All too well : coming out

by Isaac Burt and Cadence Larson

The way Britten smiles, the way his eyes shine in the moonlight. His high-pitched laugh and soft
lips… these are all things that had never interested Ethan before. He felt something he had
never expected from his girlfriend, Jane. Ethan and Jane have been together for two and a half
years now. Ethan is decidedly the most popular guy at Staten High, along with being the star
track runner. At the same time, Jane remains captain of their volleyball team. The two quickly
became the center of attention alongside Jane's friend Ashton, Staten High's Star quarterback.
We're unstoppable, the three of them together, we're invincible, or so Ethan thought. Only four
short months ago, a senior transfer moved into 143 Fallon Street, which just happened to be
next door to his own home. He would later find out that his charming neighbor was called
Britten. When his brown eyes landed on Britten's wavy chestnut hair and forest green eyes, he
knew they had a connection. But it was strange because Ethan had never felt this way. That is
about a guy. Ethan sat down on his bed, looking for a distraction from his thoughts; he started
scrolling through Instagram. After a long practice, he only wanted to lie down and relax. Ashe's
scrolling, he notices a name under the Suggested tab, Brittens.vibe03, aka Britten Prescott.
After hovering his thumb over the "follow" button, Ethan decided to give in to his desires. As he
waits to see if Britten will follow him back, he gets a text from his mom saying, "Hey hun, I won't
be home till late tonight, so it's just going to be you. I have To stay over, and we are short staff .”
Ethan has become used to this since his dad passed and his brother Ben left for college. After a
minute, he replies, “ok, love you.” After a few minutes, he goes to sit his phone down, and he
notices a notification. "Britten's.vibe03 has requested you to follow me." Ethan decides to text
Britten and sees if he wants to come over. Ethan says, "Hey man, I know we never really talked,
but you wanna hang out??" Ethan sends the message and waits for a reply. Britten was sitting
in his room when he saw his phone light up. Britten then picks it up and opens Instagram to see
a text from the boy he thinks is the cutest thing in the world. He had asked him to hang out.
Knowing Ethan has a girlfriend, Britten thinks about it for a minute before texting back, "Hey
Ethan, sure I'll be over shortly!" replied Britten. Ethan reads this message and smiles. Twenty
minutes passed, and Ethan was sitting down watching the tv when he heard a knock on the
door. He gets up to open the door, and there's Britten with that cute smile and those sparkling
eyes. After not so subtly staring at him, Ethan tells him to come in and sit. He offers him a drink,
and Britten replies, "No, thank you, I'm good." The two take a seat, and Ethan asks, "So what do
you want to do? I have a pizza on the way; order it before you get here." Britten replies, "Wanna
watch the game?" Ethan responds with, "Yeah!" Ethan turns the channel to the Notre Dame
game. As they sit and watch the TV, the pizza guy knocks at the door. Britten says he'll get it,
but Ethan beats him and opens the door. The pizza guy hands him the pizza, and Britten says
thank you and shuts the door. He takes

