I woke up to my cell phone vibrating under my pillow. It was my alarm signaling my first class in 30 minutes. I was a light sleeper, so I never really needed the whole irritating beeping alarm clock. I glanced around my room, and noticed Brent and Kathy still asleep in bed. I had gotten back late last night, and didn’t even noticed he spent the night, which usually meant an argument took place, and he refused to leave until they made up. Did I mention how much I disliked him? He stayed most nights, and practically lived here. Kathy and I got along great, but if there was one thing we argued about, it was always something surrounding him. Whether it be him eating all our food, coming in and turning on the TV or radio like he owned the place, or him just making inappropriate remarks towards me. He was on the basketball team with Ethan, which is how Kathy and Brent had met. To my dismay, I regret the fact it was Ethan and I who had first set them up. That was before I knew Brent, and now all they seem to do is argue and make up; and when they argue, the whole dorm hears about it, because it’s as if a bomb went off.
I tiptoed out of bed, and into the bathroom to quickly brush my teeth, shower and change. I took one last look in the mirror, and sighed. I wasn’t gorgeous like Kathy; I am much more average, height at 5’2 on a good day, olive skin tone, and brown straight hair that hung just past my shoulders, and light brown eyes. However, I have naturally curved, long and full eyelashes, which seem to make my eyes pop. If there ever was a compliment guys gave me, it was about my eyes.
I grabbed my books and started to head out. As I opened the door, there stood Ethan awkwardly holding two cups of coffee. His facial expression gave away that he’d been contemplating on how to knock on the door, without spilling the two cups. A smile was quickly placed on my face as I threw my arms around his neck and planted my lips on his, before he could say hello.
I could feel him smiling as he pulled back to lean his forehead against mine, slightly kissing my nose in the process, “This is definitely my favorite part of the day! Did you miss me?” He asked, as if my kiss didn’t already answer that question.
I took Ethan in; just looking at him makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I can lose myself staring into those bright green eyes. Ethan has light brown hair that is cut short, a lighter skin tone than me and is tall, standing at 6’. But my favorite feature of his, by far, is his dimples; and he has no shame in using them against me when he wants something. I love them, because not many people get to see them; they only appear when he has a genuine big smile and not a forced one.
“I always miss you! Did I mention you are the best, which cup is mine?” Not knowing which cup to grab.
Ethan handed me cup with ‘xx’ written on the lid, “Here extra cream and extra sugar, just the way you like it! Light and Sweet. Just like me,” I couldn’t help but laugh at this. He had taken me to see ‘In The Heights’ on Broadway for our first 1 year anniversary, and that was one of my favorite lines from the musical. We both continue to use it every chance we get.
“Thanks babe!” I said smiling the whole time.
Ethan went to put his arm around my waist and took a quick glance in the room, eyeing Brent in bed with Kathy. “Is everything ok?” he eyed me watching my facial expression as I closed the door.
“Yup, I left to the library when he got here last night,” I said with a neutral tone in my voice.
He smiled slightly “Ok, good! Oh, by the way my family all say hi. They missed you this weekend. I missed you this weekend,” bending down to kiss me on my cheek.
“I miss them too, and you; wish I didn’t have so much work to do this weekend,” now pouting. I would of rather be there with him and his family, then stuck here working all weekend. “Speaking of, let’s go, before we are late for class.” I grabbed his hand and started to lead him towards our first class of the day.
Even though Ethan is a year ahead of me, we choose the same elective, giving us at least one class together. Ethan didn’t care for the elective, which was Western Art History, but I loved it. There is something about a piece of art and how each one has its own story behind it. It’s fascinating to me, and I can always get lost in it. Now this is probably the only reason Ethan liked this class, because he got to sit and watch me daydream for an hour.
After Western Art History class was over, Ethan grabbed my hand and walked us out of class hand-in-hand. I was still deep in thought about the Vermeer painting of the ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ that we discussed in class. The girl in the painting had an expression in her eyes; I wish I could have known what she was thinking. I looked up and noticed Ethan was staring at me with a smirk on his face.
He bent down and kissed my forehead mumbling, “And that look on your face, is exactly why I have learned to love this class!”
I rolled my eyes trying to hide the fact I was now blushing.
