Dearest

As the weekend rolled in, Green had sent the girl whom he had set up a sort of date with. The two were to stroll on through town and see where the night would have taken them. Who really knows how many drinks it would take for them to loosen up some. Hopefully not that many… It had been a greater while since Green had really done much for himself where he wasn’t just locked up and passing time by doing his work. Good thing he at least remained on a few people’s good side, right?

Arriving on the scene where he had texted for their meet up, the only thing now was for the blue-haired girl to appear to get this whole party going. Looking every so often at his phone to check on the time — okay.. maybe he was slightly early.

It wasn't that far from her place where she was meant to meet up with Green, thankfully. Only about a 10 minute walk if anything. As she walked towards her destination however, she couldn't help but feel excitement--and anxiety--bubble in her stomach. She was excited for what was going to happen tonight, she hadn't really been out since she had moved to Nimbasa (not even with Ruka). But then... Glancing at her reflection in a passing window, she wondered if her dress was okay. It was just a simple black one, something she wore out frequently, so she hoped it was suitable.

The bluenette arrived 2 minutes before the scheduled time; perfect. Glancing around, it didn't take long til she noticed the familiar brunette waiting for her. "Green!" She called out his name, waving as she walked over to him gleefully. "You weren't waiting long, were you?"

"Guess we’re really on the same boat with it." These two are surely to end up becoming great drinking buddies in the end. The female did appear to be the type that would enjoy drinking some beer at a sports bar — which he has learned that not everyone would enjoy it.

Come the time morning came, Ethan was easily awoken by the rising sun. Shining down from the window right onto his sleeping body. Causing him to groggily roll around on the floor, trying to cover himself with the blanket. That wasn’t going to work either, though. The sun was so bright and warm that it started to heat the blanket up more than he’d have liked, and sadly he had to come to the conclusion he should get up.

His stomach felt tight, having been slept on uncomfortably throughout the night, what with a hard floor as a cushion instead of his comfortable bed. The fact that he wasn’t in his room didn’t exactly take into realization at first. His headache barely letting him open his eyes. But, as his hands started to move around on the carpet as he came closer and closer to full consciousness, he started to realize that it wasn’t the fabric of his sheets that he was sleeping on top of.

Forcing himself to open his eyes and take a look around, the room wasn’t even his. And definitely was a little too big sized to be the dorm room. “Wha… What the hell?” Grouchily whispering to himself, crawling out from under the blanket and taking a moment to sit up and relaxing his aching head a little.

”..The fuck am I?” His voice starting to grow louder as he started to feel better. Being able to lift himself up off the ground now, to look around the place. It was easy to spot early on that the place was a one bedroom apartment, and that he should go check who’s place he was at, or if it would be anyone he could even recognize at all.

Opening the door to the room, his face quickly turned into a gruesome scowling expression. Just staring down at her, he couldn’t believe the fact that he could’ve let himself end up here. What a useless pile of shit his drunken idiot self was. And just made him an even more useless pile of shit, for having gone drinking again the first place in order to make himself feel better.

”..Might as well go back to fuckin’ AA if this is the type of bullshit I do.” Snorting and slamming her door back shut. Looking around a bit more, he found Santa sleeping on the couch. Grabbing the bird by his scruff, and plopping him on his back. Idiot bird must’ve tried his best keeping him safe, if he let him end up here, instead of with a stranger. “C’mon then Santa.. let’s head the fuck home.”

Commenting that, when he turned back around, she was there, looking at him being ready to leave so early.

And then she remembered Ethan. How she stumbled upon him dead drunk downtown, dragging him home with her and then... She almost frowned at the memory of last night, until she remembered what Ethan had told her before he ended up passing out on her.

"Oh shit," she mumbled to herself, jumping out of bed and heading down the hall, hoping Ethan was still here.

He was. Santa sleepily clinging to his back, the raven-haired individual looked as if he was just about to leave. For a moment she wondered if he remembered what had happened last night, but by the scowl on his face, she should tell he didn't. "You're leaving now?" she asked simply, walking towards him with a curious look on her face.

She didn't really know what else to say to him. But she was tired of tiptoeing around him like he was breakable--she was tired of being a coward.

“Ah migh’not ‘member any’ov’it, an’ ah migh’ say’r’do t’ings ‘at migh’ hurt’ya. ..But ah ain’ never given up on ya’.” His lips twitching with a barely promising smile. This was a statement to which if he lead her on, it’d only make things worse, so he had to make it all .. as realistic as he could. Which, a drunk Ethan, wasn’t the most realistic in a lot of ways.

Settling back against her shoulder, his forehead nuzzling into the crook of her neck. The droopiness of his lids were an easy give away that he was dead tired, and probably wouldn’t be holding out for much longer. “If’n’ya really wanna know… then.. keep’n’tryna ta’ win me over.” His voice hummed after he gave her that tidbit of reassurance, and unsurprisingly not long after that was a snore.

