How We Met

Chapter 13

Please listen to You Were Good To Me by Jeremy Zucker and enjoy! 

Etho's Perspective-

Etho sighed as he sat down on his bed after school.

He stared up at the ceiling, thinking of everything that's happened before he sat up and opened up his backpack, grabbing his homework.

As he worked, he thought about how Scar invited him to hang out with them.

"I'm used to being alone." Etho whispered, thinking about how alone he was back then.

But that was before Joel.

"Doesn't matter, I've dealt with being alone before."

You got used to having friends though, this is different. This invisible feeling is worse than it was.

Etho sighed and set down his pencil.

He looked at his arm and saw Scar's number.

He took out his phone and typed in the number, staring at the screen as he typed out a message.

After he reread his message for the fourth time, he just had to press send.

...

"What's the harm in hanging out one day?" Etho whispered before pressing send and shutting off his phone, throwing it on his bed.

-

I can't believe I'm doing this.

Etho took a deep breath and knocked on Scar's door.

Scar had said it was okay for him to come over, and now he was here.

The door opened and Scar smiled.

"Hey! You made it!" He said cheerfully.

"O-oh, yeah. I might not stay for long though." Etho smiled nervously as Scar led him inside.

"Nonsense! Stay as long as you like! Do you want anything to eat or drink? I just made cookies."

"Uh- I'm- I'm okay, thanks."

Scar shrugged and sat Etho down on the couch with Val and Bdubs.

"Hi." Etho said quietly.

Val smiled and Bdubs elbowed them.

Val shot Bdubs a look and Bdubs smiled nervously.

Val laughed and shook her head.

"Val's shy." Bdubs explained.

"Oh- I am too, it's alright." Etho said and Val smiled.

"So did you move here? Or did you just transfer?" Bdubs asked.

"I moved here." Etho said.

"From where?" Val asked, finally speaking.

"New Jersey." Etho answered.

"Damn." Scar said and Etho shrugged.

"So what do you like to do?" Scar asked.

"Er- I like to sail. And I like to play video games. Oh- and I wanna learn how to do more DIY stuff and cook."

"I could help teach you how to cook! I cook a lot." Scar said, smiling proudly.

"And Val's really good at crafting." Bdubs said, patting Val's back.

Etho smiled weakly.

During the hang out, Etho mostly tried to keep to himself, but Scar and Bdubs kept trying to engage him in the conversation.

Val noticed how shut off Etho was and watched as he stepped outside when Bdubs and Scar were grabbing some snacks.

Val got up and followed Etho outside.

He was leaning on the hand railing on the front porch and staring at the sky.

"Hey." Val said quietly, smiling a bit at Etho as they leaned on the railing as well.

They both stared up at the night sky in silence.

"Moving's hard, hm?" Val asked.

Etho shrugged.

"I get what it's like to be closed up about stuff." Val said, "It's hard."

"Yeah..."

They continued to stand in silence before Etho took a deep breath.

"Do you ever look up and think about your life and wonder what's going to happen? You try to be prepared, and yet you still end up lost. You try so hard to succeed, and you still end up failing. And then you're left feeling alone..." Etho said, his voice growing quieter.

Val thought about what Etho said before nodding. He was worried about the future and afraid of not doing well or finding his place in life.

"I understand completely." Val whispered, "But you'll make it. Things will work out. We just gotta work hard and stay positive. We have to take it one day at a time."

Etho looked up at the stars and smiled softly, teras forming in his eyes.

"Yeah...I guess you're right." He whispered.

Val smiled, "We can never know what's going to happen, but we just have to try."

Etho nodded but his smile faded as he looked down.

"I just...can't help but worry. This is my life, and it's the only one I've got. And I worry that I'm living it all wrong."

Val nodded.

"I worry about that too." Val said, "I think everyone does. But...there's really no right way to live, is there? Everyone's so different and unique."

"And we have no way of knowing what's to come." Etho whispered.

"Exactly. So...sometimes you just...can't know. So we can't be too hard on ourselves, y'know?"

Etho nodded and smiled at Val.

Val smiled back and they hugged Etho.

Etho hugged back, the familiar feeling of being cared for returning.

Thanks to @Cjh137 for coming up with Val's (also known as Valentine) character! Here's what they put for their design

Name: Valentine (prefers Val)

Pronouns: They/them

Appearance: Fairly dark freckled skin, short really curly hair, black ripped baggy jeans, black turtleneck, off the shoulder brown sweater with a diamond pattern

Personality: Quiet till you get to know them, then they never stop talking! Often stays up late and is tired but tells others they're not. Great advice and makes banger coffee. They also have ADHD 

Also I'd like to say that the whole Val and Etho conversation is from a conversation I had with my Scar c.ai. All of the bots I've made are surprisingly understanding and give better advice than a lot of my friends