After moving to a small town for a semester and a half, Camilla Adams is relived about how great the new place and school seem to be, and how nice some people were.
But then she notices the way students treat one particular quiet guy, some horribly...
Tracing the CD cases with the tip of my finger, I trailed along with the alphabetical order, passing the G.H.I.J when a hand grabbed mine. Turning, I catch Ethan's gaze, before he tugged me away from the CD filled shelves, but not before grabbing a CD and letting go of my hand to go to his desk and put it in his laptop.
Music radiated around the room as Ethan came back to only stop a few inches away from me, and held his hand up, a playful smile on his lips as his grey eyes spewed warmth at me. Chuckling, I put my hand in his without a second thought, inhaling a deep breath when his other hand went around my waist.
The words soon came, and if I hadn't known Ethan was deaf before, I would have never guessed it now since he danced along with the music so perfectly that even though I recognized the song from before, I couldn't keep up with him and tumbled a few times, my cheeks flaring red with embarrassment.
Ethan exaggeratedly sways me to the music with his eyes fixed on mine, that playful smile of his sending my stomach squeezing as my heart filled with joy, my lips stretching in the biggest smile I could muster, cracking up every few minutes as he led me around the room, the sundress I'm wearing swirling around.
He suddenly takes me by surprise by swirling me around before catching me in his arms, my heart beating in my ears as I could tell he was enjoying this way too much.
I had come here today to discuss something with Ethan, or more like 'bring something up nonchalantly' but his distracting skills had me forgetting all about it, focusing on him as we swayed around and cracked up every few seconds like we were high on something.
When in truth we were high on each other.
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Letting the coin dip between my pinkie and ring finger, I groaned when it slipped and fell to the bed between me and Ethan.
Ethan trapped his lower lip between his teeth, making me scowl at him for wanting to laugh at me. He had been teaching me how to roll a coin across my knuckles for fifteen minutes now, and it seems that every time I try it, I get even worse at it than the previous time.
Pouting, I stare at him with puppy eyes, knowing there was no use since he couldn't just magically make me do it right. It's true that I said he was a speck of magic, but that didn't mean he could just spew magic anywhere.
Now releasing the chuckle he was holding, I swat him lightly across the chest, and he doesn't even bother to protect himself and just keeps laughing openly this time.
A smile creeps up my face without me wanting it to. The sound of his infectious laugh like music to my ears that I just want to keep listening to. And I suddenly forgot about the stupid coin.
And before I could even register what was happening, his palm was warming the side of my neck and he was bringing me closer until our lips brushed for a brief moment, before our eyes locked and I felt my heart flutter. He was teasing me. Sucking in a deep breath, I noticed how his eyes lit up with that mischievousness that told him how he affected me, a playful smile playing on his lips as he brought our lips together once again.
And this time I don't let him pull back.
Hands going around his neck, I hold him close tightly, which makes him laugh in the kiss and wrap his arms around my hips, pulling me closer until I was particularly sitting in his lap, that alone telling me he was getting it on and was deepening the kiss.
And that's when I pulled back and went on playing with the discarded coin like nothing ever happened. Flipping it to each side as if it interested me, only while I watched Ethan from the corner of my eye groan and run his hands through his hair in frustration.
He needed to think twice before teasing me again.
Flipping the coin once more, I was met with a blank side. Eyebrows going up, I stared at the coin in confusion, before flipping it to the other side and was met with tails. That's it. The coin had one side with tails, and the other blank. Flipping it back to the blank side, I ran my thumb across the smooth surface, the fact that I hadn't noticed it when I was rolling—trying to—the coin across my knuckles beyond me.
Looking up at Ethan, I found him already looking at me like he was waiting for me to ask about it. And that's what I did.
"It was in eighth grade when the school took us to a coins factory, and when we finished the tour, they told us that each of us gets to make their own coin, so we did ours." Ethan mouthed, taking the coin from me at some point and running his thumb across the blank side.
I knew when he had said 'we' that he wasn't just talking about himself. "You and?" I asked, willing him to continue.
"Me and Corey".
"Oh."
It was like the opportunity had put itself right in front of me, and I was just going to ask about the blank side when I decided against it and kept quiet. If he wanted to tell me, he would eventually, I didn't have to ask.
"We had wanted something special, something different than the other kids. So I got mine with tails only, and he got his with only heads since he loves faces so much." He let out a small laugh at the last part.
A laugh so sad that managed to rip at my heart piece after piece, over and over again.
Wrapping both hands around his hand that had the coin clasped in it, he visibly stiffened, and I left a hand to his cheek, stroking his cheek soothingly with my thumb until he seemed to relax, and I waited until our eyes locked to speak. "Ethan, why are you doing this? Why are you two not friends anymore?"
And he averts his eyes, making me drop my hand when he didn't make any attempt to answer.
"You know he misses you, right? He wants to be friends again, brothers again, and he's willing to make an effort for it. Why don't you give him another chance?"
Ethan's hand pulled away from mine, and before I could react he was up and pacing as his hands went through his hair several times. I had already received the message that he didn't want to talk about it, so getting up, I went to retrieve my sandals from beside his desk and put them on. And by the time I was finished, he already seemed to know I was leaving, but I said what I said anyway.
"I should get going, my Dad is probably waiting for me." My Dad was out working late. Ethan just gave a nod, and we were both on our way down the stairs and to the front door.
"Need a ride home?" He signed, and I shook my head.
"I'll probably just call Kaylee to come to get me or get a cab. Don't worry about it." He didn't protest, and I tried to ignore the little sting of hurt in my chest. He just needed space, and time. I could give him that.
Getting on my tiptoes, I pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.
