to see you too.” He sounds offended but when I look up, his lips are quirked up at the corners and I realize he’s just teasing.
“Sorry Jackson, you know I’m always happy to see you. Hey, has Ethan been in touch with you? He was supposed to be picking me up but he never showed. I had to catch a ride with Casey.” I motion over to where Casey and Brie are standing, studying the different ice creams at the B&J counter.
“Nah, sorry, I ain’t spoken to him today.”
“Okay, never mind.” I attempt to smile but it’s forced as we head to our screen.
The opening credits have just started when I feel my cell vibrating in my purse. I pull it out to see it’s Ethan calling and I don’t think twice as I press accept and say hello. The whole theater throws glares at me and some guy shouts out that cell phones aren’t allowed to be on in here. I resist the urge to flip him off as I whisper into the receiver for Ethan to hold on.
I make my way down the row of chairs, all of the annoyed moviegoers looking like they want to kill me for making them move so that I can squeeze my way out. I’m almost at the end when I kick a guy’s drink over.
“Shoot! I’m so sorry,” I say to him and we both bend at the same time to pick up the cup. We smack heads so hard that I’m pretty sure I really do see stars. We both bring our hands up to our heads and I knock his popcorn from his other hand.
“Jesus, you should come with a health warning!” he snaps, and my cheeks start burning. I can hear Ethan shouting down my cell, asking what’s going on and am I alright.
I apologize to the guy and offer to pay for his food and drink but he just shakes his head and shoos me away. I step out into the aisle and make my way to the exit so I can finally take Ethan's call.
“Okay, sorry about that baby. Where are you? The movie’s already started, what happened?”