The One That Got Away - Ethan Torchio Fanfic

I'll Be Seeing You

"Do you need me to spell it out loud, Amélie?"

I was about to reply to him when the rest of the band decided to join us at the back yard.
"Good, the food is already here!" Victoria walked towards the table to check that everything she had ordered was there. "And I see you guys made yourselves comfortable, good good."
Ethan rolled his eyes and shook his head as he got up and walked towards the table.
"Are corn dogs still a favorite of yours?" He glanced at me, raising his eyebrows as he started preparing a couple of plates with different types of food.
"Yeah, thank you!" I quickly nodded, surprised at his offering as he walked towards the couch, handing me one of the plates. "You didn't have to, but thank you."
"No problem." He shrugged, glancing at the white screen while Victoria was working on the projector. "So, what are we going to watch today?"
"Two summer love classics, first 'The Notebook' and if you still want more after that, 'Dirty Dancing'." Victoria nodded, clearly excited at the movie selection she had made, even though I knew that 'The Notebook' had been Damiano's doing. "Alright, everybody pick a seat, this is about to start!"

As soon as everybody was seated with their plates full of food, Victoria pressed play and moved to sit next to Elle. Every now and then, I would glance at them, smiling as they cuddle together.
"Look, she reminds me of Amélie's mom!" Damiano pointed to the screen as Allie fought with her mother because she disapproved her relationship with Noah because of his status. "C'mon, you can't deny that your mom acted sometimes like her."
"Yeah, but she learned from her mistakes." I shrugged lightly, finishing the last corn dog.
"Actually, Allie and Noah kind of remind me of Amélie and Ethan." I sighed loudly, covering my face with my hands as I felt all eyes on us while Elle kept talking. "Think about it, you two met during summer, your mom was against your relationship and because of her you ended up..."
"Alright, I think we all get the idea, can we finish watching the movie in silence?" I turned to Ethan, glad that he had decided to stop Elle's ranting.
"Thank you." I whispered softly, smiling as he simply nodded still his gaze focussed on the screen.
I could feel the tears forming in my eyes as we watched the final scene, when the two main characters danced their song, blinking a few times I look up to Victoria and Elle, who had started slow dancing in front of their seat just like movie characters, soon being followed by Thomas and Damiano who had decided to join them.
"For the old times?" Ethan asked, offering his hand as he moved to stand up.
Not doubting it for a second, I quickly reached and took his hand, smiling softly as he rested his other hand on my waist, bringing me closer to him before we started moving slowly, dancing to 'I'll be seeing you'.
Wanting to capture every second of that moment, I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes, ignoring everything that was happening around us and just enjoying the feeling that was taking me back to the old happy times as Ethan squeezed gently my waist, keeping our bodies pressed together, maybe my mind was playing tricks on me, but I wanted to believe that he wasn't ready to let me go either.
We were both lost in the moment we were sharing that neither of us realized the movie had ended until Victoria bursted our bubble.
"Umm... guys, sorry to interrupt, but we are starting the second movie." Surprised and embarrassed we stopped moving and stepped back while everybody was looking at us, all of them with a big grin on their lips.
"I'm going to make some cotton candy." Judging by the feeling of my warm cheeks, I knew that they were bright red, so looking down I hurried myself towards the cotton candy machine.
Bitting down my bottom lip, I grabbed the recipient with the pink sugar while I tried to figure out how to make it work.
"Need any help?" A shy Ethan was standing next to me, holding already a long stick to help me make the cotton candy. "One of my sisters got a small version of this for Christmas, so I know a thing or two about cotton candy." Looking down at the machine, he turned it on, waiting a few seconds before motioning me to pour the pink sugar. "Now, as soon as the cotton candy starts to appears, we need to move the stick around it, drawing big circles."
I nodded, my gaze traveling from the cotton candy machine to his beautiful face, he had a concentrate look and was biting his bottom lip as he carefully made me a perfect cotton candy.
"Here we go, cotton candy on a stick for the lady." Smiling, he handed me the cotton candy before turning to get some popcorn. "Let's go, or they will start the movie without us."

Once the post-dance awkwardness was forgotten, we sat comfortably on the couch, sharing popcorn and cotton candy while we watched the movie, even commenting our favorite scenes now and then.
"One time, Elle and I tried to recreate the jump, long story short, she sprained her wrist and kissed the ground, literally." I shook my head, chuckling lightly as I kept my eyes on the screen.
"We could try to do it at the pool after the movie ends if you still want to recreate it." I turned to Ethan with my mouth wide open, surprised at his offer. "I just think that I could hold you easier, and the pool guarantees you no floor-kissing."
"Sure, that would be great." I quickly nodded, trying to hold and hide my excitement as he looked back at the screen.
"In this movie, one of the parents is also against the girl's lover!" Damiano turned to look at us from his seat, a smirk appearing on his lips.
"Damiano don't start!" I raised my finger at him, shaking my head while he playfully giggled at my reaction.
"Get used to it, he's always finding ways to keep teasing us." Ethan leaned to whisper to me, making sure I was the only one hearing him.
"Then, I might want to reconsider my new friendship with him." I rolled my eyes, chuckling softly as I shook my head.

"Have you realized that they don't confirm if they stay together at the end?" Ethan raised his eyebrows, turning to look at me as the ending credits appeared on the screen.
"I had never thought of that before." I nodded, looking at him while I thought about his question. "During the movie he changed her perception of the world, and she encouraged him to follow his dreams, so maybe the last dance was the perfect way to say goodbye."
"Or maybe the last dance was a way to start a new life together with new hopes and dreams."He shrugged lightly, finishing the popcorn.
"I like your point of view better, cause I hate sad endings." I nodded again, looking up as Victoria turn off the projector while the rest were already making their way back inside the house.
"Do you still want to try the jump?" Ethan asked as soon as Victoria disappeared inside the house.
"I guess it's now or never." I nodded, smiling excited as we removed our shoes, deciding it was better to keep our clothes on.

"Alright, put your hands on my shoulders and at the count of three jump forward, as if your were jumping to dive into the pool." Taking a deep breath, I nodded as I listened to Ethan's instructions, trying to concentrate on them and not on how good his hands felt against my stomach. "One, two, three!"
I quickly jumped as he instructed me, but I did it too fast or too hard and, and even though he tried to lift me and hold me in the air, we ended up falling in the pool.
"I thought it was going to be easier." Ethan chuckled, running his fingers through his hair as he put it up in a bun. "Let's try it one more time before giving up. Remember to put your arms in a cross as soon as soon as I lift you up."
Smiling, I nodded and did exactly what he told me to, jumping forward and keeping my eyes on the horizon with my arms in a cross to not lose my balance while Ethan lifted me up.
"We made it! Ethan we made it!" I couldn't hide my excitement as he was able to keep me in the air for a few seconds before we fell once again into the pool, but those few seconds were more than enough for us to be happy about our jump.
"We did it! We really did it!" Not really thinking about anything else, I turned to Ethan and wrapped my arms around him in a quick hug before leaning back to look at him, still with my hands resting on his shoulders.
It was in that moment when I remembered the scene from 'The Notebook', when they get reunited years after and Allie tells Noah that it was always him.
It was true, no matter how many men or women I had met in those last three years, it was always Ethan, my heart would always belong to him.
"Ethan, I..." That was it, I felt myself ready to confess him everything, something in me told me I had to do it.
But Ethan thought otherwise as he took a step back, shaking his head while he looked down at his hands.

"I'm sorry, I can't."

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Finally some Ethan/Amélie moments! Don't be mad at Ethan, he needs his time, and Amélie has to win him back little by little.
Hope you liked it!
Love,
A