Three Reasons (E.D.)
Author’s Note: yayayaya another Ethan imagine! I have a lot of ideas for writing so be on the lookout for more!!
REQUEST! (LIMITED)
Requested: No
Word Count: 3.9k
Warnings: Cursing
Prompt: You and Ethan had been English partners all year, yet forgot about one of the biggest projects until last minute. Deciding to pull an all-nighter to finish it, the project brought out the similar beliefs you two had, and similar reasons for one particular thing.
You stopped dead in your tracks. You were making your way around your house as you were talking to your friend. Your friend had just called you to ask a simple question about what you were wearing to school tomorrow. As per usual, your topic of conversation drifted to many subjects, until it came to the one you completely forgot about.
“What?” you asked, unsure if you had heard her correctly. Chances are you did, and you just didn’t want to come to terms with what you just heard.
“Uh, you know, that project Mr. Alcalde gave us last week? About your own thoughts and beliefs of the universe?” your friend told you, asking in a way to see if you remembered. Of course you remembered the project, you just hadn’t remembered to do it.
“The project!” you cried out. You completely forgot about it.
“Did your partner do any? Wasn’t your partner Ethan?” your friend asked you.
Ethan sat next to you in English, so you had been partners for over half the school year now. You had grown a liking to Ethan, maybe more so than a friend. But your cute little thoughts about him were so unrealistic. It wasn’t like you were a complete loser in the school. You were on the soccer team, and many people knew you because of how you were such an excellent soccer player. However, you weren’t at the top most list of popularity. Unlike others, you actually showed respect for those who were considered “below” you. The whole popularity idea was stupid to you, which came into terms as to why your best friend Kait (who was on the phone with you now) was one of the “normals” in the school.
However, Ethan took a liking towards the girls he was always around, which were the more popular girls. It made sense if you thought about it. Him and his twin brother were undoubtedly the most attractive boys at your school, and them playing sports boosted them even further. To put it short, you were ‘out of his league.’
Did you really care though? No. Boys weren’t your main concern, and everyone who knew you had known that. You were so focused on getting scholarships for college in soccer and academics, that boys couldn’t catch up. But you had to focus on this one boy. He was different.
“Yeah, but he probably forgot too. I mean we talked on Friday about sports, the project didn’t even come up. Oh shit what do I do?” you asked Kait.
“I mean, you could miss a day of school tomorrow can’t you?” Kait asked. You shook your head, although she couldn’t see you.
“Oh no no no no no. I have soccer training after school, and coach won’t let me train if I’m not in school. Plus I studied this whole weekend for the stupid physics exam, so there’s no way I’m not taking that.” You were truly stumped. You had no clue what to do.
“Ok well, call Ethan and tell him you guys have to do the project and meet up somewhere.”
You glanced at the clock which displayed 9:58 and groaned. “It’s almost 10! It took you 4 hours to finish it and you’re the smartest person in our class!”
“Well I was working with the dumbest person who had no creativity whatsoever. That’s why it took so long. But you and Ethan won’t take that long, just call him,” your best friend pushed.
“Ugh ok, I’ll talk to you later hopefully,” You hung up the phone and plopped face forward on the couch, your mom coming in a few seconds later.
“What’s wrong? I heard you groan from the bathroom.” she asked. You picked your head up and fixed your body so you were sitting with your legs pushed up against your chest.
“I completely forgot I had an English project due tomorrow and I have to do it with my partner but it’s 10 o’clock at night. And I know you’re going to say how I should be more responsible but I’ve been so focused on soccer and physics that the English project didn’t cross my mind.”
She sat quietly for a minute before speaking.
“I wasn’t going to say that. But why don’t you just stay home?” she asked. You shook your head and explained this for the second time.
“Because Coach Manning wouldn’t let me train, and I have my physics test tomorrow.”
She looked away for a second, defeated, before giving you another answer.
“So tell your partner to come here and you guys can finish the project.” She thought this was the perfect idea, but you sighed. She probably thought your partner was a girl, not a guy. You knew she would change your mind once you told her it was a guy.
“Mom, my partner is a guy. His name is Ethan Dolan.” you explained.
“Oh.” was all she said. You knew it, and your face went in your hands, frustrated as you wanted to cry.
“He can still come over.” she spoke. You whipped your head up and gave her a questioning look.
“I’ve been your mother all throughout your high school experience. And I know that you don’t care about boys the way other girls would if they were in your position. I don’t want you to not get a good grade on this. You can go in the basement with him so you don’t wake up your father and I. Plus, I met Ethan before, very sweet boy.”
