Smile - CrankGameplays

10. Chasing

Patience was key.

Waiting.

Persistence.

All of it mattered.

But Ethan was tired of being patient as he, for the seventh time in the past five minutes, checked his phone. Blank. A screen full of nothing except a picture of a German shepherd. 

It was a little past twelve when his phone lit up with a notification from Twitter, saying someone liked one of his sappy, poetic retweets. The screen had cast a blue glow on his face as he rested his head on his pillow, trying to fight the urge to continue trying.

Reese had not replied to him.

Ethan's attempt to repair whatever that was ruined didn't seem like it was fixable at this point. He fucked up, or at least that's the only explanation for the no reply.

It did cross his mind that something horrible could've happened on her way back to her place, or wherever she was going for that matter, but Mark reassured him that wasn't the case. Mark did a little bit of stalking and found she posted a picture of her and Tucker on her Instagram. And, man, did it hurt.

Ethan felt somewhat rejected from Reese as she went crawling back to her despicable boyfriend, but what could the blue boy do? Sulk? Well, yes, actually that's what he's been doing for the past three hours.

He turned over, setting his phone on his nightstand while staring at the ceiling. Staring at complete nothingness. He sealed his eyes shut, hoping to have sleep creep up on him, but he knew well enough he would be up for a while doing what he did best - overthinking.

The sound of the alarm wasn't what woke Ethan up in the morning. It wasn't the cold draft that suddenly entered his bedroom. It wasn't the audible conversation between his two housemates in the kitchen and it wasn't the fact that the sunlight swarmed down on his face. It was the dream he dreamt. Because it had felt so damn real that he knew it had to be a figment of his imagination.

And surprisingly the dream wasn't about her. But it was about someone, about a girl. He could vividly remember her appearance as if it was someone he had known for a lifetime. Short auburn hair that barely brushed past her broad shoulders. Her opal eyes that professedly glimmered when she glanced in the light. Her curvy figure that fitted so well into that pretty sundress.

She was gorgeous. So damn gorgeous. But nowhere near as gorgeous as... wait.

Ethan kicked himself and reminisced about the dream, picturing the unknown girl time and time again.

He needed something, anything, to occupy his mind away from her.

He stripped himself of his clothes and darted straight for the bathroom, not even bothered to check his cellphone.

"Morning, bud." Tyler welcomed Ethan as he stepped out with a grin.

Mark hovered over the kitchen stove and poked a spatula at the eggs in the frying pan, "Someone looks a little happy, did she finally reply?"

His grin was wiped clean off as he remembered that she hadn't gotten back to him.

"Shit, nevermind." Mark lightly chuckled.

"Maybe she's just not who we thought she was." Tyler eased over, plucking plates from the cupboard. "Don't let it get to you, Ethan."

Ethan shook his head, "A lot easier said than done."

"I'm going to keep telling you until you start to believe it," the man of muscle trekked towards the blue boy and flashed a smile, "You did the right thing."