Chapter 24: Chapter 24

Austin outstretched his hand towards Ethan and hesitating; Ethan shook his hand and gave me a confused look.

“We used to go to the same school when I used to live in Germany,” I explained.

Austin nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, we were quite close.”

I smiled at Austin. He stilled looked the same; his messy, soft hair covered his forehead and the dimple on his right cheek was deeper than before. I bet the ladies were swooning over him; he’s got the brains and the looks. Austin was more towards the gullible, cute side and I had pulled a few pranks on him in school a few years ago.

“What are you doing here?” I asked again, still surprised.

“I’m here as an exchange student for about a month,” he replied.

“Wow! That’s great!” I exclaimed, grinning.

“Totally. A whole month away from my parents, that’s heaven,” he stated with a smirk.

I sighed. “Are they still treating you like you’re ten?”

He nodded, annoyed.

Laughing, my eyes landed on Ethan and I noticed he seemed a bit uncomfortable. He kept looking around awkwardly; he looked as if he was waiting for Austin to leave. I don’t blame him though; if Ethan had come across an old friend and started reminiscing with her, I would feel unwanted and awkward too.

“Hey, you want to dance?” Austin asked suddenly.

“I-uh-um-” I stuttered, looking at Ethan, who didn’t seem very happy about the idea.

Noticing my hesitation, Austin said, “Am I interrupting something?”

“Well-uh-I’m actually on a date with Ethan,” I explained, giving Ethan a quick smile.

“But it’s a dance, I’m sure Ethan wouldn’t mind,” he responded, shrugging. “Would you, Ethan?” he asked, turning to Ethan with raised eyebrows.

“No, no, of course not,” Ethan muttered, forcing a smile on his perfectly shaped face. I couldn’t help but notice how adorable he looked jealous and felt a small smirk form on my face.

“Great!” Austin exclaimed. He clearly didn’t see that Ethan did have a problem with this and grabbed my hand as he pulled me towards the dance floor. I looked over my shoulder to take a look at Ethan. He shoved one of his hands in his pocket and raised the cup he was holding sarcastically as if to say ‘have fun.’ I gave him an apologetic smile but he ignored it, turning towards the counter to sit.

Reaching the dance floor, Austin and I managed to squeeze in the crowd. We started swaying to the beat.

“So, how’s Germany?” I asked, yelling over the loud music.

“It’s pretty good, still the same,” he yelled back, shrugging.

I nodded.

“You’ve changed a lot in the past few years,” he remarked.

I frowned. Moving closer to him, so I didn’t have to yell, I asked, “What do you mean?”

“You’re hotter and prettier. And of course, your dressing style is much better,” he said, flashing me a smile.

“Really?” I asked, surprised.

“Yup,” he replied, nodding.

“How?” I asked, feeling myself grow curious.

“Well, for starters, you never wore heels; you were more into converse and tennis shoes. And you loved wearing jeans, shorts and just plain tee shirts with probably a jacket. And your hair! You used to hate keeping it down,” he explained, giving me a shrug.

My eyebrows shot up instantly as my mouth parted in shock. He just made me sound like a bit girlier version of Erica. Did I really change this much over the past years? But how did I not notice any of this?

I frowned. “How do you remember so much about me?” I asked and then gasped. “Stalker!”

He laughed, shaking his head. “I don’t mind admitting this now. I was crushing on you.”

I let that process in my mind for a while. But he never left any hints of his crush on me. We were always just friends who exchanged occasional nods walking down the hallway, talked in mutual classes and sometimes in break. Though, despite the fact that we were never super close, it was fun playing pranks on him and just having those little talks.

“W-what do you mean by ‘I don’t mind admitting this now?’” I asked, suddenly feeling the environment around me turn weird.

“Well, we haven’t talked to each other in years plus we live in different countries. I don’t see space for a relationship between us,” he said casually. “Besides, I’ve moved on.”

I sighed, feeling a bit relaxed. “I guess that sounds good.”

He nodded, giving me a cute smile.

We continued dancing while talking about the old days and gossiping about our ex-classmates. After talking for what seemed like hours, silence fell between us. I gasped, realizing I had been dancing with Austin for long and that Ethan was waiting for me.

“How long have we been dancing for?” I asked quickly.

“For about an hour,” he said, glancing at his watch.

My eyes widened and I gasped again. “I’m sorry but I have to go. It was great meeting you though.”

“Hey, wait,” he said, clasping my wrist and turning me to face him. “At least give me your number. Maybe we can meet up before I leave.”

“I’ll find you on Facebook and send it to you,” I said in a hurry.

He pulled me in for a hug and I sighed. After separating from Austin, I started walking as fast as I could in search of Ethan. After searching a lot, I realized that I could have just called him. Rolling my eyes, I dialed his number and waited for him to answer.

“Yes?” he asked, a bit harshly.

“Um, where are you?” I asked.

“Home,” he replied casually.

“Home?!” I exclaimed, practically screaming into his ear.

“Yes,” he replied sternly.

“But why?” I asked, confused.

“I got tired of waiting,” he said. “Besides, you seemed like you were having fun.”

“I’m sorry! We met after years-” I tried to explain over the loud music.

“Exactly. So, it’s okay with me if you want to spend time with your precious friend on our date,” he said sarcastically.

I sighed through my nose, frustrated. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he replied.

“How am I supposed to get home?” I asked in hopes that he would come pick me up and maybe, I could spend some time with him and make him forgive me.

“Austin could drop you,” he said bitterly and hung up on me.

