Smile - CrankGameplays

46. Limit

He hadn't felt this good in weeks. Hadn't felt the need to smile in so long. Everything in his life was going... perfectly. And he almost hated using that word because he knew this feeling wouldn't last long.

But then again... there wasn't a reason for things to stop going how they were going.

Ethan didn't care. Reese didn't care. He was happy, and so was she.

The two were texting nonstop, borderline annoying at this point with the constant pinging of Ethan's cell every couple of minutes. He hadn't had the nerve to silence the ringer or switch it to vibrate. The immediate sound of a text was just a reminder that everything had been real. Maybe a dumb reason, but it was a reason.

"Might I remind you... we have a limited amount of time together before we all leave."

"Uh huh," Ethan hummed out, barely acknowledging Tyler's presence in the room, "I'm here, don't worry."

"Are you?" Mark asked with uncertainty, "You don't seem like it."

Ethan lifted the stare away from his phone and was met with two glares. He immediately pulled away and shoved the phone into his pocket, realizing how rude he was being to the two of them.

Tyler cleared his throat and sipped from his bottle of water, "Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy for you two." He set down the bottle before lacing his fingers together and resting his chin on top of them, "I'm glad that you're happy, but don't forget about us either."

He bit his lip back and nodded, "I know, you're right. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Mark commented, "I mean, it's your decision how you spend your time before you leave."

A small pout formed, covering his complexion. Ethan had accepted the internship a couple of nights ago, readying himself for the inevitable. Leaving the country and heading over to France to begin his new life as a video game designer.

"You guys are leaving too..." Ethan muttered, words trembling.

Mark nodded, "Ethan, you're going to have so much fun over there. And there's always Skype and our group chat for when you start missing us."

"We're going to be in two different time zones."

"Stop dwelling!" Tyler grinned, "Your dreams are going to become an actual reality, Ethan."

"Oh, yeah?" he chuckled, "Thanks guys, I guess the idea of leaving you two... I don't want to think about it."

"Good thing you don't have to think about it!" Mark said with a smile, "We'll make these last few months the best months of your life, come on, we're about to be college graduates! We're getting old."

Tyler threw a hand up, "Okay, don't remind me." 

Ethan leaned back and gave a small smile, "We're not old."

The trio was enjoying this moment for their time was now limited, this they all knew. But nothing was going to feel real until Ethan was at the airport, Tyler was finishing up the sports medicine program, Mark back in the lab wrapped in the white coat.

"So," Mark coughed, "Now what?"

Ethan sank his teeth into his bottom lip, "Guys... I'm doing the right thing, yeah?"

"Of course you are," the half-Korean nodded, "I know you're far from home but I can promise you that you will have the absolute time of your life."

"Your dreams are coming true," Tyler smiled up at him, resting his hand on his shoulder, "You're overthinking."

"Overthinking, heh." He offered a wry laugh, shaking his head in the process.

He knew a little too much about overthinking. Overthinking was what got him in trouble, was what got him to never own up to his mistakes or his emotions. But they were right, he was overthinking too much. Far too much.

This was his life, his career. He should be more than happy to begin this journey.

"Um... Mario Kart anyone?"

The two grinned.

Ethan placed the controller on the coffee table before shutting off the system. Sixteen races later and the others were ready for bed, turning in quite early even for a school night.

The twenty-one-year-old switched off the light before making his way into his room and peeling off his shirt, completing his nightly routine before hopping into bed.

He pulled out his phone and saw a couple of Twitter notifications, a text from his mom being a picture of Max, a text from Reese.

He brought his phone to his ear and swallowed a lump of words, waiting for the other line to pick up.

"Hello?" a shaky voice said over the line.

"Hey!"

"Hi, Ethan." Reese's voice softened almost immediately at his kind tone, "How are you? How are the guys?"

He shut his eyes and sighed, "They're great. We just played a sit ton of Mario Kart and got in our feelings about leaving one another."

"Oh?" she hummed over at him, "That's cute, sorry about that though."

"It's not a big deal, I just don't want to say bye."

A long pause was taken before she replied, "Yeah, of course, have you decided what you're going to do about the internship?"

Ethan sank deeper into the pillow. Even though he already began filling out more paperwork for his internship abroad, he decided to wait on telling Reese for the fact he wasn't sure how. She pushed him into taking it, claiming he would be an idiot if he didn't take the job.

But telling her would be an entirely different story, that meant they would have to talk. Talk about the future, or whatever it was. Whatever direction they were headed.

He cleared his throat, "Eh, still thinking about it."

"Oh, come on." She laughed, "Well, I'll support you no matter what choice you make."

A smile formed, "So when do I get to take you on that date?"

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This chapter is sooooo short and I'm super sorry! My classes just started up again today and I plan to write more when I have the time!

This story is coming to an end though soon, NOT THAT SOON, but just know that we're definitely way past the halfway mark!

Happy reading! :)

- domducky <3