“It’s finally time”, Ethan thinks to himself, “you can leave now,it’s almost 10:00… get a redbull on the way mate”, Ethan looks in the mirror, “fuck man, you’re eyes are red, she’s so gonna know you were up all night because you were excited to see her…or maybe she’ll think you smoked some crack, I wonder which ones better”

Already dressed and standing at his door, Ethan sees the clock strike 9:50 and escapes, he jogs down the stairs and out onto the street, he casually strolls through the city towards his school gates. He sees the hoodie, he sees the dirty converse, she's sat on a bench staring off into the distance, her feet swinging, her left hand nervously scratching her right arm. Ethan stops walking and smiles. “Why you smiling you massive tit”, he thinks to himself, “nah nah by all means stand there staring like a fucking danger, like some sort of psycho. Well you done breathing it in? How peaceful she looks? Just before you ruin it, just before you walk on over and make her freak out, make her make all those noises, make her hurt herself, ya she's pretty cute from out here isn't she? This perfect image of her and you’re afraid to ruin it”. Ethan takes a deep inhale, then a deep exhale and approaches Trudy

“Hey Trudy", he says casually. She looks up, her expression soft, a slight gasp exits her mouth as she smiles at Ethan. “Guts!” she exclaims excitedly before her expression turns concerned, “are you ok? You look tired”. Ethan starts to sweat, his breathing shallows, alarms are going off again,Trudy simply asks “bad night?”Ethan can't speak, why? Why can't he speak, “say something you prick”, he thinks to himself, “anything”. “Come on”, Trudy says mindfully, "I've got a lot to show you”. Trudy stands up and starts walking, Ethan follows on shaky feet. “He doesn't want to be here does he?”, she thinks to herself as her knees start to weaken, her tongue starts to click against the roof of her mouth aggressively, “he showed up out of pity didn't he? He doesn't want to be here. He feels sorry for me, this poor boy, that's also why he showed up to Miss Jackson yesterday morning isn't it? His eyes are fucking red, why? Has he taken something? Is that why he’s so shaky?”.They keep walking, neither saying a single word to the other, minutes pass, ten of them, they reach the gates of the local zoo, it's quiet inside there, peaceful. Trudy hands the man at the entrance a handful of coins, then hands him a black rectangular card, he scans the card and opens the gate for the pair. Ethan follows her down the dirt path of the zoo, empty except for a few families, he watches her seamlessly navigate the zoo, walking past each habitat without so much as looking in their directions, they reach a crossroads, one path going left and one going right, but she does neither, she walks straight forward, her movements captivate Ethan. He follows her through trees and bushes until they reach a little cabin, “watch your step, these guys are small” she says before opening the door, she holds it open as Ethan enters, there is another door in front of them that doesn't open until the first one closes, as Trudy opens the second door Ethan's eyes widen as he sees a timber floor dotted with random scatterings of hay, climbing platforms, pvc pipes and he swears he saw a small rat running into a bush. He sees Trudy sit on the ground against the wall and he joins her, then an animal runs up to her, it’s small, furry and has beady little eyes, it hops onto Trudy's lap and nuzzles into her stomach before settling into it. “Chinchillas” she says softly, “this is my favourite part of the city, I love these guys, they’re quiet, they're soft”. She exhales, emitting not only carbon dioxide but also a ball of stress, Ethan notices her peaceful demeanor, how calm she is, how quiet she is, he sees another chinchilla hop from a climbing platform to settle next to her, another one crawls through a pipe and runs towards Trudy with a little pikachu chew toy, "sometimes I bring them new chew toys, I don't want them fighting over the ones they have, they always try to give them back to me whenever I come around”, she gently strokes the chinchilla on her lap, tenderly, Ethan blushes, a new chinchilla comes over and sniffs his hand, then nuzzles into his leg. 

