together | ethan

nineteen

I don't know how he's doing. I don't know if his classes are hard. I don't know if his roommate is obnoxiously loud. Truth is, I don't know anything. I haven't gotten anything from him. Not even a simple text 'hello'.

For the past few weeks, I've assumed that it was because he's busy and he's adapting to the new environment so I never questioned him or anything.

I've learned to push all the negative thoughts away and to stop thinking so low of him. I guess I'm just scared that I'll be the next Lacey, if you know what I mean.

But besides all the exes, and the drama, Ethan has been by my side forever and the distance over and over again is getting old. I'm tired of it.

"How're you feeling?" Grayson takes a seat across from me with his elbows on his knees.

I shrug, "Fine."

He nods, "Are you hungry?" He asks, retaining his eye contact.

"Nope."

"Thirsty?" Once again.

"Nah."

He pauses, "tired?"

I cock an eyebrow up, "why're you babysitting me?" I ask, confused.

"What? I'm not." Such a bad liar.

"Grayson," I say, "if I'm any of those things, I could literally help myself. I don't know why you're so concerned all of a sudden."

"Me too. With Ethan gone, and you being pregnant, I feel like since I'm the only guy power here and that I have the responsibility to watch over you while he's away."

"Well, thank you. But I'm totally fine on my own." I give him a reassuring smile, and he nods leaving the room.

The house is quiet. Very quiet. Without Ethan, Grayson is quiet. Without Ethan, there's no childish actions happening in the house. And without Ethan, the house is gloomy.

I sigh, throwing my head back onto the couch. I close my eyes, imagining school. Imagining college.

I had an entire life ahead of me. But this human growing inside of me isn't to blame. He or she will be my life. My future.

The doorbell rings, and I shout that I got it before Grayson could come down from his room and get the door himself, since I'm already closer.

The doorbell rung a couple times before I unlocked the door and opened it.

Kenzie's attention is turned towards me and she hands me a bouquet of flowers. She lets herself in, without talking and I cautiously follow her into the living room.

She sits down, leading to me taking a seat as well. "I heard what happened." A look of sympathy filled her face.

"It's no big deal." I reassure her.

"No, I know. But it must be so lonely. If you wanna hang out, I'm almost always down."

"Why almost?"

"I'm busy some days." She explains.

"Oh," I decided not to go further into it. I didn't know Kenzie well, and it was hard for me to trust her if I'm being honest. I've been betrayed by many girls, but Kenzie could be one of the girls I could potentially trust. I just didn't know for sure yet.

"Hey can I ask you something?" I ask, playing with the stems of the flowers.

"Anything." She replied.

"I'm just a bit confused on why you decided to come here." I asked.

"Something you really need right now is a friend. Or anybody, for that matter. I may be Ethan's ex girlfriend, but I can promise you I'm not bitter at all. Our relationship seemed forced and it wasn't pleasing me at all. If I'm being honest, ever since you showed up Ethan had seemed so stressed and I knew it was because he didn't want two girls hurting at the same time. Ethans a sweet guy. I know he didn't potentially try to make you pregnant by the time he left for college. It's just bad timing, and since Grayson's a guy, I thought I'd give you some company while Ethan's gone."

I had never expected something like this from a girl, better yet, one of Ethan's ex's. "Thank you. This means a lot to me, Kenzie. I'm so thankful that you're being so kind. I don't receive this kind of attitude very often."

"Yeah tell me about it."

——

A couple months had passed and Kenzie and I hung out from time to time, but still weren't close at all. The thing is, I knew she was his ex and she knew I was currently with him so it was just weird.

Since Ethan's been gone, I've been looking out for myself more and doing things independently instead of hoping Ethan could take care of the problem.

Ethan complains about college whenever we get the chance to talk. He told me I don't have to worry about anything cause he doesn't even have time to party considering he has to spend his weekends studying.

His roommate always tries to convince him to go out, but I guess he would rather fall asleep on FaceTime with me.

My baby bump was definitely showing now, and every time Ethan would call, I'd show him the growth.

He'd be coming to visit soon and I couldn't be more happy.

—————

END OF CHAPTER NINETEEN