Chapter 39: Chapter 37

The first scent that hit my nose was Ethan’s earthy cologne. But I couldn’t feel the warmth of his body. I opened my eyes and sat up to see that he wasn’t in my room. Instead, his jacket was comfortably draped over me.

He left.

I thought he would at least say goodbye in the morning and then leave. I felt tears brim my eyes as I hugged his jacket. Why was this happening to me? Why was I letting this happen to me?

I should have done something to stop mom, even if it meant crossing the limits. At least, then I could have left with the satisfaction of knowing that I tried.

I tried to remember the last glance I had taken at Ethan. He had kissed my forehead delicately and I looked up to smile at him and snuggled closer to him.

That was it. That was when I decided to shut my eyes and let sleep take over me. I shouldn’t have. I should have stayed up and talked to him all night and then somehow convinced him to stay for a while in the morning.

But I didn’t.

And now, I wasn’t going to see him for who knows how long.

Not just him. I’m going to be away from Erica, Abby, Michael and Jared. I’ve become close to them in such little time.

The huge lump in my throat was beginning to hurt more and more by the minute. Okay, no. Crying wasn’t going to solve anything. I just had to control myself

I took in a deep breath, which probably wasn’t a good idea since Ethan’s jacket was enveloped around me. I peeled it off me and walked over to my washroom to freshen up.

Packing up the last few tit-bits such as my tooth brush, I heard the doorbell ring and glanced outside my window to see Erica’s car parked in my driveway. I shut my eyes and decided to make my way down. I saw Erica and my mom talking while Abby was about to approach the stairs. She saw me and smiled, running up to hug me.

“Please don’t go,” she said on my neck.

“Pease don’t make this harder for me,” I mumbled, looking at my mom.

Erica came up, too.

“Michael and Jared will be here soon,” Erica said as Abby let go of me.

“Yeah,” Abby agreed. “Michael wanted to get you a farewell present. Don’t worry; it’s not tacky earrings or a dress. I made it clear to him not to get any of that.”

“Thank you for that,” I said with a tight smile.

“Um,” Erica said. “I don’t know how to say this.”

“Is it…that?” Abby questioned with raised eyebrows.

Erica nodded. “Ethan-he-um, he can’t come today.”

“He doesn’t want to,” I corrected her. “I understand. He was here last night. He told me.”

“He slept over?” Abby asked, her voice dropping down a notch as she took a glance at my mom shuffling in the kitchen. I had no idea what she was doing since it was empty.

“Sort of,” I said.

“Sort of?” Erica whispered loudly.

“Not that way!” I exclaimed.

Abby opened her mouth to say something but the doorbell beat her to it.

“Michael’s here!” Abby said cheerfully and skipped down the stairs.

Abby opened the door and I heard Jared’s voice. Erica and I went down the stairs.

Mom pulled me aside. “Is this…?” she trailed off, nodding towards Jared.

I nodded, understanding what she was asking. Jared was her ex-husband’s son.

“Wow,” she breathed.

She stared at him for a moment, as if she was looking for a resemblance between him and my dad. “Alright kids,” she piped in. “I’m going to go upstairs and re-check on everything. It was nice seeing all of you.” She turned to face me. “The taxi will be here soon. Have you finished packing?”

I nodded. She excused herself and went upstairs, leaving the five of us in silence. Abby nudged Michael’s shoulder and gave him a pointed look. He nodded and looked at me.

“I got you something.”

He reached into his bag and pulled out something that looked like a photo frame.

“It’s not something big,” he said, giving it to me with a shrug. “It was Abby’s idea, actually. I literally just framed the picture.”

I stared down at the huge frame in my hand. It was a photograph of the six of us when we had gone camping. Jared was lying on the grassy floor with his hands and legs spread out in front of all of us and next to Abby, who was crouching and had an arm stretched out to hold the camera to take the picture. I was sitting behind Jared with my legs crossed in front of me and Ethan was using my shoulder as an arm rest while crouching on his feet next to him. Erica was next to Ethan with her elbow propped on Jared’s belly, making it look like she was going to plunge it into his stomach, any minute, with force to hurt him. Next to Erica, Michael was sitting simply with a smile on his face.

There was a heart drawn between me and Ethan with a red sharpie. The word ‘Chemistry’ was written under it in Ethan’s handwriting.

I couldn’t stop myself. Tears had already formed in my eyes as I stared back up at Michael. He didn’t say anything. Just took a step forward and pulled me in an embrace.

