𝒉𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 ( 𝑬𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝑻𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒐)

𝒇𝒊𝒗𝒆

He wasn't quite ready yet, to talk.

Ethan didn't need to tell Willow that, the way he quickly changed the subject anytime they came close to the subject of his stay here In Willow's flat, he brought up something different.

Pointing out how funny it looks when Pip tries to catch her own tail or talking in awe about the beautiful paintings covering every wall of the small flat.

The latter causing Willow to blush furiously at his compliments, art is her way of expressing herself and usually the only people that get to see her art are her few friends that visit the flat from time to time or her parents.

Of course all of them also compliment the girl on her skills but hearing it from someone who you have just met alway feels different. A little more genuine.

Babbling about different paints, brushes and ideas that she has yet to paint, she suddenly bites her lips and shakes her blonde head, locks falling from the loose bun that previously kept her hair on top of her head, preventing it from falling into her eyes.

Ethan watches her in awe, how she effortlessly makes the room glow around her and how she seems to ease every little worry that occupies his heavy heart.

"I need to stop talking so much, I am sorry", she chuckles and sips on her glass of water to conceal her embarrassment.

She gets carried away while talking about art, especially when there are new ideas on her mind that she feels the need to share with someone before she forgets them again, this happens more often as Willow would like painting takes up a lot of time, time that Willow doesn't have a lot of during her University day and the blue mocha.

"I like hearing about it".

For a heartbeat Willow is convinced that Ethan must be kidding, there is no way someone would actually enjoy hearing her go on about the visions of new artwork that dance around in her mind.

With an encouraging smile he moves his leg so he can nudges his knee against hers.

So Willow continues to talk, answering Ethan's questions and pointing around her flat, telling the story about her favourite favourite artworks that she did.

"Tell me about your band", Willow feels bad that she only talks about herself and the more she reveals about herself, the more she realises that she doesn't know anything about Ethan.

He thinks for a while, a shadow crossing over his face and Willow feels bad, she doesn't want to pressure him into talking about himself she is simply a naturally curious person.

Just when she opens her mouth to tell him she's sorry for asking, he starts talking.

The shadow leaves his face as soon as it had appeared on it. A faint smile takes its place when he begins to tell the origin story of his band.

Willows heart swells at the way Ethan speaks about his three friends, Damiano, Thomas and Victoria. The love he has for them seems almost infinite.

The bottle of wine they both shared is empty now and a warm and fuzzy feeling takes over both of their bodies.

Ethan stops talking when they reach the point in time where they are at now. After mentioning them winning the Eurovision he, again uses his talent to quickly change the subject.

"We should clean up, it's late", he gets up quickly from his seat and Willow is a little taken aback by that, what happened after the competition that makes him so jumpy and avoidant of the subject?

He offers her his hand, holding it in front of her to help her up and she gladly takes it, letting him pull her to her feet.

Both of them carry their dishes into the kitchen and Willow twirls over to the old kitchen radio that holds one of Ada's CDs ready to be played.

After pressing a few buttons on the old machine, soft music fills the room. It's an illegally burned CD, with all of Ada's favourite songs on it, that she got from her cousin when she moved out.

There is no way of telling what song you'll get next.

With the wine in her blood, Willow feels like dancing. Vodka usually makes her cry and curl up into a ball, tequila causes her to hurl up her guts but wine makes her feel like dancing.

"Can the drummer boy also dance?", she grins cheekily when he turns around from the sink where he started to clean their plates.

"You can move your hands and arms, I know that but what about the rest of your body?".

When the words leave her mouth she realises how weird they must sound and she feels the heat rush into her cheeks, flushing them a bright red colour that she can see in the reflection of the pots hanging on the walls next to the window.

He chuckles at her attempt to hide her blush from him by rubbing her hands up and down her cheeks, probably only making it worse, trying to hide her face in the fridge that she opened to put away the leftovers.

Ethan places his hands on her hips and pulls her away from the open fridge and twists her around, so that she is now facing him.

Having his hands on her, only deepens her blush but she doesn't have time to continue worrying about it, when he starts swaying her through the small kitchen.

Willow grabs a hold of his arms, letting him lead her to the Taylor Swift song that just started playing.

His eyes are shimmering again, happiness written all over his face and Willow suddenly feels braver than she ever did before, leaning in to gently place a kiss to his cheek, close to the corner of his mouth.

His smile grows and he twirls her around, catching her safely in his arms again.

Just when another song starts to play a loud beeping noise alarms them and they spin around, looking for the cause of it.

Laughing Willow points to her fridge, the light of it had illuminated their dance as they had forgotten to close it again and now it loudly complained about losing it's cold air to the warmth of the kitchen.

Ethan releases her from his arms and watches as Willow quickly gets on her tiptoes to press a button on top of the fridge before closing the door.

Dancing with her in the refrigerator light made him forget all the worries piled up on his heart and it finally managed to flutter its wings again.

Spending time in her flat, in his hideaway was probably the best thing he has ever done even when it came out of a desperate situation.

What a shame he can't stay here forever.