Loving a Ghost Chapter 1

"Ethan, what are you trying to say?"

"I'm sorry, Chloe. You're not the one I love. You were just... standing in for her."

"Ethan... look at me. Say that again."

Ethan and I grew up together, practically inseparable. But somewhere along the line, it felt like he’d lived a whole separate life I knew nothing about.

Getting together felt natural, almost inevitable. I just couldn’t pinpoint when things started to go wrong.

* * *

Ethan was always that really cool, aloof guy. I knew that much.

Until the day he stood under my dorm window, holding a massive bouquet of roses, shouting that he liked me.

I asked him what he liked about me.

Ethan listed off a ton of my good qualities, like he was taking an exam, his answers earnest and detailed.

Then, flushed with excitement, he pulled a slightly clumsy-looking handmade bracelet from his pocket and asked, nervously, if I’d be his girlfriend.

I smiled and said yes. He hugged me, ecstatic, like a little kid.

He told me he’d made the bracelet himself, just for me.

My friends teased me later, "Wow, Chloe! Look at you, turning the campus heartthrob into a total softie!"

I just gave a polite little laugh. Deep down, I knew he was always meant to be bright and open like this.