What's Better Than E?

■56 - I Owe You Three Apologies■

Ethan took that as his moment to apologize to her. "Laurel…" He started, biting his lip timorously as she looked up at him expectantly. "I… I am sorry," he whispered with a sad smile. With that, he removed the eight pages long letter of his apology from his pocket and handed it over to her.

Puzzled, Laurel took it from his hands and did a double take when she saw the number of pages. She had an inkling of what it was but she didn't expect him to actually follow it through. "I was just kidding! You didn't have to actually write this!" She exclaimed incredulously.

He sighed and shook his head. "I know but… this actually helped me to understand my mistakes and made it easier for me to remember them, I guess. And even more so when I owe you three apologies at the same time…"

"Three?" She echoed, amused.

"Yes. The first one where I had wrongly accused you and you wanted me to write a letter, second one about me lying to not show up in this park and the last one… well, you know, from about three years ago…" At that last one, he avoided eye contact with her because he was very abashed.

"Ethan," she said and his head snapped up to look at her with surprise. "What?" She laughed.

"No… it's just - it's that you called me "Ethan". And I mean not on texts or calls or anything but you know…" He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

Laurel found that action adorable and she looked away when she felt her cheeks getting warm. "I just wanna say that you don't have to apologize because um, I feel like I just overrea-"

"No, Pixie. I get it why you acted the way you did. It's understandable. Though I just, I need to explain myself. I need to clear this for once and for all."

"Okay…" She nodded her head encouragingly.

"If you think that I knew anything about Chloe's prank from that day then I just wanna tell you that I didn't. I was… I was kept in the dark because she's always been this kind and sweet person in front of me but now I know why my classmates avoided me at all costs. Why they used to look at me with this secret, silent anger." He stopped, a downcast expression taking over his features.

Feeling bold and confident, Laurel took his hand in hers to pass him some comfort. Ethan was once again stumped by her action and it gave him the strength to continue.

"I realized later on that their facial expressions meant that I didn't show up at any of Chloe's bullying sessions because I was behind it all. That I was the mastermind of everything that would happen to them. Maybe they weren't wrong because who could be so clueless? But the thing is that no one ever told me of her worst intentions. I didn't even know about her true colors until that day she had pulled an immature-ish prank on you. I didn't witness even half of it and I swear, Lau, that I came only when you were leaving. I heard about it through my friends." He looked into her eyes with so much sincerity that the truth could be seen swirling within them.

"I believe you, Ethan." She smiled at him softly.

His heart soared hearing that and he could have sworn that he was starting to feel light at the moment. "Yeah but it was my fault that I used to hang out with her. We were so close and yet I knew close to nothing about her true self. If only I had known who she really was, I would have distanced myself from her quite early. My fault was to be with her but I promise you that I stopped talking to her after what she did to you," he explained brokenly.

"I appreciate that, Ethan. I really do. Thanks." She rubbed her fingers on his palm and Ethan had to restrain himself from sighing in content at that because her touch felt like a soft cotton candy. Irresistible. "And I am sorry too, about not accepting your apology for letting you explain yourself. I was just… I was hurt and I felt humiliated mostly."

"You don't have to apologize because I understand," he said, intertwining his hands with hers and a beautiful smile lit up on his face. A complete contrast to the despondent one he was sporting just seconds ago.

They both smiled at each other like a cute couple in love. That sure brought Laurel out of her trance because the realization of being "in love" scared her for a fleeting second but then it soon faded away looking at his gentle and beautiful smile.

"Oh, and um, everything that I might have missed, should be in that letter. Just… just read it when you're not in front of me," he told her, blushing slightly.

Laurel almost cooed because of how cute he looked at that moment but refrained herself by just smirking teasingly at him. "Why? Is Bob embarrassed?"

"Pssh. No, I just prefer for you to not get distracted by me," he replied complacently.

That sentence made her laugh and she covered her mouth with her free hand. "Bold of you to assume that."

Her words seemed to have a weird reaction on Ethan's face and she instantly understood what it meant. She couldn't wait to tell him about how much she loves him to change that upside down visage of his. She kind of had an inkling that he liked her but she hoped that it was actually true.

Ethan almost grimaced hearing that because her presence momentarily made him forget about all the bad things, her stupid crush included. She was right. 'How bold of him to assume that' and he felt sad all over again.

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