“Ash,” Zoey said as she stared at me intently, “you don’t really think this is going to last, do you?”
“I’m going to move in with him.”
“What?” they both cried at once.
“He asked me to move in with him, and I’m going to do it. I’ll finish out the month here, but I’m going to break my lease and move into Ethan’s apartment with him.”
“Ash, are you sure?” Zoey leaned forward on the couch. “You’ve only known him for a few weeks!”
“I know that,” I said, “but I want to do it. I think this might be the real thing, you guys.”
There was a long silence as Presley and Zoey looked back and forth between each other and me.
“All right,” Zoey said, finally speaking up. “I think you’re completely cray-cray, but if you really like this guy, I support you. It’s going to take a little getting used to, but you know I’m always here for you.”
“Thank you,” I said. I reached over and gave Zoey a quick hug before turning to Presley.
“You are crazy,” she said. “I don’t know what you expect me to say. He’s never going to fit in with our social circle, and where does that leave you? Are you going to start hanging in the slums and maybe even ride a bike to work? How am I supposed to take any of this seriously?”
“Because I’m serious about him,” I told her, “and you’re my friend.”
“Am I?” Presley asked. “You didn’t even tell me about him. I didn’t know shit unt
il he met you outside of class. Is he going to turn out like Cole? Are you going to hide the shit he does to you from the rest of us like you did then?”
“Ethan is nothing like that.”
“He looks like he’d be like that. Long hair and tattoos? Really? I don’t care if he does own the Marquis penthouse; he looks like he belongs in a trailer park.”
“Why are you being like this?”
“Because I don’t want you to get hurt again!” Presley suddenly yelled. She stood up and pointed her finger at me. “You don’t remember what a fucking mess you were with Cole! You blocked it all out like it didn’t happen, but I was there! He had money, but that didn’t stop him from being an asshole or from sticking his dick into every bitch that would let him! And you put up with it! You never even came clean about him hitting you, not even to this day, and I know he did. I never bought your story about that scar coming from your running into a fucking door. How cliché of you.”
I gasped. I had no idea Presley had suspected Cole of hitting me. It wasn’t like her not to say something before now, and I was caught off guard and unable to say anything for a moment.
“It was only once,” I finally whispered. “That was right before I left him. He only hit me that one time.”
“All the signs were there,” Presley said. “You didn’t want to see them.”
“We just don’t want that to happen again, Ash,” Zoey said as she reached out to me.
“You knew, too?” I looked at Zoey and felt tears welling up in my eyes.
“I suspected,” she said.
The next thing I knew, all three of us were hugging and sobbing together.
I was relieved that Presley and Zoey knew how Cole had treated me. The burden of the secret was lifted, and it felt good to know my friends were here for me even after I had been such a fool. Now I needed them to support my relationship with Ethan as well.
“You have to get to know Ethan,” I said softly. “Really know him. He’s so completely unlike Cole, and it wouldn’t take you long to figure that out. I swear. Ask him why he has the tattoos and the piercings. Ask him what they all mean to him. If you did, you would understand what kind of person he really is. You just have to stop judging him by how he looks, and see what’s inside.”
“I’m willing to give it a shot,” Zoey said.
“All right,” Presley said with a sigh. “I’ll try, but if I see a sign that he’s treating you like shit, I’ll need everyone to help me hide the body.”
*****
Ethan was dressed in a nice pair of jeans, no holes, and a button-down shirt. He was still wearing his black Converse shoes, and he was far from dressy, compared to the rest of the group, but at least he didn’t look too out of place. No one could even see his tattoos under the shirt’s long sleeves.