The Donut Shop ✔️

'E' Stands for 'Ethan'

The day of the dance approached as swift as a cheetah, and Mara and Tweed had been coaxing Ethan to come. They hadn't convinced him. This left them with one option: kidnapping.

Tweed texted Hana to let them in, and she winked at them as they padded over to Ethan's desk in his room. His back was turned to them as he worked on corrections for the chemistry test they had taken a few days ago.

Mara grabbed his legs while Tweed grabbed his torso. Ethan, surprised, threw off his earbuds and looked at them with wide, surprised eyes. Because they were wearing ski masks, he didn't recognize them.

"Help!" he shouted. "Hana! Mom!" 

Ethan's mother was also in on the kidnapping, even going so far as to buy him the outfit for the dance and give it to Tweed and Mara.

"Stop struggling. It won't help you," Tweed told him as they began to carry him out the door, to the car, his arms and legs like noodles, flailing wildly. They managed to make it to the car and flung him inside when he seemed to recognize Tweed's voice.

"Tweed?" he called out, shocked, and Tweed peeled off his mask to reveal a huge, entertained grin.

"Hey, E, how's it going?" he asked his friend nonchalantly. 

Annoyed, Mara also pulled off her mask. "I thought we were going to keep these on until we convinced him to get dressed," she complained, and Tweed's eyebrow shot up like a rocket.

"I also thought that we were going to threaten to dump his body in a lake unless he danced, but we all don't get what we want," Tweed said. While they were bickering amongst themselves, Ethan took the liberty to start slowly backing into the car, to the other door in the backseat.

As he managed to lay his hand on the door, he flung it open, toppled out, and began running down the street, the couple calling after him, frantically waving their arms.

He didn't know exactly where he was going, but his feet were picking him up and carrying him where they were meant to be, which was out of the street of suburbia and down toward the town square, toward Sol Bakery.

Panting loudly, he shivered against the chilly November night air as it brushed against his bare skin. He was clad only in basketball shorts, despite never playing basketball, and a shirt with a periodic table pun. 

Ethan slowed as he neared the bakery, catching the building in his line of sight, completely stopping in front. Breathing heavily, he gazed up at the building with a wistful longing for the place to be alive again.

"Ethan!" he heard a distant voice call him, but he didn't look up until Tweed's hand rested on his shoulder, and Mara scooped him into a side hug.

"I know what you guys are thinking..."

"Ethan," Tweed called his name, continuing to stare at the building.

"But you're wrong. I've moved on from the bakery."

"Ethan, look," he ordered again.

"And it hurt a ton when it closed."

"Ethan, snap out of it and look!" Mara ordered and forced his head up to take a closer look at the building. In shock, Ethan observed that the sun windows were visible and there was no longer a fence of boards surrounding the building. There was a light on, deep within the building.

Without waiting for another word or action to be taken, Ethan flung the door open and darted inside, looking around the place in astonishment. Instead of the dirty white brick painted sloppily, the walls were completely painted over in a fresh white coat. One of the walls that contained family photos was completely blank. Even though the place was empty, it still reminded him of the first time he had ever entered this silly bakery.