Ever After

Look At My Profile, There's Nothing There Yet

Ethan sighed as he threw his phone onto the coffee table in front of him. He was so stressed out. He shouldn't be. He finally got what he wanted. To know why James and Grayson had been fighting so much lately.

Well, now that he knew the real reason, he wished he could go back and still play pretend that this was all over some stupid social media post. That it would blow over and nothing would have to change. Things would go back to normal.

Ethan was slowly starting to come to terms with the fact that 'normal' didn't exist.

That he was just being ignorant to the fact that not everyone lives their life the same way he lived his. No one saw the world the same way he did.

It was a rude awakening, to say the least.

"E, what's wrong?" Emma asked, quickly picking up her boyfriend's phone to see if she could figure out the answer to her question before he responded.

Ethan stood up off the couch, grabbing his car keys and wallet. "Let's go." He mumbled, not really wanting to talk about it.

Things just kept piling up.

Emma stood to follow him, grabbing his hand. "Wait, babe, where are we going?"

Ethan shook his head, making sure his front door was locked as they walked out. "James needs me to pick Grayson up." He made a face. "He's drunk."

Emma frowned a little. "E, Gray doesn't drink like that."

Ethan scoffed, shaking his head. "Not anymore." He spat, opening her car door for her.

Emma frowned again as she got in. Ethan got in with her and started his car. "You think he's that stressed out?"

Ethan didn't answer her for a few minutes, taking his time to let the question turn over in his head as he focused on getting them to the backroads. Grayson spent a lot of time in the past getting his drinking under control.

It got bad again when they moved out to LA and they had been working on it ever since. Ethan was sure they had made better progress than this.

Ethan couldn't shake the horrible feeling that this was mostly his fault. If he'd just listened instead of always trying to be in charge.

"I just hope it's not too late." He whispered.

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James was currently trying to comfort his boyfriend who was clutching a bottle to his chest as he cried. It really wasn't a pretty sight. Red cheeks with tear tracks, red eyes still spilling over, red bottle cap in his right hand as he used it to emphasize when he spoke.

"I mean, a youtube channel! A fucking youtube channel! He's mad at me cause I could ruin his career, well he's ruining my life!" Grayson's words caught in his throat as he stuttered to finish yelling. "And - and then, he - fuck - he said this doesn't affect just me! How does this affect him?! It's my life, I'm the one that has to live with this forever! He could disappear any minute and never have anything to do with this, but I can't run away from it! I can't run away from who I am so why does he get too?" Grayson finally stopped when James moved to take the bottle from him.

"Grayson, please love. I'm begging you to try and calm down. You don't have to yell, I know you're upset but I'm listening to you." James did convince Grayson to let go of the liquor and he quickly closed the bottle and hid it behind a pillow.

Out of sight, out of mind. "You're right, Ethan should be here for you and I'm sorry he's trying to make you feel like you're wrong in this but you're not. He's being selfish and even if it's a shock, he's not the only one just finding out."