prodigy | e.d.

four

morgan

at dinner, i sigh when ethan slides into the spot across from me at the table. he seems unbothered by it and simply squirts ketchup on his burger.

"hey ethan," devin asks from beside him. "do you want to hear a poem i've been working on?"

"will you be mad if i say no?" he asks right before taking a bite.

peter and josslyn laugh, but devin frowns.

"i'd love to hear it," i chip in, feeling bad. "i bet it's really good."

"it's fine morgan, i'm used to it," he brushes it off. "i usually end up proclaiming them at night while ethan tries to do his homework just to annoy him."

i laugh, and ethan scowls at me.

i literally can't do anything right.

"peter how long is this table?" josslyn asks, her eyes grazing over the long dining table that stretches from one end of the room to the other.

peter starts to talk about the length of the room in proportion to the tables when ethan chips in.

"50 feet," he says, barely lifting his head.

peter stops talking and thinks about it for a moment.
"yeah, 50 feet. it adds up."

"there's no way," devin shakes his head.

"what if he knew beforehand?" i ask.

the table goes silent. josslyn grimaces, and peter looks like he just saw a ghost. devin snickers.

ethan looks put off as he looks at me sternly.
"what?"

i play it off casual. "what if you already knew?"

he blinks. "i didn't."

"then how did you know so quickly?"

"morgan, don't—" joss begins to whisper.

"are you accusing me of something?" ethan asks.

i shake my head. "not at all."

"you're lying, i can tell."

"so then prove it."

there's more silence. ethan and i are in the middle of a staring contest at this point, and i can feel the other three's eyes on us, waiting for the ticking bomb to explode.

"you have a lot of nerve," he says, but almost like he's complimenting me. it's not mean spirited at all.

"thank you."

he breaks the eye contact and turns to josslyn.
"50 feet."

she nods, looking between ethan and i all confused.
"o-okay."

i go back to blowing on my potato soup and ignoring his eyes on me constantly for yet another supper.

god, he's so hard to eat with.
it's intimidating. his entire personality.