The pair sit in silence, the chinchilla remaining on Trudy's lap, twitching slightly but otherwise not moving, kind of like Trudy. “I like these lot”, Ethan says nervously,his hand gently brushing across the chinchillas soft fur, "they're quiet, they… make me feel quiet too in a way, they make me feel calmer, even touching them…I can see why you like it here”. With a lit-up face she responds, “yeah it is really peaceful here, workers only come by once a day as well and there's rarely visitors”. Ethan looks down, “you’ve stopped all those noises you usually make”, “I guess I have” she responds, “It’s probably because I know nothing in here can hurt me”. Ethan smiles, "I can't wait to see all the other cool places you’re going to show me in the city”, “oh” she responds “there’s really only…one other place I go to around here…let me know when you're hungry and we can go there”. The brief pause in silence ends, time passes by, the pair remain, gently petting the chinchillas as they settle into both of their laps, after about twenty minutes Trudy taps Ethan on the shoulder. “C’mon lets go” she says, with a sideways nod.

They exit the same way they enter, "I would've stayed if you wanted me to”, Ethan says defensively, “I never even asked to leave”. Trudy giggles, “but I could tell you were hungry idiot”, they keep walking towards the exit, “how?” Ethan asks, “because I would bet money that you haven't eaten since that sandwich I gave you yesterday” she says, “nah” he responds, “I’ve eaten since then”, “when?” she responds playfully, “ummmm” he says, Trudy starts laughing, “knew it”

They come to ‘Murphy's quick pick’, as they enter the shop the person behind the counter watches them with widened eyes, once they're out of earshot she calls out to the back in a conspiratorially quiet shout, “Mary” she says “Mary Trudy’s here…and there's a boy with her”, we then see presumably Mary come out from the back and watch Trudy and Ethan traverse the isles. “Trudy!” Mary calls out, Trudy jumps slightly at the sudden noise, Ethan reaches out swiftly and clutches her arm, she looks at him, he looks at her, he blushes, she blushes, he lets go, she walks towards the counter. “Those ramen noodle things you like came in this mornings delivery, I thought I’d let you get some before they went out on the shelf”, Ethan joins Trudy at the counter, Mary places two packets of it on the counter, Ethan puts his arm across Trudy in front of her,Trudy starts grinding her teeth loudly, “I’ll get it” he says reaching for his pocket, “nonsense” Mary responds, “i’ts on the house have a nice day”. Trudy watches as Ethan picks up the two packets and drops a $10 note on the floor as he walks out,her teeth still grinding while she clutches the hem of her hoodie tightly, when he leaves she looks at the money on the floor then looks up at the counter with her mouth agape, both women working behind the counter smile and nod at Trudy, she turns around and reconvenes with Ethan outside. “Right” Ethan says, “are we just gonna eat this dry or have you got a way to cook it”. “Shit” Trudy responds, “I forgot about that”. Trudy starts marching down the street, “c’mon, we can go to my house”, Ethan follows, seemingly not being given enough time to overthink

They arrive at her duplex, she holds the door open as Ethan enters, he stands on the floor mat and wipes his shoes on it thoroughly, blocking Trudy’s way to enter the house. He kicks his shoes off gently then steps aside, Trudy walks in front of him and leads him to the kitchen. She boils a kettle full of water and pulls out two identical pokemon bowls. She places a pack of ramen in each bowl and pours the boiled water on top of them, she hands one to Ethan and gestures for Ethan to follow her. She stops outside of her bedroom door then gulps and opens it. “Wow” Ethan says instantly, “this place is so colourful”. Trudy blushes, as she feels herself tremble she places her noodles down. She pulls a bean bag out from under her bed and places it next to the slightly battered one that's already at her desk, she sits at one of them and pats the one next to her, Ethan walks over and slowly lowers himself onto it. Ethan starts tucking into his noodles, Trudy clasps her hands in front of her tightly, to the point of pain, “y…you wanna watch something?” she asks, Ethan nods, his mouth full of noodles. “I know you aren't into fantasy but this movie has a really special place in my heart and I’d love for you to see it”, Ethan places his empty bowl on the desk next to her full one, “I’ll keep an open mind” he says. She searches her files for Aladdin and presses play on it.

As the movie is just about to start she feels a weight hit her shoulder, she looks over and it’s Ethan, his head settles on her shoulder as he sleeps deeply, she starts to hyperventilate, her fingers dig into her palms violently, but she smiles nonetheless, “you’ve had a long day guts” she says softly “sleep tight”, she settles back into the bean bag, her fingers still dug into her palms as she drifts off slowly.