The College List I Crossed Out To Escape His Shadow Chapter 06

The College List I Crossed Out To Escape His Shadow Chapter 06

I leaned against my dorm balcony railing, tapping my fingers against the metal.

“Nothing, really. We just… ran out of things to talk about, I guess.”

My mom was quiet for a moment. “Fine. I won’t butt in.”

“But I heard from Diane that he’s planning to apply to grad school from Westbrook to your

university.”

My hand stilled.

“He’s at Westbrook?”

“Yes. You didn’t know?”

I don’t remember what else my mom said after that.

I only remember pulling up the Instagram account I’d muted three years ago.

He had gone to Westbrook.

But why?

That was never his dream school.

And hadn’t he interrogated me over and over to make sure we wouldn’t end up at the same

place?

A hollow laugh escaped me.

There was no way he’d followed me there.

After we hung up, my mom sent another message.

come home and see him?]

[Sasha, are you sure you don’t want to

I glanced at our chat history, frozen on the day we’d fought three years ago, and typed back. [Mom, he has my number.]

If he wanted to see me, he could reach out directly.

I’d muted his posts. I hadn’t blocked him.

But in over two years, he’d never sent a single message.

I genuinely couldn’t figure out what he wanted, going to the school I’d said I’d attend, then asking my mom about my schedule like this.

I didn’t go home for fall break.

But after my volunteer shift ended, I ran into him at Ridgeview Mall.

The second I saw him, my body reacted before my mind did, I turned and walked away.

I don’t want to see him.

That was the loudest thought in my head.

I was weaving through the crowd toward the escalator when he caught up.

His hot hand closed around my arm from behind.

“Sasha.”

I didn’t look back. I yanked my arm free and kept walking.

“Sasha!”

He grabbed me again, tighter. “Can we talk? Please.”

I stopped, fixed my eyes on his hand, and said coldly, “Let go.”

“Sasha…”

His grip tightened, then released when he met my stare.

He lowered his head, his eyes reddening. “You told me you were applying to Westbrook. Why did you change it at the last second?”

I stepped away, face blank. “No reason.”

He jogged to keep up, angling his head to catch my eyes, talking fast.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said those things to you that day. I wanted to apologize this whole

time, but I never knew how. And after a while, I didn’t know where to start.”

“I thought maybe when school started, I could apologize and surprise you too. But I didn’t know you’d changed your application. If I’d known, would’ve applied to the same school. I swear.”

“Every break, I came home. But you were never here. Even my mom’s dinner invites, you were

always working.”

you.”

His voice cracked, trembling. He stepped around me and planted himself in my path.

“These years without you, I’ve been a mess. I’ve been so miserable. I’ve just wanted to see

“Sasha, please. Please don’t shut me out.”