The pair sit under Miss Jackson, the respectful distance Ethan once kept becoming a thing of the past. Trudy is blushing, she’s looking down at the ground, shyly. Ethan looks forward into the distance, then he feels a soft hand land on his knee. He doesn't move, not even his head, his breath catches. “Guts?”, she asks nervously, “I…dont think I wanna go back to class after this”. Ethan brings his hand up to her upper back, he rubs circles between her shoulder blades, “thats ok…we can stay here”.

The silence is peaceful, the peace is silent. Trudy’s thumb is rubbing gentle circles on Ethan's knee. It is nice, calm, quiet, until it isn't. Click. Click. Click. Click. The clicking noises that Ethan thought had become a thing of the past, back. Despite the consistency in volume it felt louder. Every click hitting Ethan's eardrums a split second before hitting him in the heart, but he doesn’t move. How could he move, her grip on his knee is tighter, it's more desperate.

I thought she was done with this, with being scared around me. Does she like me? Does she really like me or…have I rushed her? Have I put pressure on her? Is this whole cute act her only way of showing appreciation, does she think she has to? Like I wouldn't do any of this if she didn't show me…attention? Like I'm only doing it to…for fuck sake man. This poor girl, she thinks she owes me…no. Oh my god I know exactly whats happening

In that moment Ethan smiles, he turns to face the clicking, red mess of a girl next to him. He can barely see the grin on her face amongst the rest of the red on her face. Little does he know he’s the same. He takes a deep breath, then the crackling of the school public announcement system snaps both of them out of their trance. They both jump, Trudy jumps more. Ethan instantly responds to this jump by grabbing her lower thigh before instantly letting go. He looks away, his face flushed, she grabs his hand reactionary, holding it against the ground. The principal’s voice sounds through the public announcement system, “dear students, the power has cut across the entire town for a reason we are not yet privy to, we only have a few minutes left in our generator so we will ask all students to go home for the day, the school will re-open when the electricity returns”. 

“Fuck” Ethan says. “What?” Trudy asks innocently, squeezing his hand slightly. “Oh…nothing” Ethan says awkwardly. Trudy shoots him an earnest gaze, her face inches closer to his, "I don't want you to think you can't tell me anything…I’m here”. Ethan's eyes glimmer with unshed tears, he takes a deep breath, "it's really not that big of a deal, just all my food at home is oven food”. Her expression remains, her other hand comes to cover Ethan's, “I meant what I said, I'm here… come back to my place, I have a gas cooker”. Ethan freezes, his mouth slightly agape, then his hands come up, his arms wrap around her neck, he leans towards her, his head landing just above her chest, tucked slightly under her chin. She looks down at him, her shocked impression quickly turns tender, her hand holds the back of his head, she gently scratches his hair. “Are you comfortable?”Trudy asks tenderly. “Yeah”, he mumbles. “Let me know when you’re ready to go to my house” she says softly

After what felt like two minutes, but was in fact forty-five minutes Trudy blushes, she pats his back, lacking the confidence she had earlier she stutters, “s…sorry guts…I’m going to need to get home soon, mom’s gonna get sent home from work,Ii gotta get home to cook”. Ethan's head pops up, Trudy notices her neck is damp, and so is Ethan's face. Trudy reaches out and brushes a single stray tear off Ethan's face with her thumb. “Were you crying?” Trudy asks considerately, Ethan nods.

