Got My Mind Set On You - george harrison

After a few days in Morro Bay, Ethan watched as the Smith family packed up and left for home. Part of him was devastated that he hadn't been able to get the courage to talk with Hope. The other part of him was already starting to plan what he would say to her the next year when they came.

His mom had mentioned that their family made this trip every year, so he knew they would be back. He had also started discouraging himself from even trying. He realized that they probably lived quite a ways from there. How would he even be able to build anything with her from a long distance, especially at their age.

He felt that the situation was hopeless. Ironic.

Ethan tried to slyly ask his mom about her and her family. He found her working in her make-shift office.

"Hey, Mom, you said the Smiths come up here every year, right?"

"Yes," she said without looking up at him.

"Um, do they always come in June?" He tried to ask casually.

"Yes, always the second weekend." This time she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. So much for being casual.

"So, do they only stay a few days?" He was skating on thin ice. His mom could usually figure him out and he knew the wheels were turning at that moment.

"Usually, but once in a while they stay a whole week. It's been a long time since they did that. What's going on, son. You sure are curious about them all the sudden."

And there it was. He took a deep breath and sighed, "I don't know, I was just wondering cuz you were so concerned about them earlier." That seemed like a good cover.

She looked at him for a minute, just thinking. He knew she was trying to read his mind, and she usually got it right. But then she let him off the hook. "Okay, well, they've just been coming so long I wanted them to have a nice stay." With that she turned back to her paperwork and sent him on his way.

He had wanted to ask more about them. Like where did they live, exactly how old was Hope (her brother hadn't been that helpful), when did they call to reserve their space... But he didn't.

Instead he went back to their place and called Will to go surfing. That always cleared his head and calmed him down. He figured, after watching Hope drive away for at least a year, he would be spending a ton of time in the water.

********

As predicted, Ethan spent every day that he could in the water. Surfing, working at the campground and on the boat with Will's dad kept him busy all summer. Ethan was glad because every down moment he had was spent thinking about Hope, wondering what he should say to her if he ever got the chance.

The school year started, which was a relief to Ethan. Finally, something else to get his mind off of Hope. He was able to throw himself into his studies, which was a bit unusual for him. He did alright in school but he wasn't one of those book nerds (not his term, and he felt bad even thinking it). This year, however, was another story altogether. His grades were actually up and he seemed to understand the subjects better.

After a few months, he was able to push thoughts of Hope to the back of his mind. They were still there, but they didn't control him as much. He didn't dare say anything to Will about her. He would definitely turn it into his mission to get the two "togther" and Ethan didn't need that kind of pressure.

Will had made good on his promise to stop setting Ethan up with any girl he could. He didn't stop his own playboy ways, however. Ethan wondered how long it would take before he ran out of girls to date. The school wasn't that big.

To be fair to Will, he wasn't that bad. He wasn't really using the girls. He took them out, made a show of their relationship to the whole school, and gave the girl some good creds. He only broke up with them when it got boring, or old. He didn't mess around with them, or try to talk them into doing anything they would regret. He just liked kissing, a lot. Whatever.

It wasn't Ethan's business, and he really didn't want to know about it either. He kept his nose out of Will's love life as much as he could. But he was still a third wheel most of the time.

Melanie became a good friend, well as good a friend as a girl with ulterior motives could be. She hung around with them at lunch and would sometimes go to their baseball games. She was okay. Ethan didn't mind her most of the time, but he found that he would compare her to Hope, a lot.

Whenever she said anything negative about other girls, he found himself thinking that Hope probably wouldn't say anything like that. She had invited he and Will to a party at her house. Ethan noticed how rude she spoke to her mom, and also thought to himself that there was no way Hope would behave like that. He wasn't trying to compare everyone to Hope, but it happened anyway.

The year continued on like that. Ethan worked, studied, practiced with the team, went to a few social events, and thought of Hope all the time. He was actually frustrated at how often she crossed his mind. He couldn't help it, his mind would wander to thoughts of her when he least expected it.

