Every Beginning

3

The next morning I made sure to wake up early and sneak out onto the beach without running into anyone. When Dylan and I had returned home from the beach the past night, my dad had been so excited to see us "bonding" that he nearly exploded. Of course, Julie the queen of happiness joined in with him, which resulted in a bit of a suffocating exchange.

I briefly saw Natalie, who had come home late and was in the house for all of five minutes before my dad was hounding her about where she was. 

I was sitting in the living room when she came back and although she made a good effort to close the door quietly and start sneaking up the stairs, my dad poked his head out of the kitchen at the last second. "Natalie Jane!"

Natalie turned on her heel, a pained expression on her face. "Yeah?"

"Where the hell have you been? It's almost ten on a school night."

She responded by rolling her eyes, which made me cringe. Definitely not the move when you're in trouble with dad, even I knew that. My dad's face turned bright red and he crossed his arms over his chest. "Were you with that boy?"

According to Dylan, Natalie had been seeing an older guy who my dad absolutely hates and who had become the topic of many arguments recently and that night was no exception. As the fight grew louder and Julie got involved, I took it as a cue to disappear upstairs. Dylan stuck around, chuckling at his sister's misfortune, but I felt like it was a family matter and I didn't belong there. 

Seeing my dad get protective of Natalie only reminded me of all the times I could've used a father there to point out the assholes I'd dated--namely Ethan.

I spent the whole night awake thinking about Ethan.

I knew it was dumb of me to wonder, but I thought about what he was doing, if he'd moved on and if he too was out meeting new people.

Needing space, I set an early alarm.

The beach was pretty empty when I went down. There were a few surfers out catching the early waves, a couple runners and an older man walking his golden retriever. I sat down in the sand, still in my pajamas, and concentrated on the ocean in front of me. Closing my eyes, I let my mind drift.

"Hello?"

Walking into Ethan's house, I was surprised not to find him waiting for me in the kitchen. The house was quiet and I wondered where everyone was. Usually, his mom would be home with his two twin sisters, who were five. "Ethan?"

I heard swearing from upstairs and suddenly Ethan appeared at the top of the staircase. His dark blonde hair was sticking up in different directions and he had dark circles forming under his eyes. Concern growing, I closed the space between us and reached up to fix his hair. "You're early," was all he said.

"Yeah, sorry, I was going to text..." I trailed off. I never had to tell Ethan when I was coming over before. "Is everything okay?"

Ethan was silent as he led us to his bedroom. He motioned for me to sit on the bed, while he closed the door behind us. His room was emptier than usual, a result of the various boxes pushed up against the wall. He was apart of a special program where he moved into college earlier then most incoming freshman.

In the fall, Ethan and I would both be attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He had applied early decision and once I got my offer from the women's soccer team, it was a no-brainer. Soccer and Ethan--my two favorite things. I thought college was going to be perfect.

"Sawyer..." Ethan started, before he tore his gaze away from mine. I furrowed my eyebrows together, confused as to where this was heading. Was he nervous about doing long-distance for the summer? "We need to talk."