delicate | ethma

25

Emma

"I'm so happy you're home," I said. "I really missed you."

Daniel kissed my cheek, pulling me closer as we stood in our kitchen. "I missed you more," he teased, kissing me on the lips this time.

"I had to watch The Bachelor without you," I said. "It was a really good episode though. I was still sad that you weren't here to watch it with me though."

"Olivia didn't come over?"

"I wanted her to, but she was going with Jordan to eat dinner at his parent's house."

Daniel nodded. "Well, now we have all the time in the world to watch the The Bachelor together," he said, still hugging me, but nuzzling his face into my neck. I breathed him in, relaxing at the smell of his scent.

"Actually, I have to get to the studio. I'm shooting three sessions today. I have an album cover session, I have a girl coming in for her senior pictures, and I have a dance studio coming in. It's gonna be a long day,"

"Do you want me to come with you? I have the day off from work. I could help out."

"That's okay. I'll probably be back around 7," I said, raising on my tiptoes to kiss him. "I gotta go. I love you."

"I love you too, babe."

-

The day in the studio actually went by quicker than I thought it would. All of the sessions were fun to shoot, and I got a ton of work done.

To my surprise, when I got home, dinner was already cooked.

"Welcome home, babe. Dinner's gonna be ready in five minutes," Daniel said, greeting me with one of his infamous kisses on the cheek.

"It smells amazing in here. Thanks for making dinner."

"I wanted to do something special for you," he said. "You've been working really hard lately, and I thought you'd like a nice home-cooked dinner that you didn't have to make."

I smiled at him as I sat down at the table. "I love it," I said. "I love you."

"I love you more, babe."

The dinner ended up being really good. We had steak, potatoes, and green beans. I guess I didn't realize that Daniel had some cooking skills. He cooked once in a while, but this was the best meal yet.

Sitting there eating, talking, and drinking wine, we talked about how our day went, and we enjoyed our meal together.

Daniel and I spent the rest of the evening playing card games and simply hanging out. These were the days I loved the most, simply having quality time together.

I spent the next day in the studio editing pictures, and answering emails to prospective clients.

Everyone ended up going over to Olivia's place to hang out. Our friends tried to get together once every couple of weeks, because that was as frequently as everyone could be available at the same time.

All of us were sitting on Olivia's living room, Daniel sitting on the couch, me sitting on the floor in front of him, Ethan sitting on the floor across the coffee table from me, Olivia in the chair, and Jordan sitting next to Daniel.

I leaned back against the couch, resting my arm across Daniel's knees. He tangled his fingers with mine, and I gave him a small smile.

We all sat there and visited, and as always it was super fun to just sit there and talk and drink with everyone.

Every once in a while, I'd catch Ethan looking at me when I was laughing at someone's joke, or simply when I wasn't really paying attention. I couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking about.

If he was thinking about me.

I didn't know why a part of me wanted him to be thinking about me. Maybe it was the alcohol controlling my mind, but I started to feel like maybe I still wasn't fully letting him go.

I thought back to the other day when I was hanging out with Ethan, and how it was so easy to just be in the moment while I was hanging out with him. I wasn't thinking about the past, or the future. Hell, I was barely even thinking about Daniel!

I didn't know why, but when I was with Daniel I rarely thought of Ethan, but it was the opposite when I was hanging out with Ethan.

I decided that it was just the alcohol messing with my head, so I just did my best not to think about it.

Daniel and I went home a little later, and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I hoped maybe sleep would clear my mind.

The next few weeks were filled with editing pictures, completing projects and vision boards, and visiting my parent's house with Daniel. We always tried to see each of our families at least once a week, even if it was a quick stopping by to say hello.

I hung out with Ethan while he was writing music one day, well, I played with Stormy while Ethan wrote music. She was the cutest dog ever. I had another girl's night with Olivia, I had two more concert photo sessions, and Daniel and I made them into date nights.

Even though I was pretty busy, it felt good to have a full schedule. Being a photographer, sometimes there was a lull in my schedule for a couple weeks where I would only have a couple of sessions, and there were some weeks where I'd have three sessions in one day consistently for five days.

I figured out that it was better for my mental well-being to have a full schedule like this, and I still managed to have time for Daniel, and to have time for my friends and family too.

I was making a good income from my photography, and it was nice to not have to be worried too much about how I was gonna pay bills.

I was finally at a point in my career where I was making money from my social media accounts, and I was making  steady amount of money doing photography projects.

I finally felt like I had everything figured out in my life.

The only thing I felt like I didn't have figured out was letting go of that last piece of my heart I was afraid still belonged to Ethan.