I look around the room. The TV is on, showing the weather, but the volume is low. I don’t see Ethan, but then the bathroom door opens, and Ethan emerges in an all-black outfit, his blond hair damp, and fresh eyeliner around his eyes. His gaze shifts over to me before he goes over to the table and grabs a water.
“Morning,” I say.
“Morning,” he mutters, putting on his coat. He grabs his cigarettes and lighter from the table and heads outside.
I rub my eyes and turn my attention to the TV. It looks like there’s still more snow heading this way. I’m a little afraid to open the curtains to see what it looks like outside.
While Ethan’s gone, I take the opportunity to get dressed and brush my teeth. By the time he comes back inside, I’m making coffee in the little coffee maker.
“Still snowing?” I ask him.
He nods, tossing his pack of cigs and lighter on the table.
“Want some coffee?” I offer him a Styrofoam cup. “I don’t know how you take it. If you like cream or sugar.”
He frowns at the cup. “That’s bad for the environment.”
I frown at him. “Coffee’s bad for the environment?”
He takes the cup from me and digs around in one of the totes. “The cup is made from polystyrene. Polystyrene waste is really toxic, and plus, the cups take five hundred years to break down.” He takes out a metal travel mug and pours the coffee in it. “And when they do they just put chemicals into the ground and water.” He takes a small sip. “Benzene and ethylene. Kills the fish and wildlife.”
“Oh.” I look down at the cup in my hand. “I mean, we’re driving a car on a really long road trip, plus those cups of noodles are made of foam, so…”
“So give me a break,” Ethan snaps snatching the foam cup from my hand, pouring it into another metal travel mug, and handing it to me. He takes both the empty foam cups into the bathroom. I follow him and watch him clean them out in the sink. He glances at me. “It’s not like there’s electric cars or hydrogen powered cars all over the place. Not yet anyway. And definitely not at the rental places.” He dries out the cups and puts them back on the table. “Every little bit helps, though.”
“I see.”
He sits down at the table and watches the TV, drinking from the metal mug. I sit across from him and do the same.
“I guess I should call my parents,” he says after a few minutes. “It looks like it’s going to snow some more.”
“Yeah.” I watch the scary blue-and-white blob blip across the radar, ominously indicating more precipitation. “You want some privacy, or…?”
“I don’t care.” He goes over to the phone and gets out a calling card.
While he’s doing that, I decide to prepare us to stay another night here. So, I make the bed, pick up the towels from the bathroom, and try to figure out a way to boil some water.
Ethan hangs up the phone and sits down in front of the TV. He starts flipping through the channels.
“Were they worried?” I ask him.
He shrugs. “Yeah, a little, I guess.” He pauses. “I didn’t tell them what happened. Like with the ashes or that old lady or anything.” He looks over at me. “Please don’t tell Gina or anyone. Please?”
“I won’t, Ethan. I promise.”
He turns back to the TV, and I turn back to the Cup O Noodles.
“Are you hungry?” I ask him.
He shrugs.
“I was going to make us some of these, but I don’t know how to get boiling water in here.”
Ethan sighs and gets up. He grabs the small coffee pot and takes it into the bathroom, where I hear him rinsing it out in the sink, then he comes back in with it full of water. He pours the water into the coffee pot, takes out the coffee filter, and turns it on. “The hot water will go into the pot then you can just pour it into the cup.”
“Oh wow,” I say. “I wouldn’t have thought of that. Thanks.”
He sits back in front of the TV. “Did it all the time in the dorms my freshman year.”
