Smile - CrankGameplays

50. Mess

Tucker turned pale as the words left Reese's mouth and he finally faced her, shoulders relaxing as he tilted his head to get a better look at her. His eyes finally met hers and he knew she wasn't going to back down from her statement. She meant what she said.

"You can't possibly mean that," he muttered out, "I know... I know I wasn't the best boyfriend around. Especially towards the end. Getting in fights with Ethan, getting way too territorial, but even you know this, I never stopped loving you. I was done searching when you came into my life and... whatever relationship I jumped into after you was just... not me."

Reese pulled her lips in, "I want you to be happy, Tucker. Really. I really, really do. And I'm so sorry that things happened the way they did but I mean... can you blame me?"

"That relationship that I was in-" Tucker grimaced as he stepped back, "Things didn't work out because I kept talking about you and I know that's not something you should do, but I couldn't help it. I guess I can't just move on that fast."

She sunk a little. She had moved on fast. Incredibly fast. Ethan kissed her, then she kissed him, and then they hooked up. She was pinned as that girl and she didn't want to be that girl, but there was just something about Ethan that made her forget all about the drama and all the superficial standards that state the rules of moving on. She forgot every single one of them. And, well, it felt pretty worth it.

"I felt so... small after seeing that post." She admitted, "I looked nothing like that girl and she had her hands wrapped around you like it was so normal. But I guess it doesn't really matter."

"Yeah," Tucker nodded, "Reese, I love you, and I probably won't stop loving you for a while."

"I know," Reese placed her hand over his and smiled warmly.

He shifted his gaze towards her car, "I promise I'm going to do whatever it takes to figure out who did this to your car."

"Thanks, Tucker." She smoothed over sweetly, "You're the best."

As their small moment ended, Ethan approached in a small jog.

"Oh my god," Ethan shuddered, "Your car! What happened?"

Reese and Tucker immediately pulled away as Ethan dashed over to the car, not even noticing Tucker's presence.

"Hey, Ethan." He coughed out, creating distance from Reese with a small side-step.

Ethan whirled around, "Tucker? What are you doing here?" his hazel eyes moved from the smashed windshield to the other and Ethan's eyes widened, "Did you do this to her car? You can't be serious!"

Tucker scrunched his nose, "Are you serious? You really think I would do something like this?"

"I wouldn't put it past you."

"Watch it, Smurf."

Ethan rolled his eyes, "Good one."

"Okay, boys!" Reese stepped in between them, hands resting on both of their abdomens, "Ethan, Tucker didn't do this to my car. Tucker, don't call Ethan names!"

"Don't have him falsely accuse me of something I didn't do." He scoffed, "I'm going to go but I meant what I said, Reese."

Reese swallowed as she nodded her head, "Thank you."

"And I'll find out who did this. You need to file that report though first."

She fumbled with her fingers, "Okay."

Tucker tipped his head as a makeshift farewell and headed out towards the other level of the parking garage.

Ethan turned around and cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable with Tucker being around. "What was that all about?"

Reese lifted her gaze and shook her head, "Can I get a ride home?"

Ethan trudged over and took another look at the car, "Should we get this shit figured out?"

"Yes."

Reese called the police and filed a report, the entire issue lasted longer than she anticipated. Ethan and her waited around for the authorities to arrive, checking out shards of glass and figuring out what caused what.

They inspected farther into the car and towed it to a nearby shop after they collected whatever evidence they could find.

The two now sat in Ethan's place and were eating boxed macaroni and cheese, sitting in silence and being somewhat awkward.

Ethan swallowed a lump of food, "I'm bugged out about Tucker, babe."

Reese shifted her attention to Ethan, "Don't be."

"Do you really think he didn't touch your car?" he blinked, "Do you remember him kicking my ass that one time?"

She shut her eyes and exhaled, "No, I don't think he was capable of doing that to my car. Why would he? He has no reason to do it."

"Don't you think it's a little weird that he was there all of a sudden? Why was he even there in the first place?"

"Ethan..."

"Can you blame me?"

"Well, no." She said, "But you got to trust me. Do you trust me?"

"More than anything."

"I honestly, one-hundred percent believe that Tucker didn't touch my car. He may be an ass but he isn't going to ruin my stuff. I've known him for a long time and I know he would never do something like that."

Ethan plunged his fork into more macaroni, "Okay, I believe you."

"I feel like this is about something more than my car," she placed her fork back into her dish and reached for his hand, "Talk to me."

"I'm going to sound like an ass."

"Then do it." She smiled.

"I don't trust him. At all. And I know you two dated for a really long time, and you've only known me for a short while... but I guess I'm just still worried that he can-"

"Never."

His hazel eyes softened into a warm color, "Huh?"

"Get those thoughts out of your head. You and I, we just work. It feels right. I'm not going to jeopardize that for anything."

Ethan's lips quivered slightly, "And I'm going to France for my internship..."

"Stop." She ran her thumb over his knuckles, her way of reassuring him. "We're gonna be okay."

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Lol hi.

This update took forever. (... and also Mika is legit like a spitting image of Reese in my head, talk about niIIiiicEeee. Reese has longer hair tho).

ALSO, THANK YOU FOR 10,000 READS. That's insane and my thanks are endless. <3333

- domducky :)