locked away - ethma

three

ethan's pov

just as we were about to pull into the parking lot of louis vuitton, i stopped the car on the side of the road. i gazed over at emma, who stared at me with wide eyes, unable to contain her anticipation. i suddenly leaned in to her for a hug. emma looked even more confused, but she still hugged me back.
"ethan... you're acting weird... just tell me what's up," she said softly into my ear. i pulled back from the hug and smiled warmly at her. i scratched the back of my neck.
"emma... look. i've just been thinking lately, and... i really, really want to tell our fans that we're together. every comment i see about us says that they would support us. i promise, you have literally nothing to worry about. we could show them all the pictures of us together, and..." i trailed off. emma had turned her attention from my eyes to fiddling with her watch. she had a frown on her face and didn't seem very happy. i put my hand on her shoulder.
"look, em, we don't have to if you don't want to.  but i'm just telling you that if we did, you don't have anything to worry about." she looked up at me lovingly, and pulled me back into a hug.
"thank you for understanding e. i'm - i'm just not ready yet." i was glad that emma couldn't see my face in this moment, because i instantly clenched my jaw and scrunched my eyes up when those words came out of her mouth. i loved this girl, but i guess i just didn't understand.

emma's pov

honestly, i had been thinking about it too. for a while. but i knew that if i said yes, i couldn't go back on it. so i told him no, and i'm sure that broke his heart. but he seems okay, i thought. maybe he's just acting. i broke the hug and smiled softly at ethan. he blushed a little.
"it's okay," he murmured. "maybe soon." i pretended like i didn't hear him, and i broke the tension with a lighthearted question.
"so... where are we going again?"
ethan wiped his nose and raised his eyebrows. "oh, right..." he said. "don't worry about it, only a few more minutes." he started the car up again and put on some tame impala. we sang along to the music as we drove the rest of the way to e's mystery location.

ethan's pov

emma's words echoed in my mind, but i pushed them away and tried to enjoy our drive. we finally pulled up to the louis vuitton store, and emma nodded. i found a parking space close to the entrance and stopped the car there. i looked over at emma again.
"and... you're totally sure that you don't want to tell anyone?" i asked. she closed her eyes a little and nodded.
"yeah e."
i opened the door and got out of my jeep, and emma did the same. i grabbed her hand and as we walked in, but i released it when i saw a teenage girl begin to walk toward us. i blushed and tried to pretend like nothing happened. the look on her face made me unsure if she had seen us holding hands or not.
"oh my god. ethan?" the girl said as she got closer to emma and i. "yeah, it's me," i smiled at her. "what's your name?"
"amy!" she beamed. "i love your videos so much!" and then she noticed emma.
"emma! oh my god. i love you too, you're so beautiful." she pulled emma into a huge hug, which she took so well. it always made me happy to see emma with her fans. she was so kind to them. emma and amy had a conversation for a few minutes while i browsed on my phone, and once they were done, amy asked if she could get a picture with us. together. i was nervous, i knew the fans would go insane on twitter, but i thought i could deal with it. as we got into position for the picture. i made sure to stand next to emma. i put my hand securely on her back and smiled wide, which i usually don't do in fan pictures. but this one was special. i had seen people on twitter complaining about how emma and i never stood together in pictures with fans, and i knew i was doing them a big favor with this one.
once the picture was taken, amy hugged each of us one last time and said goodbye, and she walked away from the louis vuitton. i smirked at emma as we walked into the door. a worried look came across emma's face.
"e... do you think she saw us holding hands?"
"no, of course not. we're fine." that's what i told her. but it wasn't what i believed.