“Ethan!” We heard someone calling. We looked over to see John, one of Ethan’s teammates, walking over.
“Hi Emma,” John said, and shot me a smile. He then turned to face Ethan, “Hey bro, some of the guys are going to grab dinner at the lounge before practice, you in?”
Ethan responded without a second thought. “Yup, I’ll be there.”
As if, he forgot something, he turned to look at me. “Meet me there?” His eyes met mine, which practically asked if that was ok. Looking into my eyes, a smile started to form on his lips, and before I knew it, there was his signature smile, that he knew I couldn’t say no to.
“Of course,” I say returning his smile and I swear my heart skipped a beat.
“Perfect, we’re going to get to our next class babe,” referring to John and himself, “But call me if you need anything, and I’ll see you at dinner.” He quickly shot me a wink and kissed my hand, then headed off in the other direction with John.
I was still staring in the direction Ethan had gone, when someone bumped into me sending me back to reality. I shook it off and headed toward my next class, still thinking about one thing. Ethan.
Later that day I went to meet Kathy for lunch, like I usually do. We didn’t have any classes together so we practically met every day for lunch to catch up, since nights are usually occupied by our guys and homework. Spotting her in the cafe, I walked towards her sitting at a small table by the window. I didn’t even get to put my books down on the table before she started in on me.
“What was that about last night?” she said eyeing me.
I sat down sighing; she knew Brent and I would be at each other’s throats all night if I stayed. “Nothing, I needed to get some work done, so I headed to the library, plus I figured you and Brent would appreciate some alone time.”
Kathy cut me off, “Not that and you know it!” She just glared at me like I was an idiot. “Who was that on the phone last night?”
Now understanding where she was going with this, “Oh, that was Derek; and before you jump to conclusions, he’s just an old family friend,” I said holding my hands in the air innocently.
“Last time I checked, friends didn’t make you blush like that. I thought only Ethan could do that to you; so what’s the scoop on him?”
“Well, I can set you up with him if you’d like?” I asked to get a reaction out of her.
“Ugh. I’m perfectly happy with Brent,” she said annoyed, but looked away.
I decided to push my luck, “Ok, well I’ll check back with you tomorrow, because you never know with you two.” I said this half laughing because of the irritated look plastered on her face.
Looking back at me, she spat “Fine don’t tell me!”
Not liking the idea of her being upset with me, I gave in “Fine. What do you want to know?”
An instant smile went on her face. “Is he your ex? He sounded cute, is he cute? When was the last time you saw him?”
“Slow down,” I laughed. “Seriously Kathy, you need to breathe. And no, we never dated. We haven’t seen each other in 10 years. Plus, he always thought of himself as a big brother, more than anything else.”
“Does that mean, you thought of him differently?” she questioned with a raised eyebrow.
Now flushed, I hesitated because how embarrassing this all seemed. “Once upon a time, I had the biggest crush on him; like already picking out names for our kids kind of crush. But that was a long time ago,” I said waiving it off like it was no big deal. In reality, it was a big deal; I remember my mom knew about my feelings and called it ‘puppy love’.
“Wow!” Kathy said simply.
“Is that all you have to say?” I replied; but amazed on how easy that was.
She thought for a minute, “So did he ever know about this crush of yours?”
Shaking my head, “No, I thought he did once. There was this one time, when he came home from school, and wanted to show me something,” I trailed off smiling, remembering that day. Kathy quickly took notice of my hand, as if I had no control over it; it reached up and touched my lips.
“Oh my God, he kissed you, didn’t he?”
Still smiling I nodded, “It was my first kiss. He was my first kiss!”
“Wow. First crush, first kiss, first love!”
I laughed “Kathy, we were 10. I don’t think you can count that as love! Anyway, the past is the past; back to the present. I’m going to be meeting Ethan and the guys for dinner, are you coming?”
“No, I can’t. I need to head over to the studio and get as many hours in as I can, before tomorrow’s design critique.” We sat there talking for the next hour about everything. Usually this is the time for me to get caught up on all the gossip, that Kathy always seems to know about.
The rest of the day past just as quickly, and I was starting to look forward to seeing Ethan again for dinner. I had one class left for the day and it was a Professional Practice class. Unfortunately, this class is the one and only class I have with Brent and John. I didn’t mind John at all, he was always nice; Brent was another story. Don’t get me wrong, Brent wasn’t always rude, only about 50% of the time. However, when it came to me, it was more like 90% of the time.
