little white lies | grayson dolan

𝑒𝓁𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃

•ＧＲＡＹＳＯＮ•

The rapid beating of my heart is the only sensation my body can feel. I'm totally numb and have been since Ethan left to meet Hanna at the pizzeria. There's no doubt in my mind that he can play it cool, it's the literature stuff I'm worried about. My relationship with Hanna has mainly consisted of deep conversations about books. Ethan has never opened a book a day in his life and that concerns me.

The sound of a car door closing instantly catches my attention. I jump up from my bed and peek out the window. My eyes spot Ethan walking up the driveway, swinging his keys around his pointer finger. He always does that when he's anxious.

I quickly lay back down on my bed, pulling out my old copy of Catcher in the Rye from under my pillow. I flip to a random page, trying to give off the illusion that I wasn't sitting here waiting for him to return all night.

The heavy sound of footsteps coming up the stairs makes my skin twist with a bundle of nerves. My door suddenly opens, and Ethan is revealed to me. He makes eye contact with me as I sit up a bit in my bed.

"Hey." My low voice nervously speaks. "How did it go?"

"Uh, it was great." He scratches the back of his neck.

"Well, what happened?" I furrow my eyebrows.

"We just sat and ate pizza, as expected." He shrugs his shoulders. He's being extremely vague with me and I don't know why.

"Obviously, but what happened?" I close the book and place it on my lap.

He lets out a breath as he walks further into my room. "She's amazing. At first we talked about books and literature, which I figured would happen."

"Did you say everything I told you to?"

"Yeah, I played it off pretty well. Although, I didn't know that The Great Gatsby only had nine chapters." He shakes his head from embarrassment.

"Why, what did you say to her?" I can feel every muscle in my body tense up.

"It doesn't matter, she bought it." He looks down at my floor with another shrug.

"Did she say anything to you? Any new information I should know about?"

"She opened up to me. She said that when you text her, she feels comfortable in her own skin."

"She said that?" I lowly gasp, feeling a shred of happiness take over me.

"Yeah, and she mentioned her reputation around campus. A lot of guys call her a slut but she's way more than that. She didn't want you to think less of her in case you heard that stupid shit."

"What did you say to that?" I lowly ask.

"I told her I didn't." He shrugs again. "I said that I like her for her, that I didn't care about the rumors."

My eyes stay fixed on him, seeing his mood become more anxious. "What else did you tell her?"

"I mentioned your bookshelf and she thought it was amazing. She asked me how many books were on it, so fuck you." He says with a chuckle.

"That's good, I guess." My voice trails off as I stare at him.

"She also knows our last name now." He looks back at me. "And she knows dad."

"What do you mean?" My eyes widen.

"She has him next semester, which probably won't end well."

"Fuck." I mutter while looking at my hands. "So, that's it? Nothing else happened?"