Over the summer, Edd had taken the family to the countryside to spend time with his family when Ethan was turning 18, to get some fresh air, and let his hyper teen run around freely like a wild animal. A whole 3 months away from Neo London, and a three whole months away from his friends and-
Esmerelda.
When they had returned to the base two weeks before summer vacation ended, the Golds had been greeted by the other families, and after being gone so long, it felt amazing to see familiar faces again.
Maxx had nearly tackled Ethan into a hug when he saw him, Theo gave him a fist bump and Tobi elbowed him making a joke, “Dude, did you get taller? Again?'' Before going on the trip, Ethan had finally had his growth spurt and was now as tall as his father. Honestly, Ethan had been so wrapped up in enjoying seeing his friends, he hadn’t noticed Essie until he heard an “Ahem!”
Maybe he had been watching too many highschool romance movies with his aunt, because when he turned his attention to the half latina, it was like the world stopped turning, and the sun was focused on her, because she was absolutely glowing.
“Hey there ,Gold, I see your manner hasn't improved over the summer.” the young lady quipped with her usual soft scowl, she had her arms crossed while leaning on her hip, in her usual sassy pose, before waiting for his comeback. But for once, Ethan couldn’t think of anything to throw back, his mind just went blank for a hot minute.
So for a reason he couldn’t comprehend, he turned to his friends instead, smiled like he usually did and told them he was gonna go and rest after being stuck in a car for 3 hours. His friends were surprised by this, cause Ethan ALWAYS had energy, but told him “Talk to ya later than,” before he turned to go into the house, only to have Essie shout at him, “What the-!? You jackass, don't you ignore me! Hey!”
Ethan quickly shut the front door, and sped walked up to his room, to slam the door shut, so that he was finally alone. He didn’t know why he wanted to be alone, or maybe he didn’t want to see Essie…
No not quite….
He leaned against the door before sliding down as his legs slowly became like jelly, and his face started to heat up.
“I didn’t want her to see me like this…” he groaned softly as he buried his blushing face in his hands. Ethan had never felt like this, especially just from seeing Esmerlda. The teen wasn’t stupid, ofcourse he knew Essie was pretty, she had matured physically faster than other’s their age at the time, while Ethan himself was a late bloomer. So why did she suddenly look so insanely pretty just then?
No matter how much Ethan racked his brain, he couldn’t come up with an answer, all he knew is that his heart was throbbing, his face was red as hell, and he was surprised he was able to keep cool long enough to not turn to jelly infront of her.
The feeling didn’t fade, in fact for the past three days, he didn’t leave the house as he tried to properly process this new flood of emotions. He felt like he was on cloud 9, but at the same time his heart felt heavy, like it had filled with honey, and was near bursting.
It wasn’t until dinner time on the 3rd day, while his dad was out playing cards with the others, that his mother, Roxxi, said anything about it.
“Okay,” she said, putting down her tableware, “What’s up, kiddo?” his mom asked in a “Tell me why you've been avoiding the world, while sighing and poking at your food since we got home.” tone.
Ethan just let out another sigh and leaned back in his chair a bit before taking a drink of his vanilla cola, “Is this about Esmeralda?” only to do a spit-take right after. Through the coughing, he managed to sputter out a “Wh-What?” as his face turned red again. “Thought so,” Roxxi said smiling, “You started acting weird after seeing her.” Ethan looked down at his dinner again, “Wanna talk about it?”
“I-” he started but paused for a moment, “I dunno if you’d understand…” the large teen said in a slightly defeated tone, but Roxxi just smiled and tenderly tucked his bangs out of his face, and with an understanding smile said,”Try me.”
The teen took a deep breath to gather his thoughts and started.
“Mom have you… have you ever just suddenly…” he tried to find the words, “Been attracted to someone you’ve known a long time? Or felt so flustered over someone, you felt like your head was going to explode?” Roxxi smiled and nodded, “Yeah of course. I’m sure a lot of people have.” his mom said taking a drink of her Mr. Pibb. It had been a guy she had been in school with for awhile, but they didn't really talk until 9th grade, and suddenly liked him. There was more to the story, but it was probably a bad idea to go into detail.
Ethan let out a relieved sigh. “I don’t know why I’m feeling like this all of a sudden… Ive literally known her since we were toddlers…” he felt stupid for some reason, and it was messing with his head.
“There’s a saying “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
“Which means, a little time away can put things into perspective, and make something you didn’t notice before, more obvious with a fresh point of view.” Ethan listened, processing his mother's words as he thought back to Essie again. She was on his mind all the time now. Suddenly he couldn’t stop thinking about her, analysing all his memories of her, everything he already thought was cute about her suddenly becoming insanely cute it made his brain feel ready to short circuit.
“It was like that with your father,” Roxxi hummed softly, thinking back. Ethan looked up signalling to continue.
“We’ve told you about how we met when I was a barista, so I saw your father almost 3 times a week.” Ethan noticed her gently trace her wedding ring, a look of deep love and nostalgia glowing in her eyes, “But there was one time where I had to leave the area for a few weeks because my aunt had gotten into an accident.”
“During the time, I was so focused on family, I hadn’t thought once about my job or the regulars I got along with, but then when I returned-'' Roxxi paused, as her face dusted softly with a blush. “Your father had come into the shop, and the way his face lit up, it made me realize just how much I liked him…” she smiled and Ethan wondered if someday, Essie would react that way, thinking back on memories of him. “Believe it or not, but for awhile, when I would see your father, I would have to bite my tongue to keep calm, and if our hands touched when I was handing him his drink, I’d have to go into the back to take a minute to calm down…” she chuckled fondly, “My coworkers would always tease me about how flustered I would get when Edd wasn’t looking.”
Honestly, Roxxi had always seemed like the most confident, and self assured person Ethan had ever seen, he honestly wouldn’t have guessed there was ever a time where she wasn’t sure, or even got flustered over something. It was pretty comforting to know even someone like his mom could be like this.
Ethan flinched being brought out of his thoughts as his mother placed a hand on his and he looked up at her, “I know things must be a bit jumbled right now, and you're still young, so that's ok. Take your time and sort things out.” The teen smiled before getting up and kissing his mom’s cheek, “Thanks mom.”
Thinking back on it now, the way Essie acted around him, didn’t she often act flusteted around him too?
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