Separate ways lead to the same place

Chapter 8

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

I wake up and feel an arm lying on my stomach. I frown and open my eyes, smiling at the sight of Zoe curled up to me while being asleep. Then I remember it's monday, so I need to go to work. Am I even on time? I look at the nightstand and find my phone on it. I look at the time and feel relief wash over me when I see I'm perfectly on time. Now I need to get out of bed without waking Zoe, since she gets to sleep another hour because her workday starts later than mine. I carefully take her arm to lift it up, but she grabs my arm and lays her arm back on my belly, snuggling into me even more. I sigh. This is going to be harder than I thought. I turn to face her, bring my mouth to her ear and whisper:"Zoe, I have to get up for work, but I can't get up if you don't let me go." She moves a little and opens her eyes, looking startled when she sees me being so close to her. "What happened?" she asks, starting to move away from me. I chuckle and put my hand on her arm, drawing mindless shapes to calm her down a little. "Don't worry. We fell asleep yesterday while we were talking. Through the night you just snuggled yourself into me. But don't worry, I don't mind. You didn't do it on purpose. Besides, we both slept well, so it's not a problem. Now, would you like to sleep another hour, or would you like to get up too?" I ask her, seeing her calming down just slightly. "I'll wake up now. I know I'd oversleep if I'd go to sleep again," she explains, making me feel a little guilty for waking her up. "I'm sorry for waking you," I tell her, seeing a smile appear on her face. "No worries, now I can finally do my make up good enough for a change." "You don't need make up, though. You're really pretty, Zoe," I tell her, making her shrug. "I just woke up, how can you tell me I'm pretty with a straight face?" "Because it's simply true," I answer without a second thought. "No, I'm not. I'm ugly. End of story. I live in this body, I see every flaw. Every little thing that's ugly about me. I see how my stomach looks every time I look in the mirror. I see my face without make up every day. I see how my chin looks when I look down at my reflection. I can see how my arms sag when I hold them up. I can see how my thighs jiggle when I walk or run and how they expand when I sit down. I can see how my acne looks when I wash my face. I see my hair first thing in the morning. I see how my cheeks puff when I smile and my stretch marks when I sit down," she explains, making me realise just how insecure she is about her body. "I know it's not easy, boys see their flaws to. You're so insecure, but I can tell you that I'm telling the truth. You're absolutely beautiful, inside and out. I promise you that I'll do anything I can to make you feel like the gorgeous person you are, I don't care how long it takes. Look, I really need to go to work in like 45 minutes, so let's have some breakfast, okay? What do you fancy?" I look in her eyes. "And your cheeks look even better when you smile, your smile is your best look," I add, seeing her face turn a little red. We get up and go to the kitchen, deciding we'll bake some eggs for breakfast. I walk towards my phone and put some music on. The first song immediately makes me dance.

The song 👇🏻

I dance around the kitchen and mouth the words to the song. Zoe stands at the stove, gently swaying her hips while baking the eggs. She looks at me with a big smile on her face. I walk up to her and help her get breakfast ready before we sit down at the dining table and make small talk while eating. I eat fast to make sure I have enough time to get ready and leave for work. When I look at the time, my eyes widen and I stand up and run to my room, taking the clothes I already put on my bed. I rush into the bathroom and get dressed, splashing some cold water in my face to wash it a little. I also brush my teeth and ruffle through my hair a little to make it look a little bit decent. I go back into the kitchen and take the food I prepared to take with me for lunch. Suddenly, I'm turned around by Zoe and put down on a chair. Before I can ask what she's doing, she runs her hands through my hair and mumbles:''You can't go outside like this, it looks like you just woke up, which you did, but they don't need to know that!'' I chuckle and look up at her, trying to only move my eyes so she can do my hair as she pleases. After a few minutes, she steps back and checks if it's good enough, before nodding. She searches for my eyes, that are already on hers. When our eyes meet, she smiles and says:''Now you can go to work!'' I laugh and stand up. ''Thanks,'' I say, smiling brightly at her before walking towards the hallway, putting my coat and shoes on and leaving for work after I took my bag.