s.t.a.y. | ethma

15

A/N: song of the chapter: Falling Like the Stars by James Arthur (trust me and listen to it 😉
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Emma

Intuition.

You never know if it's a gut feeling, or if the universe is putting these thoughts into your mind.

But they always seem to be correct.

I woke up in the middle of the night. Well, not really the night. More like super early in the morning. 3 am Chicago time.

And the first thought that came into my mind was that I could feel Ethan somehow getting closer to me.

I'm not kidding when I say I thought about it for an hour straight.

It's almost like the thought itself was what woke me up. The way I woke up in the middle of the night and that was immediately on my mind made me feel like it was correct.

I wanted it to be. If anyone from home was gonna be the one to find me, I wanted it to be him.

I think the reason it took me so long to break up with Jared after Ethan and I started having sex with no-strings attached was that I knew the strings would immediately become attached with Ethan and I was scared of that.

It wasn't until now that I realized the strings were already attached. They always were with Ethan.

And I was finally more than ready to live this life alongside Ethan. No matter what we were gonna go through in life, I finally faced the facts and realized that we needed to go through these things together.

-

Ethan

Grayson called me around 7 am. I had just fallen asleep on the train, and he fucking called me.

"Dude, I was just falling asleep."

"Sorry, Bro. Are you really on your way to Chicago right now?"

"Yes, Grayson. I took the train."

"I can't believe that you didn't at least take me with you."

"Listen. When I hear that my girl might be in Chicago, I'm not gonna take any chances on that. I'm gonna fucking look for her. I have to."

"Well, stay safe, E. Love you."

"Love you too, bro."

"See you tomorrow."

"Yeah." I said, hanging up. That's only if I find Emma tonight or early tomorrow.

It's a 14 hour train ride to Chicago from Virginia Beach.

For some reason, I had this gut feeling that I was getting closer to Emma. I felt a really strong feeling that I was headed in the right direction which made me feel the least bit better.

I just want to be able to hug her, and kiss her, and smell her vanilla-scented hair, and hear her voice. See her smile. See the ocean-colored eyes that I love the most.

I want to simply be near her. I want to hold her hand, and feel her leaning her head against my chest. I want to make her laugh.

I want to tell her how much I fucking love her.

I want her to finally be mine once and for all. She's the only girl in the whole world that I want anymore. She's the person I fucking need.

She's the only person in the world that I would even be willing to get married to. If it weren't for her, I'd seriously never settle down. I know that for a fact.

But she makes me want to settle down. She makes me want to dance in the fucking rain. It's probably something I'd never even think about doing, but that's how crazy I am for Emma.

Growing up with Emma as my best friend, I always kind of knew we were meant to be together.

I knew that she was the only person I'd be willing to have children with.

It's actually kind of funny because I never thought I'd even have kids until I started dating Emma. Then I realized that I would fucking love to have a little family with Emma in the future.

I want to go through every stage of life with her from now on. I mean, we've already been through a lot together. I want her by my side for the rest of my days.

I would do anything for Emma. You probably already know that. If I wouldn't, why would I get on this train at 4 am for her?

-

Emma

I went all day with this gut feeling that Ethan was getting closer.

The weird part about that, was that as the day went by the feeling got stronger and stronger.

To the point that when I crawled in bed for the night I couldn't sleep because I was convinced he was gonna knock on my door at any second. And I was frankly disappointed that he wasn't here yet. I don't even know why I've been thinking about this all day. He's probably at home anyway.

My hostel room had a kitchenette, so I got up and made myself a small bowl of macaroni and cheese before sitting in my bed to watch some tv.

There wasn't anything interesting on tv because it was midnight on a Thursday, but I found a marathon of The Office which I decided was good enough even though I've watched the whole series twice before.

I lazily ate my macaroni and cheese before throwing the disposable bowl and fork away. I sat back down on the bed, a pillow behind my back, and my head against the headboard.

I didn't know if I was going insane, or if I actually heard a faint knock on the door.

So, I just continued to watch tv.

Until I heard the same faint knock. I'm going insane.

A few seconds later, and another knock, I got out of bed and wandered over to the door.

My heart beating out of my chest, I took a deep breath and opened it.

He looked shocked to finally see me. His eyes tired, but happy.

"Emma." He said in a small voice. "Thank God."

He pulled me into his comforting arms, his familiar scent instantly making me feel at ease as we embraced each other as tightly as we could. We breathed each other in, needing each other's familiarity.

I don't know how he found me, but he can explain later. I already know we're gonna have a super deep discussion about everything. We're gonna have to.

But I'm more than ready for it.