Ethan laughed hearing her call him "Bob". On any other day, he would have cringed so bad but coming from Laurel, he liked to be called Bob. However, he would never admit it out loud to her.
He saw her wide grin and immediately felt at ease, forgetting all about his nervousness. He felt better. So much better. "I… wanted to surprise you," he replied, keeping the "apology" part for later on.
"Oh?" She arched an inquisitive brow at him.
"Yeah…" He trailed off unsurely. "Anyway, you… up for a walk?"
Laurel didn't miss the hesitance in his voice and so she nodded her head. As much as she was sarcastic and bold while chatting, she was quite the opposite in person, especially if it involved someone she had never talked to before.
As they were walking side by side in silence, Ethan noticed how quiet she was. He sensed that she was feeling awkward with the way her head was hung low and her hands were stuffed in her pockets while she kicked some lone pebbles here and there. It was an endearing sight, if he was being honest.
A gentle smile formed on his lips before he looked away. What was even more aggravating was that he could feel his face getting warm.
"You were there in the park that day, weren't you?" She asked him after moments of walking with no words exchanged between them.
"What?" Ethan asked, taken aback.
"Your cap," she said, pointing a finger toward his baseball cap with a blank face. "It gave you away. Oh, and the rose too… I guess."
"Wha… how?" He asked her with a furrow between his brows.
"Well, I thought that I might be wrong when I saw the rose in your hand but I am pretty sure that you were wearing this same black Adidas cap. Besides, I did get a view of your brown hair from behind and I had seen you throwing away the bouquet of flowers," she replied, shrugging but she felt bad that he had lied to her. It was as if he didn't even want to see her after seeing her.
Ethan cleared his throat and nodded. He felt too mortified to utter a response. The rose in his hand suddenly felt heavy and he didn't know if he should give it to her or not. It was as if the invisible thorns were starting to prick his fingers.
"Is that rose for me?" She asked him confidently after seeing the ashen look on his face and his fingers fidgeting with the rose.
"Huh? Oh. Yeah. Yeah, it's for you." He held out the rose for her with a blinking hope and it soared further when she accepted it with a cute smile.
"Thank you, Bob," she teased him to loosen up the tension in the air and it seemed to have worked when she heard him chuckling again.
"I hope you do know that I don't like to be called Bob, you witchy Pixie," he joked, loving the fact that she was lightening up the mood. He was exhilarated when she laughed at his words. It was a beautiful sound to hear and he smiled to himself.
"Yeah, right. I thought you were over your "don't call me Bob" phase. And you don't want me to call you Bobby eith-"
"Okay, please. As if that's supposed to be any better. Bobby is like the worst!" He whined, rolling his eyes.
Laurel just smirked at him when her eyes fell on the same park they were to meet at a few weeks ago. Ethan followed her gaze and sighed internally. He was about to suggest going somewhere else when she looked up at him. "Wanna go in there?"
He didn't have the heart to decline her request because she was looking up at him with such hopeful eyes that he said, "Sure."
After a few minutes of just walking around aimlessly in the park, they found a secluded spot and sat down. It was a different one than when Laurel was sitting at the last time. She sat cross legged on the grassy patch and stared at her fingers.
Ethan took that as his moment to apologize to her. "Laurel…" He started, biting his lip timorously as she looked up at him expectantly. "I… I am sorry," he whispered with a sad smile. With that, he removed the eight pages long letter of his apology from his pocket and handed it over to her.
Puzzled, Laurel took it from his hands and did a double take when she saw the number of pages. She had an inkling of what it was but she didn't expect him to actually follow it through. "I was just kidding! You didn't have to actually write this!" She exclaimed incredulously.
He sighed and shook his head. "I know but… this actually helped me to understand my mistakes and made it easier for me to remember them, I guess. And even more so when I owe you three apologies at the same time…"
"Three?" She echoed, amused.
"Yes. The first one where I had wrongly accused you and you wanted me to write a letter, second one about me lying to not show up in this park and the last one… well, you know, from about three years ago…" At that last one, he avoided eye contact with her because he was very abashed.
"Ethan," she said and his head snapped up to look at her with surprise. "What?" She laughed.
"No… it's just - it's that you called me "Ethan". And I mean not on texts or calls or anything but you know…" He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.
Laurel found that action adorable and she looked away when she felt her cheeks getting warm. "I just wanna say that you don't have to apologize because um, I feel like I just overrea-"
"No, Pixie. I get it why you acted the way you did. It's understandable. Though I just, I need to explain myself. I need to clear this for once and for all."
"Okay…" She nodded her head encouragingly.
"If you think that I knew anything about Chloe's prank from that day then I just wanna tell you that I didn't. I was… I was kept in the dark because she's always been this kind and sweet person in front of me but now I know why my classmates avoided me at all costs. Why they used to look at me with this secret, silent anger." He stopped, a downcast expression taking over his features.
Feeling bold and confident, Laurel took his hand in hers to pass him some comfort. Ethan was once again stumped by her action and it gave him the strength to continue.
"I realized later on that their facial expressions meant that I didn't show up at any of Chloe's bullying sessions because I was behind it all. That I was the mastermind of everything that would happen to them. Maybe they weren't wrong because who could be so clueless? But the thing is that no one ever told me of her worst intentions. I didn't even know about her true colors until that day she had pulled an immature-ish prank on you. I didn't witness even half of it and I swear, Lau, that I came only when you were leaving. I heard about it through my friends." He looked into her eyes with so much sincerity that the truth could be seen swirling within them.
"I believe you, Ethan." She smiled at him softly.
His heart soared hearing that and he could have sworn that he was starting to feel light at the moment. "Yeah but it was my fault that I used to hang out with her. We were so close and yet I knew close to nothing about her true self. If only I had known who she really was, I would have distanced myself from her quite early. My fault was to be with her but I promise you that I stopped talking to her after what she did to you," he explained brokenly.
"I appreciate that, Ethan. I really do. Thanks." She rubbed her fingers on his palm and Ethan had to restrain himself from sighing in content at that because her touch felt like a soft cotton candy. Irresistible. "And I am sorry too, about not accepting your apology for letting you explain yourself. I was just… I was hurt and I felt humiliated mostly."
"You don't have to apologize because I understand," he said, intertwining his hands with hers and a beautiful smile lit up on his face. A complete contrast to the despondent one he was sporting just seconds ago.
They both smiled at each other like a cute couple in love. That sure brought Laurel out of her trance because the realization of being "in love" scared her for a fleeting second but then it soon faded away looking at his gentle and beautiful smile.
"Oh, and um, everything that I might have missed, should be in that letter. Just… just read it when you're not in front of me," he told her, blushing slightly.
Laurel almost cooed because of how cute he looked at that moment but refrained herself by just smirking teasingly at him. "Why? Is Bob embarrassed?"
"Pssh. No, I just prefer for you to not get distracted by me," he replied complacently.
That sentence made her laugh and she covered her mouth with her free hand. "Bold of you to assume that."
Her words seemed to have a weird reaction on Ethan's face and she instantly understood what it meant. She couldn't wait to tell him about how much she loves him to change that upside down visage of his. She kind of had an inkling that he liked her but she hoped that it was actually true.
Ethan almost grimaced hearing that because her presence momentarily made him forget about all the bad things, her stupid crush included. She was right. 'How bold of him to assume that' and he felt sad all over again.
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