The Boy Across the Hall

Chapter 2

Walking home from school has been a challenge since Alexa and Jack have been dating. I've let them walk home by themselves from now on because I hate being a third wheel. I used to walk home with my friend hannah but her parents made her start taking the bus home. We still walk to school together but it's so boring walking home now.
As I continued to make my way up the hill, I heard someone walk up behind me and I stopped in my tracks. I pushed my elbow back as hard as I could, but before I could do any damage, I heard a familiar voice yell, "TABITHA IT'S ME!" I turned around to meet the face of a fear stricken Ethan and decided that this wasn't the appropriate time to elbow someone in the gut.
"Holy cow what the heck Tabitha?" Ethan yelled, but he also looked impressed.
"Oh... sorry... habit," I said slowly, "I have two brothers." I finished.
"Oh." He said as if everything finally made sense.
"Yeah..." I said trying to carry on the conversation. He's really hot.
"So... where do you live?" I asked.
"Oh I live off of cucumber lane in the neighborhood, hollow wood, what about you?"
He replied.
"I.. I do too, you moved in to the house right next door to mine." I said stumbling for words.
"Oh..." he said, a smile creeping onto his mischievous face. "We're going to have fun." He said, once again smirking in a really mysteriously hot way... I hate myself. What have I gotten in to?
"Um... where's Grayson?" I coughed out.
"Oh... he found this girl.. I think her name was hannah?" He said questioning himself for the second time today. "Anyways, she said she would show him around town... it was obvious he didn't want me to come so I said I wasn't feeling good and started walking home, and now I'm here with you." He said with a shimmer in his eye. You know, for a second I kinda felt bad for him.
"How about we go to my house and drop our stuff off and go out?" I proposed.
"Woah, we've only known each other for a few hours, do you usually take things this fast?" He asked with a smirk.
"No you dimwit." I replied. "I'm asking if you would like to see the town with me, but I get it, if you don't want to be seen with me on the first day here, I understand." I said looking down and smirking.
"No! That's not what I meant!" He said defensively. "It was a joke... I didn't mean to-" "I'm joking!" I laughed. "You're funny, Mr. Dolan." I said, trying to imitate Mr. Asshelmets voice.
"Ms. Fitts..." he said looking me in the eye. His eyes are pretty. Have I mentioned that already? I really like his eyes.
***********
After dropping my stuff off at my house, I changed into some more comfortable clothes and walked outside to meet Ethan.
"Gosh, where is he?" I said out loud after I'd been waiting for 5 minutes on his front porch.
"Right here." He said from behind me.
"Ethan!" I yelled because he startled me. I guess he came out of the garage and I didn't notice.
"Ready to go?" He asked pulling out some car keys.
"But- you- how can you drive?" I asked because I can't get my license for two more months.
"I'm a junior." He said looking at me like I was crazy.
"B-but we had class together today??" I said as I began to question everything I've ever been taught, like I don't know, common sense... putting two and two together?
"That was an advanced class... for you... that was regular class for me." He said chuckling.
"Wait! So you know I'm a sophomore and still want to hang out with me?" I asked him as I looked in to his deep brown eyes.
"Well yeah you're cool as fu-"
"Please don't cuss around me." I said cutting him off and closing my eyes because I didn't want to see his reaction to me not wanting him to cuss.
"I'm sorry." He said after a few seconds. I kept my eyes closed and my head pointed to the ground. "Did I offend you? I'm so sorry!" He apologized.
"No! Oh my gosh, no of course not! I'm just shocked you're still standing here, in all honesty." I admitted. I felt him put his hand on my arm.
"Why would I leave such a beautiful lady alone in my driveway?" He said with a wink. "I'm not a douchebag..." he added silently under his breath but I still heard him.
"You're not." I whispered and smiled to him.
"Let's go! Times running out!" I said excitedly.
"Okay," he said with a chuckle as I raced to the passenger seat of his truck.
"I like your truck." Boys like it when girls compliment their vehicles; however, they like it even more when you mean it. And I mean it.
"My dad has a truck that he lets me drive occasionally." I said and I listened for him to snort or laugh or say, 'I'd love to see that,' under his breath or even make a rude remark about my height... but it didn't come. Instead I got "That's cool. Girls who drive trucks are cool." This response was cheesy and not at all what I expected, but I don't mind it.
"Maybe I can take you for a ride someday." I said jokingly. "Are you not going to make a comment on my height... about how I can't see over the steering wheel?" I asked and waited. "Why would I do that?" He said looking at me. "Keep your eyes on the road!" I said as he laughed and looked towards the road.
"And people say that stuff all of the time. And you're like ten inches taller than me so I kind of expected it." I explained to him as he looked over occasionally and smiled.
"I think short girls are cute." He said blandly. "Did you just call me cute?" I asked. Boys don't ever call me cute... I'm not cute?
"Well yeah... you are, duh." He said looking at me quickly and then back to the road.
"Do you know where you're going?" I questioned since I was supposed to be the one giving directions.
"Yeah, we're here actually." He said pulling in to a parking lot.
