TEENAGE DIRTBAG
chapter 12
[ vampire ]
the newly founded trio had made their way into the restaurant - ethan didn't manage to do it as gracefully as bella and edward considering he had managed to fall over someone's chair and stand on their toes but, at least he tried.
the restaurant was fairly busy, thankfully not busy enough to the point where they had no tables left. actually, ethan was pretty confident that you had to have a reservation to sit down... something that he knew they did not have. but, of course, with edward being there the employees didn't seem to care.
edward and his stupid good looks, ethan thought.
nevertheless, ethan didn't complain. the three were sat in silence, the only time any of them had spoken was when the waiter had asked what they would like - turns out bella was the only hungry one. now that ethan was thinking about it, he had never actually seen edward eat. or any of the cullens, for that matter.
he'd most definitely will bring that up later, of course.
but as of right now, they were still in silence. usually, ethan would've started a conversation by now, maybe if he hadn't caught edward blatantly glaring at him he would have.
"one mushroom ravioli." a woman, who was clearly the waiter, made her way over to the table, placing down the food in front of bella who had ordered. "thanks." bella muttered, softly, looking down at her meal.
"yeah, no problem." she shrugged, altough it seemed like she was much more interested in edward just sitting there than anything else at the moment. "so, are you sure there's nothing i can get you?" she questioned, her voice portraying a flirty tone making ethan scrunch up his face in slight weirdness as well as disgust.
"no, no thank you," edward responded with, not even glancing at the waiter as he seemed much more interested in bella. why's everyone interested in everyone? ethan thought, his eyes scanning the three people around him with furrowed brows and narrowed eyes.
"let me know." she smirked, walking away but not taking her eyes off of him. "was the also aimed at me or..." ethan muttered, not loud enough for the waiter to hear, however, as she was walking away.
"guess not." ethan finished.
"you're really not going to eat?" bella questioned edward, her tone soft as usual before she redirected her gaze to look at ethan, "since when do you give up food?" a small smirk was plastered on her lips as she spoke to the jaylin boy.
"the food smells like shit." ethan chuckled lightly as if it were some kind of joke; it wasn't. it did. he was surprised he hadn't thrown up yet because of it if he were being honest.
"yeah, uh, i'm on a special diet." edward piped up, causing ethan's brow to raise, "a diet that requires you to not eat?" he suddenly questioned, not meaning for it to slip out like that as his eyes widened, as did edwards.
"uhhh... anyways." ethan changed the subject, turning his head away from edward so he couldn't see the glare he was most likely receiving. "well, if we're going to change the subject, you gotta give us some answers." bella spoke, clearly not taking no for an answer.
"hm. yes, no. to get to the other side 1.77245-"
"i don't want to know what the square root of pi is." bella cut off the cullen boy, not impressed by what he had to say. "you knew that?" edward questioned, slightly shocked the girl had known what it was.
ethan, on the other hand, sat leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed over his chest and his lips slightly parted as he stared at the two. "alright, didn't know people just causally knew the square root of pi." he said, confusion laced into his tone.
"how did you know where we were?" was bella's next question, staring intently at the man. ethan allowed his eyes to land on the book bella had purchased, as the conversation continued, his arm snaked its way over before grabbing it, suddenly feeling the gut urge to look through it as if he were going to find something out.
"i didn't." edward shook his head, staring at the girl who had now had enough of not getting her answers as she went to stand up, nudging ethan's arm in a signal for him to follow.
"don- don't leave." edward was quick to say. bella let out a sigh before sitting back down, allowing ethan to go back to this book bella had for some reason bought.
his eyes scanned the cover of it, hoping to find out what it was but it was just a plain solid colour, not even allowing ethan to have any insight into what it could've been about.
"did you... follow us?" bella questioned, slightly hesitant to ask in case the answer was 'yes'. "i feel... very... protective of you." edward informed. ethan's eyes ditched the book as they landed on edward, his face pulling an odd expression as he stared at him.
"what am i listening to right now..." ethan mumbled under his breath, he intended that he would say it so quietly that edward wouldn't hear, but of course, he did. he sent a harsh glance in ethan's direction for a second before turning back to bella as if nothing had happened.
"so you followed me?" bella asked, clarifying what she was hearing. ethan's eyes averted back to the book he was holding, he opened it, and he doubted bella would mind if he opened the book.
his eyes scanned the text, still wanting to pay attention to the conversation that was currently happening. "i was trying to keep my distance, in case you needed any help. and then... i heard what those lowlifes were thinking-"
ethan's eyes snapped back up to edward after what he had just said, "okay, let's pause for a big fucking moment and rewind to what you just said, you heard what they were thinking?" ethan questioned the boy whose eyes went wide as he realised what he had just admitted too.
"so, what... you read minds?" bella asked, her tone awfully calm for someone who had just been told the person sitting directly next to her could read minds. ethan only stared at the girl, stunned from how calm she was for acting like it was just a regular thing to be told.
"i can read every mind in this room," the cullen boy confessed making ethan's jaw drop open, "apart from yours." he looked at bella, ethan furrowing his brows before speaking up and asking.
"wait, you can read my mind?" the boy's tone of voice was shocked but also a bit nervous, he never considered that someone could seriously read his mind. "with you, i can't always. it's hard to hear... sometimes i can, others i can't." edward explained making ethan even more stunned.
"oh my god?" ethan said, unsure of how to react considering it's not every day someone tells you this, "what the fuck? that's... what?" the boy couldn't even muster up a sentence correctly as his eyes dipped back to the book for a second before back up to edward.
is he okay in the head? ethan thought. a small smirk appeared on edward's face, "i heard that."
"of course you did..." ethan mumbled, looking down at the floor as bella now spoke up, allowing ethan's eyes to scan the text in front of him once more.
super strength... super hearing... ice cold skin... powers... no sun... no human food...
ethan's eyes scanned the text, landing on the keywords. the more he read, the more he realised how these 'keywords' summed up a family he was already suspicious of.
ethan had tuned himself out of the conversation completely, all his attention had now turned to the book in front of him.
blood suckers... monsters... vampires.
as his eyes read that very last word, it was as if everything had clicked inside of his head. the cullens weren't human, he already knew that thanks to jasper. they were vampires. ethan was sitting next to a vampire.
his eyes widened, instantly landing on edward who was already looking at him with furrowed brows, he couldn't tell if edward knew that he had figured it out. bella seemed to take notice of ethan's speechless yet shocked persona as she spoke up, "ethan, you okay there?"
ethan's eyebrows raised as he turned to look at her, his mouth opening and closing before finally managing to get some words out, "uh, i just realised, i had a curfew." was what ethan was able to come up with.
"oh, i'm sure edward could drive yo-"
"oh, no," ethan quickly shut her down with a shake of his head, "i can.. i can walk it. you two lovebirds have fun." ethan abruptly stood up from his spot before walking away, his heart racing in his chest.
he knew it was stupid to leave bella alone with a vampire, but he couldn't help but feel that edward wouldn't hurt her. he wanted to protect her, he knew that much.
but now that ethan had found out the truth, he didn't know what to do.
alex speaks
and the truth is out.
it's my birthday in literally one week (i'm turning fifteen) and i'm so hyped cuz i'm gonna go see the barbie movie. also not to mention this is the first year i have a bf on my birthday... so that's pretty thrilling too 🤭
don't be a silent reader !
word count: 1612