Just Like Heaven - Ethan Torchio

Watch out where you walk

Victoria came running across the kind of foggy street, enthusiastically, her arms spread. She hugged Elaine and looked at her.

¨You're late. Exactly ten minutes.¨

¨Well, at least you can't fire me over it,¨ Elaine grinned. Victoria laughed at her and took her hand, dragging her across the street where luckily, no cars were driving.

Elaine looked up while she was stumbling across the street, and saw three silhouettes standing on the other side. There wasn't any source of light except for the moon, the stars, and the tip of a cigarette that one of the silhouettes just lit, therefore she couldn't see their faces. The mist also didn't help. It was always foggy around here for some reason, even if it wasn't on the other blocks. Elaine was convinced they had hidden a fog machine around there because to her, there wasn't any other logical explanation.

¨Oi!¨ Victoria yelled at the figures, still running while dragging Elaine with her. The people turned around but before Elaine could take a better look at them, she heard a voice.

¨Vic, watch out!¨

Elaine looked at Victoria, then the ground. Good lord, this road was poorly built. Not even a second later Victoria tripped on a crooked tile and pulled Elaine with her.

Elaine landed on top of Victoria and they laid like that for a few seconds. She could feel her ankle aching, but besides that, there was nothing wrong except for some spots hurting from when she tripped on Victoria.

Elaine pushed herself off of Victoria and laid down next to her, the two of them now both laying on their backs in the middle of the street, laughing.

Victoria turned her head at Elaine and Elaine looked at her.

¨Elle,¨ Victoria giggled while rolling around gently. ¨I think you just broke one of my ribs.¨

¨God, you're so dramatic,¨ Elaine chuckled back.

¨Vic, you idiot !¨

Elaine heard a male voice getting closer. She saw Victoria getting pulled up by a slender guy with blond hair that would almost be a mullet. She tilted her head up to take a closer look at the guy, but before she realised, a hand took hers and pulled her up. She stumbled a few steps because of the sudden force.

¨Im sorry for how stupid Vic can act.¨ The guy who just pulled Elaine up grinned at her, then at Victoria. He had brown wavy hair, almost touching his shoulders, which Elaine loved. ¨I could defend her by saying she just has a bad day, but unfortunately, she is like this all the time.¨ His brown eyes twinkled while he waited for Victoria's response to his comment.

¨Im not stupid!¨ Victoria shrieked.

¨I literally warned you.¨

¨Yes, while I was falling...¨

¨You almost killed the girl.¨

¨Don't be so dramatic.¨

¨Says the girl who was rolling over the ground bc of a tiny bruise on her rib-¨

¨Ignore them.¨ The guy with the blond hair had walked up to Elaine. He had these beautiful , kind of downturned, light brown eyes. ¨Sadly they're always like that. Actually, you should just dump them and come with me and Ethan, we are so much more fun.¨ He had a small grin on his face, waiting for Victorias and the guy's response, just to be hit in the head by the both of them.

¨You know,¨ The brown-haired guy pointed a finger at him. ¨You should be glad I don't have my bag right now because else it would've been a lot-¨ He stopped talking, a confused look on his face. ¨Where is my bag?¨He glanced around a little more. ¨A better question, where is Ethan?¨ They all turned their heads to look around.

¨There he is,¨ Victoria laughed. She pointed to the other side of the road where the last silhouette was standing. Through the thin fog, they could see the figure struggling to pick up all of the bags the others had left there.

¨By the way,¨ Vic turned to Elaine. ¨That's Thomas,¨ she pointed at the guy with the mullet, who gave her a crooked smile and a little wave.

¨That's Damiano,¨ she pointed at the brown-haired guy. Damiano took her hand and kissed it.

¨Pleasure to meet you,¨ he smirked. Victoria's eyes widened as she got in between him and Elaine.

¨No, nope. I brought her, the only one who is allowed to kiss her is me,¨ she stated.

¨You know,¨ Thomas interrupted. ¨I really think she's the one to decide that, right Elaine?¨ They all turned to Elaine.

¨We'll see,¨ Elaine laughed. These people actually seemed pretty cool to her. Funny, not too serious, good-looking too... But maybe she shouldn't say that last thing out loud.

¨And that,¨ Victoria continued the other conversation, took Elaine by her shoulders and turned her around. ¨Is Ethan.¨

Elaine chuckled at the sight of a tall figure blundering towards them from across the street, trying to carry all the bags without letting them fall. As he came closer, Elaine could see how he actually looked, and to be honest, she was taken a bit aback by it. The guy was peering around with his dark hooded eyes. His hair fell almost down to his waist, gently waving in the wind. He could've looked really mysterious if he wasn't waddling like a penguin because of the bags. He walked towards them looking down.

¨Ho pensato voi-¨ He looked up and stopped talking when he saw Elaine. His eyes widened a bit and he opened his mouth to say something. ¨Eh,¨ he began a little surprised, ¨Cia- OW,¨ he had probably forgotten he still had a cigarette in his mouth because when he started talking, it fell out of his mouth and landed on his hand. He started cursing under his breath and shaking the cigarette off of his hand, which only caused one of the bags to slip and drop from his arm. The bag landed just wrong, and all of the stuff that was in it fell on the concrete. He immediately grabbed all of the things that just tumbled out and threw them back in the bag, then quickly got up again. Elaine had looked at him this whole time, entertained. She stared at him with an amused little smile, and as soon as the guy made eye contact again he turned a soft shade of pink. The cutest part is that he had blushed enough for it to be visible in the sheer light of the moon, and trust me, that says a lot. He held out his hand and Elaine took it. 

¨Is it just me or does this feel like we're watching a really bad rom-com?¨ Elaine heard Victoria whispering.

¨Unfortunately it's just Ethan embarrassing himself,¨ Thomas whispered back sounding amused.

¨Sono- Eh,¨ As the longhaired guy shook Elaine's hand, he struggled with finding the words. Elaine suspected he was the one Victoria was talking about when she mentioned one of her friends couldn't really speak English. ¨I am Ethan,¨ the guy said with a small nod and a proud little smile.

"I'm Elaine, but you can just call me Elle," Elaine gave him a warm smile.

¨Allora, hai finito?¨ Damiano had walked up to them, smirking, and swung his arm around Ethan. ¨Let's go.¨