alive | ethma

5.

emma chamberlain

I could only describe the past week as incredible. In every sense of the word it was truly incredible.

I'm beginning to question if the word incredible actually does it justice though.

The next day after the fair, Ethan came by the library again, waiting for me to get off my shift. That day we drove out of the city to a creek with a rope swing. It was my idea.

"I promise nothing bad will happen! Just come down here!" I yelled at Ethan from the water, while he stood on top of the rocks.

"Emma if I die I swear to God I'll haunt you," he answered with a straight face that I had to giggle at.

With one jump and a loud scream, Ethan landed in the water next to me with a huge splash.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" I teased him with a smile.

"Don't push it, Chamberlain." He smiled back at me with a playful tone.

That day I learned that he lived in an apartment off-campus with his twin brother, Grayson, and his friends, Wyatt and Chase.

He talked about Grayson with such admiration. I could tell that Ethan appreciated the stability and familiarity of having Grayson.

The next day, Linda gave me the day off.

Ethan and I spent a majority of the daylight making tie dye t-shirts. My idea again. It was also a lot more effort than I ever imagined it to be.

"Emma you're getting the dye all over my work area!" Ethan whined while sticking his bottom lip out in a pout.

I wanted to bottle up that moment and drink it in for the rest of my life.

Somehow Ethan's shirt ended up looking better than mine. I think he realized I was jealous, because he ended up letting me have it.

While we were dying our shirts, I gathered that he missed home dearly. He missed his mom yelling at him to take the trash out. He missed his dad getting frustrated while trying to fix the television. He missed seeing his sister everyday.

He missed the familiarity of it all. Ethan wasn't one to embrace change.

Even though he was in his third year of college, he was still having trouble adjusting.

Our fourth day together I had to work until late. So, I had the idea to go roller skating that night. Ethan was really hesitant about it, he didn't wanna embarrass himself.

He didn't admit that, but I knew.

"Oh, come on. That little girl just passed us." I groaned as I slumped my shoulders.

"Hey, slow and steady wins the race. Also, I bet that little girl is gonna break an ankle too, she is going WAY too fast." Ethan defended himself.

I rolled my eyes. "If I make sure you don't wipe out, can we PLEASE go faster?"

"I mean, yeah-" I didn't even give him a chance to fully answer my question.

I skated in front of him and spun around so I was now skating backwards.

I stuck both my hands out.