hopelessly devoted // e.d.

Chapter 4

"Hehe, um, hi," I say tucking a stray piece of hair behind my ear looking down.

Julie giggles revealing a pearly white smile. How can this girl get even prettier? I think to myself.

"So are you two a thing or something?" She asks casually.

"NO he's just my friend."

"Oh that's too bad. You two would look cute together."

I look down blushing. If she thinks Gray and I look cute, then she's basically saying Ethan and I look cute together. WAIT GET YOURSELF TOGETHER WOMAN. NOT YOUR BOYFRIEND. HER'S.

I hop off of the counter and try to regain my composure. As the awkwardness fades away, I bring myself to converse with Julie, the twins leaving my mind.

"Hey you wanna go hang out at my house? It's only a few streets down from here."

"Sure! I'm sure these guys," Julie says acknowledging the boys, "could find something to do without us."

Ethan smiles and says, "You guys get to know each other. I'll see you later. All right babe?"

Julie smiles and nods giving Ethan a brief kiss which he eagerly returns. Is this how Noah felt in the Notebook when he saw Allie with Lon?

We say our goodbyes and head over to my house. This time I don't use my longboard. I walk alongside Julie.

"So how did you and Ethan meet?" I ask.

"At school. In freshman year he and Grayson...well lets just say they weren't liked as much as they are now and were teased quite a bit. I'm was part of the girls' JV basketball team, now Varsity, so when I was getting out of practice one day I saw a few people from the Varsity football team going at em and I just couldn't stand there. From that day on we became friends and people started to stop messing with them as my team started sticking up for them too. That was until Ethan asked me out of course."

"Wow. I had no idea they were bullied," I said softly.

"They don't like talking about it much. Caused a few mentally challenging problems to occur. Like--"

"You don't have to tell me. If they wanted me to know they'd tell me. I don't want to know something they aren't comfortable with me knowing," I say cutting her short.

Julie smiles at me, "I see why they like you. Kinda goofy like them, but loyal to a fault."

"And I see why Ethan loves you."

Julie smile falters a bit as she looks towards the horizon saying, "Yeah, he really does love me, doesn't he?"

My eyebrows furrow with confusion. I don't understand why the tone of her voice changed. We arrive at my house and I see my parents and Ryan aren't home. They probably went into town for ice cream or something.

I grab a bag of sour candy gummies before heading up to my room with Julie hot on my tail.

"Woah. You're room is so pretty!"

"Thanks. I'm an aesthetic chaser. Call me basic."

We kick off our shoes and lay on sit on my bed, eating the candy.

"Hey if you don't mind me asking, why did the tone of your voice," I hesitate,"change when I mentioned Ethan loving you? I know I haven't known you long at all, but I know when someone's hiding something. Sorry if I'm being too forward but he's my friend."

Julie purses her lips and sighs.

"I was hoping you wouldn't be as observant as Grayson. I love him. I really do. He's one of the closest people to my heart. I just...I just don't know if I'm in love with him anymore," she says, trailing off.