You remembered what she was talking about. It was your senior night for soccer, and the whole school came. You remember distinctly telling Ethan in English that if he didn’t go, you wouldn’t be his English partner anymore. He was cheering for you the loudest that whole night, and sat next to your parents, starting a conversation with them. After that night, your parents asked you at every dinner about Ethan. They loved him and only met him once.
You got up and hugged your mother, thanking her 12 times.
“You’re welcome, just make sure the basement isn’t a mess afterwards. I’m going up to bed now anyways.” You wished her good night before clicking on Ethan’s contact and calling him. With every ring the butterflies in your stomach increased. He picked up after the fourth one.
“Y/N! We forgot about the English project!” he said right away. So he did remember, at least last minute. So did you.
“Yeah I know. We have to do it now.”
“Now?” he questioned. “It’s 10:15 at night!”
“And you can’t miss school tomorrow because of lacrosse, and I can’t miss school because of soccer.”
“Fuck, what are we going to do?”he asked.
“Just come over my house. We’ll pull an all-nighter and get this stupid project done.”
“Ok. Wait are your parents home?” he asked.
“Um, yeah. But they’re sleeping.” You wondered why he wanted to know that.
“Damn, I wanted to say hi.” You laughed and he told you he’d be over soon.
Sending him your address, you got your school bag and supplies and brought it downstairs to your basement, along with your laptop, a poster board, blankets, pillows, and few snacks and drinks. Going back up the stairs you looked in the reflection of your cabinets as to what you were wearing. It was a black t-shirt that you won at a soccer tournament and grey sweatpants. Both of them were at least 2 sizes too big on you. At first you wondered of you should change, but you disregarded the thought as you collapsed on your couch.
Quickly texting Kait what was happening, she answered with all sorts of questions, especially what time you planned on going to bed since it was already 11.
Ethan had then texted you he was here. You wondered why he didn’t ring the doorbell, but then remembered you had told him your parents were sleeping. Such a sweetheart.
You opened the door and came face to face with Ethan. He saw his English partner with her hair tied in a messy bun, parts of her hair falling out. She was wearing glasses and wasn’t wearing any makeup while wearing clothes that made her look like a marshmallow. She looked so adorable and innocent.
Ethan’s hair was somewhat disheveled and although it made him look hotter, you were one to talk. He was wearing a black t-shirt and grey sweatpants as well, however his clothes fit him. He had his bag and laptop in his hands.
“Why does this always happen?” you asked. He laughed softly, still afraid of waking up your parents. You were referring to the fact that you and Ethan always seemed to match, even if it wasn’t planned.
“You just want to be me,” he teased, and he walked into your house. You locked the door and lead him down the stairs to your basement.
“I actually want to be good at sports,” you joked right back at him. He shot you a look and you giggled, taking a seat on loveseat while Ethan opted for the couch to stretch out his long legs. His black North Face bag went on the floor and he got his notes from English class out, as did you.
“What is this stupid project even on?” Ethan asked, and you shook your head.
“Kait told me it was about our own thoughts and beliefs on the universe. She sent me a picture of her project..” you trailed off, looking through your emails on your laptop to find it.
Ethan looked rather confused, and you weren’t sure on what.
“You know the universe? Like Earth, and the different planets-”
“I know what the universe is. Who um, who is Kait?” he asked. You smiled and shook your head softly. Of course he wouldn’t know who Kait is.
“Kait Romano. She’s in our English class. She sits in the front.” you said, hopefully helping him remember who she is. His mouth opened, but then closed it rather quickly. You frowned.
“Say it,” you bugged him.
“I know who she is. I just, I was thinking of a different Kait.”
“Kait Green?” He nodded and you practically vomited.
“What? I thought you guys knew each other?” he asked, defending himself.
Kait Green was one of the people you would never have respect for, and you respected almost everyone. She always tried to make it known that she was the ‘hottest’ girl in the school, and was absolutely horrid to anyone that got in her way, especially with boys. So when one day she accused you of trying to steal the boy she was talking to that week, she tried to make up a rumor that you had sex with the captains of the football team, in a week. Those captains included the twins. Right away everyone knew the rumors were false, mostly because the other 3 captains were complete assholes and you didn’t like them whatsoever. Then when you had the perfect chance, you kicked a soccer ball right at the back of her head in gym. She still doesn’t know it was you, but she was certainly embarrassed.
