unconditional | e.d.

chapter 6

Sol

"Ivy it was fucking crazy! I was all like 'yeah I like you' and he said it back." I was sitting on Ivy's bed, my chin resting on my hand as she did her makeup in front of her vanity.

"I told you! I knew you guys had chemistry. You look really cute together." She awed at my words. "Ugh but it's so weird, like, I've never felt like this. I just wanna be around him. And with him. Not in a weird-coupley way or anything, just sitting and talking with each other."

"It's true love." Ivy said in a sing-song voice, teasing me. "Stop," I drag the word out, "it's not like it's gonna go anywhere. It could just be a temporary thing, who knows? I'm not tryna get my hopes up over nothing." "Well you have time to decide. Are you gonna be staying here tonight?" She turns around to me. "Yeah if that's alright." I say quietly. "Of course it is. Always." She smiles.

My phone dings and I read the notification. I can't help the smile on my face as I see that Ethan texted me.

e: boring day today
e: wanna go get some ice cream with me :p

"Is that your man now?" I look at up Ivy and laugh. "No! But kinda...yeah." She laughs harder and sits down next to me. He wants to go get ice cream with me. Wanna come?" I nudge her shoulder. "Girl, I am not third-wheeling. Go with him! I'll see you tonight anyways." She encourages, and I text him back.

sol: sure
sol: what time were you thinking?

e: in like..ten mins?

sol: okay :) i'm at ivy's here's her address

I sent him the details and turned back to Ivy. "He's gonna pick me up from here soon. Do you want me to bring you something back?" I ask. "No, I'm actually going out with Stephen tonight." She goes quiet, but I don't miss the blush on her cheeks as she says it. "Oh my god! Stephen on the football team? I knew he had a crush on you!" "Okay, okay stop. Go have fun with Ethan, I'm gonna call Stephen after you go." She laughs.

A car horn honks outside and I look out the window, seeing Ethan in his car. "He's here, I'll see you later. Have fun with Stephen." I laugh and run down the steps and out the door.

I open his car door and smile, "Hey, thanks for picking me up." I buckle up and he makes his way down the street to the Dairy Queen. "It's no problem. Sorry if I ruined your day with Ivy." He said, a bit remorseful. "Oh no, don't worry. She had plans of her own today anyways so it was convenient." I wiggle my eyebrows and he chuckles.

We pull into the lot and buy our ice cream, sitting on the pavement and digging in. We begin talking about our futures and what we plan on doing after school.

"I'm getting out of here. Gonna move to like, New York, and become a model or something. I don't know, I don't have aspirations." I say, sighing. "I think you could make it. I don't know what I wanna do. I don't have a certain path. I just wanna do well in school so I have my options open." He replies, looking at the pavement.

"You're so smart." I say to him. "It's like you know everything. You're gonna get into a good school." I reassure him, taking a bite of my ice cream. "Yeah right. None of it means anything. I don't know enough about the things that matter." He replies, looking back down at the concrete we were sitting on.

"Like what?" I ask, as I make eye contact with him.

"Like you."

We hold our stare for what feels like an eternity. As I took in what he said, I looked across the parking lot.

"Whatever. I'm not important." I laugh and look at my ice cream cup. He grabs my hand, and I look back up at him. "You are to me, Sol. I really do care about you." "Thanks, E." I smile, and then sigh. "I'm sorry, I'm not good at the whole sappy emotional thing."

"Hey," He starts, "it's okay. I don't wanna rush you into anything, or make you think I'm like depending on you to be my girlfriend or something. I like you and I'm okay with what we are right now." He says. I can tell he's trying to reassure me. He rubs his thumb across the back of my hand, and lets go of it.

A blush runs across my cheeks. "I don't want to be a public thing, like at school and shit. I don't want people in my business, starting more rumors. It wouldn't be fair for you to get trashed because you're around me way more now, and-" He stops me mid sentence and shakes his head, "I don't care what people think. this is high school, what are they gonna do? None of their rumors will matter in five years."

I nod, "Yeah. You're right. Let's just...go slow. I trust you." His eyes light up as we make eye contact again. At this point, I'm beaming and not even attempting to hide it.

"Okay." He says happily. "Let's go slow."

———————

Ethan and I watched the sun set together and he drove me back to Ivy's. I sigh happily as I walk up the porch steps. Using my key, I open the door and take my shoes off. "Ivy, you'll never guess how good the day with Ethan was today." I hang my jacket up and make my way to the living room.

I walk into the living room to see Ivy and her mom sitting with a woman; oh god, I just embarrassed myself in front of someone I don't even know. Her back was turned towards me. As soon as Ivy made eye contact with me, I could see the pity in her eyes, and I was confused. Why is she looking at me like that? "Oh I'm so sorry, guys. I didn't know we were having guests over." I say quickly.

The woman turned around and faced me, and my smile immediately dropped. My heart fell into my stomach, and I suddenly couldn't breathe. She stood up and walked in front of me, looking at me with love in her eyes. "Hi, Marisol."

I finally spoke, the mortifying word leaving my mouth. "Mom?"