Perfect

As it neared 2 a.m., Talullah’s feet ached and she was ready to go home. Unfortunately for her, her girlfriends struck up conversations with boys from another school and Ethan was nowhere to be found.
Talullah pushed through into the kitchen and found Brent talking with Nick.
“Brent, can you tell Ethan I went home when you see him?” Talullah asked.
The boys looked each other and had a silent conversation. They finally looked at her and Brent frowned.
“Is anyone going with you?” He asked.
“No, I’m beat and Mad and Cee are busy. I just want to go,” She said as she shifted from foot to foot. She mentally begged for them to stop talking so she could get outside and take her shoes off.
“He won’t like that Lu,” Nick said.
“Well, I can’t find him and I’m leaving. I’m a big girl, I can handle myself.” She walked away before they could say anything else.
Once she reached the front steps she took a big gulp of fresh air. She slid her wedges off her feet before heading down the wooden steps and landed in the cool sand. Instead of walking toward the main stretch of town, she turned right and walked toward the shoreline.
Ahead of her, the pier lights sparkled, she could hear families enjoying the small amusement park at the end of the wooden boards and smiled. The pier wasn't really a pier, but everyone from the town called it just that. It reminded her of the beach towns along the coast.
Talullah began to lose track of time when her phone vibrated from her jeans.
“Where the hell are you?” Ethan yelled the second she picked up.
“What do you mean?” Talullah asked, and looked around. She noticed she was a lot closer to the pier then she thought she was.
“I’m walking home. Where are you?” She asked.
He groaned on the other end of the phone. “I’m trying to find you. Which way did you go?”
“The beach,” She answered. “But why are you so angry? I’ve walked home by myself a million times.”
He didn’t respond and she rolled her eyes.
“Besides, you were God knows where, doing God knows what. Actually, don't respond to that because I'm sure I can guess what you were doing,” She added.
“I’ll find you,” He said before hanging up.
She ran a hand through her hair and watched the waves.
Ethan tended to be over protective over her, especially over the past year. She just thought it was because they were older and he knew how boys were, but he never sounded like he just did over the phone. He sounded angry at her. And they rarely got angry with each other, and if they did it was over the small things, not something like this.
When Talullah saw Ethan’s silhouette against the dark backdrop, she stood from the sand.
“What the hell?” They both asked.
Talullah, who would normally laugh in these situations, frowned and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Lu, you can’t just leave like that.” Ethan said.
“Why the hell not? Again, I’m not a child. And you’re not in control of me, so fuck off.” She said before she turned and stomped in the direction of their houses.
She had a distance to go, but she could manage.
“Lu,” Ethan said behind her.
“No, seriously Ethan.” She yelled. “You don’t get to tell me what to do. You’re not my brother and you’re not my boyfriend.”
“No, but I’m your friend and I care about what happens to you,” Ethan said. He was matching her stride, and she inwardly cursed his long legs.
“You didn’t care when I texted you before I left asking where you were,” She said.
She saw a hint of a blush across his cheeks. She stopped and turned to face him.
“Oh my God, you were with a girl. You know what? Screw you Ethan,” Talullah said before she walked up the driveway to her house and let herself in.



“I think he totally likes you,” Madison told Talullah as they pushed a cart down an aisle in the grocery store.
“I doubt it, he said he cares about me because he’s my friend.” Talullah said as she grabbed a loaf of bread. She looked down at the list her mother compiled that morning and began to push the metal cart again.
"Does that bother you?" Madison asked as she grabbed an item off the shelf.
"What? Being his friend? Of course not," Talullah said. "He's my best friend, besides you."
“Have you talked to him?” Madison asked.
“He sent me a text this morning apologizing. I’m over it, he was just being a jackass.” Talullah said.
“But, it’s strange for him to get that protective,” Madison said. “Which just makes me think he likes you more than I thought.”
“I don’t want to date Ethan,” Talullah said. But as she said it, the knots in her stomach tightened.
“What about if you were friends with benefits?” Madison asked.
“That never works,” Talullah said. “Someone always falls, the other person doesn’t reciprocate the feelings, and then that person is crushed and they can’t even be friends.”
“Would you be the one falling in this scenario?” Madison asked, her eyebrow raised.
“Who knows? Maybe, and I’m not willing to jeopardize our years of friendships for some hookup.” Talullah said.
“I’m going to do some investigating,” Madison said as she reached for her phone.
“Mad, I love you but no.” Talulah picked up some chips and added them to the cart. “It doesn’t matter.”
“But, I can see it happening!”
“Drop it Mad.” Talullah warned.



Talullah was snuggled under her blankets with her in window air conditioner unit on full blast when her door bursted open.
She lifted her head to see Ethan walk across her room and hop onto her bed.
“What are you doing? I told you I was picking you up at 9,” He said as he clicked the spacebar on her computer, the movie on her screen immediately stopping.
“I told you I wasn’t going out tonight,” She said before she hit the spacebar to continue the movie.
“Lu, come on,” He whined.
She smiled and ruffled his hair. “E, come on.” She mimicked back.
“Why don’t you want to go?” He asked.
She sighed and hit the spacebar again. “I just want a quiet night.”
“It won’t be the same if you’re not there,” He said, almost a plea for her to go with him.
She shook her head. “You’ll be too busy with the girl of the night to notice. I know who you disappeared with last night you know.”
“I’ll stay with you all night if you come out,” He promised.
“Just go E,” Talullah said without catching his eye.
He sighed and got off the bed. “Fine, see you later.”
She watched him go and felt disappointed. There were times when he would have ditched the party with her and offered to stay in and crash. They would watch bad movies and eat junk food.
Once they hit senior year though, priorities changed.
She clicked the spacebar again and readjusted her body on the bed. It was going to be a long night.