As she felt him slowly settle against her, growing quiet as sleep took over Ethan, she smiled faintly to herself. Taking a moment to appreciate how the two were, she laid him down on the floor to rest. Walking to the closet in her hallway, Santa and Meganium peaking out from the room they were in, the bluenette grabbed a pillow and blanket, walking back to Ethan. Placing his head on the pillow and putting the blanket on him, she felt like this was something they would do if they were still dating.

Swallowing back a distasteful glob of saliva and other undesirable tastes, he started to shake his head from all of her constant apologies. The tips of his fingers reaching into her blue locks, and still a soft smile lingered on his lips. “Ya’ don’ hav’ta.. An apology.. It’s not what Ah’m looking fer Kris.” Lids closing after he spoke, a bubbly chuckle being the only other sound he bothered to make.

Apologies wouldn’t make any difference, the only action he wanted was for her to actually try. To actually show him that maybe they could make it work, even if he was a humongous dick now. That being said, it was him wanting as much effort as he had put in before, as action always spoke louder than words.

Dropping his hand from her cheek, it wasn’t long after that he wrapped his arms around her again, pulling her in as close as he could. This sort of embrace, he desperately missed. Desperately sought after, with no avail. The only times anyone got close to him, he was plastered drunk and too agreeable for his own good. Which, ahem, lead to one particular accident known as a now two year old son.

When he hugged her, she never had felt so content than in his embrace. Nothing could beat this feeling, and yet she knew that this was only fleeting. Without hesitation, she wrapped her arms around him, wanting the moment to last forever as she buried her face into his chest.

As the two pulled away, Crystal felt his soft lips on her cheek for only a moment. Face growing warm as a light blush dusted her cheeks, she could only cling to him tighter. Nodding at his gentle words, she wondered if he was telling the truth, if in the morning when he would wake up sober if he would still mean it all, or remember any of this in the first place.

"Well when you get alcohol involved in the mix, when do things ever go as planned?" She laughed to herself. "When it comes to game plans I'm not all that great at them, well... unless it comes to school anyway. But if it's fine with you, I think it'd be best to just see where things take us. More excitement and what not, you know?"

Maybe he wasn’t in a good place yet, but at least he’s been trying harder than before. So long as he told himself that every day when waking up, there wasn’t much of a problem for him. Hell, even if he hated, so, so much when people spoke to him, it made him secretly happy that people noticed him in a crowd. Some sort of recognition like that, it made getting through his boring, pointless days a whole lot easier.

Glancing over at her, his lips just barely framing a disappointing frown. She looked so upset, no, rather, she looked about as damaged as him. Reaching his hand out in order to cup her cheek, his thumb brushing against her skin. “Ya’ should smile..” His voice humming slightly at the mention, a few memories of her smile popping into his head.

Her hand was hesitant and shaky, but slowly she brought it to rest upon his own as she almost leaned into his touch. Blue eyes fluttering closed in contentment, she remembered how his touch was always so comforting. Even now after all that had happened, she still thought that something like this was just so normal. "Ethan..." his name left her lips affectionately, followed by a restless sigh. She opened her eyes to look at him, sad once again as her head dipped down in shame. "I'm so sorry. For everything."

It was unavoidable; the sadness that welled up inside of her whenever he was around. While she still seemed to love him almost unconditionally, she was always so sad about it. It was her fault after all, that the two of them never worked out. Ethan was nothing but loving and attentive, while Crystal was just...

"…Isn’at what we always managed ta’do?" Mumbling, because there were so, so many times that the two would try and ignore what happened just to have their happiness. Of course, this time around, it was much more extravagant of a situation, and it wasn’t so easily dealt with.

Sadly, he didn’t know how to respond to the comment that he would hate her again. He didn’t really know if he would, or should still hate her. Or, if he even ever has hated her. It was just a precaution, his own internal fears and protective mechanisms working to keep his life moving. Even if it wasn’t in the liveliest motion, as long as he was breathing no one seemed to worry about him all that much, so keeping distance from her, that was his best resort.

Eyes shifting to glance at Ethan, she could tell he was looking a bit on the sick side. She figured it was about time the alcohol in his system started disagreeing with him. As he let go of her and managed to stumble to the trash can in the room, she quietly walked over to the sink in her kitchen, grabbing a glass of water and some crackers for him. Kneeling beside him as he got sick she placed the crackers and water beside him, and then a hand on his back to gently rub. "You should take these, it'll help." she said as she continued to rub his back.

There was no doubt in her mind that Ethan was still in a bad place in his life, and there was a sinking feeling in her gut that maybe it was all her fault. She never meant for this, but in the end this was what she had got. If he wasn't happy, Crystal wondered if she deserved to be happy.

"I’m thinking it’s the professors," she replied, with a slight laugh. "Then again, I usually ask my youngest sister to do the stuff I don’t care about and memorize it. Things like homework don’t really help, so I just don’t bother." 

Biting his lip, he felt atrocious now, because it wasn’t at all on if Kris sounded ‘pathetic,’ but that he had made her so upset. Yet again, he reached out, trying to very gently tug on her arm. Opposite hand quietly patting the seat beside him again. “..Ah’m sahrry.. Ah jus’ haven’ seen ya’ in awhile.. Ah won’do it again.” At least, he hoped he wouldn’t, or that he could keep track of himself long enough to not do what had upset her.