He found that during his sophmore year, he acted like an old soul. He was quiet, studious and conservative in his choices. Most of the guys on the team were partiers. Any excuse to partake in exessive behavior was jumped on. Ethan, on the other hand, shyed away from that. He had an occational drink at parties, it always seemed to be available. But he didn't want to cause problems.

He knew his mom had enough on her plate and didn't need to deal with an alcholic teenage son. He never wanted her to have to bail him out of jail, or pick him up off the bathroom floor. He was protective of her and wanted to avoid anything that would cause her grief. Because of that, he was nicknamed "choir boy". The guys thought he was too much of a goody-goody. He didn't care. It was what he had to do.

Finally it was May. He was turning 16 at the end of the month and planned to get his driver's license as soon as he could. Will had turned 16 in January, so he drove them around a lot. But Ethan wanted to be self-reliant. So he was eager for the freedom that a license would bring.

Ever since he had worked on the fishing boat, he had saved practically every penny. But he didn't have enough yet to buy a car. He was saving for a truck and thought he would have enough money within a year or so. In the back of his mind he thought about taking Hope for a drive up the hill. But then he told himself to cool it, he hadn't even talked to her yet.

His chance was approaching, her family would be there at the beginning of June. He started thinking about what to say to her, then got nervous about it. He had never approached a girl on his own. Will had shoved him over to Melanie and gotten the ball rolling. Any other time he talked with a girl, they had initiated the conversation. He wasn't sure how to start. And he had a feeling that Hope was shy, more so than he was. It would be a difficult conversation for sure.

He decided to start by trying to smile and make eye-contact. Then see where it went from there. That seemed like an easier way to open things up with her.

By June, Ethan was tied up in figurative knots. He was anxious about seeing Hope again, but at the same time excited to see what would happen. On the weekend her family planned to arrive, he told Will he had to help out with his mom and wouldn't be available to hang out. He didn't want to miss an opportunity, or answer Will's questions.

Finally, she showed. They had the same spot, site 30, which Ethan had made sure was spotless. He planned the same strategy of working as close to that site as possible, without being too obvious. He wanted to try to hang out with Brad again, too, and see if he would offer better details into Hope, now that he was a year older.

With all of Ethan's planning, he was struck stupid the moment he saw her again. She was prettier than he remembered. His imagination hadn't done her justice at all.

He stood there, staring like an idiot, when she got out of the family van and started helping unload. As he was there, immobile and mouth hanging open, she looked up and saw him. His hopes shot up that she would smile back at him, until he realized he wasn't smiling. Quickly, he forced a small smile, but then his heart sank as he saw the look on her face. He thought she might be sick. Whoa, not good.

Ethan looked away quickly and beat it out of there. New approach, just hang with the kids in her general area. So he got a few games going with the kids over the next couple of days. When Brad would play, Hope would hang around to watch over him. Ethan wondered where her parents were.

There was a family with two little girls, probably 4 or 5, twins, right next to Hope's site. She would help them play dolls, or draw pictures, whatever they were doing. He could tell she was good with kids, probably did a lot of babysitting. She was just so darn sweet, it made not being able to talk to her that much worse.

Before he knew it, they packed up and left. He had never found the opportunity to talk to her. He tried smiling at her a few more times, but she always seemed to look away nervously. He didn't want to give up, but he realized that it was a lost cause at that point. He felt dejected, but tried to look forward to the next year.

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Author's note

Well...first of all, early update!!! I thought it would be a nice way to celebrate the end of the school year. I will still do another update on Saturday.

And, what did you think? Poor Ethan, right? His journey will be bumpy, for sure. But you already knew that... Anyway, he really learns the meaning of the word patience when it comes to Hope. He really does have to wait. And I just love his reaction when he sees her again 😊

Notes on chapter title - got my mind set on you

Doesn't the title say it all? Ethan really is set on her, and the line in the song "it's gonna take patience, a whole lot of patience and time" is so true for him. Not so much the "spending money" though...

https://youtu.be/ItNsvINsm-4