a forbidden love , ethan landry + ximena prescott

xvi. another invitation

xvi's song : falling in love - cigarettes after sex

"falling in love
deeper than i've felt it before with you, baby
i feel i'm falling in love
with all my heart."

— ximena huffed, allowing the wind to dry her tears instead of wiping them off.

"hey." a voice greeted beside her. she couldn't bother to turn her head as she had already recognized the voice, ethan's.

"hi." ximena answered. "you okay?" ethan asks, seeming genuinely concerned. "no." ximena smiled.

"if you don't mind me asking... could you tell me about wes and what bailey said?" ethan questioned. ximena hesitated to answer, but she did.

"wes was my boyfriend, last year in high school. and, you know, we were really happy until the whole ghostface thing began and he was killed too but —" ximena stopped when her voice cracked. "but anyway, bailey was just telling me that it was my fault wes and mason died and i could've done a lot better to save either of them."

ethan stayed quiet in case she had more to say, but she most likely didn't since she was looking down, biting her lip to avoid bursting into tears like she did in front of tara.

"it isn't your fault, though. i don't know what happened but i know you tried." ethan mumbled.

ximena stopped walking, making a harsh stop as she turned on her heel to face ethan, still leaving her face out of sight. "i didn't though, that's the... that's the problem." she said.

ethan looked at her, confused while waiting for more context. "he died at his house, with his mom but he didn't know his mom was just a few feet away. and the worst thing was i was there, too. but the second i had saw that stupid fucking mask all i did was tell him he was there, and he didn't believe me until i had fucking ran out of the house and left him there. and now that i think about it, maybe bailey's right. there probably is so much more i could have done." ximena ranted rapidly, ethan was surprised she didn't stutter or run out of breath.

"you were scared, it wasn't your fault. even if you could've done more, he could've ran with you and —" ethan stopped to sigh heavily.

he may have had to comfort ximena a very few amount of times, but he really wasn't at all good at it.

"it's not his fault either, you don't have the right to say he could've ran with me." ximena whispered, shaking her head.

"i don't know how to make you feel better." ethan admitted in a low voice. "you don't have to." ximena assured, steadying to walk off. "but i want to." ethan added, interrupting her once more.