The Outcasts | e.d

NINE

E L I S A

Just knock on the door you loser.

I was currently standing in front of Ethan's door at 7:50 on a Monday morning freezing my ass off. Ethan had called me last night asking if we could walk to school together, and I obviously said yes.

His house was a large cottage like house, really cozy looking. I couldn't help but notice the blue beetle that was parked in the garage. What stood out even more was the license plate that read, "GR2ETKNG". My head whipped forward once the large black wooden door was ripped open. Instead of Ethan, I was met with his sister Cameron. I heard she dropped out of school her senior year to get a job due to financial problems that followed Grayson's death.

"Oh, hey Cameron." She squinted her eyes and had a face covered in pity. But what for?

"Don't get attached to him." Those words hit me like a pile of bricks. I knew she was talking about Ethan.

"He's not the type of person that stays in one place for a long period of time. Soon he'll leave & it'll be up to him on whether he wants to come back or not. Don't get your hopes up Elisa, by the way Ethan will be out soon." With that she closed the large door. Is Ethan really going to leave? Where was he going to leave to?

Just as my thoughts began taking over my heart the door whipped open to reveal a rough looking Ethan. He was wearing a long sleeve thrasher shirt with some black ripped jeans & some black doc martens. Once his eyes met mine he looked up and down my body. I felt unbelievably awkward just standing there.

"You look really beautiful Elisa." I couldn't help but smile at his words.

He called me beautiful.

We began walking towards the school.

No ones ever called me beautiful, no ones made me feel beautiful like he has, which is why the selfish part of me is worried that when he does leave, he'll take all of my confidence with him. I never felt so weak before.

"Alright, what's wrong? You have your thinking face on." I immediately knew what Ethan was talking about. My mom told me that when ever I'm in deep thought my eyebrows scrunch up & I make a sad pout, no matter what I'm thinking about.

"Nothing, just can't stop thinking about how I lost my own brother at the park." Ethan looked at me intensely, like he was trying to figure out if I was telling the truth or not. He must've let it slide because he commented, "it was an honest mistake Elisa, you know how many times my moms lost me & gray? Just about a shit load." Ethan never really talked about Grayson around me, it's like that was his own little secret to be kept, understandably.

We walked in silence & I felt the butterflies in my stomach when Ethan stopped to grab my hand, put them together, and blew his hot breath on them. The entire time he kept eye contact with me. "You should be wearing gloves, your hands will fall off." I chuckled as I looked down at our hands. A warm gushy feeling filled my stomach as I looked into those hazel like eyes. Ethan kissed my hands and we began to walk again with my hand engulfed in his.

"So there's this football game tonight and I think we should go, you wanna go with me?" I giggle at his nervous voice. His eyes were fixed on mine as I nodded. He smiled and kissed the top of my head as we continued to walk to school.

It's a date.