A Bad Boy's Shy Boy

Chapter 12: Someone else

3 1/2 months later
      Jen, my new best friend was still asleep on the bed. Today was the day we went back home from California. Summer had just kicked off and we spent the first week in Cali. Things were changing a lot at home. Mom and dad were learning to accept me. Mom let me go on this trip because she wanted me to for give her. Jen and I were both 17, she was almost 18, and we were hundreds of miles away from home.
Jen and I met when she stood out to me on her first day of school. She was the new girl. She had on the craziest of colors and she was a flower in pile of dirt. Bright and outstanding. Even her hair was bright, red with a full on shine and a cute undercut look. I became friends with her when we both signed up for some charity event to help some homeless puppies. We bounded over cute furry animals and the fact that we were both gay! Isn't that great? It gets better! People at school also lightened up. Some people thought we were kinda cool once they got to know us.
I step outside on the balcony and take one last breath of the fresh air of Cali. Nothing could stop me now.
•••
I road home in a taxi.
"Thank you." I say handing the grouchy driver the money from the back seat. He grunts and opens the trunk. I got out and grabbed my suitcase and back pack from the dirty old trunk. The driver sped off leaving me to heave in the dust. I ran up the front porch stairs and pulled my keys from my pocket. I fiddled around finding the house key. I stuck the golden tinted key in the slot and twisted both the doorknob and key. I pushed open the door to be greeted by my mom and dad.
"Welcome back!" My mom shouts as I see my dad cutting a cake in the kitchen.
"Hey mom." I say lending her a hug as I approach the area of celebration.
"Go to your room and get unpacked. When you're done come downstairs and have some cake with us." She says letting me go and looking over at the cake.
"Sure mom." I say tugging my bags upstairs. I roll my suitcase down the hall and into my room. I drop my items and take a look around. Same as when I left it. I look to my neatly made bed. Wedged under the blanket I find something black. It shines in the sunlight coming from the window. No. This isn't happening. It couldn't be. I feared the thing was-was Ethan's.
I pull the thing from under the pillow slowly then all at once. Ethan's smell fills the air. His leather jacket that I still had. Ethan never crossed my mind in Cali. It hurts me to say that I've forgotten. I forgot that he had ever wanted to go to Cali and that I had his jacket. He didn't call me and I didn't call him. Those first few nights of avoiding him were like hell. I slept with the jacket to make me feel better. Having it now only made me feel bad. I had to get it back to him and apologize.
I grab my car keys sitting on the dresser. Oh, I forgot, I got a car too. I bought it myself after working everyday after school.
I headed downstairs and walked past mom and dad and to the front door.
"I'll be back to have cake in a bit. I have to finish up some business." I say before heading out the door.
I pull out of the driveway and head down the street. Memories fill my mind as I drive down Ethan's street. I slow down as I approach his house. I park the car on the street. My hand reaches over for the jacket in the passenger seat. Just touching it gives me chills. I grip it tightly and get out of the car. I leave the keys in the ignition figuring this would only take a quick second.
The wood creeks under my feet as I walk up the old stairs that led to his front door. My heart ached with the pain of the memories we created in the spot I was standing on. The sounds haunted my ears. I take a deep breath and rethink before knocking on the door. As I do knock a flash of the past invades my mind. The day I found Ethan at the lowest. He could have died if I had given up and went home. That scared me. What if he was dead and I didn't know about it?
    The door pulls open and I jump. Ethan's mom answers.
"Hi mis, is Ethan here?" I ask looking down on the short woman.
"No. He's at work." She says.
"Work? Were?" I ask.
"Down the street, he's been working at the piercing shop, Taylor's." She says.
"Ok, thank you." I say turning and walking off the porch and back to the car. I had no idea he had a job, let alone at a piercing shop. I toss the jacket in the back seat and drive forward. I had seen the shop a thousand times before. The shop was actually pretty big. It was on the main street that led to all the other streets.
     I pulled into the parking lot and looked out the window. I could see the shop owner, Jeff, standing at the counter talking to someone. I un clicked my seat belt and pushed open the car door. I grabbed my keys out of the car this time. I slammed the door shut and headed for the back door to get the jacket.
As I walked into the shop nervously a little bell rang letting the whole place know I was there.
"How can I help you?" Jeff asks turning to me.
"I um, I'm looking for Ethan. Is he here and is he busy?" I ask speaking over the lump in my throat. I swallow hard and he scans my face.
"Ethan!" Jeff yells to the back. A wall divides the piercing area from the entrance of the shop. Jeff heads back through the doorway. The guy Jeff had been talking to looks over at me.
"Hey, I'm Grayson." I say lending  a hand over the counter top for him to shake.
"So you're Grayson. I'm Dillion." He says smirking and shaking my hand firmly. I pull my hand back and drop it to my side.
"You know me? You must be friends with Ethan. Nice to meet you." I say coming off with a smooth vibe. Ethan walks out of the door way and approaches Dillion. Dillion grabs Ethan by the waist and kisses him quickly.
"Hey babe." Dillion says.
"Hey." Ethan says then turning to me. His eyes widen as my heart jumps. Ethan had just kissed someone else right in front of me without a care in the world.
"Um. Let's take this outside." Ethan finally speaks up.

