color blind | e.d

ii. coffee shop pt. 2

A few minutes pass by as I wait again for Ethan, tapping my nails against the counter and taking a sip of my tea. A text message comes through my phone.

Ethan: on my way

Before I can reply back, the familiar black car of his pulls in, right beside mine, and Ethan hops out. This time he's in jeans and a tee with some new Nike shoes. They were pretty fresh if you ask me. His hair is out, too, a little blue strand of hair standing out from the rest of his dark hair. I liked it.

"You got here quick," I say as he sits down in the other side of the booth. "I had just sat down when you came."

"That's good," he sighs in relief, "I thought you were beginning to leave." I found it very thoughtful of him to remember my incident yesterday with Tamar. The waiter comes to take his order, and he orders the usual like he did yesterday. He must come in here often.

"Why would I leave?" I ask curiously, eyeing Ethan as he waits for his coffee. His pretty light brown eyes stare into my eyes before he answers.

"Well, for one thing, I had to help Grayson with some things like help fix his dirt bike. And I also had to give my sister Cameron her camera I had left at our house," he explains while the waiter sets down his coffee and gets ready to take our order.

"I'll get a bagel with strawberry spread and a side of oranges," I tell her.

"I'll get the double fudge muffins," Ethan tells her before turning back to our conversation.

"I noticed the time was ten after nine and I for sure knew you had left, but here you are," he smiles while sipping at his coffee.

I nod slowly, listening to the soft hum of music play in the background. I had so much to learn about this boy. And for some reason I wanted to know more about him.

"I want to get to know you better," Ethan now says out of the blue. I sit up straighter and cross my legs.

"What do you want to know?" I ask. I had a lot of questions to ask him.

"Anything," he says, smirking a bit as I raise an eyebrow and cross my arms. I draw in a deep breath, preparing to give him just the simple facts.

"Well, as you see I am a tea drinker, I hate loud chewing, my favorite color is lavender, and yeah I'm one of the only young girls in my family to be going to college," I shrug, taking a bite of my bagel.

Silently, I brace myself for the judgment to come rolling in, one by one, each one more hurtful that the other.

"Black people actually go to college?"

"You must of had to play basketball, am I right?"

"What, are you poor or something?"

"What are you going to be, huh? Probably a cashier or a sale's store manager. Nothing important usually."

My cheeks start to throb with redness as the back of my eyes pinch and sting from the warm tears. I try to hide them as Ethan stops talking about how great that was.

"Hey," he reaches his hand out, calling to me softly. I glance up at him with a look, one of embarrassment and question. This was so hard and I had no idea why.

My breathing slightly picks up, but I'm able to control it just enough to stay sane. I blink, cautiously putting my hand in his. He gives it a light squeeze.

"I think that you being in college is amazing. Not many people can make it to college. What did you go to college for?" he asks gently, almost like that if he said the wrong words I'd shatter like glass.