The pair leave school grounds and make their way towards Trudy's house, on the way she stops suddenly and walks into Murphy's, Ethan follows her. “I’m gonna make a stew” she says, “can you go around to the back and get the potatoes”. Ethan leaves Trudy's side and goes towards the back of the shop. “Psst, Trudy,” one of the ladies behind the counter shout whispers. Trudy hesitantly walks to the counter. “Is that your boyfriend?” one of them says teasingly, with a conspiratorial tone, Trudy doesn’t blush, nobody could've foreseen this. Trudy looks down and with a serious but nervous tone says “I…dont know”. “Do you want him to be?” the lady asks, with a more considerate tone. Trudy gulps, still looking down, then she gently nods her head. “He seems like a nice boy” the other lady says “make sure you aren't afraid to show him your worst and your best, and don't forget he’s lucky too”. Trudy blushes, then Ethan appears beside her holding not only a bag of potatoes but also carrots, turnips, a cut of beef and a packet of oxtail soup. “Is this everything?” Ethan asks. “Oxtail soup?” Trudy responds questioningly. “Yeah” Ethan replies “my nan uses it when she makes stew”. The lady behind the counter notices Trudy's hidden grin, she points it out to the other lady who both smile adoringly at Trudy. “So did my nan” Trudy says softly. Ethan smiles before dropping all his items on the counter. “So your nan cooked you stew?” the lady asks Ethan, “yeah she still does” Ethan responds excitedly. “Something tells me you’ll fit in well here” the lady says “leave yer phones here ill charge them on the generator, and dont even think about paying I have ye”. The pair awkwardly place their phones on the counter while the lady bags up their items. While bagging the lady says with a laugh,“Trudy, pick up that fucking money you just dropped” before handing them the bag, Trudy takes the bag and giggles at the lady before they both walk out.

“No phones. Guess we have to talk to each other "Ethan says charismatically while casually taking the bag from Trudy's arm. Trudy’s face is still glowing red from the words of the shop clerks. A silence, broken only by the sound of their footprints as the sky shifts from golden hour, is interrupted by Trudy. “We can’t listen to Iron Man…or watch it since the powers out”. “You’re right, I never even thought of that” Ethan responds. They reach the door, Trudy opens it for both of them and closes it behind Ethan, candles are lit everywhere despite the light from outside still filling the whole room. “Oh stew? You’re too good Trudy”, Trudy’s mom says as she appears from the shadows, “who’s this?”. “Oh this is ummm gu…Ethan” Trudy says nervously, her fingers digging into her thighs, "I just offered him dinner since he doesn't have a gas cooker”. Trudy’s mom notices the blush on Trudy’s face as she speaks about Ethan, she smiles “well he's welcome to stay for as long as he likes…who’s hoodie is that?”. Trudy’s blush intensifies, how could she have forgotten, a look of pure mortification enters her face, before she can even speak Ethan pipes up, “I gave her my hoodie mam” he gulps “she was cold and I was not”. Her mom chuckles before shrugging, “as long as she isn't hurt”. Her mom walks towards the living room

Trudy and Ethan enter the kitchen, Trudy begins getting everything into place, “You can read one of my books if you’d like… you might like some of them”. “Let me guess they’re all fantasy” Ethan asks teasingly, the clicking sound of the gas hob filling the room. Trudy blushes, “yeah you’re right”. “I'll go find Something” he says as he walks out to her room.

He enters her room and is instantly hit with memories from last night, the posters, the bean bags, just the overall cosy atmosphere. He walks towards the bookshelf and browses for a bit.

A lot of these books seem to be series, I don’t want to start mid series. I'll just pick one with the number 1 on it. What’s this big black one here? Ooh berserk, that sounds fun

“Hey Trudy, is this berserk any good?” he says while walking back into the kitchen. She chuckles, “yeah, I think you’ll like it a lot, you might relate to the protagonist”. As everything's boiling Trudy takes a seat at the kitchen table, Ethan sits next to her. “I’ll read it after we eat,” Ethan smiles.

“Thanks again Trudy” Ethan says after a few minutes of silence “I…”, he looks down nervously, "I don't know what I'd do without you”. Her hand finds his under the table, “how do you not see it you idiot” she responds softly, “I’m the one who’s lost without you” she musters the courage to look straight at him, he eventually turns his head in her direction. A single tear drops down her face, “you are the best friend I could have ever asked for”, she says with her voice dripping with devotion,her voices raises a little “you changed my life in ways you’ll never fully understand”, more tears pour from her eyes, “so don't you dare thank me for what I owe you… because I owe you a lot more than a bowl of fucking stew”. Ethan's arms reach out and wrap around her, he pulls her towards him, her head planted against his chest. He can feel her shake in his arms, he can feel the movement of her head as she cries. “If you really want to pay me back” he says softly “then keep doing whatever it is you’re doing, because you've changed my life too”. Her breath catches. Trudy remains in Ethan's arms for minutes to come,neither of them say anything, at least not with words.

