PEACH :: ETHAN DOLAN

TROIS

"Gray! Where's my fucking--oh, never mind, sorry," Ethan sighs, finding his cologne, which had fallen off of the shelf he normally keeps it on.

Grayson rolls his eyes and steps into his brothers room, watching him spritz himself. "Who's this girl again?"

"Alondra. She just moved here," he huffs. "And I'm kind of running late s--"

"Nervous for your date?" His brother teases. "Is she the reason your phone won't stop vibrating lately?"

"Yeah, she likes to text me when she's bored, which is all the t--it's not a date," Ethan's voice is gruff and insistent. "I'm not ready to fucking date anyone. She just doesn't have any other friends yet, and she's pretty cool."

Grayson chuckles as he slips on his shoes. "Sure it's not. But I have plans so I'm gonna take the car, I'll drop you off though."

Ethan grumbles, but follows his brother outside and into the car. He nags him on the way to drive faster, insisting he doesn't want to be late.

Truthfully, he was a little nervous. They'd been texting, and he saw her a few times at school, but hanging out outside of school? He still wasn't sure if she thought it was a date, and knew he had to make that clear, which could make things awkward.

Grayson pulls up to the curb, Ethan spotting her leaning against the wall on her phone. Her face breaks into a grin when she sees him.

"You're late!" She laughs, skipping over.

"Sorry, my brother drives slow," he whines, climbing out.

Alondra takes note of Grayson, who's looking her up and down. "There's two of you."

"Yeah, but he's leaving," and with that, Ethan slams the door shut. "What time does the movie start again?"

"In like half an hour, we have time," she smiles, handing him his ticket. "I grabbed those while I was waiting. C'mon, I wanna kick your ass at air hockey."

He chuckles, thanking her and reaching for his wallet to pay her back, but she's already rushing inside. Instead, he just pays for air hockey. Alondra wasn't worried about it.

She didn't seem to worry about much at all, whereas Ethan worries about everything lately. That could be good for him, to have someone who isn't afraid to push him out of his head and into the real world.

Overthinking was Ethan's favorite fucking pastime. He may try to come off tough and unbothered, but truly? His mind was always running rampant with potential consequences, what people's thoughts might be, and everything currently going wrong with his life.

Alondra does, in fact, kick his ass at air hockey. After losing four rounds in a row, and the puck smashing into his fingers, he gives up.

"Why the hell are you so good at that?" He groans, shaking his hand out.

Alondra just laughs, taking out her phone to take a picture of them. Ethan's pouting in this one, watching her send it to Marcy.

Alondra: w the cute boy again
Alondra: he's still sad but this time it's bc i kicked his ass at air hockey
Marcy: okay are u ever gonna tell me his name or is he just gonna be cute boy forever
Alondra: hmmmm
Alondra: it's ethan. but he's still gonna be cute boy <3

Ethan lets out a small sigh as he reads over her shoulder again. "Hey, Alondra, this isn't like, a da--shit."

He was about to tell her, and then he sees Phoenix in the distance. On a date with some guy from school named Scott that he's seen at a few parties. Ethan knew they were friends, but seriously?  He couldn't help but think that she'd been cheating with him all this time.