Bella's POV
There he was, Ethan Dolan just standing at his locker. I can't believe I'm best friends with a social media star. Every girl had a thing for Ethan, besides me. We hangout every Tuesday after he posts. Ethan makes everything fun. Like today, when he came to my locker and scared me.
"WHATS UP BELLA BEAR?"
He says as he grabs my waist making me jump
"fuck off!"
I say while giggling. He smiles, then puts his arm around me. I slowly squirm indicating that I want him to stop. He does, and we walk out of the school together. "E, I left my wallet at my house, can we stop there before we go to.. wait where are we even going?" I asked in slight confusion. He looked at me and scoffed as if I was insane. "You don't need your wallet today." he said with his deep, almost scratchy voice. It was almost as if he just woke up, but I didn't mind it. Something about it made me feel safe. That was Ethan's voice.
We drove for what felt like hours. I kept questioning him "Don't you need to post today?" "How come Gray isn't coming with us?" his response was always "Don't worry about it". It was now sunset, we arrived at this log cabin themed building. He opened the door and grabbed my hand as I jumped out of the car. "M'lady" he said in a fancy accent as he pulled the door open for me, he bowed towards the door as a sign for me to walk inside. I bursted into laughter at the sight "Ethan" I had to stop talking as I giggled mid-sentence "You did NOT take me to a pancake house" I said with my hand over my mouth, laughing into my hand. He gives me the biggest smile and looks at me with his sparkling eyes, I'd be lying if I said Ethan wasn't cute, but that wasn't the point of tonight. Ethan and I are about to eat some bomb pancakes. The waiter came as me and Ethan were mid-conversation about our school day. The man serving us was nerdy, big glasses, weird posture. "Gimme some OJ" Ethan said, holding the J for an extra second or two, almost saying it as if he was tipsy. "Ethan! Manners!" I said in a mom voice. He gave me the "mhm" look as I continued ordering "I'll have a Toffee Cappuccino, please". "Toffee is disgusting" Ethan mumbled. "Well maybe you haven't had good toffee" I answered raising the tone in my voice. Ethan continued to stare at me like I was a million bucks, it was very unusual, he's never like this.
Ethan's POV
She is just so god damn cute. Her giggle is the highlight of my day. I was so happy to be sitting across from her, in this random ass pancake house. I couldn't help but stare at her. She was probably embarrassed to be with me, but I was just embarrassing myself so I could hear her laugh. It was like music to my ears. Our pancakes came and she looked so excited, which made a tiny smile curl on my face. I could tell she noticed. "Banana pancakes! My favorite" she said while clapping her hands.
Banana pancakes are her favorite.. remember that
I thought to myself as I took my plate from the waiter. Just plain 'ol pancakes with whip cream. "You're so boring" she scoffed "I'm pretty sure you're the only one who thinks that" I said quietly as I faded my voice from a whisper to a small giggle, realizing in my head how cocky that sounded.
This is why you don't get girls Ethan
You're such a mess up
You have no manners
Bella will never like you
All these bad thoughts are filling my head. I have no control over my body. I'm whispering but I don't know what I'm saying. I hear faint voices, but yet they are so loud. I feel like I'm underwater it's all just a blur. My heart is racing
You can't take it
You can't take it
You ca-
I CAN'T TAKE IT
All of a sudden, everything stops. The indie music playing is suddenly clear. I feel cold angry stares from behind me. I look around, with confusion on my face. Then, I see Bella.
"Ethan?"
She's shaking, she's crying. I feel like such an idiot. I watch as she runs out of the restaurant. I slowly sink back down into my chair. The waiter comes back and asks awkwardly "W-W-Would you like the check?" I throw a 50 in his face "keep the change asshole" I say loud and fast. I storm out to my truck.
Bella's POV
I begin to eat my pancakes, as I stare up at Ethan with a smile. Something seems off, he looks.. angry? I'm not sure. "What? Do I got syrup on my chin or something? I say with an awkward giggle, trying to cheer up the mood. He just stares off squinting his eyes, I don't know at what. He's squeezing his own hands, putting his head in the fists. "Ethan?" "Ethan, are you okay?" I ask in worrisome. He's starting to shake, he's looking around, his eyes moving rapidly. I grab his arm and stroke it "Hey, Ethan? Calm down" I begin to make small shushing noises trying to be comforting. I don't know what's going on or what do. People are staring, but i'm more focused on Ethan. I move from his arm to his back, making small rubbing movements. Out of nowhere he pushes back his chair fast, creating a loud squeak across the wood floor. He stands up, almost like a soldier "I CAN'T TAKE IT" he screams in my face. I jump, I pulled my hand off his back, and held it in my own. I can feel my face getting hot, my vision starts to blur, I blink a tear and see Ethan's face fall. He stares at me, he's totally frozen, but in his face I can tell he feels bad, or embarrassed, or hurt. I don't know, but I just left. I couldn't bare to be in that restaurant anymore. I don't know what I did wrong or why he got upset. Being screamed at made me feel like my world was crumbling. I felt like falling to my knees. I called Jaylene and asked her to pick me up. As I was on the phone I saw Ethan walking to his car, I began trembling my words, than just stopped talking overall "helloooo?" "bel?" I just hung up the phone and ran to Ethan. "E? Are you okay?" "We can talk about this!" and with that, he slammed his car door and drove off.
