Chapter 27: Chapter 27

“I swear these bags have gotten heavier,” Ethan complained.

I giggled as he carried my suitcase down the stairs with ease. It was obvious that the suitcase wasn’t heavy at all, he just wanted attention.

“And that’s coming from someone who considers himself muscular,” Erica piped in.

Ethan paused to shoot Erica a glare. I gave him a light push on his shoulder so that he would continue walking instead of pulling an argument with Erica. He dropped the suitcase at the bottom of the stairs and rolled it out the door.

I walked towards Mrs. Wilson with a smile. “Thanks a lot for letting me stay here. It’s very-”

“Oh, don’t be so formal,” she cut me off with a laugh and gave me a hug.

After hugging her, I walked out of the door followed by Erica.

“Great,” Erica mumbled sarcastically as we neared the car Ethan was loading with my bags. “Now I’m stuck with Ethan again. And there’s no one to back me up with his pointless arguments.”

I laughed. “You know I never really backed you up.”

“Well, at least you laughed at my comebacks,” she grumbled. “Which, by the way, are brilliant.”

“Totally,” I replied with a hint of sarcasm which Erica didn’t notice luckily.

“Ready to go?” Ethan asked once we were next to him.

I nodded with a closed-mouth smile.

“You’re not coming, are you?” Ethan questioned Erica.

“No, I’m good. I’d rather not tag along in a drive with the two of you being all lovey  dovey to each other,” she said with a frown.

“Hey! We are not one of those mushy couples,” I protested.

“Yes, you are,” Erica replied.

“No!” I argued back.

“Whatever,” she said, dropping it. “See you in school tomorrow.”

“Later,” I replied as Erica started walking back to the house.

I looked back at Ethan. He gave me a bright smile, opening the door to the passenger seat and motioning for me to enter.

I rolled my eyes. “Did you not hear me telling Erica that we’re not a mushy couple?”

“I did,” he replied simply, shrugging.

I shook my head, chuckling and hopped in.

*

Ethan stopped in my driveway and let out a puff of air.

“What time is your mom going to be here?” he questioned, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

“She said she’ll be here about late afternoon or evening,” I replied with a shrug.

A small smirk formed on his face. “So, we have the house to ourselves till then?”

“I thought you were only here to drop me,” I said, hiding the smile that wanted to form on my face.

“You’d rather be alone than spend some time with me?” he asked with a fake gasp and let a fake pout form on his face.

I laughed at how adorable and pleading his eyes managed to look and playfully gave him a light slap on his cheek. He caught me by the wrist and pulled me closer to him when I was about to open the door of the car.

His minty breath fanned my face, sending a shiver down my spine. A strand of hair had fallen out of my high ponytail and Ethan gently tucked it behind my ear as his fingers made his way up to the nape of my neck, cupping it. I looked at him and instantly, his eyes melted into mine.

“Ethan,” I breathed.

“Yes?” he whispered softly.

I leaned forward and lightly kissed him on the corner of his mouth. I noticed his breath hitch and felt myself smile a little.

“We should go,” I said, pulling back quickly and hopped out of the car, stifling a laugh.

I saw him fall back on his seat and throw his head on the headrest, staring up at the dull, boring ceiling. I walked over to the driver’s side and tapped on his window, indicating him to open the trunk. Immediately, the trunk popped open and he got out of the car. I grabbed the smallest bag and walked over to the front door while Ethan struggled with my suitcases.

I dug through my handbag for my house keys but I couldn’t find them. I heard footsteps near me and then Ethan’s strong arms circled around my abdomen and pull me close to his chest. I smiled and continued digging through my handbag.

“Where are the keys?” I mumbled to myself, worried that I forgot the keys at the Wilson’s.

Ethan lifted his arm and raised it in front of my face. The keys were dangling from his index finger.

“You never took them back,” he said softly, breathing down my neck. I sighed with relief and turned in his arms to hit his chest.

He chuckled lightly as I opened the door. After we finished loading all the suitcases in my room, we settled down on the couch to watch a movie. Letting Ethan choose the movie was my worst mistake ever. Why do boys have an obsession with horror movies?

The Conjuring – not the best choice.

