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I stood there, feeling frozen in place. Tears finally broke from my eyes as she walked away, leaving me alone in the parking lot. I wanted to scream, to fall to my knees. I wanted to do something! All I could do was stand there and cry in the cold, wishing that things were different. I wanted to go back to last night when everything was perfect.
I finally turned to face the Ashland Consulting building, tears continuing to roll down my cheeks as I placed a hand on my stomach. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to tell Tyler about the baby because he deserved to know, but I was afraid that Sara would catch me talking to him. I didn’t want to face that consequence. I was already dealing with too many.
The only thing that I could do was go home and drop my internship from my class schedule. My internship advisor would be confused, but I would just have to convince her that I couldn’t complete the internship for some reason. I would figure it out at the moment and then figure out another internship for next semester.
That also meant that I had to step back from UniVerse for a little while. Hannah, Nick, and I were supposed to all graduate together and then work on getting our company off the ground. While they moved forward, I would be held back, fighting my way through another internship just so that I could graduate.
Silently crying, I turned away from the building and headed back to my car, knowing that I needed to walk away before I ran to Tyler. I had to be far away from him, or I would break down, seeking the comfort that I desperately needed right now. He was the only thing that I wanted right now, but I couldn’t destroy our lives even more by pissing Sara off. I had to walk away, even if that was the hardest thing in the world to do.
Chapter 24
Tyler
I couldn’t remember the last time that I felt true panic. Usually, I could keep my head cool and work my way through any issues. I just never expected to face the issue of Madison disappearing for a few days. Not only did she refuse to answer my calls or texts, but she quit the internship!
What happened? The last night that I saw her was incredible. Once again, I almost told her that I loved her. Looking back at that night, maybe I should’ve just said it, but I wondered if that would’ve even changed anything. I didn’t know what caused her to suddenly ghost me, but I was falling apart more and more with each day that passed.
I hated feeling this way! I wasn’t familiar with heartbreak because I never let anyone get that close to me. I gave Madison my heart, and she crushed it in her hand by leaving me behind. Why would she just ignore me and stay away from me? She must have realized that she didn’t actually want to be with me. I kept running every moment we shared through my mind so that I could try to figure it out. Did I say something wrong? Was I not romantic enough?
The number of insecurities that piled up in my mind drove me insane. I wasn’t an insecure person. I didn’t care how people saw me, but I cared about Madison. Her opinion had weight. I wondered if I had hurt her in some way. I wished that she would just talk to me and tell me what went wrong. Maybe I could fix it because being without her felt like pure torture.
I read over the email that Brittany sent about Madison quitting the internship. Each word made my heart sink lower and lower. Brittany was confused and upset as well. We were both blindsided by this, and I could tell that Brittany was concerned about me. I hid my true feelings well, assuring her that I was fine but just confused. I was more than confused. I was broken.
No one had any information for me about why Madison quit. The internship advisor that told us didn’t have anything to tell us. I figured that I could try to ask Sara if she knew anything. It wasn’t like Sara or Madison were anything close to friends, but she seemed like a gossiper who knew everything about everyone. Anything was worth a shot at this point.
I stood from my desk and walked to Sara’s office, not bothering to knock as I strode inside. When Sara immediately perked up and fixed her blouse at the sight of me, I kept my eyes from rolling. I wasn’t interested in being flirted with. I wanted information.
“Have you talked to Madison?” I asked her as I stopped in front of her desk. Maybe she had seen her on campus or something. If I knew how to get in contact with Madison’s friends, I would’ve reached out to them, but Sara was the only college link that I had.