Trudy eventually removes herself from Ethan's arm, she looks at him with a fragile smile spread across her tear streaked face. She walks over to the gas cooker and pours the contents of the pot into three bowls. She walks over to the table and places a bowl in front of Ethan, then one in front of where she was sitting and one across the way from her. Trudy’s mom enters the room and sits in front of the bowl. As Trudy is about to start eating her gaze is fixated on Ethan and the speed he is eating at, within five minutes his bowl was void of any beef, potatoes or carrots. “Thanks Trudy, that was incredible” he says. “Oh” she responds in shock “I’m glad you liked it…you can go in and start reading if you want”. Ethan quietly gets up and pushes his chair in gently, he takes his bowl over to the sink and rinses it with the tap, then places it in the sink before leaving the room.

“Trudy” her mom says “I know I haven’t really done much parenting since your dad left… but I want to give you one piece of advice. Don't let fear get in the way of being happy.” Trudy nods, then takes the first bite out of her stew.

Ethan grabs volume one of berserk deluxe edition off her shelf and sits on her beanbag. He spends a few seconds trying to figure out the correct way to read it before diving in. At first he is utterly shocked by the violence of it all, but he’s only a few pages in when it clicks with him. When he’s forty-eight pages into the first chapter he chuckles to himself.

So that's where she got that stupid nickname from, and here I was feeling bad about Miss Jackson... It's not a stupid nickname, I like it.

As he continues reading he eventually feels a softness by his right side, then on his left. He looks away from his books and notices Trudy has climbed on the beanbag behind him. Her legs framing his torso, her arms wrap around him and rest on his chest. He lays back against her, his head resting on her stomach. He continues reading. Trudy looks down at him adoringly, reliving one of her favourite stories through his eyes. She notices how his head puts more pressure on her at intense moments, she notices how he occasionally stops to look deeper at some of the artwork, before they knew it candles were all that lit up the room as Ethan closes the book.

“Fuck” he says “I better get home before it gets any darker”. Trudy frowns slightly but shakes it off. Ethan removes himself from Trudy's arms and they both leave her room. They walk outside just at the doorstep. “Thanks for everything Trudy… I mean it, "Ethan says. Trudy says nothing, she just reaches out and hugs him. The hug lasts a few seconds before Trudy says "I'll see you when the school opens again”, still holding him. Ethan takes a deep breath, then he gently places his hand on the back of Trudy's neck, she looks up at him, her expression unguarded, fragile. He leans in and presses his lips softly against hers. Her hands move to the back of his head, her fingernails digging into the back of his head as the kiss deepens, she’s trembling but she doesn't move away. Then she relaxes, her fingers spread across the back of Ethan's head, gently stroking his hair. Their lips start moving in synchronisation with each other, from the outside you could barely tell they’ve never done this before now. 

When their lungs let them down and they separate to breathe, Trudy's cheeks turn bright red and she buries her face in Ethan's chest, her arms wrapping around him tighter than last time. “Did I do something good?” Ethan asks shyly, he looks forward but can feel Trudy nodding against his chest. Despite the restraints of Trudy’s hug Ethan still must leave, she hesitantly lets go of him and he begins to walk away, the sound of the door banging leaving him feeling a mix of overwhelming joy and sadness, he knows he can’t look behind him, until he has to 

“Guts” he hears from behind him “my mom said she’s not letting you walk home on your own while the streetlights are out, she’s insisting you stay the night”. Ethan turns around and walks straight back to the house. “Thank ms…”Ethan says before Trudy cuts him off, “she’s already sleeping don't worry”.

Ethan walks towards the sitting room but is stopped by Trudy. “Guts… I’m not gonna make you sleep on the couch” she says in a lovingly stern tone, “come on” she says walking towards her bedroom.

She settles into her bed, “face away from me if you want… if you think sharing a bed is weird”. Ethan goes into the bed and lays facing away from Trudy, Trudy does the same. Trudy’s temporary look of disappointment disappears as she feels Ethan's arms pulling her towards him, she relaxes into his embrace. The room falls dead silent, even the sound of technology nowhere to be heard, until

Trudy: Hey guts?

Ethan: Yeah?

Trudy: What… are we?

Ethan: Oh…ummm, I don't know

Trudy: Right…

Trudy: …Hey Ethan?

Ethan: Yeah?

Trudy : I love you

Ethan: *inhales relaxedly* Yeah, I love you too

THE END