Her words hurt. She’d told me she was done with me before, but this? This felt rawer. This felt more real. This…this hurt like a semi-truck going one hundred miles per hour.
I wanted to say something, to defend myself, but I knew there was nothing left to say at this point. We were a disaster from day one, and this, this was the final explosion. This was it. After this…there would be nothing. Nothing but an emptiness that I’d never be able to shake. Kelsey said I ruined her? Hah, fuck that.
She ruined me.
She ruined me, and until I met her, I didn’t even know someone could ruin me.
“You were a mistake, Levi Harlen,” Kelsey said straightforwardly, staring at me in the eyes, not even blinking as the rain pelted her. “You were a mistake, and I’m never going to fall prey to you again.” She lifted a hand, all of her fingers except one curling to make a fist. The last finger she held straight up; her middle finger. Kelsey flipped me off as she walked away, and I watched her go, fighting the urge to run to her, to grab her, to fight for her.
I watched her leave with a sinking hole in my heart. That girl knew exactly what to say to break me. It was a power no other girl had before now. Kelsey had stormed into my life, demanded everything of me, and then, just when I’d grown used to her, she did a one-eighty and left.
A mistake. I was a mistake.
I’d like to call her a mistake, but I just couldn’t. I might’ve been a liar, but not when it came to things like that. Kelsey wasn’t a mistake of mine. She was the one thing I never wanted to take back.
She was it for me.
Chapter Twenty-Five – Kelsey
Pure, unadulterated fury coursed through my veins during the walk back to the dorm. I was soaking wet by the time I got there, from my head to my feet. Even my shoes were soaked through, thanks to me walking in puddles because I didn’t care where the hell I walked. I was already miserable inside, so why not add a whole lot of wetness to the equation? Seemed a logical thing, at least in my mind. Why not be miserable all around?
That guy. Oh, the fucking nerve of him. How could Levi look me in the eye and tell me that it was all Dean? Even if it was true, it was a little too late for that now, wasn’t it? If it really was Dean, he should’ve told me all those weeks ago, back when I first confronted him over this.
And to claim what he did last year was a mistake? Holy fuck, that was putting it lightly, didn’t he think? Making Mel, who was already shattered from Dean’s betrayal, fall for him, sleep with him, only to break her heart again, was a mere mistake? If that was a mistake, then I was sure Ash coming into my car covered in the blood of an unknown person was also a mistake. If everything we did that was wrong was a mistake, my life would be full of them.
Including every little thought, every hour I spent with Levi. All of it was a mistake. That much, I wasn’t exaggerating on.
I decided to take the elevator all the way up. A few other students got on—these ones smart. They had rain jackets and umbrellas, which they were currently trying to put away. I watched them as I dripped onto the floor, frowning to myself, knowing I’d never be one of them. My life would never be that easy. No, mine had to be full of the drama.
Drama, drama, drama. I hated it, really.
Once I was back in the dorm room, I shed my soaking wet clothes, tossing them in the hamper of dirty clothes. I’d have to do laundry tonight so the other clothes didn’t get moldy or extra smelly because of the water, but that was fine. I’d been putting it off for ages now. If there was one thing I hated about being away at college, it was having to do my own laundry.
And Levi. Laundry and Levi were two things I could do without.
My phone was a little wet, but luckily the case had saved it. I wiped it on my sheets a few times and pressed the home button; the screen lit up, the phone perfectly fine. Thank God. I really didn’t need to beg either of my parents for a new phone right now, considering I hadn’t spoken to them in a while.
Yeah, we’d forgone our weekly updates a while ago. Call me childish, but I just…let’s just say there were too many other things going on in my life, I didn’t need to add their divorce to the pile.
After I changed into some dry clothes, I sat on my bed, crossing my legs. I didn’t want to see my parents, but that would have to change. I needed…I needed to get out of here. I needed to breathe air that Levi hadn’t touched, get that asshole out of my mind completely. I needed to lose myself.
When I checked my phone, I saw the date in the top corner. Halloween was coming up. Next week, actually. Perfect partying time when it came to colleges…but like hell I’d stay here and party it up here. No, I had to get out of SCC. I had to go somewhere where I didn’t know a single face—except one.
Ash.
I needed Ash.
I knew
