Forward, Without Him Chapter 02

Forward, Without Him Chapter 02

I knew Lexi had a boyfriend once she got to New York. That part didn’t surprise me.
What I didn’t know was that her boyfriend and my boyfriend were the same person.
She texted me constantly. Every day. Sharing little updates about this amazing guy she was seeing.
I was home grinding through essays and AP coursework, and every weekend I’d unlock my phone to a wall of unread messages from her.
“My boyfriend sat in on my sociology lecture today. The professor called on him randomly and he completely blanked. I’m dead.”
“He’d been eyeing this vintage turntable for a while, so — drumroll — I bought it for him.”
“We got a hotel room last night. He’s so hot. Hey Taylor, have you and Ethan ever actually done it?”
I texted back.
“No.”
Ethan and I had made it official on Prom night. After that it was straight into the chaos of application season. There wasn’t exactly a lot of time for anything else.
And then the whole mess with my acceptance happened, and that killed whatever mood was left.
When Lexi heard Ethan and I hadn’t gone all the way, she sent back a voice note that was practically a performance.
“No?? No way!!”
“Taylor, don’t you know? If a guy doesn’t even want to sleep with you, he’s not actually into you.”
“Oops, did I say something wrong? I swear I’m not trying to start anything…”
Looking back, every single one of those messages was loaded.
I was too stressed out from applications to catch it at the time.
I just changed the subject.
“Anyway. You move fast — you got a boyfriend your first week of school at some party?”
“What does he look like? Send a pic. Let me see if he’s good enough for you.”
She sent back a laughing emoji.
“One word. Hot.”
“How hot?”
“Hot enough that the second you saw his face, you’d pass out on the spot.”
“But he hates photos, so no pics for you!”
And now, standing outside the apartment watching the two of them together, I genuinely felt a little dizzy.
I pulled out my phone and texted Ethan.
“What are you up to?”
Across the way, his screen lit up. He glanced at it and typed back immediately.
“At the hospital doing shadowing. Completely slammed.”
I held down the nausea and replied.
“Take a pic of the hospital and send it to me.”
Two seconds later, a photo of an ER hallway came through.
Lexi saw his screen light up and leaned in to look.
“Again? Why does she keep bothering you? She’s taking up time that’s supposed to be mine.”
She said it like she was the real girlfriend. Like I was some unhinged stalker.
Ethan pinched her cheek.
“Good thing I’m careful. I got photos of a hospital hallway from an upperclassman ahead of time. Covers it.”
Lexi still wasn’t happy. She pushed a little further.
“You’re that scared of her finding out?”
“You could just… tell her about us. If she really cares about you, if she really thinks of me as her best friend, how could she even be mad?”
Ethan’s expression shifted.
“Don’t. Whatever’s going on between us, she cannot find out. Ever.”
Lexi read his face and switched gears fast, tilting toward him.
“Okay, okay, forget it. Don’t go back to the dorms tonight. Let’s do something fun.”
Her fingers traced lightly across his chest.
Ethan laughed low.
“That desperate? I’ll take care of it tonight.”
He put his arm around her and walked in the opposite direction.
A second later, my phone buzzed. His message.
“ER is slammed. Hospital has strict HIPAA requirements, phone access is limited until this is over. Don’t worry. Love you.”
I read every word. Then I texted my parents.
“Mom, Dad. I’m not going to Columbia. I’m accepting MIT’s offer.”