Feeling Tidal

Seven

It had been a few days since Ethan changed my perspective when it came to seeing myself. Neither of us had brought up the conversation since, or the smiling and prolonged eye contact. To add on, I was shocked to learn he even smoked.
Nothing along those lines had happened again either, despite seeing each other at least every night at the cement block wall. It was beginning to kill me, not knowing why nothing else had happened. Even worse, I hated that I knew why. I liked him. I liked him more than I wanted to admit, which was why today I decided to visit his work without my parents. He talked about being bored there when it was slow, pretty much anytime after 6pm. It also would give me the chance to get a coke slush, my absolute favorite thing about this place. Those things seriously will start catching up to me.

"Eating that quickly can't be good for you," my dad said as he watched me finish the last of my mac&cheese. The last bite was taken on my way to putting the dish in the sink.

"I wanna go for a walk before it gets dark," I shrugged as I darted up the stairs and swung myself into my room to grab my phone. The cover up plan was pretty dang good I couldn't lie. They didn't appreciate me out late, not even back in Vermont, so my late night beach trips had to stay on the down low.

"Mena come here for a minute," I heard my moms voice say from in her room across the hall. Deep down I knew it would be about school but I hoped it was just something else. Anything else.

"Mhm?" I poked my head into her door, praying she would see i'm not sticking around for long.

"I enrolled you in the smaller school," she kept her eyes looking down at her computer. I could see the school's webpage reflect in her reading glasses. "The regional one."

School was going to make me anxious, no matter what happened. Since that was the school Ethan went to, it was probably my best case scenario.

"Okay," I said, in what I thought was an uplifted tone. Judging by the eyebrow she raised at me, she was surprised I didn't get all upset. "Thanks, and i'm gonna go for a walk but no," I jokingly rolled my eyes. "I won't be out too late."

She smiled, which told me she was okay with it. A part of me couldn't tell, had they become more relaxed with what I am and am not allowed to do?
Due to it being a Saturday, there were definitely more people than usual. Although since it was also the beginning of summer, there was always a bunch of people. The streets smelled like fried dough and cigarettes, it was nostalgic to fairs I went to as a kid.

The walk to Vargas Fish & Tackle wasn't far at all, you could almost see it from our spot on the cement wall.
A few groups of people were on the beach in front of the shop, country music blaring from speakers, and as I walked in the store a group of teenage boys hung out by the register. Probably his friends based on how loud they all were.
The yellow lights strung along the ceiling led me to a circular rack of shorts. The kind of shorts that are good for hiking. While going through them, I looked over to where the register was and saw a few of the guys there just staring in my direction. Just as quickly as I made eye contact I broke it.

"Hey!" a voice from behind startled me. I turned around to see Ethan walking towards me with a smile even bigger than usual. "I didn't think you went anywhere other than the wall," he laughed. "Kidding, I'm kidding."

"Yeah it got kinda boring in the house," I lied. In reality I'd be okay being stuck in a house for days at a time. "How's the store going?"

He rubbed his hand on the nape of his neck. "It's been really slow today, that's why they're here," he pointed to the two guys who were just staring at me. I just nodded, not being sure if coming by was a good idea anymore.

"Oh um, here," he said playfully hitting my shoulder and signaling for me to follow him. I quickly put back a pair of shorts I was holding and went over to where his friends stood. "Thats Nate and Ezra."