Smoke of His Breath // Ethan Torchio

lesson 48: irresponsible actions might cause catastrophes

Hi y'all. I might not be uploading tomorrow because I'll be out. Even if I manage to write it'll be later through the day and I realize I kinda left the ending in suspense so I wanted to write another chapter before going to sleep.

Enjoy,

Right then, she kisses my skin

I don't know what this is or where to begin
This fills me up with bliss
Don't tell me this was a dream
And she, shows me that life
Isn't all about explaining your time
No, it's the perfect time to lay all night

*

You, look at me now
With that burning cigar hanging out of your mouth
And it seems all a lie
What they've told me so far

(Cigar-Tamino)

*

"We are dead. We are screwed. Victoria knows and she surely will tell Miruna. Who will also tell Thomas. Your band will break up and your future will end, you'll never be able to leave this stupid town because of me-"

I was walking around the house like crazy. I still hadn't got over what happened at Miruna's. Victoria had said she was going to stay over there and I was sure they weren't going to talk about prom dresses the whole night. Ethan had taken the situation pretty calmly. Or maybe he was trying to keep his calm because I had freaked out so much.

"Can you calm down," he asked with a soft voice. "I know Victoria. She would come to me first and I'll talk to her. If not, Damiano will talk to her. Those two have shared a bond we never understood since we first met." he said. I looked at him with an hesitant look in my eyes.  He looked at me assuringly. "Calm down Tesoro mio, this isn't Vic's business to interfere."

I was still unsatisfied. He opened his arms in the couch and he patted next to him. "Come," he said so I did, easily finding my place on his laps and chest. He wrapped his arms around me. I heard him taking a deep breath, smelling my hair.

"It'll be all right," he said. I didn't have anything else to do but believe him.

*

Two days had passed and we hadn't heard anything from anyone. Victoria was keeping her silence on the matter whilst Thomas and Miruna looked clueless.

"I can't believe you texted her, knowing she's with Miruna," Damiano said, teasing Ethan. Ethan rolled his eyes. "Says the boy who almost got all of us caught multiple times."

Damiano shrugged. He knew Ethan was right so he had nothing to say.

When I felt like I was about to lose my mind, we had came to Damiano's place for a little distraction, hoping Marlena was here and we could spend time with her. She wasn't though, it was only Damiano.

"I'll talk to Vic." he said. "You know she'll listen to me."

"Don't get me wrong," Ethan said. "I love Vic. But she has this walls around her that I can't climb. How do you manage to get under her skin," he asked Damiano. Damiano shrugged.

"She is just scared of opening up to people, that's it. I make sure she trusts me." he replied.

"Well, then I lost all my chances. She'll never trust me again." Ethan said.

"I don't understand why you kept it a secret from the start anyway," Damiano said.

In theory, he was right but things weren't like that in real life. This thing between us had happened so strangely. It had happened without even us realizing it. I thought I loved Thomas even when I wasn't and it was hard for me to accept that. This was a weird situation to explain.

We talked about the situation until Ethan showed me the message he recieved.

"You know what this is about. Take her with you and come over to Dami's place." was what she wrote. Well, we were already at here and it was a good think she wanted to talk when he was here.

She arrived not too long after.

"What the fuck is going on and who is going to explain it to me?" she said as she arrived.

"Vic, cara why don't you calm down?" Damiano said, taking a step near her and touching her arm. She stepped back and broke their physical contact.

"I can't calm down because I have a fair understanding of what's going on in here and I don't like it. It's too dangerous for all of us."

I was sitting down in the couch, feeling smaller then ever. When angry, Victoria could be intimidating. I had seen her angry at school all the time, but this felt different because I was involved in this.

Ethan got out of the couch. "You have no right getting mad at us. We don't have anything to apologize." He said. This made Victoria even more furious.

"You have any idea what happens if Thomas finds out? Don't you care about the band? We are supposed ti have our first real competition after graduation. Carmen is the first girl Thomas idled around for this long. I haven't seen him with even a random hookup since halloween except for that one time in Christmas."

Oh so he wanted something with me but hooked up with girls when he lose his hope on me. Good to know.

"Don't even get me started on Miruna-"

Ethan interrupted her. "Miruna and I never had something real and everyone knows it. It was our way of fitting in the high-school hierarchy."

Victoria looked at him with piercing eyes. "her biggest dream depends on you." she said. She had stopped shouting now and sounded a little desperate.

"Do you have any idea how stupid you sound?" Ethan asked. He still sounded angry. "Do I have to just give up on the girl I love because some other girl wants to be a stupid prom queen in high school? Also don't worry. We talked about it and I'll still ask her for prom. We are not insensitive as you think."

Victoria had completely calmed down now. "I love you, Ethan. I love what we have with our band and I can't bare losing any of you. I don't want any of you , not you not her, to get hurt."

Room went silent after that until Victoria asked "How did this happen anyway?"

We spent the next hour trying to explain it to her as best as possible, without going into too much details. She really didn't need to know Ethan giving me a lesson on blow jobs by quoting her Girls Bite Back motto.

Once we were done with it, she looked more compassionate about it all.

"Though I'm glad you have what you have, I still hate your ways. You have to be too careful about everything. I have a bad feeling that this will cause a disaster."

"I would never, ever want to do something that would risk your, Ethan's career." I said. "and Miruna is my friend. I wouldn't want to hurt her either."

We stayed silent for a couple of seconds before she asked "I understand Zuko but what the hell is a n uilf?"

Both Ethan and I turned to Damino with reflex. He shrugged and turned to Victoria.

"I think it's time you know about Marls."

Ethan and I wanted to give them privacy so we left them at his house and went to mine to spend the night slightly relieved but still worried.
*

Good Night babes💓