Chapter 38: Chapter 36

Taping the last cardboard box, I stood up and glanced around my room. It looked so different, so empty. The framed photographs were gone along with the decoration in the room. My room was so empty I could hear the echo of my own voice when I spoke. My phone rang, making the shrill sound echo. I cringed and reached for my phone. A small smile stretched out on my face seeing Ethan’s name flash on my display screen.

“Hello,” I said brightly.

“Hey. What are you up to?” he questioned.

I sighed, slipping my hand in my back pocket and looking around my room once again. “Packing.”

That one word was enough for him to become silent.

“Hello?” I said, breaking the silence.

He cleared his throat. “Yeah?”

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he said. “Actually, I just-are you free tonight?”

“Tonight?” I repeated.

“I know you’re going tomorrow but today’s the last day we can spend some time together,” he explained. “Please. Just one hour. If you need help packing, I’ll come to your place with you afterwards. You know what? You don’t even need to come out with me. I’ll just come over. We’ll finish packing. I frankly don’t care, as long as I’m with you.”

“I’m going to cry,” I stated.

“What?”

“I think this is the first time you’ve sincerely asked-begged me to go out with you,” I said with a sad smile.

“Is that a yes?” he asked.

I laughed. “Yes, of course. In fact, I’m done packing.”

“Great, then,” he said. “I’ll pick you up at 6:30.”

“Alright,” I said.

I continued with packing little bits and pieces I found around the house and before I knew it, Ethan was going to be coming over any minute and I had nothing to wear. Now, I know girls usually say this when they’re standing right in front of a huge closet with multiple dresses hanging in front of them but in my case, I really didn’t have anything good to wear. My closet was empty and if I dug through my suitcase to search for something good, I would have to re-pack my suitcase later. That’s just double work.

“Ashley!” mom yelled from downstairs. “Could you come down for a minute?”

I looked at my suitcase again and grabbed my denim jacket which was on the top. I put on over my crop top on my way down.

“Yes?” I asked, observing mom removing things from the last cabinet in the kitchen and blindly throwing things in the box.

She looked over at me and her eyebrows pulled in together. “Are you going somewhere?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I’m going out with Ethan.”

“Oh.”

“Is something wrong?” I questioned slowly.

“No, no,” she said, putting more stuff into the box. “I just thought you’d at least stay home today and help me out. But clearly, you have more important stuff to attend to.”

Was she seriously trying to make me feel guilty with her sarcasm?

I glared at her for a minute before saying, “Yes. I do. Please just call me when there’s something extremely urgent.”

I gave her a tight smile and swiftly turned on my heel. I grabbed my boots on my way out, without saying a goodbye. If she wanted to be plain rude, I could too.

I sat on the steps up to the front door, waiting for Ethan. I don’t know what has gotten into mom lately but I’m definitely not going to be able to tolerate it for long.

Just like Ethan had said, he was pulling up in front of my house right on time. I walked up to his car and pulled the door open. Settling myself inside, I turned to look at him and just as my eyes adjusted to his golden brown ones, I instantly felt myself relax and promised myself that no matter what would happen after this, I was just going to enjoy today to the fullest.

*

“A park?” I asked as we parked the car and got out.

“Yes, why not?” he asked, shrugging and pulling a mat out of the backseat.

“Perfect place to have a relaxing conversation with kids screaming, crying and playing around us,” I said with a sweet smile to him.

“Come on, kids are not that annoying,” he said, taking my hand in his and pulling me to the park.

I just gave him another one of my enthusiastic smiles and let him continue to tug me to the park. I managed to find a secluded spot, away from the playground, under a tree. Ethan dropped his bag on the grass and laid the mat out in front of me. We sat down and I tried to make myself comfortable by resting my head on Ethan’s chest.

“Grapes?” he asked, pushing a box full of grapes towards me, which I assumed he removed out of his bag.

“Thanks,” I mumbled and reached for one when I heard a high, pitched shriek. I jumped and sat upright to look where the scream came from.

“I hope I don’t have any toddlers on the flight tomorrow,” I muttered.

“They’re just kids,” he said. “You were even more annoying than this when you were young.”

“Oh please, I was a very mature child,” I countered.

“If I list out the number of immature things you’ve done in your childhood, we’ll probably be sitting here all night,” he said with a smug look.

“Excuse me,” I said defensively. “I wasn’t the one who tried to cut open a basketball with scissors or flush the toilet six times consecutively just to see the swirly motion the water makes.”

He raised both his hands up and said, “Well, I never said I was a ‘mature child.’”

I scoffed and popped two grapes into my mouth.

“Excuse me?”

We turned to see a little girl standing next to us shyly in a little baby blue frock. She had adorable bangs and her front tooth was missing.

“Hey there,” Ethan said in a sweet voice I had never heard him speak in before.

Her blue eyes brightened up and a shy smile took over her face. “Can you play with me?” she asked, her L sounding like a W. “No one else wants to.”

Ethan turned to look at me for assurance and I gave him a smile in return. He turned back to the little girl. “Yes, of course.”

“What’s your name?” I asked, getting up and pulling Ethan up along with me.

“Alice,” she said, sounding a bit more cheerful.

“That’s such a cute name!” I exclaimed and bent forward to ruffle her hair. “I’m Ashley and he’s Ethan.”

