extra | e.d.

11

"i would just feel bad." i said, knowing that the guilt of lying to people would get to me. especially with how invested people get into others relationships.

"at least think about it. you've been working so so hard these past few years just to save money for your mom and to give her the life she deserves."

she got me there.

we continued talking about it, when a couple knocks interrupted our conversation, both of our heads turning to look at the door.

"you got this," brandi whispered to me before i walked over to my apartment door, opening it to reveal a very stressed and tired looking ethan dolan.

"hey,"

"hey,"

"come in," i said as i stepped out of the doorway, allowing him into my apartment.

"thanks,"

he walked in, waving and saying hello to brandi, who did the same.

"i'll give you guys some space, i'll be in the spare bedroom," she grabbed her bag from the counter and entered the extra bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

"let's sit," i said, as i nodded my head towards the red couch in my living room, leading the way. "so what did you wanna talk about," i asked in a monotone voice.  

"i think you know what i wanna talk about, liv," he said as he sat down next to me, letting out a sigh. "i'm sorry,"

"it's fine,"

"no, it's not. i should've told you, but i knew mike would've been pissed if i did." he sat with his elbows on his knees, tilting his head to look at me.

"why'd you agree to it? why would you wanna manipulate millions of people into thinking you two were dating? i know, you guys never actually said you were but the signs were all there and the hints that you guys would drop were pretty damn convincing."

he sighed, sitting up and turning towards me completely.

"mike told us that if we started doing videos with emma, the revenue would go up for both of us. it was a win win." he explained.

"he then got the idea that if emma and i acted as if we were dating, that our revenue would go up even more, especially since emma's channel was growing so fast. so technically, yes, we did it for the money. but not so grayson and i could be decked out in gucci and flex all of the expensive shit we buy. we did it because our mom is really sick, and she has been for a while. she was diagnosed with lupus, and she had to quit her job and our dad was the only one supporting the family financially for a while."

"that was until grayson and i started making money from youtube a couple years ago. it helped so much, my parents were able to get caught up on all of their bills, the house, their cars, the hospital, everything. at the beginning of this year, our dad told us that they didn't need our help anymore, even thought gray and i insisted. it was the least we could do since him and mom have taken care of us all our lives, ya know?" i nodded, not wanting to interrupt him.

"well, about 6 months ago, mom got really sick again. it comes and it goes, but recently her kidneys have been doing really bad. she's been in and out of the hospital constantly, and the bills, liv, it's insane."

"so that's why i agreed to do this with emma. i know it sounds selfish to fool millions of people, but i was putting mom first because she's always done that for cam, gray and i." he sighed again, clearly stressed out over this entire situation.

"hey, you're anything but selfish, ethan. and the fact that you and grayson are even in this position to even be able to support your family is so incredible. you were doing the right thing. and i guess, since you guys never actually confirmed it, it's really not that bad at all." i told him.

he smiled, which made me smile, because it was a smile i hadn't seen from him in a while.

"i'll let you think on it." he said as he stood up, me following him to the door.

before he left, he turned around to face me.

"i know that it's a lot for you, and i completely understand if you don't want to. but regardless, i don't want this to ruin our friendship, liv. grayson and i are so glad that you're in our lives now, and we don't wanna lose that over a stupid business deal."

hearing him say that made me feel better, but also made me happy that he actually values our friendship that much.

"i appreciate that. and i'm so glad that you and gray are in my life too. just...let me think about it, okay?"

"of course. thank you for letting me come over. i'll see you later." he embraced me into a hug, then shut the door quietly as he left.

i made my way to the spare bedroom where brandi was, and plopped down on the bed next to her.

"lemme guess, you listened to the whole thing?" i asked her, already knowing the answer.

"of course i did," she smiled. "look, i know that this is gonna be super weird for you, and i wanna be there for you whenever you need me. so...how about i finally move in?"

nodding my head rapidly, i leaned over as we embraced each other into a giant hug.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✫*

HI GUYS! omg i'm so sorry it's been so long! some things have been going on in my personal life and i really didn't have much inspiration to write! but i'm back now, & i'll try to update again soon!

usually when i have an idea for a story, it's something that has happened to me in my personal life. i don't know why i incorporate things i go through into my stories, i think it might just be a form of therapy for me. obviously not EVERYTHING that's in my stories has actually happened to me, but typically it's the situations with boys (mostly the negative things anyways, lmao).

so with that being said, i'm adding a few things to this story, simply because it's very similar to what is going on with me right now. i guess i use writing as a coping mechanism. it won't be for another chapter or two, but it'll take me a little bit to write up these new chapters and make everything flow together. but i promise i will try to update more frequently for you guys.

thanks for supporting this story much, it means the absolute world to me <3

lemme know what you thought of this chapter, 10 votes for the next one <3