As I walked in, I smiled at John and mumbled a hello at Brent who was sitting right next to him. John smiled back, and Brent just shot a glance at me not saying a word. Walking past them, I took my seat next to Sarah.
Once upon a time Sarah, Kathy and I were pretty close, but in the last year, she has distanced herself from us. A part of me thought she just didn’t like being the 5th wheel, and I selfishly hoped when she started dating Liam that we would gain her back as a friend. However, nothing changed and she continued keeping her distance.
“Hey Sara, how was your weekend?” I tried starting a conversation.
“It was good.” I waited hoping for more, but just like every other time I asked her, she held back.
“Good,” was all I could respond.
After settling in to my seat, I looked up at the chalk board, and written on it was ‘Literacy Editing’. This should be interesting; the first half of the semester had been focused on creating our own manuscripts surrounding a topic of our choice; which was due today. This is what I had been working on all weekend, and the reason I couldn’t go with Ethan to visit his family.
I had chose Multimedia Reporting, where I explain how the digital world has not only changed how quickly news travels, but also expanded the ways in which journalists relay that information to the public.
Our professor started to explain that the majority of the second half of the semester will be based on Literacy Editing. She then elaborated on how we would be partnered up with a classmate of her choosing. We will have to read and critically edit our partner’s manuscript as if it was going into print. Partners will be chosen by her, after she has had a chance to review all of the manuscripts herself, and will be partnered up based on a commonality or correlation.
This was the scary part of writing. It was one thing to write and get your thoughts down on paper, but it was another thing to have someone purposely point out all your mistakes and oversights.
The next thing I knew, class was over. Sarah practically ran out of class as I stood and started to gather my things. Taking one last look, to make sure I didn’t leave anything behind, I turned and saw John and Brent waiting at the doorway.
Once my eyes landed on John’s, he called out, “Emma, do you want us to wait for you? We are heading over to the lounge now.”
Shaking my head, “No, go ahead. I want to drop off my things at the dorm first.” Going our separate ways I headed back to my room, to unload my books and freshen up. Ethan and I had been together for 2 years, but that didn’t stop me from always wanting to look my best. It also didn’t stop the butterflies that were starting to form in my stomach, at the mere thought of seeing him.
Walking into the lounge, I quickly spotted Ethan and some of his friends at a large round table in the back. At the table with Ethan were Liam, Sarah, Brent, Luke, Josh, Kelly, Darryl, and Chris. All the guys were on the basketball team; Kelly was Darryl’s soon to be ex-girlfriend, according to what Kathy told me at lunch. Sarah was there with Liam, but listening intently to Ethan talk about the upcoming rival game. I walked up to the table, and once I did, I noticed Sarah quickly looked away. I bent down and surprised Ethan with a quick kiss on the cheek, which turned a slight pink instantly. I loved that I could have that effect on him.
“Hey baby, sit down,” pushing the person occupying the seat next to him off the chair. He looked down, at a now empty seat, and motioned for me to take it. A slightly blushed Josh shot up from the floor and grabbed an empty chair by Chris. I gave Josh an apologetic smile as he took his new seat. Josh was the youngest at the table, being the only 1st year team member to make the starting team. This got the teams’ attention and respect, but didn’t stop the guys from messing with him every once in a while.
Glancing around, I noticed everyone at the table, except Ethan, already had their dinner. As if Ethan read my mind, he stood up, “I’m going to grab us something to eat. What are you in the mood for?”
I took a quick look around at what everyone was eating, to get an idea of what was on the menu for today. Nothing seemed appetizing, so I decided to stick with the basics, “Pizza is fine.”
“Ok, I’ll be right back,” grabbing my hand, he quickly kissed it before heading off.
The conversation at the table returned to the rival game and most of the guys were getting pumped. Ethan returned to the table with our food, and joined in the conversation. Dinner was passing by quickly, and I was honestly getting a little bored with all the basketball talk. However, I found myself smiling, when Ethan started getting really passionate about it; I admired his love for the game.