She giggled and mumbled a ‘thank you.’

“What do you want to play?” Ethan asked, coming from behind me.

“Hide and go seek!” she said enthusiastically and clapped her hands.

I grinned at the little bubble of joy in front of me. “Alright. You’re it,” I agreed and pointed at Ethan.

“What? Why me?” he whined a little child.

I raised my eyebrows at him. “And I’m immature.”

A half smile appeared on his face and he sighed. “Okay. Go hide. I’m going to count till 10.”

I turned to Alice after Ethan had walked towards a tree away from us and said, “Okay, you go hide behind that bush and don’t move, okay? I’m going to hide behind that tree there.”

She nodded happily and followed my instructions. By the time, I had reached the tree trunk, Ethan was already on 7. I mentally counted till 10 and waited. A few minutes later, I heard a girly shriek and a laugh, I assumed that Ethan had caught Alice and he was probably looking for me now.

I peeked over the tree trunk to see if Ethan was nearby when I felt a hand on my wrist and a sudden jerk from behind me. I yelped as I got pinned against the tree with a hand cupping my mouth. I stared up to see Ethan’s smirking face with wide eyes, my chest rising and falling rapidly. He took a step towards me and whispered with a wink, “Found you.”

I placed the heels of my hands on his chest and pushed him away.

“He’s so good at this!” I heard Alice say followed by a cute little laugh.

“You are, too,” Ethan told her and reached forward to carry her and lift her up. She was laughing loudly while Ethan pretended to drop her. I felt a genuine smile on my face as I watched the two of them laughing. He was right. Kids are not that annoying, after all.

“Alice!” A lady’s voice exclaimed, hurrying towards us. “Where were you?

She sighed with relief as she approached us. “Thank you so much for looking after her!”

I assumed she was Alice’s mom and said, “It was no big deal, she’s an adorable girl.”

“We have to go now, sweetie,” she told Alice, who wrapped her tiny arms around Ethan’s neck and then gave him a peck on his cheek.

He laughed and handed her over to her mom. She reached forward and hugged me and kissed me, too. I grinned at her and ruffled her hair one last time before her mom thanked us once again and then walked away with a jumpy little Alice.

“She’s so cute,” I said as I saw her skip away.

“You are, too,” Ethan said, hugging me from behind, his hands locked around my waist and his face resting on my shoulder.

I turned my face and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. “Thank you for today.”

*

Ethan cut off the engine in front of my house. I could see the light to my mom’s room was on. She was probably packing. I heard Ethan sigh next to me.

“Do you want to come in?” I asked.

He thought about it for a moment before agreeing. I unlocked the front door and walked up straight to my room with Ethan right behind me. I didn’t bother letting my mom know I was home. I couldn’t care less.

“Wow,” Ethan breathed as I turned on the lights in my room. “It’s really happening. You’re really going.”

I followed his eyes and stared at the boxed sadly. “I am.”

“This sucks,” he stated.

I sighed and walked over to sit on my bay window, which felt uncomfortable without my pillows and soft toys. “I know.”

He sat down next to me, his gaze still on the numerous boxes on the floor.

“Ash?”

“Yes?” I asked, turning to look at him.

“Australian boys are not as hot as me, right?” he asked with a short chuckle.

Rather than giving his cocky comment a sarcastic reply, I chuckled with him and shook my head. “Not even close.”

He let out a puff of air and looked at the boxes again. “Good.”

After another moment’s silence, he said, “Ash?”

“Hmm?” I hummed in response.

“I won’t be coming to bid you farewell tomorrow morning,” he said.

Everyone had decided that they would be coming to my place in the morning to say goodbye and just meet me one last time.

“What? Why?” I inquired, completely turning to face him with my legs folded in front of me.

He inhaled. “I-I just-I can’t.”

“But why?” I asked softly.

“I’m not good with goodbyes. I don’t like them,” he explained. “I’m sorry but please don’t expect me to be there tomorrow.”

I wanted to say a lot. I wanted to argue, protest, convince him but I didn’t. “Okay.”

He looked at me with sad eyes. His eyes were searching my face for something but eventually, they gave up and rested on mine. I leaned forward and placed my hand on his cheek, stroking it. He cupped the back of my neck and leaned in to kiss me. I kissed him back and let my weight rest on him. He slowly rested his back against the wall, taking me with him. I pulled away and just let myself get captivated by his intense gaze. I was already missing the taste of his lips on mine.

I broke away from his stare and settled myself next to him, just like the night he had sneaked into my room for the first time. I could feel his cologne washing over onto my clothes and snuggled in closer to him.

“Ash?”

“Yeah?” I whispered.

I heard him suck in a deep breath before I heard the words I never thought I would from him. “I love you.”

I didn’t move, I didn’t breathe, and I didn’t say anything for a moment. I just let this moment find a place deep inside my brain and heart, where it would stay safe forever. No matter where I am.

“I love you, too.”

A/N - Just as promised, an entire chapter with Ethley. I was such an emotional wreck towards the end of this chapter. I can't believe this is about to get over soon. Okay, I'm not going to get senti. Not yet. :P

So, Ash and Ethan finally said I love you to each other! :D Please leave some comments, I really do love reading all of them. They're my motivation, along with votes!

I can't thank you guys enough for the support you guys have given me. <3