Serenity Falls

Chapter 29

I apologise that this chapter isn't very long, but I really couldn't make it any longer and I didn't want it to drag. So sorry about that - the next one will be longer, I promise! :)

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"Olivia! Olivia! Please wait!" Ethan called, as he raced down the stairs. They were littered with couples, most of them making out – a cruel reminder of the situation he had just emerged from. He pushed through the crowd of people in the hallway and rushed out of the door, desperately pursuing Olivia who was now already halfway down the street.

The night was cold, the rush of air feeling bitter on his face as he ran outside. But he was completely oblivious – he failed to feel anything when he was concentrating purely on what Olivia had just seen.

He had to make her understand. Or at least try. The thought of her replaying that scene in her head, getting completely the wrong idea about his feelings, made him feel sick to his stomach.

"Please, I swear, it’s not what you think!" Ethan called desperately. It was dark, but he could vaguely make out the silhouette of a figure moving quickly up the street, which he recognised immediately. He was now sprinting down the street in a desperate attempt to catch up with Olivia.

At that moment, she spun round. Tears were streaming down her face and her eye make-up was smudged in a dark shadow under her eye. She wiped one away from her cheek fiercely as she looked at Ethan. ‘I get it,’ she said, her voice cracking. "It’s okay. You and Sammi are good together. You’re a really good couple. And I swear, it’s okay. I’m okay."

"Look, I’m not back with Sammi," Ethan said, sighing. "Back there, I just... I don’t know. We were both drunk and... yeah. I don’t really know what I was thinking."

"Honestly, don’t worry," Olivia said, turning around again and continuing to walk, but slower this time. "You obviously like her, and you don’t need to pretend that you don’t. It’s fine. I swear."

Why had he done this? He had just made probably the most stupid decision of his life. From the moment he first set eyes on Sammi when she returned, he had known that the original spark was just not there anymore. So why had he even agreed to come to this party?

He should’ve known that she would try to pull something like this. It hadn’t been hard to see that she hadn’t moved on, despite the fact that the entire time she had been gone, they had been broken up. Even though he wouldn’t admit this, ever since Olivia’s first day at Serenity Falls, he had barely given his and Sammi’s past relationship a thought. There was just no point, when he had had something better standing right in front of him.

"It’s not fine," Ethan said, stepping in front of her so she had to stop walking. He placed his hands on her shoulders gently, but she shrugged them off. "I’m so sorry, Olivia."

"Don’t be," she answered, shaking her head as she averted her gaze to the concrete ground. "I’m just being stupid, okay?" Another tear rolled down her cheek as her voice wavered with emotion. "I’ll be fine."

"Please, just believe me! I’m not back together with Sammi. We were both drunk..."

"Exactly, Ethan. You’re drunk now. You probably don’t even know what you’re saying. Just go back inside, yeah? I told you, if you want to be with Sammi, then you can. I’m fine."

"I swear," Ethan said, a pang of guilt striking his insides. How could he have let this happen? Why had he let Sammi get into his mind like that? She had known what she was doing all along, despite how drunk she was. She was so possessive over him, not able to let him go. He vowed never to go near her again, but that didn’t stop the worry that was building up inside him. Is it too late? "You mean way more to me than Sammi ever did. And that’s my sober self speaking."

In normal circumstances, a statement as heartfelt as that would’ve made Olivia’s knees go weak and her insides jump for joy. No one had ever said something like that to her before, and she was well aware of it. From the moment she had met Ethan, she knew that he was different, and that was why she had been so happy to finally get to know him. He was better than everyone else at Serenity Falls.

But everything had changed and after what she had just witnessed, all she experienced was sheer pain that felt like it was consuming her from the inside out.

"Please, believe me."

She wanted to. She sincerely wanted to. But all those previous doubts in her mind had now come back to haunt her, and it felt like her whole world was crashing down, crushing her underneath a pile of rubble. Since she had moved to Serenity Falls, there had been nothing but trouble in her life. And now... she was beginning to regret her decision.

"Olivia?" Ethan was looking at her now, the desperation evident in his eyes. It was building up inside of him – he couldn’t face losing someone as genuine as Olivia. And now, he may have thrown that all away... just for some stupid little girl who thought he loved.

Love. He hadn’t even known the meaning of the word.

It seemed as if all the alcohol had completely disappeared from his system – all the pain he was feeling now was pure, sharp, like a knife. There was nothing to numb it, nothing to cushion the blow. But maybe that was how it needed to be. He needed to experience it like this, however much it hurt. It would make the realisation stronger.

And the pain... the continuous, never-ceasing pain – the realisation that he may have just lost the first girl he had ever truly loved – was almost too much to bear.

"Ethan, I..." she swallowed, wiping her eye once more. She shook her head lightly, a strand of her brown hair falling in front of her face. He had to resist the urge inside of him to push it away from her eyes. "I need some time to think."

And with that, she continued walking, hugging herself tightly, shivering in the cold night air. She had not brought a jacket with her, which meant there was nothing to stop the bitter wind from biting at her skin. When getting ready, she had just assumed that she could get a ride back with Ethan. After all, she would never have anticipated something like this happening.

As she walked, briskly and yet with an air of sadness about her, Ethan just stood still, watching her go. He didn’t want to make things any worse than they already were, although he wasn’t even sure if that was possible. The image of Olivia’s tear-stained face was burned into his mind, and he didn’t know how long it would stay there. The realisation of him being the sole cause of that amount of negative emotion was overpowering.

Have I lost my chance?

He watched as she rounded the corner and then disappeared from his line of sight.

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I know some of you guys had a fit at the last chapter, so you probably will this one too :p I feel mean for doing this, but it's part of the story, okay? Remember to vote and I love you all!

PS: Some of you were asking about Fred, and he IS coming back in the next chapter. So sit tight for that :D