coffee; a novel

three.

       I woke up the next morning still in Ethan's grasp, I could tell he was awake as he squeezed me slightly. I made an attempt of looking up to him but failed to see his face as he was behind me.
"Morning Vi, what made you choose to come and sleep next to me?" He asked me, planting a kiss on my forehead.
"Watch it Ethan, I only just met you yesterday, so don't get too friendly. Plus, I was really cold and couldn't sleep so I thought this would work." I told him.
"I'm sure that's the reason." He chuckled, I gave him a heavy sigh.
"You know if you're going to try and flirt with me at least ask me out on a date first." I said sarcastically whilst playfully nudging him.
"Alright, will you?" He asked sounding rather serious, well at least more serious than I was.
"Wait what?" I asked, rather shocked at what he just said.
"Will you go out on a date with me Violet Adams? Please?" He asked and began to pout at me, attempting to look like a homeless puppy. I sighed and rolled my eyes.
"Ugh fine, If I really have to." I giggled and rolled over to face him, I trailed my hand along the side of his face. I looked up at him as I did this, his eyes were closed shut while a smile creeped on his face. A smile slowly grew on my own as I took a second to admire how beautiful he looked in this moment. Sure, he's a stranger still, but that doesn't mean he isn't a beautiful creature.
"So when's the date?" I asked Ethan, moving my hand up to his face, stroking his cheek with my thumb.
"Umm... How about as soon as you're dressed, along with myself of course." He raised an eyebrow at me.
"Sounds perfect." I whispered loud enough for him to hear, I slipped away from his grasp to find some clothes. I waltzed into my bathroom and untied my hair and brushed it through, I guess you could say my hair was rather long as it's just above my hips, I used to dye it all sorts of colors when I was younger, currently the majority of my hair was black whilst the ends were dyed periwinkle as that has always been my favorite color.

     I had put on my makeup which simply was just foundation, powder, a rather thin line of black eyeliner and of course mascara, I never filled in my eyebrows because they were naturally dark and thick.  I walked back into my room to grab myself some clothes and of course Ethan was still laying on my couch with nothing on other than his dark grey boxers. I sighed to myself then spoke.
"So is this what you're wearing on our date? How classy." I say sarcastically.
"Shut it Adams, hey give me your flannel I think it might fit me." He said pointing to the current flannel I had on as he began to sit up. Since it was my ex boyfriend's, it hung off my body like a dress almost. I took the flannel off without realizing that it left me just in my underwear, how fucking awkward.
"Oh fuck! Sorry- I didn't even realize!" I yelled as I grabbed a grey sweater and threw it over the top of my head. Ethan simply turned around and tried to act as if nothing happened, yet still sniggering to himself.
"Shut it Scott, it wasn't that funny!" I yelled to him which just made him laugh even harder whilst blood rushed to my cheeks.
"You know, it was kind of funny, for me at least." Ethan said still laughing, buttoning up the flannel I gave him. Once we were both finally dressed I spoke up.
"Where are we going anyways?" I asked Ethan, furrowing my brows a bit.
"You see Vi, that's the fun part about it, because I don't know where we're going either. It's a surprise!" He said with the biggest smile appearing on his face, then leading to him grabbing my hand and pulling me downstairs to my garage. Ethan got into the driver's seat and I sat in the passenger seat, I checked the time on my phone like I always do; 12:45pm it read, it was a really lovely day as the air was misty and the sky was full of thin white clouds.

After a few hours of driving Ethan suggested that I put on some music, I pulled out my phone and played one of my favorite songs, 'Modern Love' by David Bowie. Ethan's eyes grew wide and he looked over at me in surprise.

"What?" I asked with a small giggle.