“I love it. Thank you,” I said, my voice muffled by his shoulder.

A beat later, I felt Abby, Jared and Erica’s arms around us, too. My shoulder’s shook as I let it all out. I heard someone else sniff and to my surprise, it was Erica crying and not Abby. Abby did join us, though.

“Ashley,” I heard mom’s call out followed by footsteps, making us pull apart. “Oh. Sorry to interrupt you.” I wiped my face and stepped apart from the little circle we had formed. “The taxi is here,” she said.

“I’ll just-I’ll go get my bags,” I said and started to walk up the stairs.

“We’ll help,” Jared said and followed me with Michael. They took my luggage along with mom’s and left it near the taxi. The driver busied himself with the suitcases and began to load them in the trunk. Mom was in the house rummaging through her handbag and re-checking if the passport and ticket were in place.

I turned to face them with a sigh. “This is it.”

Abby nodded.

“This isn’t it,” Erica said, putting emphasis on the word ‘it.’ “We’ll still be in touch.”

“Yeah, of course,” I mumbled.

“Ashley,” mom called from behind me.

“Yes?”

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” she asked, glancing at Erica, Abby, Jared and Michael once and then back at me.

What now? I thought. Out loud, I said, “Sure.”

I waited for her to say something but she was concentrating on the pavement. “Is something wrong?”

She looked up at me. “I wanted to talk to you about our living arrangements.”

“Now?” I asked, looking back to see the four of them involved in a conversation.

“Yes,” she said sternly.

I stared at her for a minute. “Alright,” I said, “Go ahead.”

“I’m sure you will love it there. It’s a wonderful place,” she said. She was repeating the same thing to me all over again. ‘It’s a lovely place! You’ll make friends easily! It’s an excellent place for education!’

“I’m sure it is,” I said, hoping she would catch the trace of sarcasm.

“Well, I know how badly you want to stay here. You’ve made lovely friends,” she said, nodding in their direction.

“I know,” I agreed.

“That’s why I talked to your father.”

“I’m sorry, what?” I questioned with wide eyes.

“I talked to your father,” she repeated.

“Yeah, I get that part,” I said quickly. “Why, exactly, did you do that?”

“I requested if he would be fine with letting you live with him,” she explained. “He has agreed.”

I gawked at her. I couldn’t believe this. She was so very persistent to drag me to Australia with her and now, all of a sudden she wants me to stay here? I turned to look at Jared. Did he know about this? Would staying with him make things uncomfortable or awkward? Or would it be the opposite? I looked back at mom, who was patiently waiting for me to process all of this.

“What made you change your mind?” I asked.

“Well.” she sighed. “When you were out yesterday, Abby and Erica came over to talk to me. They tried to convince me to let you stay. I must say Abby can be very persuasive. They reasoned out well with me and that’s when I decided to let you stay here. I didn’t tell them that yet. You can go ahead and do that.”

I was becoming emotional. Tears were about to roll down my cheeks any minute. I reached forward and pulled mom in for a hug. “Mom…” I trailed off, not knowing what to say.

“You don’t have to say anything,” she whispered. “I didn’t want to be the bad guy in your story. What kind of a mother would I be if I pulled my child away from happiness?”

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“You’re welcome,” she said and pulled away, wiping a tear on her cheek. “Well, I better get going. I sent your things to your dad’s place; all you need to take with you is your suitcase.”

“I’m going to miss you a lot, mom,” I said and hugged her again.

“Okay, enough with the melodrama,” she said with a short laugh.

I laughed and turned to see the four of them staring at us with curiosity. “I’m going to go tell them.”

“I have some news,” I said, approaching them.

“Good or bad?” Jared asked.

“You can decide that on your own,” I said with a small smile.

A/N- I know I always apologize for updating late but I actually wrote this chapter long ago. I had to take an urgent trip to my hometown because my grandmother had met with an accident and I didnt have access to Internet so I couldn't update, I'm so sorry.

A lot of you had already guessed this or suggested it. So yay for that and NO, the book is not over yet, I still have about 2 more chapters left ;)

Also, I have some great news! A user named wampirebelieber has decided to translate this book in Turkish! So, check that out and spread the word!

If any of you want to translate it to another language, you can do so but just make sure to send me a personal message and mention that the original version is written by me :)

Well, that's all I have to say for now :P Byeeee! Love you all <3