Shut Up and Kiss Me || Ethan Dolan

14: Trapped in Paradise

"Eh, I can handle that."

Blake turns to look at him, and it shoots chills up his spin. This is the first moment Ethan finally realizes how fucked he is.

Deciding to keep it a secret, afraid it might scare her off, he sighs and clears his throat. "You walked into the last one, so I guess it's only fair if I do it now." Blake's laugh makes his stomach flip again, and he keeps that a secret too.

It's like the walls are crashing down, he's suddenly realizing how he's felt about her for a while now, realizing why all of their friends keep pestering him about feelings. God, Ethan doesn't want to feel this way about her.

Feelings are... complicated. There isn't quite space he wants to allocate for them in his life at the moment. But they're there, and they're really hitting him hard right now. How had he not realized sooner that this girl was under his skin? Blake didn't even try and she made Ethan start to fall for her, and honestly, it doesn't feel great.

Does he even remember how to be a boyfriend?

Well, no. Probably not. Honestly, he wasn't a great one in high school either. Blake deserves way better than whatever he could give her.

What is he saying? He's great. He could be a great boyfriend now. A lot has changed since high school, he knows that he's fucking fantastic, and can get any girl he wants. Almost any girl--Blake is the mystery. Unfortunately, she's the one he wants. They're just supposed to be friends with benefits, but maybe, if he shows her how he could be as a boyfriend, if he started doing more... she'd start to feel the same.

Ethan shakes those thoughts out of his head; he's stressing himself out way too much. He likes Blake, but it's not like he's in love with her. He's never been in love with anyone. For now, ignoring it is the best option. He doesn't even know if a real relationship was something he wants--never mind if it would work out, or if she might feel the same way. She probably doesn't, he thinks, it's Blake Adams. He isn't her type, everyone told him that. She told him that. It doesn't even seem worth it to do anything about his feelings. He swallows them.

The more they walk, the more cramped the tunnel gets. It gets so bad his hair starts touching the ceiling, and he has to walk behind Blake. While he's occupied in his thoughts, he doesn't notice her erratic breathing or her slowing walking pace much at all until she practically stops ahead of him.

"Chérie," he coughs, placing a hand on her shoulder, "you good?"

"Y-yeah," she mumbles, the lantern flickering before going out. They're engulfed in complete darkness, pausing to wait for their eyes to adjust at least a little bit. "Shit."

At this point, it's so narrow that their arms hit the walls with every small movement. They've been walking the winding tunnel for about ten minutes already to no avail, and no clue how much farther they have to go, but it's their only option.

"Ethan, I-I can't--" she mumbles, her hands pressing on both sides of the wall.

"Woah, Blake, what's wrong?" Ethan asks, watching as she slowly sits in the ground, shaking. "Oh, fuck, are you claustrophobic?"

"A little," Blake admits, squeezing her eyes closed. "I can't go any further, Ethan."

Her voice is just above a whisper, knees up to her chest. He's seen her upset before, that morning she woke up after the traffic light party springs to mind first, among a few other times, but there's no real fix for something like this, other than getting her out.

Ethan kneels next to her, placing a hand on her leg. "Hey, chérie, it's okay, I'm here."

She feels like the walls are closing in on them, and the lack of light doesn't help. Air barely reaches her lungs, panic setting in fully, and luckily Ethan's helped Grayson deal with this a few times, so he doesn't feel like a complete idiot for once. He just wants to help.