Every time the music turned eerie and indicated that something scary was about to happen, Ethan would throw popcorn at me, making me jump or gasp or scream and he would end up laughing, I would smack him and that would happen all over again. To him, it seemed more like a comedy movie instead. I was positive that throughout he was looking at me instead of the TV.

“Don’t open the damn door!” I yelled at the TV.

Ethan chuckled and said, “She can’t hear you.”

“No shit,” I deadpanned. “And that doesn’t apply to you when you watch football?” I added, questioning.

“At least it isn’t a pre-recorded fictional movie with poor effects,” he commented.

“Whatever,” I mumbled, too distracted by the movie.

It is absolutely stupid when the actor or actress goes snooping around the house in the middle of the night just because they heard some sound. If I heard some sound in the middle of the night, I would bury myself in my blanket and pretend that I didn't’t exist.

Just as the actress was about to open the door, I grabbed the remote and stopped the movie.

“Why did you do that?!” Ethan exclaimed.

“I-it was…getting boring,” I lied.

“Right,” he responded, smirking.

I got off the couch, ignoring his smirk and turned the lights on.

“You actually chickened out,” Ethan said as I plopped down on the coach next to him.

“No, I didn’t,” I grumbled, resting my head on his chest and picking on the fabric of his grey t-shirt.

He didn’t say anything but I could feel his body vibrate under my cheeks.

“Ethan, we don’t have any photos together!” I exclaimed, gasping.

“We don’t?” he questioned.

“No!” I responded, sitting up straight.

“Then let’s take some now,” he said, shrugging and pulling his phone out of his pocket.

I grinned and we started taking pictures. We took over a hundred photographs out of which more than half of them were blur because Ethan clicks wonderful photographs. Note the sarcasm. Seriously, how hard is it to just hold the phone and touch a button on the screen while smiling?

After I took over the job of clicking the photographs, we managed to get quite a few decent photographs; some in which he was hugging me or some in which we were simply making funny faces.

We decided to take a complete cliché photograph where the guy kisses the girl on the cheek. I smiled at the front camera while Ethan kissed my cheek, leaving a constant tingling sensation on my cheek. While the camera was focusing, I heard a lock click and instantly, my head snapped to my right and my lips fell on Ethan’s. It seemed unexpected to him at first but his lips responded under mine.

And exactly at that perfect moment, the front door opened and my mom walked in. Immediately, we sprang apart and my face turned red with embarrassment.

“Mom! How was your flight?” I said, trying to push away the awkwardness.

“Great,” she replied, giving me a bemused look. “I didn’t know Ethan was giving you company.”

“Oh, I-I should…uh…probably leave,” Ethan stuttered. “I just came to drop Ash and…uh-er…I have some assignments to finish as well.”

I mentally rolled my eyes. Ethan’s not very convincing when he lies; he doesn’t do ‘work.’ But he sounded adorable trying to make an excuse with his cheeks turning the lightest shade of pink.

“Yeah,” I piped in. “The thing…that we got for…uh…chemistry.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Ethan nodded. “That thing.”

Mom just stood in the doorway with her hand on her hip while listening to our excuses. Ethan grabbed his phone off the table walked towards the door.

“Good to see you, Mrs. Matthews,” he said politely to mom, pausing in front of her.

Mom smiled back at him with amusement showing all over her face.

“I’ll see you on Monday,” he said, turning to face me.

“Yeah, sure. Bye!” I called out to him as he walked out of the door.

“What was all that about?” mom asked once Ethan was in his car.

“What do you mean?” I asked innocently.

She walked over to me and kissed me on my forehead.

“I’m going to go upstairs to freshen up,” she said, leaving her suitcase next to the couch.

I nodded as she started climbing the stairs. She paused once she reached the top of the stairs.

“Oh! Ash,” she said, smiling. “You know exactly what I mean.”

*

Sighing, I let my head fall down on the fluffy pillow.

After Ethan had left, mom freshened up and we caught up with each other’s lives. By which I mean, she told me every single detail about her trip and I gave her a brief outline of the three weeks, leaving out of Ethan. Speaking of which, she didn’t bother interrogating me about what she had witnessed earlier.

Mom bought me some adorable dresses and skirts from Australia that I couldn’t wait to try on. After dinner, we silently did the dishes and she went to bed.

