Should I hang my head low?

Should I bite my tongue?

Or should I march with every stranger

from Twitter to get shit done?

♡ ────── ♡ ────── ♡

"Ethan pull it out..." I say.

"No..." He says not moving.

"But I want some more..." I say not moving.

"Do it yourself..." He says.

I sigh and slowly get off the couch in the break room. I trudge towards his backpack and get a few more Starbursts. Then I go back to sitting on the couch and continue to watch an episode of The Office.

"I feel so lazy today..." He says.

"Same." I say. "I just want to go home..."

"I'm literally just going to nap when I get home." He says.

I laugh and say, "I'm probably gonna eat chips and watch tv. But at least I don't have to walk with Jade for trick or treating."

"My mom's taking Ellie." Ethan says.

"So no partying for you tonight?" I ask.

"No... I just got so many invites that I decided to decline all of them." Ethan says.

I laugh and say, "There's probably alcohol and drugs there anyway..."

"So true! I mean where do they even get drugs? I haven't seen any dealers in alleyways..." He says.

"You've checked?" I ask.

"Yep..." He says trying to hold in a laugh.

My alarm starts to go off and Ethan sighs. "We have to get back to work... Come on..." I say. He just pouts and stays put.

I grab both his hands and try to pull him up to his feet. "Geez you're so heavy." I say.

"Hey!" He says glaring at me.

I finally get him up to his feet and start pulling him out the break room. "This is good practice for me to drag your dead body."

He squeezes my hand and says, "Please don't murder me."

"Then do your damn job man." I say letting go of his hand. He laughs and we wait at the counter for customers.

"Do you want some fries?" Ethan asks as he starts the car.

"Um... sure?" I say laughing.

He starts to drive to the closest McDonald's and says, "I've been craving them all day."

"I always crave fries and chips. Oh and of course Starbursts. Not the orange or yellow shitty flavors though." I say.

He gives me a really look and then orders. "Hi can I get one order of large fries?"

After the girl takes his order he pulls up to the window and pays. Then he gets handed the bag of fries and hands it to me. "Do you want to watch another episode of The Office?" I ask.

"Sure!" He says parking the car. He takes a french fry from the bag while I load the next episode.

My alarm goes off and I sigh. But I'm so comfy right now!...

I get out of my bed and turn of the alarm on my phone. I head downstairs and make myself some cereal.

"Scarlett could you pick up Jade from school today? Both of you have half days today and your dad and I can't get off of work..." She says.

"Ya sure! Mrs. Cooper would love to see Jade again! They haven't seen each other in awhile." I respond.

"Thank you sweetie. I'll pick her up at 5:00 so you won't have to look after her for a long time. Now you better hurry up or else you'll be late." She says.

I quickly finish my cereal and head back upstairs. I brush my teeth and then change for school. Okay what should I do with my hair? I decide to leave it down and grab my backpack.

I run down the stairs and put on my shoes. I walk to the garage and get in my car since Ethan told me he can't pick me up today. He had to come in early to retake a test, and didn't think it was fair that I would have to wake up early too.

I park my car and then head towards the entrance. "Look what the cat dragged in..." Clarissa says giving me a disgusted look.

"Just because you have a dick doesn't mean you have to act like one." I say rolling my eyes.

I meet up with Ethan and head to class with him.

"Hey can you tell Mrs. Cooper I need to pick up Jade from school?" I ask Ethan.

"Ya sure!" He says. "Are you not working today?"

"Oh I am! I'm just bringing her with me for the day." I say shrugging.

"Okay see you Red!" He says walking into the parking lot.

"Bye." I say waving.

I get in my car and start to drive towards Jade's school. I follow the line of parents picking up their children and finally get to the pick up stop.

I roll down the window and yell, "Jade!"

She says bye to her friends and gets inside the car. "Hi!" She says buckling up.

"How was school?" I ask.

"Good! But I'm glad it's the weekend." She says.

"Mom told me she's picking you up at 5:00 so you won't be there for my whole shift. It would get really boring..." I say.

"Okay! I get to eat the stuff for free right?" She says smiling.

I laugh and say, "You should ask Mrs. Cooper that one."

I park the car and open the door for Jade. Then we walk inside the cafe and she says, "Hi Ethan!"

"What's up Jade?" He asks high-fiving her.

"Nothing much!" She says. She walks towards Mrs. Cooper's office so I go to the break room to put down my backpack.

I walk behind the counter and put on my apron. "Miss me?" I ask Ethan while he's using his phone.

"Not really. I actually liked the piece and quiet..." He says.

"Wow. That's just cold." I say placing my hand over my heart.

He laughs and hands me a few Starbursts. "Thank you!" I say popping one into my mouth. A few customers start to enter the cafe and we get to work.

I look over at Red and see she's serving a few customers. I feel myself smile and sigh. And embarrass myself? No thank you. She would just reject me and it would just be awkward. And she doesn't like me that way so...

Ya because I'm just going to ask her, "You like me? Cause I like you."

Jade is walking towards me so I quickly look away from Red and continue to clean the tables. "Hey Ethan." Jade says.

"Hi Jade!" I say.

"Do you have a crush on my sister?" She asks.

"Ya." I say without thinking. "Wait what did you ask?" I ask confused.

She smirks and says, "I knew it!"

"Shhhhh!" I say whispering. "Don't tell her I said that!" I beg her.

"I don't know... I feel like she should really know this information." She says thinking.

"I'll make you a hot chocolate right now as long you never tell Red this." I say.

"And it's even cute you gave her a nickname!" She says smiling. "Will you put extra whipped cream?" She asks.

"Of course." I say.