“You really don’t know me. I have to say I’m offended.” you joked. He laughed, but continued on with his question.
“Wait, so why are you friends with Kait Romano?” he asked. You shrugged as your eyes met, but you quickly turned yours back to the laptop.
“She’s a good person. And really funny. You just wouldn’t know since she isn’t as ‘cool’ as us,” you started, finger quoting cool. “The whole who’s popular and who’s not thing is such a joke to be honest. Like why does it matter? Are you putting on your transcript to college ‘everyone knew who I was’?” Ethan laughed again, and you just shook your head.
“I get it though,” he said, opening his laptop. “We’re all humans. I mean technically we’re all animals. So the whole popularity thing means nothing. If you think about it, money means nothing. Clothes mean nothing. It all means nothing. We’re all animals, except humans are a little more advanced.”
You looked at him and grabbed a notebook out of your bag, flipping to a new page and started writing what he said down.
“This is a good start. We can bounce off of this,” you said, and he nodded.
“So, what do you think about space?” he asked you, and you took a deep breath before giving it your all.
The clock flashed 1:59. You and Ethan has been bouncing off every idea possible about earth, space, planets, life. Everything.
You were on topic at first. You talked about how you knew for a fact there had to be life somewhere else. You talked about how big the galaxy really is, and how it another galaxy, there was probably a life similar to you. It just wasn’t known because of how far away we were.
Ethan rebutted off of this talking about the government. He said how aliens were a thing, and the government tried to hide it so much to the point that they made us believe aliens had to be these green-headed, multiple eyes blob, when really they could be a person passing the street. He also believed in opposite universes, and how we had a bad day because our opposite universe needed to have a good one, and visa versa.
Your ideas went off topic however. Similar to you and Kait, you and Ethan talked about too many different things to keep track of. First you talked about dinosaurs, then religion, then technology, and finally made your way to love.
“Do you believe in love?” he asked you. You two had gotten closer and went on the floor, blankets underneath you had your finished project drying up on the poster board. The ideas came easily to you two, but planning it and figuring out how to convey it was the hard part. It took you almost 3 hours to finish that alone. But you were finally done with the project.
“Yes. I think you know it it’s love though. You feel a certain way that’s different from the other. Love is so much different than infatuation.”
He was quiet for a second before speaking again. “Do you believe in love at first sight.”
You thought for a second. Your mind instantly went to the day you first saw Ethan. Strangely, you hadn’t seen him until this year in English. It was definitely weird, considering many of the athletes always saw each other, especially the more popular ones. Then again, there were way over 200 athletes at your school.
You were relatively the last one to your English class, since your class was on the third floor and you came from the basement. To this day you were late almost every day, but your teacher knew you tried to make it up here as quick as possible.
Ethan has spotted you as soon as you came into the classroom. You were wearing something extremely simple, jeans with a t-shirt. Ethan has the same approach as you, which started off the matching of outfits. He couldn’t help but stare at you, and was in complete disbelief when you started walking over to him. It took him a second to realize that your teacher had seats assigned and you two would have your seats next to you for your entire year. He had never felt the way he felt when he looked at you. Sure he had his fair share of girls that threw themselves at him, but you were different. You couldn’t care less if you looked good for him, and he knew you were the one. That was the first reason he knew.
He knew even later when he spoke to your parents at your senior night. They had your last name on the back of their shirts, so Ethan had purposely sat next to them knowing they were your parents, despite the looks that his teammates gave him. Ethan cheered for you so loud, mainly wanting you to hear him. You did and looked over to smile at him, but he was talking to your parents.. Him and your parents talked and cheered about and for you throughout the whole game. Ethan had given you a hug after your game, and although it was one of the sweatiest hugs he’s ever gotten, it was his first one with you, and he suddenly had butterflies.That was the second reason he knew.
And he really knew 3 weeks ago, when his mom ran into you at her hair salon. You and her talked briefly, since you just ran in to make an appointment, but when Lisa brought you up to Ethan, she noticed the goofy smile that crept onto his face.
“Mom, I’ve never felt this way about anyone. My heart feels like its swelling and about to burst every time I’m around her.” Ethan only ever told his mom about his feelings for you, because she was the only person that would give him what he needed to hear.
“Sweetie, you’re in love with her.” Ethan groaned, not wanting to hear it. He never hung out with you alone once, and the only conversation you guys really had was during third period English. So how the hell could he be in love with you?
“She doesn’t even like me back,” he cried.
