The Pier- Monday Night
Autumns POV:
I walked over to the pier and looked around. I pulled my maroon hoodie closer to my body as I walked. It was dark except for the lights that guided the way.
Not sketchy at all.
I walked until I spotted a big black truck. Ethans.
My stomach filled with knots just thinking about him. He has a spell over me.
I walked over to it and saw he wasn't in there.
"Autumn over here!" He waved as I jumped out of my skin.
I followed his voice over to dock 8, and there he stood under the moonlight on his boat, smiling. "You scared me." I said, my hand still over my heart.
"Sorry." He held his hand out, helping me into the boat. "Thanks for coming tonight."
"Is everything okay?" I looked around his boat. He had different beach items all shoved into a big clear container.
"Yeah. I just wanted to talk to you."
Oh.
I felt my stomach do a flip and my cheeks pinken.
I looked away awkwardly as I sat down on the white bench that was on the side of the boat.
He started the boat up. "Ready?" He backed it out of the spot.
I nodded slightly as he shot off into the night. Nothing but the sound of waves we created flooding my ears.
Ethans POV:
I rode the boat out of the docking area and into the open water.
I glanced at Autumn. Her hair was blowing around left and right and she looked over the side at the water. She looked back at me and smiled softly. "Can we stop under the moon?" She asked softly, carefully, as if she thought I would yell at her and say no.
I nodded, shooting her a smile and steered the boat into the middle of the open ocean, right into the light of the moon and anchored it down.
She was staring up at the moon, a soft smile still on her face. The moonlight shined beautifully onto her face.
Autumns POV:
"What?" I couldn't help but giggle at the way he was looking at me, my cheeks turning a light shade of red.
"The moonlight just makes you look more beautiful." He said coming over and sitting down next me. "I didn't know it was possible."
I blushed deeper.
He smiled and looked out at the water that looked a deep shade of purple. "I'm really happy you can come to California with all of us."
"Me too." I sat up onto my knees and leaned my upper body over the side, dipping my hand into the calm water.
"Careful." He wrapped his arm around my waist tightly, but carefully. "I don't want you to fall over."
I glanced down at his arm then back up to his face. His eyes showed his concern as I smiled and eased my way back into sitting. "The waters so calm."
"I love to ride out at night when it's calm like this." He looked out at the water. "It's so mind-freeing."
I looked up and the moon and nodded. "Especially at night."
He nodded slightly. "Spring time makes it less crowded at night too."
That was all that was said before the silence started. We sat taking in eachothers presence and the surrondings around us.
He cut the silence as he spoke softly, "I understand your pain of hurting. I don't feel your exact pain, but I feel pain."
I scanned his face, his eyes were glossy. I put my hand over his carefully. I went to stop him, but he continued. "It's hard being a twin. I wouldn't change being the twin for the world. I love Grayson more than anything."
I nodded as he spoke. "You both are inseperable. Eachothers best friends."
He nodded. "Grayson has always been there for me." He looked down taking a shakey breath before continuing, "When we were freshman we made vines. We had a channel, thedolantwins. Grayson always got so much attention, girls loved him. Guys too." He sniffled and I rubbed my hand on his arm. "The channel took off. At first, it went really well. Sure everybody liked Grayson more than me, but I was handeling it good. But then hate comments were being thrown at me. People called me names, told me I wasn't funny, told me to stop making vines and telling me I made them "ugly". Grayson and I looked more identical then we do now back then. I realized people just didn't like me." His voice started to waver. "I didn't know what else to do. People started to tell me terrible things. My self confidence dropped." He bit his lip and looked out at the water. "I never found it back." He whispered.
I rubbed up and down his arm. His skin felt like silk under my fingertips.
"We stopped making vines after Grayson saw how it was affecting me mentally. Physically."
I felt a tear roll down my cheek as I intertwined out fingers together, lightly squeezing his hand. His other hand lightly wiped the tear from my cheek as he continued.
