Enamour [boyxboy]

Chapter 46 - "I Will Always Think You're A Cute Twink."

Chapter 46

"I Will Always Think You're A Cute Twink."

•Ethan's POV•

Even though Zoe and I got home in time to get to school only two hours late, we both decided that the time would be better spent tending to her garden and watching movies – after she convinced me we would be almost three hours late once we were dressed, packed, and ready to go.

So, we did exactly that with the day.

Zoe and I spent an hour tending to her garden – pulling out weeds, refreshing some of the soil, trimming a few small bushes and flowers, watering them. Zoe's knowledge of plants and gardening exceeded my own – I often had to remind myself that she was only five years old.

Then we had lunch. We decided to spoil ourselves a bit. Instead of eating the two-minute noodles in the cupboard, we chose to order pizza, and have it delivered, with garlic bread, of course.

Obviously, we watched a Disney movie while we ate, then we had to watch another one just because Zoe insisted, but I didn't protest.

However, during the entire second movie, I had hardly paid any attention. Now that we were back in this town, my mind was riddled with what I had to do – and how to handle it.

I was ready to talk to Jake – to call him, tell him to come over so we can finally talk this out, see where we stand with each other at the end of it all. But before I could talk to Jake, I had one thing to do first.

So, when the movie finished, I asked Zoe if she wanted to go get ice-cream to really make it a good day.

"How about we get some ice-cream now?" I ask Zoe.

She grins back at me. "That sounds perfect!"

She jumps up from the lounge after turning the television off, heading straight for the car. By the time I've grabbed my keys, phone, and wallet, she was already buckled in the front seat.

The whole way to the diner, Zoe loudly contemplates what flavor she'll get, or if she'll get two different ones, or if she'll get a cup instead of a cone. But there's only one thing on my mind – talking to Tyler.

I wasn't nervous about talking to Tyler – I was nervous about what came after it.

"Look!" Tyler says excitedly as Zoe and I enter the diner. "It's my favorite princess and twink." Zoe grins, and Tyler winks at me as I roll my eyes. But I couldn't help the smile that formed on my face.

"What can I get for you two lovely faces?" Tyler always manages to have a huge smile on his face, even if he does have a split lip, a black eye, and a bruised cheek. Though he does grimace every time that smile stretches a little too far. I send him a sympathetic look, but he brushes it off.

Zoe looks at the display of ice-cream before proudly announcing that she'll have a "double-scoop of rainbow and mint choc-chip in a waffle cone, please."

"Well, only since you asked so nicely," Tyler says, smiling at Zoe as he gets her ice-cream and hands it over to her.

"You go save me a seat while I get mine?" I ask Zoe. She just nods as she makes her way to a booth.

"How about you, Ethan? Fancy some rainbow ice-cream?" But by the way he smiles at me, he knows I'm not just here for the ice-cream – but we both know the ice-cream is definitely a huge part of it.

"I think I'm going to have to pass on the rainbow and go with a double scoop of honeycomb and caramel instead," I say.

"With a waffle cone?"

"Is there any other way to even eat ice-cream?"

He grins at me. "Waffle cone it is."

We fall into silence while he gets the ice-cream together, and I mentally push myself to just speak up.

"Hey, Tyler?" I say.

"Yes, Ethan?" He eyes me cautiously while still scooping the ice-cream onto my waffle cone.

"Do you reckon we could talk?"

He 'hmm's for a moment while looking around the diner. It's not too busy at all.

"Sure, give me ten minutes and I'll come sit down in your booth?"

"Perfect, thank you," I say, taking my ice-cream for him and walking to the booth Zoe saved for us.

Zoe's already half way through her ice-cream, with rainbow and mint smeared all around her mouth.

We sit in comfortable silence as I look at the window while licking my ice-cream, all the while Zoe is intently watching her ice-cream, licking it strategically so not too much of it drips.

I catch up to Zoe pretty quickly. She's just finishing her cone and wiping her mouth with a napkin as I'm halfway through mine. I'm taking the last bite of mine as Tyler makes his way over to our booth.

"Hey, Zoe, how about you go sit in the car and play some Taylor Swift? I'll be there in a few minutes."

Zoe nods and takes my phone off of the table, making her way out of the diner.

Tyler sits where Zoe was sitting.

I speak up first. "I'm sorry you got kicked off the football team."

Tyler shrugs it off. "It's fine, really. It was something my father forced me into, it was never really something I wanted for myself." He pauses, and we fall into silence for a moment. "I'm sorry I got Jake into so much trouble, I shouldn't have let him get to me so easily."

I shake my head at him. "You know that wasn't your fault, you know he was just a bomb waiting to explode."

"I know ... but ... I feel like there was more that I could've done to prevent that – or not done."

"You can't blame us almost hooking up for the reason why Jake fought you."

"It does make me a pretty easy target, hooking up with his boyfriend," he says.

"You weren't the only one a part of that, though. He should've been angry at me if anything."

Tyler says, "you know he could never physically harm you." He's right. Jake would never do anything to hurt me – not intentionally, at least. "I don't know, I just feel bad about the whole situation. After what Jake said, I feel like I did take advantage of me, like I should've know better."

"Tyler," I say sternly. "You are hardly to blame here. What happened between us was more my fault for drinking so much while I was clearly hurting. You weren't taking advantage of me ... I was taking advantage of myself."

Tyler sighs. "I still feel horrible about the whole thing." He pauses. "I want you to know that, Ethan. I'm sorry. I don't regret what happened between us, but I regret how it happened."

I don't know what to say to that, so I just nod a few times.

Tyler stands up. "I should get back to work." I nod again, standing up as well. "Are we all good, Ethan? No awkwardness?"

I smile at him. "We're all good." He smiles back at me.

I follow him along the counter. I'm only just opening the door when Tyler is back behind the counter.

"For what it's worth," Tyler says. I turn around to him, still holding the door open for myself. "I will always think you're a cute twink, Ethan." Then he winks at me while grinning.

"I would never expect any less from you," I say loudly as I walk out of the diner and let the door shut behind me.

I can hear Tyler's chuckle through the doors as I walk to my car.