She was still, flinching only slightly as Ethan tugged on her arm to sit beside him, although she did not shake his hand off of her. He was so blissfully unaware of how messed up this situation truly was; she almost envied his drunken bliss. Glossy blue eyes flickering at him for only a moment, she could tell that he felt bad about what he had done though. It almost made her feel bad for rejecting him--almost, perhaps if she hadn't known it was the right thing to do. After all, such frivolous peace could not last. Not between these two.

"I know..." she replied quietly. "I can't--we can't do this kind of thing though, you know. We can't just pretend like nothing has happened between us." Bringing her free hand up to wipe away more tears, a shaky breath left her. "Heh... I mean, when you're all sobered up and back to hating me, it's just... sad..."

When the duo had entered, Santa wasn’t at all behind, waddling in after them. He didn’t much bother to follow after, having only flopped to the floor when they reached the inside. Exhausted, and relieved that his trainer was somewhere safe. Though, when he spotted Meganium, he hopped up again and fled after the grass-type. Despite their trainers, it was one of the birds old friends. Now, if only Rex was here for the reunion.

With some time passing, or, in Ethan’s case, probably the feeling of time passing having come to be, he looked back in Kris’ direction again. A pounding feeling welling up in his chest as he could see her hiding away. Very unsteadily, he tried to arrange himself to sit a little closer. One of his arms moving to wrap around her, and pull her close to his direction.

"Hay, wha’s got’cha lookin’ so sad?" Drunkenly questioning, not even realizing it was his fault that she was right now. Of course, his intoxication did account for one thing, the overly affectionate trait that would clearly show, even with all of his walls up when sober. "Yanno,  aht’s been awhile since ah did this’n whole t’ing." Murmuring, and really, babbling, cause he had no clue what else to say.

Caught up in her own painful thoughts, she barely registered Ethan as he inched closer to the bluenette, arms wrapping around her. She became still in his arms, eyes widening at the affectionate action. Questioning as to why she looked so sad, she could only bite her bottom lip in reply that quivered pathetically. Crystal could feel his breath on her neck, blood rushing to her cheeks as she shivered much to her embarrassment.

When his lips met with her shoulder, soft and so familiar, a sharp gasp made way past her lips.

"Great." The acceptance of his invitation made this not as awkward and strange as he may have had been making it out to be. Who knows, maybe in time he would actually end up making some new friends that won’t want to go out and after his head because of how badly he can screw up from time to time… And let me tell you.. It is very, very often.

"…Pfff.. fufufu…" Little random, pointless laughs escaped his lips as he cling to her side. Even he didn’t really know what for, but the warm, happiness he was busy having easily made up for the lack of a reason. "Ah… bet’cha t’at ya’ can’t beat mah in’na race." Suggesting to her, as he started to feel that ‘invinciblesque’ feeling. It was a fat chance that he would get more than a step, before tripping across the floor, so that really wouldn’t happen. He was just continuing trying to get her to talk to him.

She could barely look at him, hot tears beginning to prick at the corner of her eyes. Looking away from him and wiping the threatening tears away viciously, she hoped Ethan wouldn't notice in his drunken stupor. The young bluenette hated how she seemed so vulnerable around him, time and time again. But as it seemed to prove itself after everything that had happened between the two, Crystal would probably love Ethan until the day she died.

The sad thing about it, was that she knew there was no way the two could ever be together. Not after all that pain.

Quiet as they approached the door to her apartment, after a little shuffling about they made their way inside, and Crystal placed him gently onto her couch. Her apartment was nothing extravagant, the furniture was very simple but with plenty of shelves lined up, filled with books and the walls decorated with photos. Meganium peaked out from down the hall, spotting Crystal. She could tell though that now was not the time, and returned to the room it was hiding in.

"Ya’ sh’oore ‘bout ‘at?" Asking for both situations, after what he had done he was an ass, and for the offer to sleep at her place. He wasn’t expecting any sort of hospitality like that, then again he didn’t ever expect anything from anyone anymore. It was rather easy with her help, for him to actually be able to stand. Although the world was still as dizzy as ever, and his footing was anything but balanced, he managed to tug on her shirt with his fingers. The other hand raising in the air to attempt to hoist his balance better. How many times had he learned how to walk drunk, was well lost on its count. It usually only consisted of a few steps to his bed, or the couch in his former apartment though.

A heavy weight setting itself upon her chest, she felt her heart ache with each step she took. It was funny how she was so convinced she was over him, and look at her now. Heart beating fast as if she were-- Crystal frowned when he mentioned the beach. Why did he have to mention that? It was only the first time the two...

She wanted to cry. She wanted to get mad at Ethan for bringing up things from the past, things that were better left unsaid. He was drunk though, seemingly affectionate right now more than anything. It almost made her chuckle considering how she imagined he would be in the morning. No doubt irritated and angry--as usual. "Yeah, I remember for the most part..." She tried carefully to not let her voice give way to her emotions.