Emerald Chains

05. Italian

Ethan woke up the next morning to a killer headache. He grunted while thinking about how much he drank last night. He could easily maintain a calm disposition while drunk but his decisions were a bit more clouded than normal. He remembered fondly on the drink choice and napkin that Raelyn sent over. He was pretty sure it was her friend that sent it but he chuckled at the thought of how embarrassed she would be over it.

He had second thoughts about the date today. Not that he wasn't happy about spending more time with her but he promised himself he wouldn't get involved with anyone in his line of work. It was just too dangerous. And what would happen when he went on assignment? Was she just expected to wait for him? He was often on assignments for months at a time. He couldn't ask that of anyone. He decided he would just have to smoothly put her in the friend zone and slowly distance himself from her as he did with everyone else.

Ethan got ready for his date and made sure to dress down to not give off the wrong impression. He put on a pair of dark blue jeans and a white button-down shirt, rolling his shirt up to his elbows as usual. He sent Raelyn a quick text message, letting her know he was on his way then he picked up the keys from the kitchen bench and headed out the door.

It took Ethan 20 minutes to reach Raelyns place. He wasn't too happy about the neighbour he was in. It looked like a normal neighbourhood on the surface but his time on the police force had shown him how much drug and gun violence was prevalent in this area.

He sighed as he got out of the car and walked up the stairs of her apartment. He knocked on the door and waited. A minute later Raelyn pulled open the door as she was just finishing putting on her last white sneaker before standing up straight with a slight smile on her face. She was wearing black jeans and a light pink off the shoulder jumper. Her exposed neckline was just begging Ethan to trail his fingers along her pale white skin and run his hands through her long brown hair that was falling down to her waist. Her soft, plump lips shimmered with beads of moisture which caused his heart to pound faster in his chest.

Who was he kidding? How could he be just friends with that?

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Raelyn had been rushing around trying to get ready quickly after she slept in. She had quite a few drinks last night and was feeling the effects today. The sun was beaming through the curtains in the kitchen and was too bright for her which was causing a killer headache.

She went to the kitchen to grab some water and downed nearly the whole bottle when there was a knock at the door.

"Shit" murmured Raelyn as she grabbed her sneakers while heading for the door. She was just putting on the last of her sneakers as she opened the door.

"Hi Ethan, sorry just give me two seconds" she replied while heading back into the apartment.

"Claire, I'm heading off" she shouted out to the back of the apartment.

"Ok, have fun. Don't do anything I wouldn't do" called out Claire from the bedroom.

Raelyn rolled her eyes at the statement knowing very well that Claire would do pretty much anything. She turned around quickly and almost bumped into Ethan who had let himself inside and was standing in the middle of the living room.

"Oh sorry", Raelyn responded feeling slightly embarrassed at the fact that he heard what Clarie just said. "I- I'll umm, just grab my purse," she stuttered while passing Ethan and accidentally brushing up against him. She inwardly scolded herself for not being able to say two words to Ethan without stuttering.

They headed out to Ethan's car, and he opened the passenger side door for her. It was a nice car she noticed, silver in colour, possibly some sort of sports car but she wasn't too familiar with cars. Ethan headed to the driver's side and slid in.