Three's Company

2.27 | A New Girl & A New Love

A New Girl & A New Love

reveal: [ri-veel]; verb; to make known; disclose; divulge.

Friday, January 20, 2017. Opening night of Parks and Benches.

Ethan knew what he was going to do tonight, and he was stressing just a bit--he was used to being the center of attention on the basketball court, but standing on a stage and singing in front of all his peers was something new.

Plus he knew he had to talk to Nova.

He understood her outburst from two days earlier, and he knew that if he had been in her situation he would have reacted similarly. But she didn't know what had happened just minutes after he left her house Tuesday night.

She didn't know that Scarlet's house was right in between Ethan and Nova's, and that he had stopped there before returning to his own home.

Ethan let the memory of Tuesday night wash over him as he pulled his costume on, remembering every emotion he felt after stepping foot out of Nova's home.

Ethan started his car and backed out of Nova's driveway, his eyes wide and his heart pounding furiously. The naive elation that had accompanied his time with Nova didn't even bother to give him the courtesy of wearing off slowly. Instead, it was gone within an instant as the face of another woman filled his head: Scarlet.

He began to drive and his mind spun out of control. He had options now: he could pretend nothing happened, he could go back to Scarlet and remember the way he had felt tonight as just a distant memory. He could refuse to see Nova again after the musical ended on Sunday, and he could return to the life he had before she flipped it upside down.

But he didn't want that.

So instead, Ethan stopped his car in the Levings' driveway and got out, knocking on the front door with only one goal in mind.

Scarlet answered the door, her hair still curled and makeup still on despite the late hour. She was dressed in only a silk nightgown and long necklace that Ethan had given her for their one-year anniversary.

"Ethan? Aren't you supposed to be practicing lines?"

Ethan shook his head.

"I left. Can I come in?"

Scarlet shrugged.

"I guess so."

Ethan stepped into the house, knowing that he and Scarlet were alone; neither of her parents cars were in the driveway or garage and she was an only child.

"What's wrong?" Scarlet asked, looking him up and down. "Did something happen? Did Nova make a move on you?"

Ethan shook his head.

"We're breaking up."

Scarlet's eyes grew wide as she stared at Ethan.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Ethan replied. "We're breaking up. There's no point in trying to make this thing last longer than it should. We've grown apart, we're different people, and we should accept it before we get so far into this that we're both miserable and spiteful."

"It's a little too late for that, don't you think?" Scarlet exclaimed, "I mean, you're dumping me for another woman!"

"I never said that."

"You didn't have to. It's written all over your face. You just came from Nova's house, Ethan. You're leaving me for a little slut who's been trying to score with you since she first laid eyes on you! Everyone can see it, all my friends have been warning me about this for months. And now it's really happening; you're leaving me for a nobody."

"Stop calling people names like that. Did it ever occur to your that maybe I'm sick of having to deal with you hating everyone around you? That I want to be able to hang out with my friends and go out in groups and actually feel comfortable bringing my girlfriend along? But you hate everyone I love, and that takes a toll eventually." He paused for a moment, "It just took a long time for me to realize that this isn't what I want."

Scarlet shook her head, laughing slightly.

"Have a nice life, Ethan Meek. I don't want to see you again."

And leaving Scarlet's home for the last time, Ethan finally felt free.

<><><>

Nova took a deep breath. The show began in five minutes, and she was finally starting to get nervous.

She knew her lines forwards and backwards, she knew every bit of choreography and every lyric to every solo she had to sing. But she was absolutely terrified of going on stage and having her mind go blank.

The fact that she had just caused someone in a healthy relationship to cheat wasn't exactly helping the nerves either.

"Nova!"

Speak of the devil.

"Nova, before you go onstage, I have to tell you something."

Nova turned around to acknowledge that she had heard Ethan.

"Alright. Talk."

Ethan started smiling from ear to ear, and Nova wasn't exactly sure why.

"Ethan?"

"Right, right." He grabbed her hands in his before continuing. "Nova, I've been trying to tell you this all week, but I ended it. The second I left your house, I ended things with Scarlet. I drove straight to her house and told her that we were done. I'm an idiot for taking so long to realize who I should be with, but I did realize it eventually." His eyes wouldn't let go of Nova's as he spoke. "It's you, Nova. You're the one I'm in love with. I've been in love with you all year, and Tuesday night...it just showed me that I was ready to admit it."

Nova was silent, her eyes wide. She had dreamed of Ethan saying those words to her so many times, in so many situations, but this was the last place she had ever expected a confession to happen.

And yet that was what made it so spectacular.

"You're done with her? You're really done?"

Ethan nodded, his smile growing even wider.

"I'm done with her. I've finally realized where my heart had always lied." He brought her close to him and brushed a strand of hair away from her face. "It's always been you."

The kiss that followed was something of the movies: not the romantic comedies where everyone knows the guy is going to get the girl in the end, but the dramatic romances, where the couple has to fight through obstacle after obstacle and the audience is left wondering if they'll ever get together. It was a kiss that belonged in one of those movies.

But the best part of the entire thing was that it wasn't in one of those movies. It's wasn't part of their lines for the school musical, it wasn't written out on a script.

It was completely, 100%, real.