Brave|Ethan Dolan|

4.|I Should've Brought a First Aid Kit. . .

E T H A N

I watched Laurelle as she sat on the AirTrack Mat, checking the time excitedly. "Only fifteen more minutes, boys!" She calls to us. "Thanks, Laurie." Grayson calls back, giving me a look.

As we finished setting up the camera, I glanced back at her as she did a straddle, reaching for one foot. Looking up, she caught me staring. "You guys should come stretch, you know. You might pull a muscle," She pointed out. I shrugged as we sat beside her. "We're probably going to die during this anyways." I said, sharing a chuckle with Grayson. She didn't say anything, reaching for her left foot now.

Suddenly Gray cried out as he sloppily attempted to do a cartwheel, landing harshly on his leg.

Laurelle shook her head as she stood up to go examine Grayson. I followed, hot on her trail.

"I should've brought a first aid kit." She murmured with annoyance. Grayson's eyes widened. "My wound is that bad?"

She stared at him emotionless. "No—I meant, if you can't survive a blow like this, who knows how this is going to turn out." She sighed. "Sorry Gray, the only thing you can do is wait. It shouldn't hurt much, it's not even bruising." As he walked off to sit down and rest in a chair, I turned to her. She had resumed her stretches, not sparing me a glance.

I cleared my throat.
"Hey, Laurie."
No reply.
"Laurie?"
She didn't even spare me a glance.
"Laurie? Laurie?"
She gave me a second long glance.
"Laurelle!"

She stopped stretching, turning to me. "What, Ethan?!"

I blinked at her harsh tone. I saw her eyes soften a little.

"I didn't mean to snap," She said so quietly I wasn't sure I heard her right.

"Why are you angry at me?" I asked.

"I'm not angry at you." Was all that she said in reply.

I crossed my arms.
"Why are you mad at me?"

"I'm not—I—" She sighed. "I'm mildly annoyed." She said stubbornly.

"Yeah, and why exactly? Because I left you on read yesterday?"

"No— it's about the fact that you're a stubborn asshole that took a few words to mind when someone mentioned it to you."

"And who told you that?" I said with a raised eyebrow, not wanting to admit it was true.

She shrugged, shifting from foot to foot as her cheeks turned slightly pink. "Nobody, it was a lucky guess." My mind drifted to last night, when Grayson spent a good amount of time on the phone with someone who I suspected was Laurelle.

"Right. Well, that might be true." I said awkwardly.

"Which part? About you being an asshole? Or the part about how you denied something that Grayson claims is true, and your for some reason letting it get in the way of our friendship?"

I just stared at her; puzzled. Had Grayson told her that what I denied had been liking her? No— it couldn't have been. She would have never brought it up if it had.

"LAURIE'S HERE!" He called. Without a word, she ran over to the door.

I watched her hug Laurie Hernandez, happily greeting one of her role models.

"Both, Laurie," I whispered to myself, answering her question. "Both."

After filming our intro, I asked Grayson, "did you tell Laurelle the thing I was denying was my feelings for her?"

He didn't look in my eyes. "No. . . I only told her that you were denying something but that was about it. She was very upset by the small details, too." He said with a chuckle, before adding, "why? Did your feelings change?" He teased.

"No," I lied smoothly. "Not at all."

"So, we're on the AirTrack Mat from AirTrack Factory, and we're about to do some flips." Said Grayson with a grin.

Laurelle turned to Laurie. "This isn't going to end well at all," She informed her. In return of her comment, she got a giggle from Laurie.

"So, Laurie and Laurie are going to be judging Ethan for this round, and I'm going to be watching."

"I'm the most flexible human being on this planet," I commented from where I was doing a lame excuse of a stretch.

"Ew, what is that? You look like a dying turtle." Said Grayson. The two girls beside him laughed.

"We each have two tries to try and impress the judge." My eyes flickered to Laurelle as I said it, catching her gaze.

"I'm nervous for him." Said Grayson.

"Me too," Said Laurelle, keeping her gaze.

"I'm nervous for the both of you," Said Laurie. Finally, Laurelle looked at her, breaking our gaze.

"Three. . . Two. . . One. . ."

I did a flip, grinning to myself about how great I was doing before I fell straight on my face with a groan.

"Are you alright?" Laurelle cried out worriedly.

"Oh my gosh. . . Ethan," Grayson said, the worry in his tone turning to laughter in the end. I heard Laurie and Laurelle laughing slightly.

"What just happened?" Asked Grayson with a laugh he didn't bother hiding.

"What just happened? I just landed flat on my face," I said, shooting them a reassuring grin so they knew I was alright.

"Thank god it was on a mat," Laurelle told Laurie with a grin.

"It was actually flat on his face," Said Grayson to the camera, cracking a smile.

"Alright, good job Ethan." Said Grayson as I ventured over, looking defeated.

I let out a dizzy breath as I leaned against the closest person, wrapping an arm around their shoulders. Laurelle looked surprised, and I could see the small blush on her cheeks only because I was so close.

"That was, mentally. . ." I trailed off in thought as the others shot me a questioning look. "I forgot the word. I think I forgot all words that I ever knew when I hit my head on the ground like that."

They laughed.

"Why are you so cold?" Laurelle asked suddenly. Grayson reached out and touched my arm to see if she was correct.

"I'm cold?"

"Maybe it's because, you know—"

"Because I peed my pants."

Laurelle cringed, jumping away from me as the rest of us laughed at her reaction.