together | ethan

seventeen

"So... Jasmine right?"

"Yep," her eyes travel elsewhere, giving me a sort of vibe. It was telling me that Jasmine didn't like me very much but then again, she probably heard the entire argument upstairs.

Ethan gives her a weird look, almost telling her to shut up and act nice.

She sighs, sitting up straight, "And you are?"

"I'm Carter, I live in Australia but I'm staying here for a while," I explain to her.

"Why?" She asks, an eyebrow raised.

Ethan clears his throat, basically telling her to be nice once more.

"For a wedding, but also for Ethan."

"You know, you seem like a real nice girl. If you're single, I could hook you up with Grayson. I'm pretty sure that dude needs a girlfriend and you look exactly like his type!" She doesn't. In fact, she's probably the exact opposite. Grayson likes nice and innocent looking girls. Jasmine is... none of that.

"No thanks, I'm not interested." Nice if her to keep the conversation going.

"Um.." I hesitate, "Well, maybe you just have to meet him first. He's-"

"Carter, I appreciate the hook up with Ethan's twin brother, but I am 100% into girls."

My mouth hangs open for a good few seconds before Ethan closes it, "I'm so sorry, I didn't know.."

"It's fine. Apparently, girls are supposed to 'look' like a lesbian now, but I don't have to be."

"Right. I agree." I say with enthusiasm. Jasmine seemed really hard to get on her good side, I don't know how Ethan did it so well.

I was starting to think Jasmine didn't like befriending girls or maybe just me, considering how fast her and Ethan became friends.

Getting on her good side was like playing a competitive sport you suck at. Exhausting and hopeless.

But I also don't think she'd want to be friends with Grayson either considering how much of a wimp he was.

Speaking of him, where is he?

"Anyway, I think I should leave. That argument sounded pretty heated. I think I should just let you two be."

"Thanks for today, Jasmine," Ethan waves to her as she exits the house.

Once she's gone, he turns to me with a smile on his face, "she's not too bad huh?"

"She hates me."

"What?" He protests, "she did not hate you. Com'on"

"You don't gotta lie to me, I know she did," I squeeze his cheeks as they held a confused expression, "it's okay if she did though. She'll come to like me."

I peck his lips, "let's make cookies."

I jump off the couch, and head for the kitchen, "but you know I can't cook."

"Uh, that's what instructions are for," I tell him, holding up my phone.

I stand at the end of the island table, quickly typing in a cookie recipe and looking up some good ones.

I feel Ethan's arms go around my waist, and his lips to my neck.

"I was thinking Clayton for boy and Aspen for girl," he mumbles, making my heart melt.

I love him so much.

Turning around, I go to hug him. He makes me so soft, I might just cry.

"You're the best," I tell him. It's the truth. I have never met someone like him. Someone who accepts everything you go through even if they don't like it. Someone who is there for and with you through every step of the way. And most importantly, someone who shows that they're worth it, even when they don't know they're doing it.

Ethan has shown me that no matter how hard it is to maintain our relationship, we can pull through. Because we're Carter and Ethan. And together, we can do anything.

—

"I hate to tell you over phone..."

He sighs, "it's fine Carter. I'm not disappointed in you for having a baby. But at such a young age? You've got so much ahead of you. A baby is certainly not the best thing to have right now.."

"I know.." I didn't know what else to say. Hearing the tone of his voice, it didn't feel good.

"I'm gonna suggest you stay in New Jersey, okay? That baby of yours needs their father."

"But... what about you?"

"I'll be fine on my own. I've got enough money to hire someone to take care of me full time. All you have to do is give that baby a family, and I'll be fine here. Got it?"

"Yes."

"Okay.. I love you, Carter. Take care."

"Bye, dad."

I hang up the phone, setting it down next to me. My dad has no one at home. To this day, I'm still surprised he's doing okay.

My dad has something called Osteoarthritis. It's where the cartilage breaks down so it doesn't cushion the bones properly. It gets worse slowly, which is probably why my dad has been doing fine for a while.

His joints are stiff, swollen and painful, and usually I'd be there to help him. This all started a couple days after moving to Australia.

But since he told me to stay, I don't know what will happen to him.

Now I've got another thing on my long list of things to worry about.

_______________

END OF CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I wanted to make this chapter short so I can address the hate with Grayson and his tattoo.

Tessa may have had a bad past and she may still say the N word and stuff but that does not give you the right to send her death threats. I know what happened was super unfair that Tessa and Grayson DMed previously and everyone who submitted a design to Grayson wasn't gonna get chosen anyway. But you can't expect yourself to send death threats and not have Grayson defend her.

And because he did that, you guys wanna send death threats his way also?? Ethan and Grayson did not teach us to disrespect each other like that. Yes, our fandom has problems, but they can be solved a different way. This doesn't and never had to happen.

Grayson has always been a humble, kind, devoted and hardworking person. He hasn't changed at all. He doesn't support racism like everyone's claiming. He's simply defending a girl getting death threats because he knows his voice is bigger than hers. He was hoping people would listen, but instead they misinterpreted what he was trying to do.

And trust me, I am not taking Tessa's side. I'm actually really disappointed in how everything went down. From Tessa going to be picked anyway to how she's acting in the end. I'm kinda just sick of everything.

- J