perfectly wrong | ethma

seventeen

a/n thank you so much for 1k reads !! pls continue to follow along and share this story with others <3 ily

practice ended. i gather my stuff up. my body was moving faster than usual so i could reach ethan. i needed to talk to him. i wanted to.

everything has changed for the better.

i walk out to the parking lot and see ethan standing next to my car. he smiles as he sees me and my heart flutters.

"hey," he says as i reach him.

"hi," i tuck a stray piece of hair behind my ear. "you want to sit in my car to talk?"

he nods and we both get in. neither of us spoke a word. we stared into each other's eyes. they're just so perfect, i could get lost in them forever.

"listen," i say breaking eye contact. "i talked to jen earlier about.. everything."

he nods his head. he hesitates to say anything waiting for me to continue.

"and i understand that you're not going to stop caring for jen no matter what she does. i admire you for that, really." i tell him. "but i have to know something." he sits there silently. "did you love her?"

he doesn't move a single inch. i don't know if this an invasion of privacy, but i have to know his true feelings because if he was in love with her then that's not going to go away.

"no, i didn't love jen." he tells me. "and no matter how many times she said she loved me, i know she didn't."

i raise my eyebrows. "why do you say that?"

he shrugs. "i think she said it because of how long we were together. she felt like we had to be in love or else the past couple of year would've been pointless."

i nod my head slowly. i don't know what this conversation is going to lead to. do i get back with ethan? were he and i ever even officially together? my head is spinning.

"even with no love, it wasn't pointless. she taught me some valuable things about a relationship that i'll keep in mind." he says as he looks into my eyes. "emma, you need to know that i only want you. and i promise to never ever do anything to lose your trust again." he grabs my hand. his thumb rubs circles across my skin. i can hear my heartbeat in my ears and it's hard to catch my breath.

the effects this boy has on me by doing one simple thing.

"i've missed you," i tell him with true honesty in my voice. i lean in to kiss him, but there's a knock on my window that interrupts me.

i snap my head over to see its josh. he's wearing a smug smile on his face.

"was i interrupting something?" he asks with the same smug smile.

i sigh as i roll my eyes. "what do you want josh?"

"have you seen emily around lately?" he asks. the smile on his face was gone and it's replaced with pure concern. "she wasn't at school today."

"she's at her grandparents for the weekend. she left early this morning. why?" i ask him.

he nods slowly. "right," he says. "thanks." he doesn't say or do anything else and walks away.

i roll my window up and sit back. "that's weird, right? for josh to ask about emily like that?"

ethan nods, the same look it planted on his face. "that's really strange."

i texted emily to let her know josh asked about her, but i know she won't see it until much later since her grandparents don't have good reception.

"where were we before?" ethan turns my face to look at him. he smirks as he pulls me closer. his lips touch mine gently and my entire body shuts down.

i push him back slightly. "wait," my eyes remain closed. "if we are going to be together, then we need to promise to be truthful to one another. no matter what. if something is bothering us, we need to speak up. no more bullshit."

he smiles and nods. "no more bullshit."

"okay," i lean back in. "good." i pull away last second.

"hey," he pouts.

i roll my eyes. "my mom is expecting me at home. it's spaghetti night,"

he shrugs. "i like spaghetti,"

i shake my head. "it's our mother daughter night. we try to have these at least once a week. i missed last weeks, so i can't miss this one."

he nods, understanding. "okay, i'll call you later tonight." he leans in and kisses my cheek.

my cheeks heat up and i turn away so he doesn't see.

—

i wipe my face that was stained with spaghetti sauce. the movie credits rolled at the end of step brothers. we decided on a comedy instead of a movie that would make us cry.

"what one next?" my mom asks as she searched through the movies. my phone dinged once again. the third time tonight. i apologize and put it on silent finally. "is it ethan?"

i shrug. "not important,"

she chuckles and searches through the movies even more. "i like him." she says. "i think he's good for you."

i cover my red face. "mom," i groan. "can we not talk about ethan?"

"your father approves too." she tells me. "and that's saying something."

i think he's good for me too. i've never felt this many emotions before. he makes me feel like nothing i've felt before. it's real, it's not in my head. i think that's what makes it so special.

"clueless?" she holds up the dvd. she doesn't let me answer before she's already popping it into the dvd player.

she plops down next to me and smiles at me. "i'm happy that you're happy, baby." she kisses my forehead and we turn our attention to the screen.