Rainy Nights

Rainy Nights: part 9

Elaine woke up to the beeping of her alarm. She sat up and was surprised by the silence. Her parents weren't yelling. The only sounds were her breathing and the birds outside. It was strange... good, but strange.

She climbed out of bed and found her father in the kitchen, making breakfast.

"Good morning." he greeted her.

She yawned and sat down. "Morning."

"You ready to go back to school today?"

Elaine thought about that for a moment. She would get to see Ethan. But she would have to see Emmie too, Emmie who had been calling her non stop since last Friday.

"No one's ever ready for school." she simply said.

Her dad laughed. "I remember my high school years," he said. "There was this girl, I swear, the only reason I went was to see her."

Elaine smiled. Her dad always knew what to say to put her in a good mood.

"Sounds exhilarating." she said sarcastically.

He smiled too, before going back to making breakfast. "You should go get ready, I'm almost finished here."

Elaine made her way up to her room to get dressed and pack her bag when she got distracted by Ethan's book on her nightstand. She had been too tired to read any of it last night. Maybe she could take it with her-

Suddenly a loud bang on her window made her jump. She slowly turned around to see Ethan poking his head out his open window across from her. For a moment she just stared, before finally regaining her composure and walking over to open her window.

"Good morning." Ethan greeted her.

He was beaming. Elaine couldn't help but return his contagious smile.

"That's a creative way to get my attention." she said.

"You know me," he said. "A creative visionary."

Elaine giggled. She could get used to this.

"Anyway," Ethan started. "Are we walking to school together together or...?"

Elaine nodded. "Definitely."

"Great," he said. "See you in 10 minutes."

He closed his window before Elaine even got the chance to respond. He smiled to himself. He was so happy this morning. He ignored the voices in his head reminding him that he was back to living in his dream world, that this didn't mean Elaine liked him back, that he was being delusional, that he still had to patch things up with Jay. He didn't have time to worry about those things. Elaine lived next door to him now, he had to make the most of it.

"Ethan! Breakfast!" his mother called from the kitchen.

"Coming!" he said as he raced downstairs.

"You seem happy this morning." his father commented.

His mother leaned on the counter. "You're definitely more enthusiastic than usual."

Ethan stared at them

"What makes you say that?"

"You never come down the first time I call you." his mother said.

Ethan looked away as he took a bite of his toast. "I woke up early today."

"That's red flag number two." his father said, holding up a number two with his fingers.

"I bet it's the neighbor girl from yesterday." his mom said.

Ethan looked back at his parents. "It's not."

"Very convincing." his father said, teasing.

"Whatever," he said, getting up. "I'm leaving."