Later that night, Ethan sat at the same old bar with the same old drink in front of him. He had debated with himself about even going out tonight, but he wanted to see Nina.
The bells above the front door jingled, and a moment later, Nina was sitting down beside Ethan. He glanced over at her as he took a sip of his drink.
"Hey, Ethan." Nina smiled at the man.
Ethan looked over at her. "Hello." He replied. Nina ordered her drink, and thanked the bartender.
"How was your day?" Nina asked.
"It was alright. How was yours?"
"Boring. I have nothing to do because of, well, you know."
"Sometimes doing nothing is good though. Work is stressing me out and I want a break." Ethan replied as he took another sip of his drink. He let one of the ice cubes fall into his mouth, and quietly sucked on it.
"W-why do you always do that?" Nina asked.
"Do what?"
"Eat one of your ice cubes."
Ethan sighed loudly. "They represent something...things I want to forget about but I know I can't." The man replied.
"What things?" Nina asked quietly.
"My...my siblings. They've always been...better than me. I envy them, because they have everything. My parents love them more. They have stable jobs. They have their lives together." Ethan explained. Nina simply stared at him at he continued talking. "They ask themselves where they went wrong with me...why I can't seem to get it together."
"I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked." Nina said as she looked away from Ethan and awkwardly tapped her fingernails on her glass.
"It's fine. I don't mind. But back to your question of why I eat one, I don't really know why. I think it's just because if I eat one in the glass, it represents my brother. We were really close growing up, but he moved away for work and started a family. I feel like if i eat an ice cube, then it's just the two of us again. The two of us facing the world. It actually sounds pretty weird when I say it outloud...but that's why I do it."
"Wow." Nina said softly. "That's really deep, Ethan."
Ethan nodded as he took another sip.
"What's his name?" Nina asked.
"Grayson."
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There chapter is really special to me because it shows just how much Ethan cares about his brother. Please don't comment stuff like 'so he ate his brother..?' because that's not the point. The point is that if Ethan eats the ice cube, then his brother is always with him no matter where they both are. Part of Grayson is inside Ethan. I hope that makes sense, and I hope you're all enjoying this story :)))
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