HEATED // EGD

T H I R T E E N

F R A N C I S C O

Sitting at the edge of Ethan's bed, I watched as he rummaged through his closet. His back faced me and the morning sunlight shone out the window. He'd pull out a shirt every once in a while, but would always be unsatisfied with his choice and grunt before putting it back.

Dallas's dad and my parents would be arriving in thirty minutes and we were all nervous to say the least.

I nervously picked at the ends of my yellow, plaid, cami dress as I watched Ethan. His usually messy, dark brown hair was tamed. I preferred it messy, but he was still as beautiful as ever.

God. How did I fall so deep so quickly?

"I'm fucked, Nai," Ethan groaned as he gave up and threw himself onto the bed. "Your uncle is going to hate me because I'm not some fancy rich dude, and I'm going to be kicked out."

"He's not always as bad as he sounds."

" 'not always'? Let's be real. That means he's usually that bad."

"Not necessarily. Sure, he's materialistic and snooty. But he cares about his family. So. getting him to like you enough to let Dallas stay and continue paying the rent shouldn't be too difficult as long as he sees that your sweet and a great friend."

"I'm neither of those. I can't pretend to be someone I'm not."

"You're sweet and a great friend to me."

"I haven't been either of those towards his son lately."

"Just be on your best behavior while he's here and hope that Dallas can convince him to keep things the way they are." I told him. "Here, let me have a look at your closet."

I got up and walked over to his closet consisting of basically only t-shirts and hoodies. I looked through it until my eyes landed on one thing in particular. A dark blue crew neck with an American flag at the center.

"How about this?" I held out the crew neck.

"You think it'll be good enough?"

"Yeah. Wear it with nice shorts and maybe a pollo underneath."

"Do I look like the type of guy to own a polo shirt to you?"

"Nope. We can see if Dallas has one you could borrow."

"Dallas is too short; I wouldn't fit in it. I can go into Grayson's closet and grab one of his."

"You don't have to. It'd be fine without it."

"It's okay, Nai. I have to take baby steps eventually, don't I?"

"Okay,' I smiled as I nodded my head. He's making progress.

"I'ma go change," he told me as he started to head out of the room.

. . .

"Dallas, chill. We're going to be alright," I reassured him as I threw a jean jacket over my shoulders. He had been pacing the living room for the past five minutes.

Dallas father wasn't some evil villain, he wasn't out to get anybody, and he wasn't trying to ruin everything. He wanted what was best for his son. Or at least what he believed was best.

He believed that Dallas would be best off following his business, although everybody who knew Dallas knew that wasn't true. However, since he believed he was correct he would stop at nothing to make sure that would happen for his son.

He didn't want Dallas to carry on his legacy for the money, he wanted it for Dallas to be successful. But even if he were to be successful doing so, it wasn't what Dallas wanted to do and he wouldn't be happy. That was something my uncle failed to ever consider.