PEACH :: ETHAN DOLAN

SEIZE

Lisa tugs on Ethan's bow-tie lightly, straightening it out as he whines about it. "Ma, it's fine, I know how to wear a tie."

"I know, honey, but just let me fix it," she scolds. "You look so handsome."

Ethan thanks her with a chuckle as she leaves his room, letting the smile slowly fade off of his face. It was prom night.

Now, he wasn't not excited about it. But he wasn't really looking forward to it anymore either.

There was a long time where he just... assumed he would go with Phoenix. They were dating for such a while he didn't even consider not going with her until a few months ago. The two had talked about it--what colors they wanted to wear, if they would get a limo, the after party. Now they weren't together. She was apparently going with Scott, as friends.

He had started hanging out with her often again, apparently really apologetic about ditching her. Now he was balancing his friendship with both her and Alondra.

Ah, Alondra. There was a time Ethan thought maybe they might go together too, at least as friends. But they weren't on good enough terms for that now either, so she was going stag with Izzy.

Prom night was supposed to be this big, exciting thing, and he just didn't have it in him to care. Grayson was actually forcing him to go.

He picked up his phone, after spraying on cologne, contemplating texting Alondra. Or Phoenix. Or both of them. He wasn't sure what he wanted to say, just that he wanted to talk to them.

Ethan doesn't even look up at the sound of his door opening, just assuming it's Grayson. When he feels someone flick his ear, he turns.

"Marcy?" He gapes.

"You ghosted me, you dick!" She taunts, pulling him in for a hug. "You're so cute I can't even be mad."

"Hey!" Grayson calls from the door.

Marcy turns to him with a smile, "babe, you have the same face."

"Babe?" Ethan raises his eyebrow, noticing Marcy's dress. "Wait, does Phoenix know about you guys? Does she know that you're here?"

"No, it's a surprise," his brother says, walking in to pull Marcy into his arms. "And uh, yeah. We stopped caring about distance. We've been officially dating a few weeks now."

Ethan scoffs, "and you didn't tell me sooner?"

"Well, I would've, but someone stopped texting me," the girl sighs. "But Grayson wanted to wait, he said you were dealing with some stuff and figured we'd just tell you at prom. And I wasn't opposed, so here we are."

He feels pretty bad about disappearing on her like that. "I'm sorry I just... you were Alondra's friend, and she and I have been rocky, it felt weird."

Marcy shrugs, running her hands over her dress. "Your mom and dad are waiting for us to take pictures, c'mon."

Though he's third-wheeling, he does feel in slightly better spirits. Marcy had something about her that was just fun to be around no matter who you were--that's how it was to be around Alondra too, it made sense they were such good friends.