Connected To Him (ManxMan) ✔️

Part 1: Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Acne on the Cheeks

Alone and together started off as an excruciatingly painful experience. The awkward feeling in the car was so potent Ethan thought he may be suffocating it in it. The two had spoken before and had fine conversations. The issue here was that Ethan couldn’t get himself to relax. He kept going back and forth between wanting to talk and be himself or staying quiet so he wouldn’t say something embarrassing. 

Chris had been a bit at loss about what he could do to fix it. Chris was very different from Ethan when it came to conversations. Ethan was a leader, spilling out a thousand words per minute and eagerly waiting to add on a comment to any tale. He wasn’t a bad listener, per se, but he could control a conversation, definitely.

Chris, on the other hand, was far more adaptable. He generally listened to others, taking in what they had to say, but if a conversation required it, he could control and ask questions and talk until the other person was comfortable. This worked perfectly between the two of them. Ethan would control a conversation happily and hear what Chris had to say happily, then if he got shy and froze up, Chris could coax him out again.

But for the first couple of minutes of their drive, Chris couldn’t get Ethan to talk. He didn’t want to have to fill all the silence, he wanted to hear what Ethan had to say. He wanted to hear the energetic boy rattle on nonstop for as long as he liked. But Ethan wouldn’t budge.

Finally, Chris got the unknowingly brilliant idea to ask Ethan if he wanted to play his music. Ethan had nodded. The motion had been so small Chris nearly missed it, but when he saw it he handed his aux cord to Ethan so he could play his music.

Ethan had been silently setting it up when he suddenly noticed a song. It was from a new artist Ethan had quickly gotten obsessed with but very few people knew about her. The urge to go on a rant about the singer was strong but Ethan tried to hold it back. How did he know it wouldn’t lead to him doing something stupid later?

Glancing at Chris from the corner of his eye, the man’s strong jaw clenching and his hands tightening on the wheel as he concentrated on driving into the next lane, Ethan suddenly wanted to take that chance.

“Hey, have you heard of Iyla before?”

Chris waited until he had successfully made the switch before glancing over at Ethan. Ethan, who looked up at him expectantly, had that excited glint in his eye again. Chris smiled but shook his head.

“No, I haven’t.”

Ethan sat up, pulling on his seat belt and nearly bursting with pent up energy. Glancing over at the lighter boy again, Chris just knew that Ethan was going to loosen up again. He could see it.

“Well, she is this amazing R&B artist that I’ve been listening to recently. She has this one song called Cash Rules that has-”

And that was it. Ethan went on to tell Chris his entire experience finding out about and listening to Iyla’s music, and Chris smiled, happily listening to the tale. Ethan went on to play a few of her songs and Chris introduced Ethan to a smaller artist himself. From there the conversation was effortless. 

Well, effortless in the sense that it came easy to the both of them. However, Ethan got tired out from talking and sitting in a car where all he saw was open road and nature. Somehow, the combination made him inexplicably tired and he fell asleep about an hour into the drive. 

Chris had watched the entire thing unfold from the driver’s seat. The transition from being talkative and energetic, to understanding and quiet, then asleep was adorable to watch. Chris heard some unfamiliar pop ballad play in the background as he stole a few too many looks Ethan’s way.