Trepidation [Book 1]

Chapter 05: midnight necessities

I'm curious. I want to get to know him, but I swore men off for a reason; to protect myself because I always somehow get hurt in the process. Why should he be the exception? There's a pull between us. Even though my head and my heart are telling me no, something inside of me is screaming yes; give the guy a chance.

Once the movie finished, we cleaned up and got ready for bed, but as soon as I stepped out of the shower, I realised I've come on my period. I haven't bled for months now due to what happened, so this has come as a shock but I'm also relieved. I'm not prepared, though and the girls are both on birth control to stop theirs, so I'm screwed. If it didn't affect my mental health as much as it did, I'd still be on birth control too and I wouldn't be in this situation.

Today was going so well until now.

Making a makeshift pad in my underwear, I then get dressed into a tank top and sweats before leaving, making my way into Matt and I's bedroom.

"Okay, put your clothes back on, you're coming with me to the store," I say, grabbing a hoodie of mine from the wardrobe.

"You're incorrect, I'm definitely not," he says and I turn around, frowning at him.

Matt does look comfy in bed, but I can't go out alone, "Please, " I whisper, hoping he will. I don't like going out at night; there are too many creepy people about.

"Why, Fran, why? Can it wait 'til tomorrow?"

"No, I'm bleeding," I cross my arms, and he groans before throwing a pillow at me, "Hey! I'm the one going to be in pain for the next week, treat me with kindness."

"Can't you just hold it in?" he asks, and I look at him dumbfounded. Is he stupid? "I hate you so fucking much," he tells me, getting up out of bed.

I smile, snatching my purse up from the floor at the bottom of my bed, "Thank you, I love you. And I'll buy you snacks."

He grabs his fluffy robe from the door, "Don't judge me for my outfit choice or I'll hop back into bed."

"No judging here."

∞

It takes ten minutes for me to drive us to the closest store, but because of the time, we don't have long to get everything I need.

"I can't believe we're here at midnight," Matt chortles to himself as we make our way through the double doors.

The fluorescent light blinds me as I sigh, looking over at him, "It's ten-fifty; this store doesn't even stay open until midnight."

We only have ten minutes, so I make a beeline to get the necessities before leading us down the snack aisle, which in my mind is also a necessity right now. I decide on gummy worms, chips and a candy bar to feed my cravings.

"I don't know how you've never had a cavity in your life," he says, eyeing my arms full of goodies in amusement.

"Oh, shut up, you're not one to judge. You have a secret stash of candy under your bed," I say and he covers my mouth.

"It's only a secret if you keep your mouth shut!"

"Well, I ate one of your Kit-Kat Chunky. And it was a mint one," I quickly add the latter before quickly running off into the fruit section.

"Francesca Salatino, get back here!" he yells, and a giggle erupts as I look behind to see him running after me. Turning my head back around, I can't stop before I crash into the side of someone, causing the contents in my arms to fall to the floor.

Oh, great, just my luck.

"We have to stop meeting like this, Francesa," His emerald eyes drop to mine as he crouches down on the floor, picking up the things I dropped.

Ethan.

"Of course, it's you. I promise I'm not usually this clumsy. It's his fault," I say, firing a glare in Matt's way.

"How on earth is it my fault?" Matt folds his arms, laughing still though. Of course, he'd find this amusing.

Only I would physically run into the same person twice in the space of two weeks.

"Shut up," I mutter to Matt. I look back at Ethan who is watching us, "Oh, that's Matt. Matt, this is Ethan."

Matt's eyes start to twinkle at the familiar name, "Oh, The Ethan, nice to meet you. We've heard so much about you."

A smirk rises on Ethan's face, "So, you're talking about me now?"

I finally stand up from the ground and Ethan hands me the things that I dropped, "Note to self: kill Matt when you get home," With that Matt whacks me with the chip bag and I glare at him, "I hate you."

"I hate you, too," Matt says with a smile.

"Are you in a toxic relationship? If you are, I can save you," Ethan offers.

I laugh, shaking my head, "We're good, toxicity aside, he's good in bed, so I just keep him around."

"So, why are you two here like two minutes before closing?" He asks, shifting on his feet.

"Essential shop, what about you?"

"Kind of an essential shopping trip, we have no bread or milk for breakfast in the morning," he holds up the large bottle of milk.

"Okay, I don't want to interrupt this cute conversation you've both got going on, but we still need to get some fruit and ice cream, and as he said, we only have two minutes," Matt says, pulling me away in a rush.

I turn around at our fast pace to see him standing there, his hand up in a wave and a grin on his face, "I'll see you later!" he says.

Matt and I find our way to the frozen section where he turns to me with a shake of his head, "You're such a weirdo, what happened to discreet Fran?"

"I am discreet," I say, knowing that was not at all discreet. I wasn't flirting though, I was merely catching up with an acquaintance, "Oh, shush, I don't know what happened. He has this smile, and I don't know. It's weird, it's all very weird, okay?"

"Dare I say it, does Francesca like a boy?" he asks like it's the worst thing to ever happen. I ignore him, opening the freezer. "You do!"

"I don't even know the dude. If the question was 'Is Francesca attracted to a boy?' then yes, my answer would be yes. But I don't know him."

"Well, I'm here for it. Ethan and Francesca. Huh, I like it," he muses and I groan, pushing him to the side and making him stumble. "You're such a fucking bitch."

I know, deal with it

~~~~~

A/N

This chapter went better than I expected I'm not going to lie. I wasn't even going to write this chapter, and it's just a filler one.

Also, I'm in love with Ethan. I just wanted to tell you. I can't wait to really get into this book and develop these characters but in my mind I know exactly how he is. And I'm so looking forward!

I love seeing comments and your votes because it really helps with my motivation. As of right now I'm getting reads and some votes but NO comments at all, so if you can, I would really appreciate it. If you are a silent reader, I love you also. I, myself read offline and then vote after because I don't actually have Wi-Fi in my house.

Question of the chapter:

What was you looking forward to in 2020/21 that got ruined? I was going to see Billie Eilish, I was also going to go on holidays as well.

Thank you for reading! Please comment your thoughts, vote by pressing the little star, and if you want, you can like follow me too. Xx

~B