Ethan's P.O.V.
The door bell rang as someone walked into the shop. I was in the back cleaning up a bit before I left early. Dillion had a doctors appointment and wanted me to go with him. Jeff spoke up an asked what he could do for the guy. I was cleaning off the counter when I heard something so familiar. I thought it couldn't be. Grayson had left to go to Cali. I would know because when I came to see him his mother told me.
"Ethan!" Jeff yelled startling me. He comes back to me and looks at the place. He nods in approval before telling me what was going on.
"Someone's here for you. I don't know who." He says. I bit my lip and looked at my ink stained hands. I had just finished up a sketch for some tattoo ideas Jeff could try.
"Ok." I say dropping my rag on the counter and heading to front. Dillion greeted me with a kiss.
"Hey babe." He says.
"Hey." I say whipping my hands on my jeans prepared to shake someone else's. I looked up and scared myself. I wasn't ready for this. Grayson's face sent me loads of emotions. He had my jacket in his hands as I looked down. I looked back up and we locked eyes.
"Um. Let's take this outside." I say getting out from behind the counter and heading for the door.
"What are you doing here?" I ask looking at him with a face of anger.
"I came to give you back your jacket but I found you cheating on me." He says holding the jacket like it was a hostage.
"You've got a lot of nerve coming up here and saying that." I say.
"You told me you would wait." He says.
"And you told me you weren't ready. You told me that we were just a couple of kids. You told me only three and a half months." I say getting mad but sad at the same time.
"What do you mean?" He asks like he had no clue.
"I came to your house two days after school ended. Your mother answers to tell me you left for Cali. I bought those damn tickets for us. I spent hundreds of dollars on you only to let it go down the toilet. You broke my heart. Apparently I didn't teach you enough about love. I had the right to find someone else." I say with tears streaming down my face.
"I'm sorry that I wanted to get away for a bit. I'm sorry that you were pushing me too far. But what you did wrong in this situation is not break up with me. Therefore you're cheating on me right this second." He says.
"That's not the point!" I raise my voice. He scans my body before looking back up into my eyes.
"The point is that you don't love me anymore." He says now tears in his eyes.
"I was so sad when I found out. I realized you didn't need me anymore. I realized what we had was just another heart break for me. Just another fail at life." I say whipping away my tears and lowering my voice.
"What do we do now?" He asks after a minute of silence.
"We're over. I'm breaking up with you." I say after taking in a deep breath.
"I have to know. Do you still love me?" He asks looking into my eyes. I close my eyes tight and take a moment to process.
"Tell me you don't love me and I'll go." He says. I look him dead in the eye. I couldn't be with him anymore.
"I don't love you anymore." I say. I can almost hear the fire burning up in his heart. Tears escape from his eyes and I wanted nothing more then to wipe them away and tell him it would be ok but I couldn't. There was no going back.
"I'm sorry." I whisper.
"I'm sorry too." He says almost over my last word. He hands the jacket back and turns to his car. He walks off. He closes the door and I watch as he falls apart in the front seat. I couldn't watch any longer so I head inside and break down in my new boyfriends arms that weren't Grayson's.