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They had been dating for about 5 months and they did absolutely everything together. It was weird for Lex to attach to someone so quickly, but she didn’t care. She really liked him and Hannah liked him too, which didn’t happen a lot. It was strange, this kid everyone was scared of would hold her while she cried and call her pet names sometimes. He’d take her out and hold her hand. Lex had dated around before but no ever really treated her that well. More than often it was a quick screw and then he’d ignore her for the rest of the month. She didn’t care too much about it though, it was nice to be taken out to dinner and treated well, even if it was just to get in her pants.
Ethan and her would stay together most of the time, he’d walk her to class, they’d smoke outside at lunch, he drove her and Hannah home everyday and if he wasn’t with Lex he was probably with Hannah. He would watch her while Lex was at work. They acted like an old married couple at 17.
Sometimes he would employ her to skip the rest of the day with him if she had a shitty class or just wasn’t feeling it. This time it was science, she didn’t even tell him what was wrong first, she just forged a note from her mom and dragged him out to the car.
When they got in the car she immediately started ranting about the teacher and she continued until he pulled over. “He’s such an asshole, like why does he hate me? I get that I'm not a godsend of a student, but damn! Wait- why’re we stopped?”
“I think I’m in love with you.” Ethan paused to look at her reaction. Her face was blank, a light blush dusting her cheeks as she muttered, ‘oh’. He scratched at his chin, “I don’t need you to say it back or anything. I just wanted you to know where I’m at with this right now. Sorry, that was kinda weird. You can keep going.”
Lex’s lips were parted and her eyes were wide, looking anywhere but Ethan. She wiped a stray tear away, she hoped that it was just from her staring at a road sign for too long. “I-uh. I forgot where I was,” She wasn’t sure if she had heard the word love from anyone but Hannah before and Hannah was her entire world. Could she handle another person like that? She knew she really cared about Ethan, but was that love. She knew what love was, it was just how it felt that she wasn’t quite sure about.
He smiled, looking back at the road as he turned back onto it, “How Mr. Samuels is a weasel faced dickwad.”
Lex smiled, it felt nice that she knew he was listening,
“Oh. Yeah, thanks. He just totally flipped out on me out of nowhere…”
When she got ready for bed with Hannah that night she started, “Ethan said he thinks he loves me today,” Hannah looked up at her smiling. “I didn’t say anything,”
“Why?” The extent of what Hannah knew about love was from the movies Lex would find at yard sales. They’d always end with a romantic confession and a kiss. She figured that they’d already kissed, so the confession would come soon enough.
Lex blinked, “I- um. I don’t really know,” She flopped back on to the bed, “Do I?”
Hannah moved to lie down in the bed next to Lex, “Ethans nice, why wouldn’t you?”
The older sister laid there thinking for a minute. Why the fuck was 7 year old sister smarter than her. All she did was ask a question but, still. Hannah made it seem so easy, which it should’ve been. She shut off the lamp in their room, “Good night, Banana. Love you.” Hannah kissed her cheek and said the same. Lex didn’t sleep much that night.
It was 3 days later when they were sitting on a bench together for lunch, she turned to him. He had been complaining about his cousin when she interrupted, “I love you too.”
Ethan choked on the sandwich he was eating, “What?” He wasn’t sure if he heard her correctly. Lex flushed, shrugging him off and waving her hand for him to continue. “No, what’d you say, babe?” He wiggled his eyebrows teasingly and poked at her sides which made her laugh.
Lex huffed and quietly admitted, “I said I think I love you too,”
“That’s pretty cool, huh?”
“Yeah. It’s really cool,” Ethan then pulled her into a kiss that lasted until the bell rang from inside. She wasn’t sure if she had ever smiled that much in a school day before.
Lex was drawing in her math notebook when she felt Deb elbow her in the side, “Why’re you all smiley? It’s weird,” When Lex didn’t answer Deb continued prodding, “Holy shit, was it Ethan? Did he like propose or something?”
“No, he didn’t propose, dumbass. Shut up, I’m trying to pay attention,” Her cheeks turned the lightest shade of pink as she looked down and continued drawing.
Deb over dramatically cackled, a little bit too loud, “That’s a good one, Lex. Now spill. Alice just texted me and said Ethan’s acting weird too so I know something happened.”
Lex smiled. It was cute that he wasn't as cool as he played off. It made her feel a little better for being so flustered. “I just said something and he said it back. It’s nothing big,” Deb continued to ask questions, but Lex ignored them, happily doodling.
She ripped that page out of her notebook and put it in her shoebox. She decided that when they started dating she was gonna keep a box of their relationship, just like she did with Hannah. Hannah’s box had any art that she did, notes from her teachers, anything that Lex thought she might want to see when she’s older. Meanwhile Ethan’s box had any notes he wrote her, movie tickets from their dates and now a notebook page framed with hearts with a letter titled ‘why i love him’. Sure, it was cheesy, but she felt like she got to be cheesy every once in a while. It was only fair that she got to let her guard down sometimes.