The Letter I Refused to Accept Chapter 02

The Letter I Refused to Accept Chapter 02

Cole paused, as if something had crossed his mind. Then he answered quietly, “She’s only the girl next door.”

By the time he said it, I’d already walked in. Even with my face mask on, he recognized me right away. Panic flickered through his eyes, so fast that hardly anyone would have noticed.

I set down the tray and turned to leave, but I crashed right into Chelsea. She lost her grip on her cup, and scalding coffee splashed all over my arm. Blisters bubbled up almost at once.

Cole moved fast. Without thinking, he pulled Chelsea back, and he didn’t relax until he’d made sure she was okay.

“What’s wrong with you?”

He shot me an accusing look without a second thought, as if what had happened was my fault.

I was about to explain when the manager rushed over at the noise and jabbed a finger in my face.

“You can’t do anything right! Why did I even hire you?”

Chelsea tugged on Cole’s sleeve and pouted. “Forget it. I’m fine.”

Even the classmates around them tried to smooth things over. It wasn’t a big deal, so why not let it go?

But Cole kept looking at me coldly. “Your server caused a customer to get hurt. What’s your restaurant going to do about it?”

I looked up in disbelief, my eyes stinging badly. Cole didn’t look at me again.

In the end, I got docked half a month’s pay and suspended for a week before it was over.

I didn’t notice when they left. I’d only rinsed the burn on my arm with cold water and left it at that. By the time I got off work that night, it still ached.

I waited at the bus stop for twenty minutes. But right before I got on, I watched the person ahead of me feed coins into the fare box, and my feet stopped on their own.

In the end, the thought of that half a month’s pay made me step back off the bus.

The streetlights in the old part of town had been broken for years, and I could barely see the road even with my phone’s flashlight.

Right then, a notification popped up on my phone. Chelsea had posted on Instagram three hours earlier.

Chelsea: [Hundreds of pages of texts can’t compete with two matching acceptance letters.]

Ashford’s name on the acceptance letter in the photo stung my eyes.

I couldn’t help scrolling through the screenshots of their texts. Then I opened the group chat the three of us shared.

The last message was from me, six months earlier. I’d complained that they didn’t share anything about their lives anymore. Neither of them had answered.

I scrolled up, bit by bit. Almost every single time, I was the one starting the conversation. They’d answered maybe one message out of every ten.

My vision slowly blurred. Before the tears could fall, I tapped Delete Group.

When I was done, I put my phone back in my pocket. That was when I heard footsteps behind me.

I stopped for a second. All at once, I remembered the news from a few days earlier about a string of muggings around there. Cold sweat broke out across my back.

I forced myself to stay calm. I walked faster and called Cole at the same time. The footsteps behind me sped up too, and my heart pounded harder and harder.

The call finally connected. I kept my voice low, but I couldn’t hide the way it shook. “Cole, someone’s following me. I’m near the Cross Street Bridge. Can you come get me?”

The line went quiet for a second. “Sienna, if you want to apologize, just say so. You don’t need to make up some excuse.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the dark figure get closer. Even my voice was trembling. “Cole, I’m not lying. I really…”

“Ah! Why did the power go out? Cole, where are you? It’s so dark in here, and I’m so scared.”

Chelsea’s voice suddenly came through the phone. He hung up before I could even finish.

When that hopeless dial tone started, my heart sank to the bottom.

The next second, something pressed into the small of my back.