Page 83 of Meet Me at the Metro

My heart sinks low in my chest.

“I was a witness. I gave you evidence.”

“You gave us a statement, Mr. Davidson. I made sure to include it in the report.”

“So basically, you’re telling me that you just sat her through all of that so you’d have something to go off of the next time she has to come in here?”

“You two did the right thing by coming in and reporting what occurred, but at this time, there are no actions we can legally take.”

“At this time,“ Connor scoffs. “But maybe next time, right? When he—God forbid—manages to do something worse to her? This is insane, you know that?”

“Connor, it’s fine. Let’s just—”

“This isn’t fine, Ellie. You’re not fine. He could hurt you.”

“Look at me. They can’t do anything else right now. Please, let’s just go.”

Connor looks at me for a beat, finally softening his tense jaw, and nods. “Okay. We can go.”

I quickly pick my bag off the floor and bid the officer a goodbye. “Thank you for your time.

Connor follows me out of the station, not saying another word until we’re standing on the sidewalk outside. “That was a load of shit. They should have done more for you.”

“It’s over, alright? There’s nothing else we can do. It’s on record at least, so if it does happen again—”

“If it does happen again?Do you hear yourself right now? What if he hurts you, Ellie?”

“I don’t know, Connor! Let’s just pray it doesn’t get that far,” I fire back. He goes utterly quiet, and I immediately feel guilty. “I’m sorry. Please, don’t think I don’t appreciate everything you’ve done for me tonight. I just—I’ve got to have hope that this won’t reach that point, or else I might just—”

“I’m sorry.” He sighs. “I’m not trying to make you feel worse about everything. I just want you to be safe.”

“I know you do.” We begin our walk back toward campus, and my thoughts trail off to the way things were left between us after our piano lesson three weeks ago. “I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings the last time we were together. I never meant to make you feel bad.”

“Don’t apologize. I was the one who crossed a line. If anyone should be sorry, it’s me.”

“I thought you were mad at me.”

“I wasn’t mad at all. I was just—embarrassed…”

“But you’ve been avoiding me for weeks.”

“Because I’ve felt awful about everything, and I didn’t know what to say to you to apologize properly.”

“I never expected you to apologize, Connor. You didn’t know.”

He frowns. “Yeah, but I do now. I’m sorry I’ve been avoiding you. That wasn’t fair of me. I want to make things right between us because I really don’t want to lose you as a friend. I’d rather have you as that than as nothing at all.”

“I don’t want to lose you as a friend, either,” I admit.

Connor releases a heavy breath. “That’s a relief to hear.”

“Can we start over? Clean slate?”

“Clean slate,” he nods, smiling. “You think Professor Henderson is pissed we didn’t show up for lecture tonight?”

“Not one bit,” I giggle. “He was probably relieved.”

“Probably,” he laughs.

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