step daddy 2 - e.d

FOUR

"rose, hurry up!"

i stand still, staring in the mirror a minute longer. it's really nice outside today. the sun is shining, clear blue skies but with a slight breeze and so ethan thought it would be a good idea for him and i to go to the park and have a picnic together.

the front door is open right now letting in some of that breeze which blows up my dress slightly. ethan is waiting for me in his car and i'm stood surveying my outfit. it's a plain baby blue dress with a gold necklace and white converse.

"rose!"

"i'm coming!"

i huff and roll my eyes before walking out of the house and pulling the door in, locking it after. once i'm in the car ethan starts to drive straight away as i strap up my seatbelt.

"grayson is coming over later."

"what? why?"

i ask while tugging at the bottom of my dress since it was ruffled a little.

"you'll see."

i frown, starting to feel worried.

"c-can we go to the park with the swings? please."

ethan clenches his jaw as he nods his head and i look down at my lap. recently – given all the arguments we've been having – i haven't felt comfortable enough to fully be in little space. even asking something as simple as that question made me feel uneasy when it usually wouldn't but because of the circumstances it does.

i don't know what to do to stop these disagreements apart from try my best to be well behaved which unfortunately is easier said than done.

"rose baby do you want any ice cream?"

he asks me and i look up. we're at a red light but there's an ice cream shop to our right so i'm guessing he'd pull over and we'd get some.

"i'm fine thanks."

"are you sure?"

"it'll just melt."

the light turns green and he starts to drive again. i rest my head on the window and sigh, feeling more helpless than ever.
—
there are three hard knocks on the door. ethan gets up from his position next to me on the sofa and i watch as he walks away from me. i hear grayson's cheerful voice echo through the house and get up, running through the kitchen and to the door.

"grayson!"

i cheer and he grins, embracing me in a tight hug.

"okay, that's enough."

ethan pulls me back after about fifteen seconds, since he clearly thinks our hug went on a little longer than it needed to.

"come, lets go to the living room."

he leads the way and grayson and i follow. ethan sits next to me and grayson sis on an armchair.

"so. rose, i've been called here today because ethan tells me you have been having a lot of problems in your relationship lately."

my head shoots over to ethan, alarmed and confused. firstly, i don't know why he felt the need to tell grayson that and how much he told him but also because i wasn't even that aware of the fact that grayson knew anything about our relationship.

of course, i knew he probably thought we were together since he knows about my mom leaving and ethan and i living together but i hope he doesn't know about all the ins and outs of what ethan and i have because that would be quite weird.