Hardin's POV.

"I'll go find Tess so we can get the fuck out of here." I grumble, my temper treading just below the surface of my somewhat harsh demeanor.

"I did the best I could, I'm sorry Hardin." My father says.

I look to Landon for some sort of comfort, I'm not really sure why, but in Tessa's absence he's the next best thing.

"Yeah," I mumble and search the hallway for Tessa's purple dress.

A hand pats my shoulder, Landon's, I don't push him off.

"We'll be inside, I have a few papers to sign and people to thank. I'll meet you outside."

Landon and my father head back into that damn conference room and I continue down the hall. Where the hell is she? She wouldn't leave, so where the fuck did she go?

I stand awkwardly outside the women's restroom, debating whether or not to open the door and call her name. A group of girls clad in university gear come prancing out of the bathroom, talking too loudly among themselves to notice me standing against the wall.

"Hey," I direct their attention to me. The brunette in the group adjusts her glasses and looks up at me with wide eyes.

"Is there a girl wearing a purple dress in there?" I gesture toward the bathroom door.

A giggle escapes the brunette's lips and her tall blonde accomplice nudges her in the side before whispering in her ear.

"Are you going to answer me or not?" I snap, ending their adolescent exchange.

"No.. there's no one else in there," The tall one remarks.

Was that so damn hard?

Before they can begin to whisper about how rude I am, I walk away and head outside. That's the only other place she could be, maybe she's in the car?

When I step outside the wind whips around me, carrying the one voice I didn't expect to hear right now. I turn the corner and there he is, there they are. Tessa and Zed.

"If you can tell me that you have no feelings toward me, none at all, I'll drop the charges." Zed says to Tessa.

Why the fuck is he here?

Why the fuck is Tessa outside talking to him?

What part of stay the fuck away from him does she not fucking get?

"What?" She moves her arms in the air in front of her.

"You heard me, tell me to leave you alone and never speak to you again and I'll do it."

She better tell him, tell him she wants nothing to do with him, she never wants to see his fucking face again.

"I don't want that, I don't want to never talk again." She says, ripping me open from the inside out.

"So what do you want then? Because you seem to be just as confused as I am! You keep texting me and meeting up with me, you kiss me, sleep in the same bed as me, you always come to me when he hurts you! What do you want from me?" He yells at her and I take a step toward them.

Regardless of how pissed I am at her, he will not raise his god damn voice to her.

"I don't know what I want from you! I love him and that's never going to change, I'm sorry that I gave you mixed signals but I.."

"Tell me why you're going to Seattle in a week and haven't told him!" He shouts, looking directly at me.

"I don't know.. I'm going to tell him when I get the chance."

Seattle? 

"You won't tell him because you know he will leave you."

"He.. well.." She fumbles her words.

"Well guess what Tessa? You can thank me later."

"For what?" The infamous Zed Evans smirk is plastered across his face.

"For telling him for you." Zed lifts his arm up, pointing to me and I watch as her body stills.

This isn't happening, this can't actually be happening.  She would never plan to leave without telling me..

Zed's wild eyes and shit-eating grin mock me as I try to collect my fucked up thoughts.

When she turns to me her movements are painstakingly slow. Her gray eyes are wide, pupils blown out in surprise when they meet mine.

"Hardin.. " Her voice is small, lost in the wind.

Unsure what to say, I stand still with my mouth open, closed,  open,  back and forth in an endless pattern until the words finally fall from them.

"So this was your plan then?" I manage to say.

She pushes her hair back from her face, her mouth turns to a frown immediately and she rubs her hands up and down her arms that are crossed in front of her chest.

"No! It's not like that Hardin, I.."

"You two are quite the fucking schemers aren't you? You," I point to the bastard, "You fucking scheme and plot behind my back and try to make a move on my girl,  over and fucking over. No matter what I do, no matter how many times I pound your god damned face in, you still keep crawling back like a fucking cockroach."

"She's," He dares to speak.

"And you," I point to the blonde girl who has my world under the sharp heel of her black shoe, "you, you keep playing mind games with me, acting like you give a fuck about me when you've been planning to leave me this entire time! You know I won't go to Seattle yet you still plan to go, without telling me!"

"That's why I haven't told you Hardin, because I know you won't come and I.."

"Stop fucking talking," I say and her hand moves to her chest like I am psychically hurting her with my words.

Maybe I am.

Maybe I want to.

How could she humiliate me this way, in front of Zed of all people?

"Why is he here?" I ask her, there is no evidence of his smug grin when she turns to look at him before looking back at me.

"I asked him to meet me here,"

"Of course you did! There we go! The two of you obviously have something special here."

"I only wanted to talk about the charges, I'm trying to help you Hardin. Please listen to me." She steps toward me, moving her hair from her face again.

"Bullshit! I heard your entire conversation. If you don't want him, tell him now in front of me."

Her watery eyes are pleading silently for me to give in and not make her humiliate him in front of me but it doesn't sway me.

"Now, or I'm done with you," My words burn like acid on my tongue.

"I don't want you Zed," Her words are rushed, panicked, and I know it's hurting her to say them.

"At all?" I ask, mimicking his grin from earlier.

"At all." She frowns and he runs his hands over his hair.

"You never want to see him again." I instruct.

"Just stop, leave it alone. I got it, you don't have to do this Tessa. I get it." He looks pathetic, like a sad child.