It went back to the living room. When the game ends, Ethan gets up to get a drink, asks Britten
if he wants anything, and says water. They both make their way to the kitchen, and as they
stand there, Britten looks into Ethan's eyes. He can't help it, and the urge is too strong. He leans
in And kisses him. Not knowing Britten's gay, Ethan was surprised by this but couldn't help but
kiss back. Britten realizes what he just did and apologizes; Ethan tells him, "It's all good, but you
know I have a girlfriend, right?" Britten, feeling guilty, runs back home. Later, Ethan is sitting in
his room thinking about what happened with Britain earlier that night. He feels a feeling he never
felt before. The next day Britten walks into his new study hall; as he sits down, he sees the
person sitting next to him is Jane, Ethan's girlfriend. Britten starts to get nervous and uneasy.
The rest of the class period, Jane notices this and decides to talk to Ethan during lunch as
Ethan and Jane sit at the lunch table. Jane says hey babe, I was in class sitting next to Britten
earlier and realized he seemed uneasy. Do you know if he is ok?
Knowing what happened that night before, Ethan said I don't know. After hearing that, Ethan
starts thinking about the night before when Britten kissed him. He loves Jane, but there was
something about that kiss that Nathan knew he had never felt. Later that night, Ethan decided to
text his brother Ben to see what he would say about everything. Ethan texts hey, ben, can we
talk? An hour passes before Ben wakes up. Ethan said so last night. I was hanging with the guy
next door before he left, and out of nowhere kissed me. I know he is gay, but it took me by
surprise because lately, I felt a little different around him, and that kiss made it worse jane came
to me today during lunch and said he was uneasy and nervous during a class they had together.
I acted as if nothing had happened and brushed it off. What should I do? Ben replies, "we all
have sexual feelings; we can't explain what happened last night and what you think you feel
could mean nothing by me saying that you not telling Jane about what happened and holding it
from her might eat you up inside. I know you don't want to ruin anything but be honest with her
to tell her the truth. She will understand it is not like you did anything wrong; text her and tell her
what happened; I'm sure she will be ok with it. Ethan replies, "I know, but I'm scared to do it, and
I'll tell her to thank you. Ben texts back your welcome. Later that night, Jane comes over to
watch a movie with Ethan. Ethan says jane, we need to talk about it earlier when you asked me
why Britten was so uneasy. Jane looked with what seemed to be a sad, maybe even an angered
look but said ok, what up Ethan explained that Britten was over last night and that before he left,
Britten kissed him. That is why Britten was so uneasy during their classes and how Ethan felt
about it. Jane didn't know how to react. She gets her thing and goes home, turns off her phone,
and everything. Ethan later that night texts Jane hey babe, I hope you ok you didn't say anything
and just left. Text me when you get this. Two days go by, and Ethan does not hear from jane. He
gets worried, so he goes over to her and knocks on the door. Jane's mom answers hello,
Mrs.miller. Is Jane home? She says yes and asks if Ethan wants to come in. He says yes he
walks up to Jane.

Room and knock on the door, walk in, and say, "Hey," she looks at Ethan and says, "Hey, what
are you doing here? Ethan says I came to check on you. I've been worried about you. She then
looks over at Ethan and kisses him. She sits him down and explains why she has not texted
back. She needs time to process what was said. She explains she loves Ethan and thanks him
for telling her; Ethan leaves jane's house and goes home thinking about Britten. Britten sits in
his room playing his game. He looks out at the boy he has a crush on, knowing he can't have
him. He runs outside to see if Ethan wants to hang Ethan, then invites him over.
Ethan and Brittan sit silently watching the game till Ethan looks over at Brittan and says hey,
about the other night,
When you kissed me, it took me by surprise. I say it because I've always thought I had a crush
on you. I did not know that feeling until the night you kissed me. I know I'm with jane but nothing
about how I feel jane could ever understand. I love her, but I don't think I love her like that. He
leans in and kisses Brittan Brittan kisses him back. The top of them would have never believed
that would happen. In the middle of it, when Jane walks in, she drops her stuff and starts crying
at the sight of what she had just witnessed as Brittan runs out of the house and leaves, looking
at a crying jane. Jane said how you could and stormed out. That was the last Ethan had ever
seen jane. Four weeks later, Ethan and Britten are now together, sitting there watching a movie,
when suddenly they hear a knock at the door. It's jane's mom Lauran. She came to drop off
some of his things and what jane wanted him to have
Along with a note, jane's mom looks upset at seeing the sight of Ethan, hugs him, and leaves.
Later that night, Ethan reads the letter from jane that reads.

Dear Ethan,
I will forever love you. You were my beating heart, my world. Everything that happened when we
dated, maybe me, feels whole. The day I walked in on you in Brittan was the hardest thing ever
after losing my dad. If you're reading this now, I will be long gone. Just know that I truly loved
and none of what has happened, and you will see in the come weeks, is your fault goodbye,
Ethan.
Jane

Jane kills herself after writing that letter to Ethan Ethan, and their last memory, with jane, forever
haunts Britten. Five years had passed, and Ethan and Britten were now married and lived
together and had a little girl named jane and a son named Robert. Jane's memory forever lives
on in the daughter. They will never forget the girl they once knew.