CHAPTER EIGHTEEN; Familiar Silence
896 Words
The balcony door slid open with a soft click.
Davi didn't turn immediately.
She assumed Henry had forgotten something.
"You came back already?"
No answer.
Instead...
Footsteps.
Slow.
Unhurried.
She glanced over her shoulder.
Her words caught in her throat.
"...Oh."
Ethan stood a few feet away, one hand tucked into the pocket of his hoodie.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly.
"I didn't know you were out here."
For a second, neither of them moved.
"You can stay," Davi said, stepping slightly to one side.
"If you don't mind."
"I don't."
He walked over, leaving enough space between them that neither felt crowded.
For a while...
Neither of them spoke.
The street below was almost empty now.
A cool breeze stirred the leaves of the trees lining the road.
Somewhere in the distance, a motorcycle passed before the neighbourhood settled into silence again.
Ethan rested his forearms on the railing.
"I like it out here."
Davi smiled faintly.
"So do I."
Another pause.
Unlike most silences...
This one didn't demand to be filled.
"You always come here?" Ethan asked.
She nodded.
"When I need to think."
"Or when you don't want to?"
She looked at him, surprised.
"...Both."
He smiled to himself.
"I figured."
"You did?"
"You don't look like someone who's trying to get away from people."
He looked out toward the quiet street.
"You look like someone who just likes quiet."
Davi stared at him for a moment.
Nobody had ever explained her that simply before.
Not even she could have put it into words that well.
"I guess..."
She let out a small laugh.
"...that's true."
"I know the feeling."
"You do?"
"My mum used to think I hated meeting new people."
"But you didn't?"
"I was just... slow."
He searched for the right word.
"It took me time to feel comfortable."
Davi looked back toward the street.
"Me too."
A comfortable silence settled over them again.
This time...
It felt lighter.
Inside the house...
Aya came downstairs carrying an extra blanket.
She frowned.
"Davi?"
No answer.
She walked into the living room.
"Henry, where's your sister?"
Henry looked away from the television.
"Balcony."
Aya nodded.
"I'll go get—"
She stopped.
Through the glass door she could see two figures standing side by side.
Neither of them was talking.
Neither of them seemed uncomfortable.
They were simply...
Existing.
Aya smiled to herself.
"Nope."
Henry raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Nothing."
She turned around.
"They'll come back."
Outside...
Ethan noticed the faint steam rising from Davi's mug.
"Still warm?"
"Barely."
"You drink hot chocolate really slowly."
She looked down at the mug.
"I've never noticed."
"I have."
She blinked.
"You have?"
He realized what he'd said.
"...Tonight."
He cleared his throat.
"I meant tonight."
"Oh."
For some reason...
That tiny correction made something flutter inside her chest.
She wrapped both hands around the mug a little tighter.
Why was she suddenly so aware of him?
The breeze shifted.
A loose strand of her hair fell across her face.
She reached to move it...
But the mug slipped slightly in her hand.
"Oh—"
Before it could fall...
Ethan caught it.
His hand closed around the handle.
Her fingers were still there.
For one brief second...
Their hands touched.
Warm.
Close.
Neither of them moved.
Davi's heartbeat stumbled.
The world around her seemed strangely distant.
She became painfully aware of how close he was standing.
The faint scent of soap.
The tiny scar near his wrist.
The quiet rise and fall of his breathing.
Her thoughts blurred together.
Why...
Why was her heart beating this fast?
Ethan slowly let go of the mug.
"You almost dropped it."
"I..."
She swallowed.
"Yeah."
"I'm glad you didn't."
"So am I."
She looked away first.
Not because she wanted to...
Because she suddenly couldn't think straight.
Ethan watched her carefully.
The breeze lifted her hair again.
For a split second...
Something in his chest tightened.
Without warning...
A memory surfaced.
A little salon.
Bright walls.
The smell of shampoo.
A little girl sitting cross-legged with a colouring book.
"You don't have to talk if you don't want to."
She'd smiled as she pushed the blue pencil toward him.
"We can just colour."
He remembered how relieved he'd felt.
She hadn't tried to force him to speak.
She'd simply made room for him.
The memory disappeared as quickly as it had come.
Ethan looked at Davi again.
She was still staring at the street, completely unaware of the storm of memories in his mind.
"So that's why..." he thought.
It had never been just familiarity.
She had been the first person who made him feel like being quiet wasn't something that needed fixing.
And somehow...
Even now...
Standing beside her felt exactly the same.
Comfortable.
Safe.
Like coming home.
He smiled to himself.
A real one this time.
Davi glanced sideways.
"What?"
He shook his head.
"Nothing."
She narrowed her eyes slightly.
"You're smiling."
"Am I?"
"A little."
"I guess I am."
She smiled too.
Neither of them noticed the balcony curtain shift ever so slightly.
Inside...
Aya quietly let it fall back into place.
She looked at Henry, who was half-asleep on the sofa.
Then back toward the balcony.
A tiny smile tugged at her lips.
"...Finally," she whispered.
Not because anything had happened.
But because, for the first time...
It looked like something just might.
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