Undying Echo {1}

9 | Let Me

Hearing my erratic breathing as I sprinted through the halls, I went faster, dodging students as they watched a girl run for her life- or for someone else's life for that matter- curiously.

I pushed through the school doors before running to the parking lot and started scanning it in search of a particular shiny black truck. When I heard an ignition start and whipped around in the speed of light, my hair coming into my face in the process. And found myself knocking haphazardly on Ethan's window.

But the boy had other plans than opening the window, such as ignoring me and stepping on the gas pedal for the vehicle to start moving, when I quickly blocked his way- which I seem to do a lot with him.

Spreading my arms out in front of his truck, I looked at him and found his stormy grey eyes staring at me demandingly

Move.

I shook my head stubbornly and was met with a sudden honk that made me jump out of my skin. But nevertheless, I didn't move.

Figuring that being stubborn won't work with him, I began pleading with my eyes and giving him the puppy eyes while mouthing the word 'please'. And grinned in victory when he sighed in defeat in no time.

And hearing a click, signaling that he unlocked the car doors, I thought that he was going to climb out when he just stared at me and nodded at the passenger seat,

Get in the car.

My mouth forming an 'O', I walked around the car and got in, settling in the comfy black seat of his pickup truck, him driving down the road as soon as I buckled up, my bag at my feet.

Ten minutes in the ride and the verdancy of our small suburban town was still passing out of the window, I wanted to ask him where were we going, but the task alone was too hard, due to the fact that he couldn't hear me and I was afraid we would hit something if he looked away from the road to lipread what I'd say.

So giving up on the question, I settled on being thankful he took me with him as I stared out the window in the comfortable silence, chances of knowing our destination nonexistent.

Soon enough, Ethan was pulling up until the car stopped, and he turned off the engine before climbing out, me unbuckling and following quickly, leaving my bag in the car. Whips of chilly air attacked my face as I climbed out, sending my hair whirling around randomly and into my face. I huffed, using the hair band around my wrist to tie my hair in a low ponytail.

Satisfied, I look around for Ethan to find him already 10 feet away from me and I quickly start jogging up to him.

We were at the coast.

Now walking on the almost-white soft-looking sand, I followed his path, stepping in the same big footprints he caused until we were standing before the shore, a couple of feet separating us from the water, and he sat down, me following suit.

I didn't know why'd he bring me here, noting that the location was deserted and that he looks familiar with the place, I guessed that he came here more often, but that still didn't answer my question.

But nevertheless, I was glad he brought me to such a place that probably meant something to him. Breathing in the chilly air, I exhaled, before looking to my left, I studied him for a minute, his brown hair was disheveled, a few locks had fallen onto his forehead, almost touching his eyes, and I had to hold the argue of brushing them back and running my fingers through his soft hair.

His eyes were light grey, not the stormy dark color that they had when he was angry. His face muscles were relaxed, no clenched jaw, no creases on the forehead, no furrowed eyebrows.

He looked carefree.

Being oblivious of me staring at him, or probably not minding, I continued my observation, my eyes traveling down his neck, shirt, and jacket until I was looking at his swollen knuckles, and I frowned, remembering he had punched someone earlier today and took it in my hand.

His hand was strangely warm compared to my freezing one, that I wanted to hold it to gain its warmth, but instead focused on his swollen knuckles and touched it lightly.

He flinched, snatching his hand back away from me and covering it.

"Sorry," I said, concern coating my voice.

He shook his head, the crease between his eyebrows now coming back.

"You have to do something about it," I said, making sure he was lipreading what I was saying.

He ignored me, looking straight ahead, a scowl taking place of his earlier relaxed features. Lifting my hand up, I grabbed hold of the end of his sleeve, and tugged lightly,

"Ethan, let me see" I tried, but he didn't budge.

"Please,"

Sighing in defeat for the second time today, he showed me his hand reluctantly, and I took it, examining it carefully, making sure not to touch it, when an invisible light bulb flickered in my head and I told him to stay where he is- which I was sure he would do since there was no place to go- while I scrambled up and ran to his truck, before running back with my bag in hand.

Sitting Indian style opposite from him, I unzipped my bag and got out the bottle of alcohol and bandages I always kept in my bag because of Kaylee's constant habit of getting cuts from unknown sources.

Taking his hand in mine, I took the task of cleaning around his cuts, and this time he didn't flinch, but just from the slightest clench of his jaw, I knew he was hurting, and couldn't help but feel hurt that he had to hide it from me.

So biting my lip, I worked softer, until his cuts were clean and neatly bandaged, but instead of letting go, I held on to it with both hands, and looked up at his eyes, to find him already looking at me.

"You know you don't have to hide your feelings from me, Ethan" I began, "You're not perfect. Nobody is. And showing me that you're in pain doesn't confirm you're weak, in fact, it shows how strong you are, that with whatever you're holding on your chest, whatever weakness you have or flaws you hide or pain you feel, you're still going on, you're still fighting, and that's what's most important".

He stared at me, lips apart, a mix of bewilderment and astonishment with other hidden emotions invading his eyes.

"You know I'd never underestimate you, right?" I asked.

His lips closed and a whole new emotion simmered in his eyes as he squeezed my hand gently. And I knew that was the answer to my question.