"Grayson started taking me to parties to help get my mind off of being hated and feeling so alone. I went hard with drinking and finding random girls. Grayson did too. He didn't go as hard though at first, he was just getting with girls all the time. He drank too, but he liked the girls more." He looked down at his feet. "That's how our reputation started. Graysons was talked about more though with his rep, probably because he was a somebody when I was a nobody. Grayson made me a somebody with him, even though it wasn't the right way. He thought it'd save me. In reality it only broke me more." His voice was on edge of a breakdown.
He was on the verge of cracking.
I wiped the tears that started to roll down his cheeks. "Ethan, I'm so sorry." I whispered wrapping my arms around him.
He wrapped his arms around my waist tightly, pulling me closer to him. "I stopped all those things. I realized that wasn't me." He whispered. "I haven't been able to find the true me. I'm too broken to find it."
Those words pushed him over the edge. He broke down.
I'm too broken to find it.
He cried into my shoulder. His warm tears soaking through the material of my soft hoodie.
I rubbed his back, alternating between tracing small circles and traditional rubbing. "It's okay." I whispered. "I'm here. It's okay to cry." I sat him up carefully and looked into his now puffy, red eyes. "It's okay to hurt." I whispered lightly cupping my hand to his smooth cheek.
He sniffled, "Seeing the hurt in your eyes and knowing how bad my hurting hurts, it scares me." He whispered. "You look so pained."
"So do you." I spoke softly, the tears brimming my eyes once again. I was trying to hold back, trying to be strong for him.
He hugged me again and I buried my head into his chest, his chin softly resting on the top of my head. His heart was beating fast as he tried to calm himself down.
We sat in silence holding eachother. "My mom doesn't talk to me. She doesn't even try." I admitted. "She talks bad about me. She tries to blame the failing marriage on me."
Ethans grip around me tightened. "You're a kid. You didn't do anything to ruin their marriage."
"I know, but she tries to make me feel like I did." I started crying into his chest. "I feel like a shell of a body, like there's nothing in me. It's all shattered. I feel so weak."
I felt his plump lips connect to my forehead softly. He held them there for a couple of seconds before he slowly disconnected them.
My forehead felt cold once they left.
He sat me up and put his forehead against mine. "You're far from weak. You're strong." He said softly. His warm breath fanning my face.
"You're strong too, E." I looked into his eyes as they stared into mine.
Two broken eyes. Look at them put together and the pieces fit together.
His eyes glanced down at my lips and then quickly back into my eyes. He leaned in softly.
I didn't lean away this time. I wanted this.
I craved this.
Our lips connected and a surge of warmth ran through my body. My hand pressed against his cheek, my other arm around his neck.
His hands pressed onto my waist as he pulled me closer. His lips pressed down against mine harder, putting more passion into the kiss.
I slowly pulled back as a smile crept onto my lips, causing him to smile back. He pulled me into his lap and I rested my head onto his shoulder.
Silence went by along with the minutes, the many minutes, as he traced small patterns on the side of my thigh. "I hate to say this, but it's getting late. I should get us back." He looked at me.
"I guess." I frowned slightly, the disappointment evident in my voice as he got up.
He drove the boat back toward the dock and parked it in the spot perfectly. "Here." He picked me up and set me onto the dock and then got out. He took his hand and intertwined our fingers together.
As he walked me to my car, I couldn't get our night out of my head.
It was perfect. Hearing his story, him trusting me enough to open up to me.
Me trusting him enough to open up to him.
He opened the car door for me pulling my attention back to the now. "I'll see you tomorrow?" He smiled, happiness shining slightly from his hazel eyes.
I nodded and got in. "Thank you for tonight. Thank you for sharing your story."
He smiled and reached over kissing my forehead. "Thank you for listening, and sharing about you."
I blushed. "I'll see you tomorrow."
He nodded and I pulled out.
I was completly fallen for all of his broken pieces.