Smoke of His Breath // Ethan Torchio

lesson 18: don't bite more than you could chew

Hiiii! Third chapter of the day lmao.

I love this story ngl. I love my baby Ethan so much, though he gets on my nerves a lot.

*

Now here you go again, you say you want your freedom
Well, who am I to keep you down?
It's only right that you should play the way you feel it
But listen carefully to the sound of your loneliness

(Dreams-Fleetwood Mac)

I walked with him until we reached to Damiano's place. We stood in front of the place for a little while. "I should be going." I said, looking at him.

"Well you can say hi to Damiano," he said but I knew he didn't mean it. He knew I wasn't his biggest fan. I laughed. It felt awkward to not being able to find what to say. He was the one to talk again.

"I think I'll be staying here for a couple of days. Thomas doesn't visit here unless we ask him to, so feel free to come whenever you want."

I bit the inside of my cheeks. It had felt weird to talk decently with him, without all the sarcasm and quipping.

"Sure. I'll try. See you later," I said, pausing between every word. He smiled at me and said, "Thank you," just before Damiano opened the door to him. He went inside without saying anything. Damiano had already disappeared.

I walked home, feeling overwhelmed with everything. I felt bad for being so judgmental. Both Miruna and I had thought he was spending his time with girls. Well of course he was the one who made us think like that but it had made me feel guilty nonetheless.

I spent the night alone, Miruna hadn't came over. It was a good time to just chill a little. Spend time with myself, thinking about everything.

I spend my time playing the old guitar in my room. I tried to write a song but my mind was too occupied that I couldn't find the inspiration.

*

The next morning, I saw Thomas, Victoria, Damiano and thankfully Ethan in the school garden, all smoking. I looked at Thomas and appreciated his beauty as I was walking. He was wearing blue mom jeans and a leather jacket. His nails were painted black, which I was pretty sure against the school rules.

I saw Ethan, just when I was losing them out of sight. I couldn't help but think he looked like a wreck. He looked uncomfortable in general. It was as if he hadn't slept for the whole night. Seeing him like this made me feel bad in a way.

I didn't talk to anyone but Miruna until the last period. I hadn't seen any of them during the lunch break.

Ethan and Thomas walked near us when Miruna and I was sitting on the wall in the school's garden.

"Hi!" Thomas said, kind of cheerfully, unlike Ethan who looked pretty bad. "Hi!" I responded and Miruna did the same.

"I was wondering," Thomas said "Would you like to come see a movie after school? To make up the last time."

He was talking to all of us and not to only me. So Miruna responded eagerly, "It would be cool. If your friend promises not to bring his ex's this time."

Ethan looked like he didn't care what she said. He shrugged. "I'll pass this time. I've things to do."

Thomas rolled his hazel-green eyes at him and looked at me. "What about you Carmen? Want to come?"

I didn't want to turn him down but I couldn't take my eyes off of Ethan, who didn't look like he was in himself. I bit my lips.

"Um, yeah I would love to. But my mom is in town. I better go home early."

With what I said, I saw Miruna frowning. She knew, my mom was never around and even in the times when she was, I never cared. She was never the reason for me to cancel plans. Especially, not a plan like this. Not a plan with Thomas.

I broke our eye contact with her and turned to Thomas who didn't look disappointed in the slightest. "Sure, we can do it some other time then." he said and that was the end of the conversation. We all left when the class started.

*

When the school day was over, I escaped the school building, as fast as possible to not to encounter Miruna. I still couldn't find the proper excuse for not agreeing today's date.

I walked to Damiano's house pretty fast because I wanted to arrive before he did.  I didn't know if I managed it or not but I started waiting for him, hoping he wasn't inside the house.

Luckily, he showed up in the next few minutes. He looked surprised to see me.

"Carmen? You'd said your mom was in town."

I shrugged as he was ringing the door. "I lied." I said simply, without giving any explanation because in truth, I didn't have any explanation at all. I just felt like coming here, so I had.

Damiano opened the door swearing. "Fuck I really should make you get your own keys." He said. I tried to ignore the fact that he was butt naked.

"You are disgusting, wear something jeez." Ethan commented with a disgust in his voice. Damiano showed him the naked girl on the couch, who looked embarrassed to see us and got up to find herself clothes.

"Do you have sex with your clothes on?" Damino asked, mocking Ethan.

Ethan didn't say anything after that. I felt Damiano looking at me but he didn't say anything and went upstairs to wear somethings. The girl left the house immediately, leaving only Ethan and I in the living room.

He sat down on the couch. I did the same thing.

"Are you hungry? We can order noodles."

I nodded. "I would love that," I said being honest. He nodded and called the chinese restaurant to order noodles.

Once he was done, I looked at him. "Are you okay?" I asked, implying yesterday.

"I don't need your pity Carmen." he said with a voice cold as ice.

What he said would make me angry but I knew he wasn't in a very good mood so I let it slide.
"I'm not pitying you. I'm trying to talk."

He sighed. "Yeah, I know. Sorry. You need me to be sane so I can actually give you lessons right?"

I looked at him hesitantly. I gulped. "Yeah. How else will I make him fall in love with me right?"

He grinned. "Well you could start by not refusing his date offer."

I laughed. "Maybe today I wanted to play the hard girl."

He laughed. We joked about this for a while until our food got delivered. We payed together, with what we had in our pockets because neither of us had too much.

As we were eating, I wanted to talk about something rather than lessons and Thomas and Miruna. So I chose the most boring topic possible.

"The exam week is around the corner. Can't believe it."

He looked at me. "Oh my god Carmen, I never thought you were the nerd type." he said with a fake surprise in his voice.

I swallowed the noodles before talking. "You are just jealous that I'm better at English Lit than you are."

He raised an eyebrow. "You can only dream." he said. Now I was in my mood for a challenge.

"Wanna bet?" I asked, as I was using my chopsticks to take a little more noodle.

"You're biting more than you could chew Miss Bianchi." he said and added. "I'm sure I can grade higher than you."

"Then it's settled." I said with a self-assured attitude. "It's a bet. I'll win and I'll make you suffer."

He looked at me with this huge grin on his face.
"We shall see."
*
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Now we have a bet on the table🙃