“Did she tell you that?” Lisa asked him.
“Well no, but she always talks about how she’d rather be focused on soccer and school than a stupid boy.” Ethan was starting to tear up. He wasn’t with you, yet felt heartbroken. That was the third reason he knew.
“Sometimes girls say things to cover up how they’re actually feeling.” Lisa said. And boy, oh boy, did she describe it perfectly.
You remember when your feelings started to grow for him.
The first was the first day of school. Your teacher had already given out seating charts based on averages from last year. You frowned, knowing you weren’t going to be with Kait since you and her had the highest two averages in the class. Instead Mr. Alcalde called your name with Ethan Dolan. You turned around to see him looking at you already. He wore a similar outfit to you and you laughed to yourself, thinking “it must be the athlete in us.” He was single doubtedly the most attractive guy you were ever faced with. You had always told yourself how boys were so stupid, and not to let them near you because they’re a waste of time. And granted 99% of the boys you came into contact with proved it, but Ethan was so different. That was the first reason.
So throughout the year you had to play it off. You talked and ranted to Ethan countless amount of times about the stupidity and ignorance of guys. You talked about how high school, to you at least, was for preparing for college. Maybe it was to tell Ethan that, but deep down inside you had to say those things to practically remind yourself. Because you would walk into English, see Ethan, and his bright eyes light up, and his lips curve into a smile, and those reminders faded away. You saw someone who made you feel different, even if it was for only 40 minutes. He made you feel special, like you were the only one he wanted, even if that wasn’t what you thought was true. That was the second reason.
And you really knew 3 weeks ago as well, when you were talking to your mom. She talked about how she met a really nice boy named Ethan at your senior night, and involuntarily you cheesily smiled.
“You know you can tell me anything, right?” your mom asked you. You looked at her like she was crazy, and she shook her head.
“Sweetie, I see it in your eyes. And I know you want to just focus on soccer and school but-” You cut her off with a groan.
“Mom, I don’t like Ethan. How many times do I have to say it?”
“Well you don’t like him, you love him so I’m glad you admitted that,” she teased and you rolled your eyes. “And secondly honey I don’t understand why you don’t talk to him more?” she questioned. You shook your head and looked away, tears forming but you forced them back.
“Because mom, he doesn’t like people like me. He goes for girls like Rebecca Silverman and Sydney Adams and fucking Kait Greens! Not me,” you cried. That was the third reason you knew. Your mom hugged you for a long time before letting go.
“Boys hide everything. You’ll know when he realizes.”
Did you believe in love at first sight? And the answer was so easy, you looked right into his eyes, the ones you melted for every third period. You knew it, and he knew it too. You had both realized it. And you were both aware.
“Yes. Since the first time I met you,” you said, letting out a breath you didn’t know you had been holding.
“Me too,” Ethan mumbled. And that was all that was said before warmth met your body and softness met your lips. It was like morphine and heroin. It was something you simply couldn’t get enough of. It was an addiction, to have your lips on his. And he felt the same way.
You had this bursting of your heart happen, the butterflies flew away. The one thing you wanted to happen most had finally happened.
Foreheads resting against each other, you stared at those captivating eyes again before he spoke.
“Be mine,” he said, almost pleading,
“Always.” He answered back with another kiss, and that was good enough for you.
The third period bell rang, and you hurried your way through all the students, yet you still heard the late bell ring as walked up the familiar hallway that lead you to your english class. The usual case of butterflies were still there, and even more present than before.
Ethan had left at around 3, and you barely slept, yet neither did he. You were so happy and giddy that sleep was the last thing on your mind. You got around 2 hours of sleep and that was good enough for you as you skipped up the stairs and into the kitchen, greeted by your mother.
She didn’t have the chance to say anything before you said something.
“He realized. And so did I.” She smiled and gave you a hug.
“I know. I went downstairs to check on you and you were smiling in your sleep.”
You walked into class and saw Ethan and the poster on his desk. You walked over and sat down, a kiss placed on your cheek.
“Good morning,” he said.
“We better get an A on this project,” you said, your hand reaching up to rub your eye. The lack of sleep was starting to catch up to you.
Ethan shrugged. “I already got the best thing possible.” You smiled as he placed a soft kiss on your lips, which missed the feeling.
“Woah woah woah, I called it first with you and Ethan, but how did this happen so quickly?” Kait asked as we were dismissed from third period and walked towards fourth.
You shrugged and looked over at her, smiling.
“I guess I had my three reasons.”
