City Lights | Ethan Nestor x Reader

Sandcastles

"Cold," he said, commenting on my fingers. His bracelet was warm on my wrist.

"Ethan...is this okay? I mean, I love you but--ah, um--"

Well, fuck. Way to keep a secret.

"Shit, sorry. I just mean that you have Mika and everything, would she be mad?"

He looked down at the ground and then out to the never-ending ocean.

"Mika and I broke up, like, a week? Yeah. Yeah, a week ago. I--I don't know, I want to miss her. We were together for six months, which doesn't sound like a long time, but...it was. Can you not tell anyone about this?"

"I'm so sorry. Wow. That sucks."

"I just feel like I should be more sad about it, I guess. It kind of felt like a relief."

"I know what that's like," I said, remembering my high school relationships. "I hate feeling tied down."

We sat in silence for a while, our fingers still intertwined. I glanced out at the ocean. 

"Hey, you wanna build a sandcastle?"

He looked up at me again, half-smiling.

"I can't tell if you're joking." 

"I would never joke about something so serious. C'mon, I'm gonna make the most kickass sandcastle ever!"

"Not if I beat you to it!" Ethan jumped up and ran down the beach, quickly scooping sand. 

"Hey!" I yelled, but I was laughing. It was like something you see in a movie, the warm air and the cool sand on my sneakers and the boy I love maybe loving me back. It felt like life, after spending eighteen years in a town that I wanted to escape. 

I ran over to Ethan, who was patting sand onto a huge sandcastle.

"Hey, that's cheating," I said, noticing a few other similar sandcastles already on the beach.

"Not if you add more to it."

"Lies. The sandcastle god frowns upon you."

He let out a light laugh and looked at me. His eyes were amazing. I blushed and looked away. Thoughts danced through my head to the same rhythm of the butterflies in my stomach. I wanted to say something, but I didn't know how to put what was in my head into words.  

"Why did you take me here? You know you could never be with a fan. And I, you know, I've wanted to meet you for a while but I barely even know you." 

"I just want to find someone that gets me, which,  I'm not saying that you should be with me or whatever, but I feel like we're a lot alike. And that's only in the first 2 hours I've known you. I hope that doesn't sound too weird..."

"No, you're good. I'm in LA for the next four years, let's just spend the summer together and see how it goes."

"Okay," he said through a smile. "But you better make a video with me before you go to some fancy arts school." 

"Maybe," I smirked. "But only if you beat me back to the car!" I was already up and running, and I could hear Ethan's Nikes pounding the sand and his laugh in the air behind me. 

I leaned against the hood of my car. "I beat you," I said, a little out of breath. "I make the calls now."

He did his little half-smile at me and ducked into the seat next to mine. 

"Um, can you give me directions to your house?"

"Yeah, no problem, just exit here and turn leeeft? I think? Yeah, left."
The drive back seemed shorter than the one there. Ethan talked about his videos for a little while, and after exactly 4 horrendous country songs, I pulled into his driveway. The funny thing about his house was that it looked like any other. You would literally never know that he lived there--which I guess is kind of the point of houses in general. 

"Y/N?"

"Sorry, I spaced out. Haha."

He looked at me, and there was something in his eyes I couldn't quite understand. Something in my chest drew me closer to him, and him closer to me. His hand was warm on my face, and his lips tasted like spearmint gum. He pulled away quickly. 

"Did you ha--"

"No, I'm allergic too."

We both laughed, and I pulled towards him again. The radio played softly in the background. I don't exactly know how long we were there, but it felt like hours. In a good way. My phone buzzed in my pocket, reminding me not to be home late.

"I should probably go," I said, suddenly embarrassed to look him in the eye.  "See you soon?"

"Maybe," he flirted. 

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Hey guys! Sorry this chapter is so short. I don't know if I'm going to have an update schedule or update regularly, but I can promise at least a chapter every week. If you liked this chapter, drop a vote, comment, and PM me with suggestions!