"Tessa.." The look in her eyes when she looks up at me nearly brings me to my knees. Her eyes are full of disgust, she takes a step toward me.

"No, I won't do it. Not because I want to be with him, because I don't. I love you, only you, but you're only doing this to prove a point and I won't help you." She bites the inside of her cheek, she's trying not to cry.

What the hell am I doing?

"I'm going home, when you want to talk about Seattle, that's where I'll be." With that, she turns to walk away.

"You don't have a way to get home!" I call to her.

I can tell she didn't think of that in her rush to get away from me. She's going to be even more pissed that I just called her out mid-tantrum.

"I'll take her,"

"If I wasn't already in a bunch of shit because of you I would kill you right now. I don't just mean break a bone, I mean I would literally crack your skull open against the concrete and watch you bleed out all over this.."

"Stop it!" She scolds me, covering her ears.

"Tessa if you.." Zed says softly.

"Zed, I appreciate everything you've done but you really need to stop." She tries to sound stern but fails miserably.

With a final sigh, he turns on his heel and walks away.

"I'm leaving, if you're coming with me then I suggest you follow me."

I head to the car and as soon as I reach the parking lot my father and Landon appear, of fucking course. I hear the click of Tessa's heels behind me.

"We're going." I tell them before they can get a word in.

"I'll call you in a little while," She says to Landon.

"You're still going Wednesday right?" He asks her.

"Yeah, of course." She smiles at him, a fake smile to mask the panic behind her eyes.

Landon glares at me, obviously noticing the tension between us. Does he know about her plan? Probably, he probably helped her develop it.

I climb into the car, not even trying to hide my lack of patience.

"I'll call you," She says to Landon and waves goodbye to my father before joining me in the car.

I immediately turn the music off as she buckles her seatbelt.

"Go ahead," She says, no emotion in her voice.

"What?"

"Go ahead and scream at me. I know you're going to."

I'm stunned into silence by her assumption. Granted, I had planned on yelling at her but the way she just expects it throws me off guard. Of course she expects it, that's what always happens.

"Well?" Her lips are pressed in a hard line.

"I'm not going to yell at you,"

She glances over at me momentarily before focusing out the window.

"I don't know what to do except scream at you, that's the problem." I sigh in defeat, my forehead resting against the steering wheel.

"I wasn't planning this behind your back, not purposely."

"It sure as hell seems that way."

"I would never do that to you, I love you." Her words bounce right off of me as anger takes over.

"You are moving, soon. I don't even know when and we live together Tessa. We share a fucking bed and you're going to just leave me? I always knew you would." I admit.

I hear the click of her seatbelt and within seconds she's on my lap, bare thighs straddling me, cold arms wrapped around my neck, and her tear soaked face is buried in my chest.

"Get off of me," I attempt to unwrap her arms from me.

"Why do you always assume I'm going to leave you?" She tightens her grip.

"Because you will,"

"I'm not going to Seattle to leave you, I'm going for myself and my career. It's always been my plan to go there and this is an incredible opportunity. I asked Mr. Vance while we were figuring out what we were going to do, and I planned on telling you so many times but you either cut me off or you don't want to talk about it."

"Don't you dare try to blame me," my voice doesn't hold as much conviction as I intended.

All I can think of is her packing her bags and leaving me with nothing but some bullshit note on the counter.

"I'm not but I knew you wouldn't be supportive, you know how important this is to me,"

"What are you going to do then? If you go, I can't be with you. I love you Tessa but I'm not going to Seattle."

"Why? You don't even know if you would like it or not, we could at least try it and if you hate it we could go to England, maybe." She offers with a sniffle.

"You don't know if you'll like it either. I'm sorry but you have to choose, me or Seattle."

She looks up at me and moves back to the passenger seat without a word.

"You don't have to decide right now, but time is running out." I put the car in drive and pull out of the small space.

"I can't believe you are making me choose," She doesn't look at me.

"You knew how I felt about Seattle, you're lucky I kept my cool back there when you were with him."

"I'm lucky?' She scoffs.

"This day is shit already, let's not fight about it. I'm going to need an answer by Friday. Unless you'll be gone by then." The idea sends a chill through my body.

I know she will choose me, she has to. We can go to England and get away from all this bullshit. She hasn't said a word about missing classes today, I'm glad because that's another fight I don't want to have.

"You're being so selfish." She accuses.

I don't argue because I know she's right.

"No, selfish is not telling someone when they plan on leaving them. Where are you going to live? Do you already have a place?"

"No, I was going to do that tomorrow. We leave Wednesday for the trip with your family." It takes me a moment to realize who she's referring to.

"We?"

"You said you'd go.."

"I'm still trying to recover from this Seattle shit, Tessa." I know I'm being an asshole but this is so fucked up.

"And let's not forget you calling Zed." I add.

She stays silent as I drive down the empty street, I have to look over at her multiple times to make sure she's still awake.

"Are you not speaking to me now?" I finally ask her as we approach the parking lot of our.. my apartment.

"I don't know what to say," Her voice is quiet, defeated.

Shit, her fucking dad is in our apartment.

"You're dad's still here?"

"I don't know where else he would go..." She doesn't look at me.

"Well when we get upstairs I'll ask him where he needs to be dropped off at."

"No, I'll take him."

Even though she's walking next to me, she seems so far away.