I felt my phone buzz under my pillow and I unlocked it to see a Facebook notification. It was a friend request from Austin. I felt guilt sink in; I had told him that I would find him on Facebook, send him my number and that we would catch up before he left. But I completely forgot.

I accepted his friend request and almost instantly, he messaged me.

Austin- Someone said she would find me on Facebook and send me her digits.

Me- That someone got a little busy.

Austin- Right.

Me- mhm.

Austin- I’m gonna be leaving on Monday. :/

Me- Aw, that sucks :/

Austin- Yeah, in a way. Do you think it’s too late for us to hang out once before I leave?

I thought about his question for a moment. It was definitely not ‘too late’ for us to hang out. We had a Saturday and a Sunday. But the question is, do I want to? Especially after how Ethan reacted to Austin and I. But that was probably because we were on a date. I groaned. Why was this so difficult? It’s a simple question with a simple answer to it. Besides, Austin would be gone on Monday.

Me- Nah, it’s not too late. :)

Austin- Great! How about tomorrow night?

Me- Sounds good.

Austin- It’s a date. ;)

What!? No. Not at all. I thought he said we were going to ‘hang out.’ Wasn’t that supposed to be as friends? Where did the word date even pop up from?

Me- um, date?

Austin- Lol. Chill, Ash. We’re just hanging out as friends. ;)

Me- Haha, right.

Austin- I’ll text you where we’re going by tomorrow noon.

Me- Okay :)

I let out a sigh of relief. Okay, I should stop taking in everything so seriously. What happened to my sense of humor?

My phone started buzzing in my hand and a photo of Ethan making a funny face popped up. His tongue was sticking out cutely and he was winking. Laughing lightly, I answered the call.

“Liked the photo?” I heard him ask as soon as I put up the phone up to my ear.

I chuckled. “Yes. When did you take it?”

“When you were making popcorn,” he replied.

“It’s a cute pic,” I said casually.

He let out a fake gasp. “A straightforward compliment!”

I rolled my eyes.

“I shall mark this day on my calendar,” he said mockingly.

“Stop being so dramatic,” I waved him off. “I’ve given you direct compliments before.”

“It’s very rare,” he replied. I could hear the smile in his voice.

“You didn’t send me the pics we took,” I whined, changing the topic.

“Oh, right, I forgot,” he said sheepishly, making me shake my head.

“Well, I’m off to bed,” I said, yawning. “If I can’t fall asleep, I’m not going to let you sleep either. You’re going to have to talk to me for the entire night. Stupid movie,” I added, making him laugh.

“Don’t worry, Rapunzel. Your knight is here to protect you at all times,” he said cheekily.

I laughed and cut the call once we said good night to each other.

My phone buzzed again. I smiled when I saw that Ethan had sent me the photographs. I scrolled through them, nodding approvingly. They were pretty cute pictures. There were many with funny faces, some with me wearing his shades and some with stupid poses. I found myself chuckling lightly in the dark.

It’s official, I thought to myself. We’re the coolest couple alive.

Though, I would never admit it to Ethan. It would just boost up his self-esteem.

I stopped to admire one particular photograph. It was the most adorable picture of us. We were facing each other, our eyes were closed and his lips were delicately kissing the tip of my nose. I was grinning naturally and the sunlight peering through the windows was hitting the two of us at perfect angles. It was just perfect.

Except the fact that it’s a selfie, my brain interrupted.

I ignored the stupid comment made by my intelligence and continued to admire the picture. After going through all the photos, I turned off my phone and decided to get some sleep.

I turned to my right and tried to make myself comfortable when I saw a manly silhouette outside my window. My eyes widened to an extent that they would pop out any minute. He opened my window and that’s when I sprang upright and grabbed for my lamp, letting out a loud scream. Why was I stupid enough to not lock my window? Oh god, today is the dreadful day that I die, isn’t it?

He ran towards me and cupped my mouth, muffling my screams. I squeezed my eyes shut and helplessly tried to hit him with my lamp but it was connected to the plug point and he was on top of me, making it harder for me.

“Ash! Shut up! It’s me! Ethan!” he whispered loudly at me.

Instantly, I relaxed and peeked up at him.

“What the hell are you doing here at 1 am?” I questioned, regaining my voice.