"IHOP?" I asked with a laugh.
"Do you not like IHOP? We can go somewhere else." He said quickly as he put the truck in park.
"No! I love pancakes!" I said as I defended myself.
"Oh... good. I was so scared." He said breathing deeply and getting out of the car. As I was about to open the door to get out of the car it was suddenly opened for me by an Ethan with his hand out for me to take. It had been really cold earlier and the step to get into his truck had become kind of icy so I took his hand so I wouldn't fall and embarrass myself further.
"Your hand is so cold I should hold it to keep it warm." Ethan said and started laughing when he saw my cheeks heat up.
"Do you always move this quickly? We've only known each other for a few hours." I said mockingly. "Only the ones I like." He said quietly.
"Thanks." I said sarcastically. Two can play at this game. I like the flirt game. It's fun.
"Fine. If you don't want to hold my hand, it's fine." He said dropping my hand with a smirk.
"I want to hold the other one now." I said switching to his other side. "My right hand got cold. You warmed my left one for me." I said with a wink, and to my surprise, his cheeks were the ones that heated up. I like this game. As Ethan let go of my hand to open the door, I slid on some ice and almost fell. I hate myself. Why. Why is my life like this. WHY. I give up. No more flirting for me. Now everything's going to be awkward because he doesn't want you anymore. Pfft. He probably didn't even want you anyways.
"Are- you- okay?" Ethan gasped between laughs as I stared at him.
"Yeah I'm fine. It wasn't that funny." I stated as he continued to laugh.
"Uh yeah it was." An annoying voice from one, Betsy Asshelmet, Mr. Asshelmets daughter, who so happens to be one of my least favorite people on this planet, said.
"Who's this handsome guy?" She asked as she touched Ethan's bicep before he jerked away.
"I'm Ethan." He said coldly.
"Oh nice to meet you Ethan," she said drawing out his name, "I'm Betsy." She said extending her hand.
"Well hello there berry! It's so nice to meet you." He said with a very fake country accent as he grasped her hand lightly and shook it so hard her arm almost fell off.
"You know what," Betsy said hesitantly, "I uh- I'm not hungry anymore." She finished while she looked at her friend Gabriella. Her friend looked kind of disappointed but she agreed to leave with her friend.
"Let's get some pancakes." Ethan offered after a few seconds.
"Sounds good." I replied after I realized my stomach was growling.
We sat down at a booth in the corner and ordered our food. I got chocolate chip pancakes and he got banana pancakes. While we waited for our food, we talked about life and why they moved and where they came from.
While we were talking I got a text from Alexa to log in to her Instagram (I don't have any social media, by choice, because it causes a lot of drama) and look up Ethan's name. I downloaded Instagram onto my phone and I logged into her account and when I looked up his name I almost screamed. I was sitting in a restaurant across the table from Ethan Dolan. He had like five million followers on Instagram. His brother did, too. Wow.
"I need to use the restroom." I announced and got up. I realized when I came back that I left my phone on the table. My phone doesn't have a password right now...
"Can I talk to you?" Ethan asked politely as I sat down.
"If you know how to talk, then yeah go for it." I replied sarcastically. I think I know what's coming. He probably saw all of the texts from Alexa. I hope he still wants to hang out with me... what if he doesn't?
"I have to tell you something." He said as he got up and moved to my side of the booth.
"We didn't move here because of my dads job,"
He continued as I nodded my head, "we moved here because of Grayson and I."
"Oh because of your whole vine and YouTube thing?" I said casually. I felt him tense up beside me.
"Wait... you know about that?" He asked.
"Well, yeah..." as I remembered some of their vines that Alexa had showed me a while ago.
"Are you just hanging out with me because I have followers?" He asked and it kind of made me mad. Not that he asked, but because he had to. He had to ask because people have done this before. People have hung out with him for followers.
"No of course not," I replied softly, "I don't care about how many people follow you or support you or whatever. I care about whether or not you support others, the way your fans support you." His face lit up and he looked me in the eye.
"Of course I do, anyone would be stupid not to." He replied. I don't know why, but this made my heart flutter. I fall too fast.
Ethan pulled in to his driveway and instead of letting me walk the 10 feet it takes to get to my house by myself, he walked me to my front porch. As we walked up to the door I saw hannah walk out of his house.
"Hannah!" I called out to her and she turned around and started heading this way.
"Hey! Do you want to come in and hang out?" I asked as she walked up to the door.
"Sure." She said as she walked into my house.
"Oh you're not going to invite me in?" Ethan asked. "I walked you home and everything!" He yelled pretending to get upset.
"Not on the first date silly." I said with a wink. OH MY GOSH. I JUST SAID THAT.
"Oh... so that's what we're calling this?" He said as a huge smile spread across his face.
"We... we can..." I stuttered.
"Not yet." He said with a small smile.
"Not yet." I agreed.

Hey guys! Please please please let me know if you liked this, and tell me what to improve on! It would make me so happy and I will try my hardest to make my writing better! If the plot is boring, PLEASE let me know. Love you guys!