all too well | ethma

Sixteen

Emma
Two Weeks Later

We got back to California last week, and everything pretty much went back to normal.

Almost nightly hangouts with our friends, dance practice in my studio with Ethan being my audience. He still insists every time. I find it so cute that he still cheers me on the whole time.

Everyone started school, and I decided to take normal classes until the end of the fall semester, and then I will take online classes for the spring semester when the baby is born.

When we were in Florida, we asked the doctor if it was okay that I still dance, and she said that any activity that my body is already used to doing is okay for the baby.

So, I still practiced dance.

Today was a little bit different because I had a doctors appointment, and then Ethan and I were going to go look at a couple of houses that our realtor found.

So, I got dressed and ready, and while I was looking in the mirror, I noticed that there was the slightest bump in my stomach. I'm at 16 weeks now, and things are going smoothly.

I still get a little bit nauseous once in a while, and I'm in the phase where I've started to have to pee all of the time.

Anyway, Ethan walked into the kitchen where I was sipping on a bottle of water.

"Hey, you ready to go?"

"Yeah. I'm ready."

Ethan smiled at me before he opened the door to my apartment, and then he let me go first. I could tell that he was excited for the doctors. We were gonna get to see the baby in 3D.

It was an easy doctors appointment. They just did a few screenings, checked my vitals and the baby's vitals, and then they did the 3D ultrasound.

The baby is still small, but his face is mostly fully developed now. He can move his arms and legs, and he is able to grab the umbilical cord. We got a good look at his face, and from what I could tell his face molding/shape looked like Ethan.

After everything came up normal, and the baby was declared perfectly healthy, Ethan and I left and drove to one of the two houses we were supposed to see.

The realtor was a lady who seemed to be in her mid 40's, and she was really helpful about telling us the information about the house.

The first house was super nice. It had a new kitchen and new bathrooms, and it was a three bedroom house.

It had a nice sized backyard with an in ground pool, but it's safe because it has a gate around it. Child proof.

The basement was also finished, and it had a good sized living room.

This house was a little bit more expensive than I would like, but if we make an offer, we can offer the price we would want to pay for it.

The second house was about the same quality, but it was in a lower quality school district, and a lower quality neighborhood. It was the same price as the other one.

After that we went through the drive-thru at In-N-Out Burger on our way back to the apartments.

I finally sat down on my couch, sighing with exhaustion as we finally settled home for the day.

"You tired?" Ethan said, lifting up my feet before sitting down on the other end of the couch and laying my feet on his lap.

I nodded my head as I closed my eyes and relaxed my head against the throw pillow.

"I'm super tired."

"Why don't you lay down on your bed? It'll be comfier. I'll rub your back until you fall asleep."

"Damn, I love you." I said.

Ethan stood up, grabbing my hands to pull me up.

"Want a glass of water, or are you okay for now?"

"I'm okay for now." I said.

We went into my room, and he tucked me in before starting to massage my shoulders and my back.

He worked all of the knots out before starting to gently rub my back until I fell asleep.

Since it was only around 4 o'clock, he was gonna wake me up in a couple hours. It was Friday after all, and we were supposed to go to Scooter and Katie's to hangout with everyone later.

I woke up about two hours later, and Ethan was still sitting next to me. He was watching tv, but the volume was turned low so that it wouldn't wake me up.

"Hey, sleepy." He said, leaning over to peck my lips.

I cupped his cheek with my hand, moving my thumb back and forth. "Hey." I whispered.

"You feel refreshed now?"

"Mmmhmm. Man that back massage put me right to sleep."

""I know. You were out like a light."

"Ethan, did you like the first house?"

"Yeah. Did you?"

"I really liked it. I think we should put an offer on it."

"Me too. I think it's perfect. He said.

We talked about it for a few minutes, coming up with a price to offer. Then, I texted the realtor and gave her the info.

Ethan and I got out of bed and got ready to go over to Katie and Scooter's, and the first thing that happened was Joey and Grayson asking us how the house hunting went.

Everyone sat down in the living room, and I sat next to Olivia, and Ethan was standing behind the couch, resting his hands gently on my shoulders. Katie was on the other side of me, and Scooter was sitting on the floor in front of where Katie was. Grayson sat on the floor by Scooter, Ian standing behind the couch with Ethan, and Joey joining the group of guys sitting on the floor.

"Ethan, come sit." Grayson said.

I looked up at E, and he gave me a quick peck on the forehead before he went over and sat on Grayson's lap.

It was funny because Grayson wasn't expecting it. "That's not what I meant, bro." He said, pushing Ethan off of his lap.

Ethan got up and sat on the floor in front of my spot on the couch, and I leaned down before kissing him on the cheek. He smiled up at me, and I ruffled his hair before we focused back on the group conversation.

We were all talking about how classes were going and such.

I have to say that I'm proud of Ethan because he just got hired to start working next week as a mechanic at an auto shop, he's going to law school, and he's gonna start doing music gigs around town with a few of the guys his music producer friend knows. It's not his high school band, but he's still excited for it. And I'm excited to see him perform again.

Hopefully we'll get the deal on that house and we can move in there soon.

It's about twenty minutes away from where we are now, and thirty minutes from Joey's.

Ethan and I have officially been together for a whole year this weekend, so we're going on a little date tomorrow to celebrate our anniversary + our engagement. I'm super excited.

I've never been more in love with anybody than I am right now with Ethan. And the little things he does to show that he loves and cares about me makes me fall in deeper every time.

This is what love is supposed to be like. I can't believe that I ever let myself believe that I wasn't worthy of something this good. A love this amazing.

And if it weren't for Ethan, I'm not sure I ever would have made it out of my previous situation. I'm so glad that I did.