Separate ways lead to the same place

Chapter 7

~The next day, Ethan's point of view~

I feel the warmth of the sunlight on my face and smile as I open my eyes, closing them again due to the brightness of the light. When I'm used to it, I open my eyes again and rub the sleep out of them, throwing my legs out of bed and sitting up. I stretch my arms by putting them in the air, making me sigh deeply as my muscles relax. I stand up and make my way to the kitchen, making myself a cup of coffee. While the machine is brewing, I go to the guest bedroom to check up on Zoe, but when I open the door, I'm met with an empty bed. Where is she? I walk to the front door and see that her shoes and her jacket is gone. Where could she possibly be? I decide to give her a call, so I go to the kitchen to grab my phone. I press the call button, but hear her ringtone in the appartment. I follow the sound and end up in the guest bedroom. It was under the covers. I go back to the kitchen and take a big sip from my coffee. I also noticed that the spare key is gone, that with the fact she left her stuff here, probably means she's coming back. Oh, screw it, what if something happened? I need to find her. I get dressed as fast as possible, put on a pair of shoes and my jacket before grabbing my phone and keys and closing the door behind me. I run down the stairs and stand outside, breathing a little heavy due to the running and the stress. Where could she be? Her car is here, so she walked. Why would she go in the middle of the night? Maybe she couldn't sleep? Then she maybe went to the hill? I'll check there first. If she isn't there, she maybe went to get some food? No, her wallet was still in her room. I notice I'm running, so I slow down a little. I reach the forest not long after and immediately make my way to the clearing with the hill. The moment I reach the spot, my smile widens. On the top of the hill, I recognise the mop of hair immediately. I go up to her and notice she's still asleep. I lie down next to her and look at the clouds coming by. Suddenly, I feel her stirr awake next to me. I look at her and whisper:''Good morning, sunshine.'' She jumps at the sound of my voice, but relaxes when she sees it's me. ''Wait, did I fall asleep here? Ohh no.'' She starts to stand up, but I pull her down again. ''Don't worry. Yes, you fell asleep here, but it's sunday. We don't have work today. We can go get us some brunch if you'd like.'' ''Ethan, I can't go in public like this! I look like trash!'' She says, frustration evident on he face. ''You look very good, but if you'd like to freshen up, that's okay too. We can stop by the appartment to freshen up, then we can go okay?'' She nods and we walk back to the car. ''I'm sorry for not saying anything. I really couldn't sleep. I hope you weren't too worried?'' I chuckle:''I was worried, but I figured out where you were rather quickly so I didn't have to worry for long.'' Silence falls in the car while we drive to my appartment. We separate to go clean ourselves up a little, taking turns in using the bathroom. After about 30 minutes, we're in the car again, on our way to get some food. We make some small talk and joke around a little. ''What are you going to do this afternoon?'' Zoe asks, making me smile at the thought of music filling up my afternoon. ''I'm going to work on some songs I'm writing,'' I tell her. ''Do you sing too? Or do you only play the guitar?'' She asks, leaning forward a little to express she's interested. ''Well, my guitar skills are way better than my singing voice, so I usually record me singing it just to remember how I want the lyrics to sound. I also play the piano. I learned that to be able to get a more full recording than just guitar. I also use a guitar case for percussion. I only have to find someone to sing and I could actually record covers and originals. I heard you sing when we wrote that song, your voice is amazing! Would you be willing to try? Just a cover maybe?'' I ask it very careful, hoping she'd be open to it. ''Of course I want to try! What's your favorite song to play? Like a cover?'' I think about it for a second before 2 songs stand out to me:''Probably Impossible by James Arthur and Skyscraper by Demi Lovato. Those are really easy to play, just 4 chords.'' Her face lights up when she hears the songs:''I love those songs! Let's try them later today!'' I agree and we proceed eating in sillence.