Chapter 4

Ethan never called that night like he’d promised. Days passed without a word from him.

Instead, he showed up on Chloe’s Instagram.

On a roller coaster, her hands wrapped around his arm. At the zoo, holding out food for a giraffe while she filmed. Outside a movie theater, carrying two drinks beneath a romance poster.

Every post called him her “personal servant.”

She might as well have written, “He’s mine.”

I didn’t comment. I packed.

There was one thing I wanted to do before leaving for Eastmere.

Before our exams, I’d promised myself a few days at the beach if I did well. My scores had exceeded even my own expectations.

I’d earned this.

The trip to Seabrook was paid for with prize money I’d saved from debate competitions. Two nights in a modest hotel, a round-trip flight, and no one to please but myself.

Then I reached the gate.

Chloe was sitting beside Ethan.

He stood when he saw me, a pink backpack slung over one shoulder, her matching carry-on beside his leg. A travel pillow hung from the suitcase handle.

Chloe held nothing but her phone.

“Claire.”

He looked from my bag to my face.

Chloe smiled.

“Don’t look so surprised. Mom and Dad gave me money for a vacation. I didn’t want to go alone, so I brought Ethan.” She nudged him. “Might as well put my servant to work.”

Our parents had bought her a vacation. They hadn’t even asked about my scores.

I looked at Ethan carrying her things with the easy familiarity of a boyfriend, then pulled up my boarding pass.

“Claire, can we talk?” he asked.

I walked past him.

We landed in the same beach town and, thanks to Chloe asking at the gate, they knew my hotel.

By the next afternoon, Ethan was turning up everywhere—bringing me iced coffee, offering to take pictures, reaching for my sunscreen.

No matter how often I told him to leave me alone, he kept coming back.

When I finally stopped wasting my breath, he seemed to take my silence as forgiveness.

On checkout day, my suitcase disappeared.

I’d left it with the front desk while I ate breakfast. When I returned, the attendant couldn’t find it.

He checked the luggage room twice.

Ethan appeared while I was showing the manager a photo of my bag.

“What happened?”

“My suitcase is missing.”

He set down Chloe’s bags.

“Okay. We’ll find it.”

For the next several hours, he searched the lobby, questioned staff, and checked the shuttle pickup area. Chloe offered to look around the pool.

I kept my phone in my hand, watching the time creep toward our flight.

At one point, Ethan brought me water.

“Sit down for a minute. I’m not leaving until we’ve sorted this out.”

I took the bottle.

For a second, I could almost see Ethan—the gentle boy who once blushed when he confessed to me.

Then, near the elevators, I heard him say my name.

“Chloe, it’s been five hours. This isn’t funny anymore. Give Claire her suitcase.”

I stopped.

“She’s fine.”

“She’s been looking all morning.”

“Exactly. She always expects someone to fix everything for her. A little independence won’t hurt.”

I almost laughed.

I’d booked the trip, paid for it, and spent most of it trying to get away from them.

What part of that wasn’t independent?

Ethan sighed.

“She’ll be at Westbridge with me. I can look out for her.”

“You lost the bet, remember? So you have to listen to me. Don’t back out now.”

“Chloe—”

“Let’s see how long it takes her to check the downstairs bathroom.”

A laugh.

“It’s in the last stall. She’ll find it eventually.”

I stepped away before either of them came around the corner.

Downstairs, the last stall was locked from the outside with the latch turned using a coin. A restroom attendant opened it for me.

My suitcase sat beside the toilet.

One wheel rested in a puddle.

I stood there for a moment, looking at it.

Then I checked the contents, wiped the handle, and called a ride to the airport.

I didn’t go back upstairs. I ignored every call and message from Ethan and Chloe.

Mom was waiting when I got home.

“What the hell were you thinking?” she demanded. “Ethan called because you disappeared!”

“I came home.”

“Without telling anyone? Your sister’s been worried sick, and you couldn’t even bother to send a text? How can you be so selfish?”

Dad looked up from the couch.

“You can’t keep doing this, Claire. People have better things to do than chase after you.”

I stood in the doorway with my suitcase.

Neither of them asked why I’d left. Neither bothered to explain why they’d paid for Chloe’s vacation and given me nothing.

I’d expected an excuse, at least. But apparently, they owed me no explanation. I was the only one who had to answer for anything.

How could they overlook their own daughter so completely?

For once, I didn’t try to explain.

I carried my suitcase upstairs.

This time, I packed for Eastmere.

My acceptance had already arrived.

I read the email three times.

Congratulations, Claire.

Beneath it was an invitation to an early summer program, with housing available before the fall semester.

Then I booked a one-way flight.

The morning I left, Mom was at work. Dad had gone out. Chloe was still asleep.

I took one suitcase.

Everything Ethan had given me stayed behind.

At the airport, my phone buzzed.

Ethan: Got your acceptance yet? Told you we’d end up together.

Another message followed.

Ethan: Where are you? I have a surprise for you.

I stood in the boarding line, reading those words.

He still thought I’d changed my application back.

He still thought I was coming with him.

Most of all, he still thought I hadn’t meant it when I said we were done.

The line moved.

I blocked his number, then Chloe’s.

I walked down the jet bridge without looking back.

By the time Ethan found out where I was going, I’d already be gone.

Maybe then he’d finally understand.

We weren’t ending up together.

I’d left him behind.