Aloveen Rising

7. A New Direction

Ethan flung the front door open and practically stumbled inside to escape the rain and rubbed his eyes. He shook off as much water as he could and rubbed his eyes again, his day had been extremely emotionally draining, when he thought about it, it seemed more to be ever since he moved to Ravera his life had been emotionally draining The new school, being slapped in the face by his feelings for Jake, and everything else that had happened, he was weary and beginning to struggle. He wasn't proud of what he'd done today, it wasn't up to him to show Jake what a bad person Justin was and it certainly wasn't his job to break them up. The twins had noticed he felt that way and reassured him that Jake would be better off now but it hadn't made him feel any better.

He walked into the kitchen and dropped heavily onto a stool, he flailed a little as it wobbled and he nearly fell off. He took an apple and went to walk upstairs then he stopped, wondering if he'd closed the front door so he headed back to check.

His eyes widened in surprise when he found Jake standing on the doorstep.

"Jake?" Ethan stepped forward "What, um, What are you doing here?"

Jake looked up and Ethan could see he'd been crying "Hey," Jake said heavily "Are you busy?"

Ethan shook his head "Do you want to come in?"

Jake shrugged "Can we go for a walk? I know this old park on the edge of the forest, it's so peaceful there."

Ethan smiled as he grabbed an umbrella from the stand in the hallway "Lead the way" he said softly

Ethan had expected it to be a shorter walk but he found himself following Jake to the other side of Ravera, he kept quiet on the walk and allowed Jake to decide whether he wanted to talk or not while he dutifully held an umbrella over them. Finally, they stepped through the trees into a small clearing; there were two swings and a wooden house, they both wiped the water off the seats and sat on a swing and swung gently.

"Are you sure you're ok Jake?" Ethan asked gently

"I don't know," he whispered, "I never thought it would end like this and I always thought it would be him leaving me because I wasn't good enough."

Ethan blinked "Why wouldn't you be good enough? He didn't deserve you Jake."

"This is where we had our first date. He brought me here with a picnic blanket and enough subway to feed a small army" he smiled sadly,

Ethan winced and looked around, even with the grey sky and the rain, it still looked calm "It is really nice here; I can see why he picked this place for the date."

Jake started to swing higher "Yeah" he whispered

Tears started to stream down his face mixing with the rain and seeping into his already soaked shirt, he gouged his feet in the ground to bring himself to a stop and sat there for a moment then broke down. His body shook as he forced himself to cry silently; Ethan hesitated, hurried over then stood next to Jake and put his hand on his shoulder. Jake sobbed harder but then stood and put his arms around Ethan and hugged him tightly as he cried into his shoulder. Ethan's brain turned to mush and his heart did backflips, but it wasn't the time and he knew it and even as he thought it, his mind recovered and he put his arms around Jake and did his best to comfort him

"It's okay Jake," he said quietly "You are strong enough for this, you deserve better"

They stayed like that for a long time, Jake sobbed and Ethan rocked him gently. Eventually, the sobs stopped and they stood quietly, Ethan blushed as Jake removed his arms. Ethan stepped back wanting to give Jake his space and waited.