I felt my phone vibrate, and took it out to see who it was. It was from an 813 area code; not knowing what area code that was, I pressed ‘ignore’. Whoever it was, would leave a message if it was important. I looked back up at the table, and Ethan and Liam were starting to disagree about something. I tried to listen in, so maybe I can throw my two-sense in. Just when I was going to say something, my phone began to vibrate again with the same number. So I reluctantly decided to answer it.
“Hello?” It came out more like a question than a greeting.
“Do you always answer the phone like that Em?” It was Derek, and I could tell he was smirking.
“Only when I don’t know who is calling,” I answered a little insulted.
Laughing at my tone, “Hey, I told you I was going to call you today. Do you have a few minutes? You sound busy.”
He must have heard all chatter going on around me. Glancing around the table, everyone was still engulfed in their conversation; no one even noticed I was on the phone. “It’s ok. I’m having dinner with Ethan and some friends, but I have a few minutes. What’s up?”
He hesitated, before he asked, “Are you sure, I can always call you back if you’re with Ethan?”
I thought about this, and didn’t see a problem. I didn’t hide anything from Ethan. “No, it’s ok. Just can’t stay on long,” I said, not wanting to be rude to the table either.
He was quiet on his end, so I asked, “Derek, are you ok?” This got me a glance from Brent who was now staring at me. I ignored him.
“Oh yea, I was just thinking about how far we have grown apart. We are all grown up now. You have Ethan, and I have Riley and Sasha.”
I started to agree with him, and then it dawned on me, “Wait. Who are Riley and Sasha?”
“Riley is my son, he is 2 now. Sasha, well at the moment, she is my girlfriend,” he said sounding unsure of my reaction.
I have to admit, I was shocked. My mom never mentioned he had a kid. “Derek, you’re a father,” I spat out like a child, causing Derek to laugh in relief.
Ethan must have noticed Brent staring at me, and placed his hand on my thigh giving it a little squeeze to gain my attention. I looked up and noticed he was looking at me questionably. I gave him a reassuring smile, and held up a finger, signaling I will be off in a minute.
Thinking back to what Derek has just told me, “So Sasha and Riley are your family.”
Stilling laughing at my reaction, “Riley is my family. Sasha isn’t his mother; she is just a girlfriend. She hasn’t even met him yet, and I plan on keeping it that way.”
Shocked by this new found information, I wanted to ask more questions, but I knew Ethan was waiting for me. “Wow, we really do need to finish catching up. But unfortunately, I have to go. Sorry. Now that I have your number, I’ll give you a call tomorrow. Is that ok?”
Derek agreed, but quickly cut in before I could hang up, “One more thing Em,” he hesitated again as if he was thinking about his next words. “Is Ethan treating you good? I mean, are you happy?”
I glanced up at Ethan with a smile on my face, “Yea, he’s the best, and yes I am happy.” Ethan gave me a knowing smile, and my cheeks began to redden as I turned away.
“Ok, just making sure. I’m still your big brother after all.” This made me chuckle, as he said the same words he had told me many years ago. After that we said our goodbyes and hung up.
Everyone at the table was starting to gather their things to head out. The guys were heading to the gym for practice, and girls were off on their own. As I stood with my bag, Ethan wrapped his arm around my waist, and led me out of the lounge.
Once outside, he didn’t hesitate to ask, “Who was that on the phone?”
I watched him to make sure that this wasn’t said out of jealously, instead it was asked out of genuine curiosity, which made me happy. “That was Derek; he’s an old family friend. I forgot to tell you, he called me yesterday to catch up. I haven’t talk to him in like 10 years. Our parents use to be best friends, so he was like my fake big brother up until they moved to Florida.” The excitement in my voice not only surprised me, but surprised Ethan as well.
He gave me a smile, “Did I ever mention how cute you are, when you are excited about something?” I smiled and nodded innocently. He tells me every chance he gets. “That’s cool though! I’m glad you guys got caught up.”
Since we were ready to go our separate ways, he leaned in and kissed me goodbye, “I’ll call you after practice. Are you going to be at the dorm?”
Nodding, I replied, “Yup, I have tons of work to do.” I smiled and leaned in for another kiss, this time letting it linger a little longer.
“Love you babe,” Ethan mumbled between kisses.
“Love you too.”
*******
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