Burned 2 by S.C. Rosemary, S.N. Hawke Read Free Book Online Page B

forced and I didn’t know what else to say.
    Ten minutes later, my phone buzzed.
    “Hey Dana! I’m good, thank you. Hope you are having a good day, too. I am going out of town with my Dad to meet his clients. Sorry I will be busy. Talk to you soon.”
    What the heck was this? I put my phone in the pocket and shove the book into the shelf.  After all the fighting like a perfect duo and kissing like we were on fire last night, Ethan and I should be close like glue now. Instead, we were greeting each other like polite business professionals.
    It could be worse, I comforted myself. He could ignore me or just block me away. Maybe he was busy and maybe he was just being nice. Or maybe everything was fine I was just overthinking it. Oh no, this book was upside down. Darn, I just put five books upside down. I shook my head. I needed to stop thinking or I was going to be malfunctioned like a fried thinking machine.
    The rest of the weekend went by uneventfully. Everything was so quite as if Saturday night took place in a movie screen and I had exited the cinema and gone back to the reality.
    Reality sucked.
    On Monday I got an “I-am-busy,” text from Ethan again. Tuesday was the same.  I was trying to think positively but it was hard to not think that he was avoiding me.
    On Wednesday I got no text. Not that I was surprised. Not at all. I was both mad and sad. I was so close to ask Vicky to take me for a drink after classes. I checked our mail box before getting in the dorm and I saw a small package.
    Ethan’s name was on the sender sticker. I opened it at once, almost breaking my finger nail.  A nicely wrapped jewelry box was inside. I unwrapped and opened it. A set of sapphire earrings revealed itself with shiny starlight. Cleary this came from the same set of the necklace I wore on Saturday. I found a note card attached.
    “Thank you for saving my arse the other night.”
    I chuckled despite my bad mood. “Arse”? Who the heck used that word?
    The worse thing was I didn’t even have my ears pierced. Not that Ethan had noticed that during our past four dates together. Why did Ethan take time to buy matching earrings to mail me a package but didn’t want to talk?  I checked on the sender sticker and saw his address. He lived in one of the graduate student apartments on campus just 20 minutes walking distance from my dorm. Ridicules!
    I stuffed the small package in my backpack and started to walk toward Ethan’s apartment. I didn’t know what I was doing. He might not even be there. But I wanted to see him. I wanted an explanation.  Or at least I could return him this piece of jewelry I could not wear.
    Walking into the apartment’s area, I began to slow down. I was about to go to Ethan’s place unannounced. That didn’t count as stalking, did it? Oh, screw it. I still held the title of his girlfriend. I had rights. Ha, I should go to law school, too.
    I found the building with Ethan’s apartment number. It looked like his suite was on the second floor. I climbed up the steps, feeling my feet getting heavier. I didn’t know what he would say when I knocked on the door. He could think I was bat-shit crazy and slam the door.
    I walked toward the door. The window was open with the blind down. I heard people talking in the room.
    “I don’t know. I didn’t know it’d become like this.” That was Ethan’s voice. He sounded frustrated. 
    “It’s all my fault…” This voice was a bit more distant. I could only make out it was male.
    “I don’t know what I should do now.” Ethan sighed.
    The room went silent, like everything just got drawn in a deep swamp. I knocked on the door before I went suffocated.

Chapter 7
    I heard footsteps coming toward the door. Someone opened it and I saw his blue button-down shirt. I looked up and up some more until my eyes locked with the pair of sapphire eyes. His face was frowning until he registered my image and his frown was replaced by raised eyebrows and a shy smile