Alps ✰ Ethma

THIRTY FIVE

Emma Pov.

    “There shouldn't even be such a thing.” I scoffed, letting out a small laugh as Ethan gazed lovingly next to me down at his highly-stacked cone of tan colored soft serve.

    “The fuck do you mean?! Pancake flavored ice cream is the best.” Ethan stated proudly, gesturing around with his odd-flavored cone. I raised my eyebrows sarcastically & slowly brought my eyes down to my own almond flavored soft serve. “That stuff,” Ethan started & paused for a moment to take a bite of his ice cream, “is disgusting.” He pointed a finger down at my own custard & I pointed a glare at him.

    “It is not! It’s healthy.” I stated, licking the almond ice cream intentionally.

    “Firstly, ice cream isn’t supposed to be healthy. And secondly, you’re skinnier than any other girl I’ve ever met...I’m pretty sure you could afford to have some sugar.” He announced, cocking an eyebrow questioningly. I shrugged.

    “I’m not that skinny.” I replied quietly, taking a bite out of the soft serve, causing the frozen custard to melt in my mouth. Ethan paused his actions above me, leaving his mouth slightly open & his ice cream hanging in the air. His eyes dropped down to make contact with mine.

    “Emma,” His tone sounded serious & my eyes dropped down to the cracked tar that the ice cream parlor was parked upon, “your body is fucking beautiful.” My heart swelled as I brought my gaze back up to his softened eyes, a calming dark green staring back. Memories swarmed my thoughts of back when those dark eyes were narrowed at me as he was body shaming me rather than complimenting me. I exhaled through my nose, holding an unfocused eye contact with the red bench that was near us as I licked my ice cream slowly. Suddenly a small piece of waffle cone was tossed in front of me, landing in the waste bin that sat to my left. I looked to Ethan in disbelief, seeing his empty hands.

    “You finished yours already?!” I exclaimed & he let out a small chuckle, wiping his hands on his black ripped jeans. He then leaned back against the pole that belonged to the large sign advertising the small ice cream parlor. A shrug danced along his shoulders.

    “Gray and I used to have competitions about who could finish their ice cream the fastest. I always won of course.” He bragged acutely, his lip curving up into a smirk as he looked off into the distance. I let out a soft laugh, clearly being able to picture what the twins would look like as they scarfed down their ice cream.

    “Of course.” I mocked him & he frowned at me with fake hurt, causing me to smirk at him. I took a small bite of the almond ice cream as a moment of silence passed over us, a warm breeze blowing softly through my hair. I almost jumped when I felt a large & warm hand on the side of my face, breaking through the peaceful air. “Yes?” I asked, sounding small as I looked up at Ethan who was gazing directly into my eyes. His darker eyes flicked almost unnoticeably down to my lips, before moving them back up to my eyes.

    “I wanna know what almond ice cream tastes like.” He mumbled, almost innocently, & my heart rate sped up as he licked his lips. His other free hand moved around to the back of my neck & he tilted my head up slightly as he bent down, leaving his plump lips a hair away from mine but not fully touching.

    “Then find out.” I whispered, my lungs finding it hard to get air passed through them as my breath stayed hitched, scared to move, the anticipation slowly killing me. We had kissed before, but this felt different. All of the times before, it had felt like our lips were full of pure passion & love. Now, in this moment, it felt like a small trickle of lust was traveling throughout my body that was close to Ethan’s warm one.