“Ash?!”I heard mom yell. “Open the door! Is everything alright?!”

“Oh god,” I whispered, trying to push Ethan off of me but he didn’t budge. He just relaxed on top of me, smirking.

“Ethan, get off me!” I whispered.

“Ash?!” mom exclaimed, worried.

“Yeah mom! Coming!” I replied. Ethan finally got off me after I gave him my puppy dog eyes.

“Go hide behind my bed,” I instructed while he continued smirking.

“Ash?! Open up! What’s wrong?!” mom prodded.

Ethan was about to say something but I pressed my index finger to his lips and pushed him behind my bed. He silently laughed as I shot him a look.

I ran to my door to find mom standing there in her night gown with a worried look. She sighed when she saw me and pulled me in for a bone crushing hug.

“What happened? Why did you scream?” she questioned, taking me inside the room and sitting down on my bed even though I tried to keep her outside the room.

I grabbed my bottle off the night stand and slowly drank some water from it, buying myself time to think of an excuse.

“Ash?” mom asked in an impatient tone.

“I-uh-you know…” I trailed off, my mind completely blank.

“I know what?” she inquired.

“Uh-cockroach! I saw a cockroach!”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted it. Mom despised cockroaches and she was afraid of them. Her eyes widened and she pulled her legs up on the bed.

“A cockroach?” she whispered as if the cockroach could hear her and would come out any minute to gobble her up.

“Y-yeah,” I stammered, nodding.

“You can sleep in my room tonight,” she offered.

“What? No, mom. It’s just a cockroach. I can deal with it,” I said, sitting down.

“Are you sure?” she questioned.

“Yeah, mom.” I nodded. “Besides, I’m sure it’s just hiding behind my bed or something.”

Her eyes widened a fraction. “Okay then, I’m going to go back to bed.”

I gave her a brief nod.

“If you see that filthy little creature again, the broom’s in the store room,” she said, hesitating before getting off the bed and walking out the door.

“Night, mom,” I said as she left my room.

“Night,” she called out.

Quickly, I scurried off my bed and shut the door to my room. I turned to see Ethan came out laughing hysterically.

“Shut up,” I whispered loudly at him.

“A-a c-cockr-roach?” he asked between his laughter.

When he continued laughing, I grabbed my pillow and pressed it to his face. He lost his balance and fell on my bed, pulling me along with him. We fell with a soft thud. Oh god, I hope mom doesn’t come rushing again.

“Why are you here at this hour?” I questioned once he had finished laughing.

“I just wanted to meet you,” he said, shrugging. “By the way, the pipe outside your window is so rusty.”

Rolling my eyes, I got off him. I sat down on my bay window and Ethan joined me. He stood up on his knees and peeked outside my window.

“I got you gummy bears but I think the packet fell down while I was climbing up,” he said, looking out of the window in search of the packet of gummy bears.

I gasped. “That’s just plain sad.”

We sat in one another’s embrace for hours, just talking about the most random things and playing childish games.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” he asked suddenly.

“Nothing much,” I said, unsure whether I should tell him about Austin.

“How about a second date?” he asked, lightly making circles on top of my hand with his thumb.

“Tomorrow?” I inquired.

He nodded.

“Oh, wait,” I pretended to remember something even though I knew it all along. “I’m going out with Austin tomorrow night.”

“Austin?” he asked, frowning. “That dude we met at the party?”

I nodded.

“He’s leaving on Monday so we decided to meet up once before he leaves.” I said quickly.

“It’s ironic how he always finds a way to ruin our date,” he muttered.

I ignored his comment, pretending that I didn’t hear him even though it was silent in my room and outside.

“Just…be careful around him,” he said, pulling me closer to him and kissing my forehead as I closed my eyes.

A/N - I know it's been over 2 weeks since I updated so here's a long chapter to make up for it :)

A lot of Ethley in this chapter! :D

Have any of you ever wanted a guy to take a cute picture with a guy? Whether he's your brother (okay, that's sort of creepy..in a way), best friend or boyfriend?

Oh oh! Guys! Happy Valentines Day!! Have loads of fun! I hope you guys get many roses and gifts and just have a great time whether it's with your friends or someone special ;)

And lastly, please vote and comment! You know how I love reading all your comments <3