I stared at my phone with my mouth wide open in shock.  Okay, why was he making such a big deal out of this? No one stopped him from telling Austin to back off. Honestly, Ethan was being absolutely immature. We were just dancing and talking! All he had to do was come over to us and tell Austin that he would like to get back on our date.

Frowning, I left the obnoxious party and walked down the lonely street in hopes of finding a cab.

*

Ethan’s POV

I removed my jacket and threw it on the chair next to me. Sitting down in my balcony, I frowned recalling Ash dance with Austin. The absolutely perfect day for her to catch up with her long lost friend had to be on our date which, by the way, was already ruined. At first, everything seemed alright; they were just dancing and talking but for some reason, Ash felt the need to be closer to him. And the way she was beaming at him. My frown deepened. What’s worse is that she seemed to be having a better time in those few minutes than she did throughout our date. To be honest, Austin’s not the kind of guy who I want Ash to hang out. He seemed sweet on the outside but his intentions were definitely not right.

I screwed up big time.

First, almost setting her house on fire. Then, making her cook food on the date I was meant to make her feel special. Then, taking her to that dumb party with drunk bimbos and loud music.

This day could not get any worse.

“Back so early? Did Ash get bored of you and asked you to leave?” I heard someone say.

I turned to see Erica standing in her balcony, which was one balcony away from mine.

And it just got worse.

“Leave me alone, Erica,” I groaned.

She laughed. “Was it really that bad?”

I chose to not answer that.

“Hey, I didn’t have the best day, either,” she said.

I rolled my eyes. Why was she telling me? It’s not like I care.

“Finding out that my best friend has a thing for my brother and that she is going out with him is just yuck,” she said, pretending she was about to puke.

I let out a frustrated sigh. “And you are telling me this because?”

I saw her silhouette shrug.

“Wait, she has ‘a thing’ for me?” I asked, suddenly interested.

“Isn’t it obvious?” she replied. I couldn’t see her facial expressions but I was positive that she rolled her eyes.

“I don’t know,” I said, shrugging.

“Well, then never mind,” she said slowly. “I’m off to bed, see you loser.”

“Wait-”

“Later,” she cut me off and walked into her room.

I rolled my eyes.

Chicks- the most confusing creatures on this planet earth. Why couldn’t there just be a simple manual which listed out all the do’s and don’ts?

I heard the door to my room open.

“Erica, leave me alone,” I whined, realizing that mom and dad were asleep and the only person awake was Erica.

When she didn’t reply, I turned to look at her but saw Ash standing in my doorway instead.

“Do you know how hard it is to find a cab at this hour?” she complained, walking towards me. “Not to mention, how scary it is.”

She walked towards me and plopped down, adjusting her dress.

I rolled my eyes. “ No one asked you to come in a cab.”

“What was I supposed to do? Walk all the way back here?”she said sarcastically.

“I thought Austin was going to drop you,” I replied, emphasizing on ‘Austin.’

“Well, you thought wrong,” she snapped and then sighed. “Look, I’m sorry. We met after ages and I just didn’t realize that time flew by. Think about it, if you met any one of your old friend’s, you would probably end up doing the same thing.”

I sighed. I knew she was right in a way. But the fact that our first was such a disaster makes me want to punch a wall. I was going to forgive her but I wanted to see how long she would apologize for and what she would do.

She got up to her knees and rested her arm on my shoulder, leaning forward to look at me.

She tapped my nose with her finger twice. “Aw, ish shomeone a wittle angwy?”

I felt the corners of my mouth lift up. Man, she sounds so adorable. You know when you find the girl who seems perfect in every way? She has a little bit of everything – the hotness, the cuteness, the understanding. I glanced at her from the corner of my eye and saw her smirk.

“I’m showy,” she continued with a fake pout and wide eyes.

I chuckled and saw her relax and laugh too. Despite wanting to, I pinched her nose, “Do you know you’re really cute?”

She shrugged proudly and laughed. “I’ve been told so.”

“Of course,” I replied. I had gotten used to this. She would always find a good comeback for my compliments and pick up lines. She never accepted them easily like every other girl would. Though, I would often catch her blushing but she never really said that she liked what I said.

Clasping my hand she got up and pulled me up with her. She picked up my jacket from the chair and passed it to me.

I gave her a confused look and asked, “Are we going somewhere?”

“Yup,” she said, letting the ‘p’ pop and intertwining our hands.

“Where?” I asked.

“To finish our date, of course,” she said like it was the most obvious thing.

A/N: Heyo! So, how was the chapter? Like it? Like Austin? :P Oh! Another chapter with Ethan's POV, if you guys like his POV, please let me know in the comments so that I can try including more of his POVs. :D

Please comment and vote! :D Oh and if you guys like the way I write, please go ahead and follow me because I will be writing more books(hopefully) and you'll get regular updates of when I do so if you follow me :)

OH!! I casted all the characters! :D It's on the right-hand side, so let me know what you think about the cast, if you have any of your own suggestions, don't hesitate to leave them below! :D And for the ones who are on reading on the wattpad app and can't see, here's the cast :)

Ashley - Ashley Greene

Ethan- Josh Hutcherson

Erica- Margo Harshman

Abby- Ashley Benson

Michael - Zac Efron

Jared- Logan Lerman

Chris- Alex Pettyfer

Rachel- Victoria Justice

Austin- Lucas Till

Isabelle Mathews (Ashley's mom)-  Laura Leighton

Yup, that's all. Byee! Love you guys! <3