"I love this song, I didn't know you were into this type of music!" He yelled as my face almost lit up hearing someone say that, majority of the people I knew didn't know about David unless I told them about him or only know him from Queen's song Under Pressure. Once Ethan and I sang our hearts out to David Bowie for a good hour I finally asked him what I was thinking for the entire journey.
"Can I please finally know where we're going? We've been driving since 12:45 this afternoon and it's almost 6pm. You better not be kidnapping me!" I mentioned. Ethan sighed quietly.
"Ugh fine, way to ruin my surprise. No, I'm not kidnapping you by the way, but I am driving us to Los Angeles, we're going to Disneyland." He finally told me where we were headed. Yes, I squealed like a little girl.
"Disneyland?! Are you serious?" I asked in a rather excited tone, Ethan simply nodded with a smile growing on his face.
"Holy shit! I fucking love you!" I yelled not realizing I had just said that, my cheeks became a deep red as i tried to stutter something out.
"Uh fuck— I didn't mean... you know. Shit— sorry." I said under my breath.
"I know what you meant, it's fine don't worry about it and I know I'm irresistible. I think there's an In-N-Out here somewhere, you hungry?" Ethan asked me taking one of his hands and grabbing mine, squeezing it slightly. I simply nodded as he pulled into a parking lot and we both walked out of the car.

   I took a moment to take in the scenery as the sunset had just now began to fade. The sky was Violet color which had just a tint of pink, I was so mesmerized that I completely stopped in my tracks, long enough that Ethan had to grab my hand and yank my body indoors. A bell jingled as we pushed open the door to walk in, I simply got myself some fries as I've never really been fond of meat and Ethan got a burger, I told him that I would pay for my own food but he insisted that he would pay since it's the 'gentlemanly' thing to do on a date.
We both chose to sit at a corner booth considering that they were the most comfortable seats out of the rest. Once I sat down I realized two things; it was now dark out and also we were the only two people here. There was a small silence as we both ate but then Ethan spoke.
"So how's this date turning out so far?" He asked with his food still in his mouth.
"Do you want the truth or the lie?" I asked with a small smirk on my face.
"I obviously want the truth on that one." He said
"It's the best and first date I've had, apart from the fact that you're talking with your mouth full, everything you did so far is showing quite the gentleman in you." I said flashing him a smile, he simply turned his head after swallowing his food and kissed my cheek lightly as a small blush grew on my face.
"I take it back, your breath stinks!" I said jokingly, nudging his arm. He simply put his hand on his chest and opened his mouth as if to say he was rather offended by my remark.

We walked out of the door of the In-N-Out and I looked up at the sky, I had never seen so many stars in one night. I was so captivated by it, it reminded me of when I was young and had all of these glow in the dark stars above my bed on my ceiling, even though these stars were so much better. Ethan walked up behind me, startling me a bit and grabbed my left hand and intertwined it with his own.
"It's a beautiful night, don't you think?" He asked softly.
"It truly is. Hey, how many stars do you think are up there?" I said.
"Hmm... Well let's see, there's 1, 2, 3— I'm guessing like 5?" Ethan said, which made me laugh rather hard. I called him a moron and we both hopped back into my car.
Once we were back on the road I put some music back on so things weren't so quiet, I put my phone on shuffle and the first song that began to play was 'Sex' by The 1975 which was my favorite song by them.
"Thanks for paying for my food even though you didn't have to." I said to Ethan.
"It's my pleasure, I mean for a first date I want it to be perfect." He said in a rather chipper tone.
"So how much longer until we're in Los Angeles?" I asked since the time Ethan had been driving felt like forever.
"About two hours, you can climb in the back and sleep for that time, if you want." He said.
"I would but first can you stop by the store? I need to grab something from there." I said, pointing to the store we were just about to pass. Ethan pulled over into the parking lot, I told him to stay in the car and bought myself a pack of cigarettes, you see I get very anxious and I used to self-harm which was sort of my 'release' but as I got older I turned to cigarettes as I feel they calm my nerves. I opened the door to find Ethan half awake, I punched his arm to startle him so he wouldn't fall asleep.
"I'm awake! I swear I wasn't sleeping!" He yelled.
"Yeah, I'm sure you weren't." I said with a slight laugh, Ethan's eyes wandered to my hands, still holding the cigarettes.
"Wait... You smoke? Why?" He said sounding concerned.
"It's my one way of feeling better, it's the only way I know how to 'feel better' I guess." I said quietly, feeling ashamed of myself. Ethan reached out his arm and softly stroked my arm.
"Look, don't be upset or ashamed of it, I occasionally do it too." He told me, Ethan then reached into his pocket only to pull out a similar packet of cigarettes. Neither of us uttered a word, we just stared into one another's eyes. The night was dark, not exactly pitch black but dark enough that I couldn't see the usual green galaxies that floated around his pupils, it wasn't the same as seeing them in morning light but they were still beautiful as ever.