PEACH :: ETHAN DOLAN

CINQ

Alondra laughs as she opens her messages to a picture of Ethan in the dark, a cheesy smile on his face. It was late, probably too late for him to be going anywhere.

Ethan didn't really care that it was almost 1am, or that he had to be up in six hours for school. Tomorrow--technically today now--was Friday. He'd ditch a couple classes and nap if he really had to.

Alondra: cute
Alondra: where are you going it's late mister
Ethan: i am an adult
Ethan: i can drive myself and make my own decisions
Alondra: you're still in high school with parents who don't approve of you sneaking out
Alondra: now where are you going?
Ethan: im not GOING anywhere
Ethan: im already there :)

Just as she's going to text back, she hears pebbles against her window. She didn't need to open it to know who it was.

However she did open it, and as she did, a pebble almost hit her.

"What the hell are you doing?" She laughs, watching him remove the hood of his blue sweatshirt to look up at her. "My dads asleep one room away!"

"Then you should probably hurry up and come outside," he shrugs. "We're hanging out."

Ethan taps on his wrist, signaling for her to hurry up. With a roll of her eyes she slams the window shut, slips on a hoodie and some shoes, and sneaks out the side door. She was still wearing her cotton pj shorts that didn't quite fit right anymore, but who really cared? Even if it was a little cold outside, she would live.

It was probably stupid, but she liked that.

"I'm in the mood for pancakes," he hums as she steps outside. "Denny's?"

"You're crazy, let's do it."

"That's the spirit!" Ethan opens up the passenger side door for her before jogging to the other side of the car. "I'm in a really great mood tonight."

"Good," she smiles. She wasn't going to ask why or make him think about it, it was enough to know he was feeling happy. Genuinely happy, for the first time in a while.

He'd had moments where he felt better, but nothing like this. This was progress.

Phoenix was actually out of his head right now. His mind was on getting pancakes with Alondra and absolutely nothing else, and it was refreshing.

Lately, Phoenix almost always seemed to be bouncing around his head someway. Everything he saw, everything he did--it all reminded him of her. It was excruciatingly painful some days, and bearable others, but she was always there.

Ethan read somewhere that it takes an average of 11 weeks to get over a breakup with someone you love. 11 weeks. That's almost 3 months of struggling to breathe, and he had not been drowning for that long yet. He wasn't sure if he could make it out at this rate, but Alondra was helping, trying to keep him afloat.

11 whole fucking weeks sounded far too long for Ethan's liking, and what then? What if he still loved her after that? He was basing his healing off of this number someone calculated, as if it were gospel.

But that wasn't what Ethan was thinking about tonight. He refused. Instead, his focus was solely on Alondra.

She smiled as he sang along to the song that played, wind whipping their hair around and messing it up due to his open window. It was March, and therefore way too cold to be driving with the windows open, but neither of them cared.

With the cold biting at their skin, a good song playing, and each other--they felt okay. More than okay, they felt alive.

"Feel free yet?" She yells over the music.