morning princess - ethan dolan

05.

"Her face has been stuck in a damn grin since yesterday morning, Auntie," Mathieu called me out during dinner the next day.

Auntie gives me this weird, uncomfortable stare, as she eats for spicy chicken. "What's up with you? Now that he mentions it, I haven't seen you frown all day."

"I watched this really funny video on YouTube last afternoon and I keep thinking about it," I lied.

I've been texting Ethan pretty much all day. He surprises me so much with his the depth of his thoughts. We never had those common "tell me about yourself" texts. Our texts went something like this:

isa augustus : what your opinion on the current problem issue of racism in america?

ethan dolan : princess, here's the thing with racism - it's not a current issue, it's always been an issue. it's never disappeared, and from looking at the past ten years, america's racism has gotten much more violent. I mean, this guy shot up an African church, the kkk is involved with political figures, pOLICE BRUTALITY.

ethan dolan : what pisses me off the most is that black people can't even rely on the police. some of them have this fear that they'll be shot by the people who are supposed to protect them.

Ethan is intellectual, he likes to speak about current events and books. In fact, I don't even know that much about him other than his love for his favorite books and the history of Paris. But it's cute, he fangirls about his favorite countries and he tells me how he wants to travel out of the country.

"Isa!" Sofian snapped his fingers in my face, causing me to leave my trance. My phone is ringing upstairs, and I move my plate away from me to go upstairs.

"Where do you think you're going? Sit down, you're going to finish your food," Auntie warned me. I sit back down, my phone is still ringing because of the texts I'm receiving.

"I'm not hungry anymore, I already finished the chicken and my spinach," I told Auntie.

"You didn't touch your fried plantains, hurry up and eat them," Auntie instructed.

In a single movement, I scoop five plantain slices and put them in my mouth, chewing quickly. Sofian watches in amusment, while Mathieu watches in terror as I eat my food.

"Are you attempting to murder yourself?" Auntie asked, as I take the last five plantain slices and put them in my mouth. I shake my head, getting up and putting my plate in the sink before running up the stairs to my bedroom.

I grab my phone from the nightstand and sit down on the bed, looking at the messages that Ethan sent me.

ethan dolan : hey, if you don't mind

ethan dolan : I wanted to FaceTime you

ethan dolan : if you don't want to, that's ok :-)

My heart is suddenly racing. He wants to speak "face to face." Of course, I'm not going to turn down his offer, so I go on my MacBook and go on FaceTime, so we can talk.

It rings a few times before he finally answers. The sight of him almost makes my mouth water.

He's not wearing a shirt, he's just in his sweatpants, and wearing those brown round glasses. His hair is sticking to his forehead, and he gives me a big smile. Ethan noticed that I'm staring and looks down at his chest.

"I swear I'm not a fuckboy," He promised, "you called me when I got out of the shower, and I rushed to pick up the phone. I'm going to go put on a shirt real quick."

"Ok," I said, knowing damn well I didn't want him to go and put on that shirt.

He puts his laptop down on his bed, facing his closet. He pulled out a thin maroon sweater, and quickly pulled it over his head. Ethan laid back down on the bed and put the laptop back on his lap.

"Hi, Princess," Ethan grinned, waving at the laptop. His voice is angelic, I love how he speaks.

"Hi, Ethan, how are you?" I asked. It was then that I realized that I was in such a disgusting state compared to him. My hair is in two buns and I have no makeup on, my lips are chapped and my skin is dry.

"I'm good, by the way, you look nice," Ethan blushed. My face also begins to feel warm as I thank him for his sweet compliment.

"Do you want to see what I've been working on?" Ethan asked. I nod, and Ethan reached into his drawer and pulled out a red worn out sketchbook.

"I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I really like to draw," Ethan told me, as he flipped through the pages. He stopped on a page and showed the picture to me.

It's a picture of a girl at a café drinking coffee, who has black hair and brown eyes. She has freckles and thick eyebrows, and big lips.

"Who's that?" I asked.

Ethan sighed. "It's a picture of Rose. I drew it while we were on our first date. She doesn't even know that I still have this."

"What happened? Why doesn't she love you back?" I asked.

Ethan threw the sketchbook back into the nightstand drawer. "She and I were so close, and I loved her so much. Then, suddenly, she tells me she developed feelings for this jock named Theo," he explained.

"What an asshole," I mumbled.

"And instead of telling me face to face that she wanted to break up with me, she changed her number and her friend had to be the one to tell me yesterday that Rose had already moved onto somebody else," Ethan finished, "that's why I ended up texting you yesterday."

I couldn't even say a word anymore. Ethan seemed like a great guy, who's very smart and very loving. What did this "Theo" guy have that suddenly made Rose want to leave Ethan?

"They had this secret relationship for about two months, and he apparently seemed more 'stable' and 'more likely to be successful' so she left me," Ethan answered my thoughts.

"What the hell? Ethan, you are one of the most dedicated, smartest people I've met, and we've only spoken for two days. What the hell does Theo have compared to you?" I asked angrily.

This was actually making me upset. People get emotionally scarred because their lovers leave them for shitty reasons and here Ethan is, probably still questioning his worth.

"Theo is a senior who's already been promised a scholarship since he's playing soccer," Ethan answered.

I sighed, rubbing my eyes. "Ethan, Rose was a shitty girl from the start."

"Don't talk about her like that!" Ethan said defensively.

"She left you for the chance of fame! She didn't love you, Ethan. You deserve someone who will make you smile every time you think of them and will make your bad days good days. You need someone who will make your time on Earth worth the while, do you understand?" I explained to him.

"I love when you speak to me like that, all demanding and firm," Ethan smirked.

I shook my head. "You're something else, Ethan Dolan."

Ethan giggled, "I know, Princess, I know."