"Deal." She says shaking my hand. "She won't know a word of this conversation." She says pretending to lock her mouth and throw away the key.

I immediately go to the counter to make her hot chocolate after I wash my hands. I pour it into a cup and put a ton of whipped cream.

"Who is that for?" Red asks me.

"This is for Jade. She just asked me to make her some hot chocolate." I say casually.

"Oh okay." She says shrugging. I walk away but glance at Red one more time. She's putting her red hair into a cute bun and I try to hide my smile. Beautiful.

I hand Jade her hot chocolate and she says, "Thank you!"

"No problem." I say going back to cleaning the tables.

"And Ethan?" Jade asks.

"Ya?" I ask.

"You should tell her. I'm pretty sure she likes you too." Jade says.

"You sure sure?" I ask.

"Ya! Like 50% sure... 40... or like 30." She says.

"Thanks." I say sarcastically.

"No problem!" She says going back to her coloring book.

"Hey Ethan?" Red asks.

"Ya?" I say looking in her direction.

"Want to take our break now?" She asks.

"Sure." I say shrugging.

"Definitely 40% sure now." Jade says smirking.

"Shut up." I murmur while I follow her towards the break room.

😣

I pull up the first episode of season 5 of The Office and begin to eat my lunch. At the end of the episode I start to scream and run across the room.

Ethan smiles at me and says, "Calm down."

"Jim just fucking proposed to Pam!" I say jumping up and down. "This episode always makes me happy."

Ethan just laughs and continues to watch the rest of the episode. When the episode ends we head back out and continue with our shift.

A few hours later my mom gets here to pick up Jade. "Bye Mrs. Cooper!" Jade says hugging her.

"Bye sweetheart!" She says hugging her back.

She hands her a small bag filled with one blueberry muffin and Jade says, "Thank you so much!"

My mom walks in and hugs me. Then she says, "Hey Ethan."

"Hi Kara!" Ethan says.

"Come on Jade! I have ice cream that's gonna start melting." She says grabbing her hand.

"Ice cream!" She says jumping up and down.

"See you at home Scarlett!" Jade says. "Bye Ethan!" She says walking out of the cafe.

A few minutes later a customer comes in and orders a hot chocolate with extra whipped and a raspberry scone.

Ethan puts the raspberry scone in a paper bag while I make the hot chocolate. "Ethan can you hand me the thingy beside the thingy?"

"Here you go!" He says handing me the whipped cream. Ya for a second I had no idea what you called it...

Mrs. Cooper walks out of her office a few hours later and says, "You guys can leave early! Good work today guys!"

"Thank you!" Ethan and I say at the same time.

Ethan and I grab our backpacks together and head out the door when Ethan says, "Oh I forgot to close the register."

He goes back and tries to close it. "Is everything okay?" I ask about to exit the cafe.

"Um yeah... The register is just a little jammed. You can go ahead though!" He says trying to fix the jam.

"No it's okay! I usually can fix these jams." I say putting down my backpack.

I walk behind the counter and Ethan gives me a little space to fix the jam. I feel his presence right behind me and my breathing hitches.

I start to fix the bills and hit the side. Then I slam the register shut. "Yay it's fixed!" I say turning around. I freeze when I realize we're only a few inches apart. Ethan bites his lip and I see him glance at my lips.

Wait what? It feels like someone else is controlling my body when I tippy toe and kiss him. I begin to pull away when he wraps his arms around my waist, and smiles against my lips

A few seconds later we pull apart and just grin at each other. He kissed back!

"Um I'm gonna... uh go." I say bolting out the cafe with my backpack.

I quickly get into my car and start to drive home. My lips are still tingling from the kiss... So like that was weird...

I park inside the garage and sigh. I sit there in silence for a few seconds and then scream. "I fucking kissed him!" I whisper to myself.

Once I know my face doesn't look like a tomato I walk inside and see Jade making cookies. "Hey Scarlett! Can you help me make some cookies?" She asks.

"Ya sure!" I say putting down my backpack. After I wash my hands I ask, "Did you set the oven to preheat?"

"560 degrees right?" She asks punching in some numbers.

"No! You could burn the house down with that I'm pretty sure. It's only 350 degrees." I say.

"Oops..." She says undoing the timer. "That would have been bad" She says.

"So where's mom and dad?" I ask.

"They're upstairs watching a movie. They told me not to preheat the oven without you but you came home so I did it..." She says finishing the last bits of the batter.

"Glad I was here for that." I say laughing.

12 minutes later the timer goes off and I ask Jade to open the oven. I put on some mitts and take out the pans. We let the cookies cool and then start to place them in a container.

After we eat dinner we each get a cookie and a glass of milk. "What movie do you want to watch?" I ask Jade.

"Princess and the Frog!" She says. We put in the cd and start to eat our dessert.

After the movie ends Jade decides to go to her room and sleep. I wash the dishes and then go to my bathroom to take a shower.

I change into some pajamas and lie down in bed. Those cookies were good!

Oh my god stop! I feel myself smile and I can't stop. It felt like a kiss... Surprisingly ya... And the way he pulled me closer! I honestly thought he wouldn't kiss back. Maybe even push me away.

Oh god. What if it was a pity kiss? What if he doesn't actually like me? He just didn't want to be mean and say, "I don't like you like that..."

I have to see him again on Monday! That's going to be so awkward! I have to avoid him. At least this way he can't reject me to my face. He hates me... He never liked me and now he doesn't want to be friends.

Great! You don't know that! You're not helping.

I decide to use my phone to distract me until I get a text.

Definitely getting rejected.

Shit! I forgot I have my read receipts on. I quickly shut my phone off and put it on my side table. I exhale slowly and decide to go to sleep.

😅

⭐️

👋