BAD HABITS | ethan dolan

:staying up late

D A Y T W O
ᴵ ʰᵃᵛᵉ ˡᵒᵛᵉᵈ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵗᵃʳˢ ᵗᵒᵒ ᶠᵒⁿᵈˡʸ ᵗᵒ ᵇᵉ ᶠᵉᵃʳᶠᵘˡ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ⁿⁱᵍʰᵗ

August had been sat in a lounger looking out on to the landscape for hours, she was going to open another bottle of wine but something was stopping her and she knew exactly what it was but she darent admit it.

"You know it's a bad habit to stay up late" called a familiar voice and the girl turned to her right to watch as Ethan dangled on the wood from his own veranda.

For some reason she felt kind of sad that he wasn't on hers.

"You know you can't break my habits if you have the same ones" August said pointing out the fact that he too wasn't asleep "also it's not staying up late if it's already morning" she smirked trying already to find loopholes.

The moon was already shining bright through the sparse clouds and August was mesmerised by it, she glanced over to Ethan. He was wearing a baggy shirt and his boxers which made her blush.

She was then thankful that he wasn't on her veranda because otherwise he would've been able to see how much it affected her.

"Why're you awake?" August asked suddenly genuinely concerned for the boy who now looked blank behind the eyes. Ethan laughed and shrugged,

"I just feel lost, we're not allowed to have our phones for a week as some stupid experiment and now I've lost all sense of routine" the boy admitted and August jumped up onto her wooden ledge and straddled it cautiously.

"Well it's nice to finally have someone to share the pretty views with" she admitted softly and it was probably one of the nicest thing she had said to him and Ethan couldn't help but smile.

"You're always up at this time?" Ethan asked her and she nodded,

"Beautiful isn't it" she said in awe at the complete silence, it was much easier to talk to the boy during the night because there was hardly any other sounds.

"Hey" Ethan started snapping August from her gaze "do you want to hang tomorrow? Maybe you can help with my boredom" he suggested.

August shrugged it couldn't be the worst idea so she agreed with little hesitation.

"I'll make you a deal, Ethan" she hissed across the darkness and Ethan perked up at the sound of his name, he enjoyed the way it rolled off of her lips.

"I'm listening" he whispered to the girl.

"If you go to bed, and get some rest, tomorrow I'll not only hang with you but I'll take part in your silly life experiment. No phones"

Ethan began to beam, he jumped up on the wooden ledge like a monkey and put his hands together in a prayer.

"Since when did you care about me" he laughed but it sounded kind of pained, August wanted to tell him that she cared more about him than anyone but that's because she had no one in her life bar him.

Instead of being nice her bad traits slipped through and defensively she hissed,

"Who says I care about you"

She regretted it as soon as she said it and the guilt ate her alive and although she'd made him a deal, laying in bed she couldn't sleep because of what she'd said.

She contemplated going round, knocking on his bedroom window, telling him that their day together made her happier than she had ever been.

But she didn't and after panicking, overthinking and hyperventilating, she finally passed out.

Ethan however with her words ringing through his head never once shut his eyes longer than a blink.