Alps ✰ Ethma

ELEVEN

Ethan stood there in the middle of the bathroom with the sleeves of his hoodie rolled up, all of the wrap I had put on either of his arms was now on the floor. Ethan's arm that held all of the cuts was freshly bleeding & so was his now exposed gash on his palm, the scabs splitting open. There were what looked like bandaid wrappers scattered all around the sink counter, the cap of a bottle of soap thrown carelessly into the sink & a few unraveled rolls of pure white wrap like the wrap I had used where sitting at random. Ethan stood there frozen, a bottle of soap in his hand as he attempted to pour some onto his cuts. Shit. "Ethan no, don't use that!" I panicked, knowing the soap would only make his wounds hurt worse. I snatched the bottle out of his hands & set it back onto the counter harshly. I gently grabbed his arm in my one hand, quickly grabbing the towel hanging from its holder above the sink. "What the hell are you trying to do?!" I asked, applying the towel to his arm & soaking up the blood. Ethan sighed, shrugging. "I was trying to change these itchy ass bandages," he said while gesturing towards the wrap on the floor, "but I have no fucking clue what I'm doing. I've never done this shit before." He explained & I nodded slowly, processing this information. "Well first of all, never use pure soap to clean any sort of cut or whatever. It'll sting like hell and do nothing helpful. Always use rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide." I stated & he nodded, wincing slightly when I removed the towel's pressure from his arm to lean down & look under the sink for hydrogen peroxide.

I pushed a few of the many toiletries around under the cluttered sink & finally found at least some rubbing alcohol. That would work. I snatched it up & stood up straight, picking up the towel that I had previously. I unscrewed the cap of the rubbing alcohol & put the towel over the opening of the bottle, dunking it upside down until there was a good amount of the cleansing liquid coating it. I set the bottle down on the counter next to the sink & turned to look at Ethan again, soaked towel in hand. I reached out with my free hand & softly grabbed his scarred arm, turning it over & glancing at his honey eyes for a second before lightly pressing the soaking towel against the cuts. Ethan hissed through his teeth, biting his lip at the contact. I sighed, patting the towel all around his arm as to clean every single wound. Ethan just watched me silently.

Once I was done with cleaning his arm, I moved onto his deeply wounded hand. Now this would hurt like a fucking bitch because of how deep the razor he had held cut. "This is gonna hurt." I mumbled, looking up at his face to search for a response. Ethan sighed hesitantly, spreading out his palm slowly for my access. I folded the towel in my hands so that it was open to a clean area on the crimson stained piece of fabric & applied more rubbing alcohol to it. I gently held the top of Ethan's injured hand face up & glanced at his wavering eyes. He knew it was gonna hurt. I paused, thinking for a moment & removing my hand from holding his injured one to grab his other arm & place it onto my own arm. I spread out his fingers & clasped his hand around my arm like a bracelet. "What are you doing?" He asked, looking between us at my actions. "Just squeeze my arm to focus on something else other than the pain." I said & softly grabbed his now bleeding again hand, dabbing it with the dry part of the towel to soak up the strawberry-colored liquid. I felt Ethan's hand that was in my arm loosen extremely. "What? No. I'm not hurting you anymore, I already feel like a piece of shit just for the past few year-AH FUCKING SHIT!" Ethan yelled as I began to clean the deep cut while he was distracted. I chuckled to myself as I caught him off guard. His hand clasped tightly around my arm subconsciously & he let out a stream of curse words. "Can you guys shut the fuck up & stop fucking around so loudly while I'm watching my show?!" I heard Grayson yell from downstairs & I laughed, applying more pressure onto the towel making Ethan wince. I then moved away the now alcohol & blood soaked towel being satisfied that the wound was clean, causing his shoulders to slump in relief.

Ethan looked down at his handing gripping my arm & as if realization hit him, his eyes widened & he tore away his arm. "Fuck, see what you made me do." He mumbled, groaning & grabbing my arm gently where there were now bright red marks from where he gripped me in pain. I didn't pay any attention, turning around to grab a roll of the white wrap the best I could while he still cradled my arm in his non-wounded hand. I successfully squired the pasty fabric roll & moved back to face a still worried Ethan who was repeatedly running his fingers over the marks on my arm. Why was he worried so much? It not like I wasn't used to it. I was too focused on the task at hand to care much about what had happened. I cradled his hurt hand gently as I wrapped it with new & clean gauze wrap, taping it off when it was at a good length with medical tape. I rubbed my thumb over his wrapped hand gently, also looking at his now healed knuckles. They were only slightly bruised. I dropped his hand back to his side & turned to look down at Ethan's stressed out expression as he examined my arm, turning it over with his wounded arm. "Ethan, it's fine. I promise." I stated & gently tugged his unwilling arm away from mine, beginning to wrap it. "I'm used to it anyway." I mumbled, thinking about it as I continued to roll his arm in the soft fabric. Ethan's posture slumped further down. "You shouldn't be." He stated sadly, looking down at himself. "Sorry." He added. I ripped off a piece of the medical tape using my teeth & taped the wrap. "Don't be, it's not your fault. You didn't know how else to deal with your bottled up emotions." I explained, looking around his arm to make sure I wrapped it well. I did & dropped his arm back to his side.

"Do you get how to do it now?" I asked Ethan, gesturing down at his wrapped arms that he was now pulling his sleeves over again. "I think so. I don't know how you're so good at this shit though." Ethan said, chuckling lightly & shaking his head as he looked at me. I shrugged, laughing lightly as well. "Practice I guess?" I suggested & his smile faltered for a moment before returning back to normal. I stared at his softened eyes for a moment.

"Okay, well I have to go. See you tomorrow." I said, remembering about my homework. Ethan nodded & I smiled at him before turning around to walk out of the bathroom & into the hallway. "Wait uh..Emma?" I heard Ethan say & I stopped in my tracks, turning to look at him. "Yeah?" I hummed, making a confused look as he rubbed his arm self-consciously almost. "Can I..have a hug before you go?" He asked quietly & I smiled, remembering how affection-starved he was now that I resurfaced it in him. I nodded & stepped towards him, pressing my body against his & wrapping my arms around his neck. He hugged me back in a tight, comfy way & I felt his bright smile against my shoulder.

After the slightly lingering hug & Ethan wanting yet another hug after I pulled away, we said our goodbyes & I left out the front door.

I got into my car & out the key into the ignition, revving up the engine & placing my hands on the steering wheel. I sighed as I pulled out of the Dolan's driveway, feeling good that I at least might have fixed Grayson's problem & helped Ethan out.

As the song 'when the party's over' by Billie Eilish began to play off of my playlist that was hooke duo to the radio of my car, I thrummed my fingers against the steering wheel. My car slowed to a stop at the stoplight as I applied pressure to the brake pedal. I thought about how funny it is that I'm fixing both of the twins in their own ways. Grayson's confused with his feelings & Ethan's way more broken of course, but hides it behind mask. The bright light turned green in front of me & I pressed the gas pedal, slowly catching speed as I hummed to the song.

"Tore my shirt to stop you bleeding," I sang out along with the recording, Ethan oddly on my mind as those lyrics flowed through the car.

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Author's Note: my bday is 3 days after the twins....🤷. lyyyy. <3