Chapter 13: The next day

                                    

                                          
Ethan
                          
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I want to know love, I want to experience it__ both the marvel and the misery.
                          
I want the good morning texts, the long night talks, the secret smiles, the pointless arguments, the hot make-out sessions, the extreme public displays of affection, the laughter, the ugly fights and that feeling you get after those fights when you realize how stupid you were being because nothing is more important than the love you have for your significant other and how you'll do everything in the world to fix things.
                          
I want all those things plus more with Rhiannon but unfortunately she doesn't want them with me. She is still in love with Brandon and it sucks.
                          
I poked a hole in my little bubble and put myself out there and asked her out. Words can't explain how hard it was for me to utter the words to her. It seriously felt like I was having an out of body experience. Somehow I managed and I asked her out and she sat there and stared at me with a pained expression on her face.
                          
If only looks could kill.
                          
I kind of knew she would say no but the fact that she was rendered speechless made me feel like someone had gutted my insides and to make matters worse, Brandon showed up. I didn't know where he came from or how he found us but when I saw him standing behind us I was scared shitless.
                          
At that moment I swear every single solitary nerve in my body stopped functioning.
                          
He was staring at me angrily like he wanted to do something nefarious. At first I was confused by his motives then I realized that he was jealous. He was crazy jealous because he thought Rhiannon and I were on a date. I really didn't understand how he could be envious when he's the one who broke her heart and he'd already been hooking with other girls.
                          
So anyways I was an in awkward predicament. Rhiannon blew me off, Brandon showed up and she looked happy as hell to see him. It hits me that she was still in love with him and I decided to leave so they can be together. I asked for a box for the rest of my food, paid and careened out of the diner.
                          
I couldn't get out of there fast enough. I nearly tripped on my way out. I was furious and embarrassed. On my way home I called up the guys and told them everything. Aaron invited me over, I talked, he listened then we had a few beers.
                          
When I got home my parents inquired about my whereabouts, I said nothing and walked to my room. My mother followed me, got right in my face and asked why my breath smelled like alcohol. She didn't give me a chance to respond she just went on and on. You know the drill, it was a whole lot of blah blah blahs so I tuned her out until she stormed off.
                          
I couldn't sleep that night, I kept playing the scene in the diner over and over in my head. I should have taken a sleeping pill or something so I could just dowse off easily but instead I did the next worst thing. I tip-toed downstairs to the liquor cabinet and grabbed a bottle of something. I think it was scotch, it had that pungent peaty smell. My dad and his friends likes to sip on scotch when they play cards and talk about business. I didn't sip it like they did, I downed half the bottle in a matter of minutes.
                          
When I returned to my room my insides felt like they were on fire. I sat up at the edge of my bed for the rest of the night, sad, depressed and I cried like a sissy bitch. I woke up this morning and the room was spinning but I managed to get ready and snuck out the house before my parents could get a chance to embark on yet another episode of the Ethan Inquisition.
                          
So now I'm in school, in gym class with a mild hangover and Coach D. won't stop screaming. Every time he opens his mouth it feels like someone is bashing my head open with a sledgehammer plus it doesn't help that my workout partner, Colin Dawson won't shut his mouth about the latest episode of Vampire Diaries. I keep telling him that I don't watch the show but every time we're together he insists on catching me up.