With the wisp of a smile on my face, I focused down on the phone screen in my lap and drowned out all surrounding noise around me.
It was lunchtime, and I was in my usual position - slumped down at a table with Lucas and a few of my team-mates. But despite the welcoming sound of laughter from my friends, I wasn't paying attention. All my attention was on the picture spanning across Mia's phone.
While I waited for her to show up to the lunch-hall, I had found myself wandered my way through her camera pictures to keep myself preoccupied. Again, I know, morally questionable, but I couldn't resist - the temptation was too great.
And to be fair, it was an eye for an eye; she had invaded my privacy first.
Not that I minded, of course...
No matter how much I tried, I couldn't pull the smile from my face as I stared down at the image below me.
Mia was sitting on the edge of the boardwalk with a cone of chocolate ice-cream in her hand as she smiled back at the camera. I lingered on the picture for far too long, my eyes drifting everywhere from the small escape of wavy hair that had fallen from her bun to her full rosy pink lips.
She was beautiful - always had been, always would be.
Reluctantly, I flickered my finger over the screen and moved onto the next one along. The second my eyes landed on the next picture; I froze - my eyes widening to practically ten times their width.
Holy shit...
I wasn't even sure where to look first, my eyes seeming to frantically dart off in all directions while taking several mind screenshots.
It was clearly a continuation of Mia's day at the beach, and well, certain things had come off...
Things being her clothes.
She was kneeling on the sand with her knees slightly splayed and only her one-piece swimsuit on her hot body. She was laughing as she pointed at a pouting May, who she had buried up to her neck in the sand, but I could barely give two shits about that.
I gave a fuck about one thing, and one thing alone in that picture â and that was Mia and her sexy-arse, boner-inducing body.
My hand gripped the phone slightly tighter as my eyes traced over any visible inch of her warm tan skin. I stared for for far too long at the cut-out strips that spanned across her thin naked waist. My eyes then went lower, and landed on the thick part of her thighs, swallowing thickly as I did so.
God, did I wish I could send this picture to myself, but I wasn't sure if I was ready to progress to that level of creepy.
Suddenly, a hand was waved in my face.
"Yo, earth to Ethan," a voice hollered.
I heard a chorus of laughter break out from the guys around me, but I was way too distracted to look up yet
"Yeah, yeah, just a sec," I mumbled dismissively as I made a little border with my hand to cut my screen off from view.
"What the fuck is he doing?" Another voice snickered.
Then too fast for me to process, a hand suddenly appeared out of nowhere and snatched the phone out of my hand.
My head flew up. "No, no, shit. Don't look at that," I hissed as I hastily swerved around to see which asshole had taken it from me.
My eyes narrowed in on our smiley ginger goalkeeper - Roman, who was staring down at Mia's phone with a single eyebrow raised. He was a fun, extroverted type guy, and I liked him for the most part, but he was also the type of moron who liked to insert himself in everyone's business.
"Did she send you this?" he laughed as he looked up at me in question.
I threw him a dirty look. "That's none of your fucking business; just give it back," I snapped. Quickly, I stood up, and snatched it off from him roughly.
"Well, I hope she did; it's about time you got your dick wet. I'm genuinely concerned you might die of blue-balls one of these days," he snickered.
I heard a few more obnoxious snorts join him from around the table.
Blood instantly rushed to my face, and my gaze pulled downwards. I hadn't meant to tell the guys I was a virgin, but one awful party â I had just gotten way too drunk and had blabbered out way too much personal shit.
And now, I was the automatic subject of every sexual-deprivation joke. I know they didn't mean it in bad spite, and taking the piss out of each other was just how we all got along- but still, sometimes, it kind of made me feel like a loser.
Lucas met my eyes from across the table, and he observed me carefully before quickly clearing his throat.
"Oh, hush up guys, while you dumbarses are getting your dick wet, Ethan's rocking all A's and is well on his way to making a shit tone of cash," he scoffed, quickly cutting everyone off.
Roman and some of the other guys quickly looked away while awkwardly coughing as though embarrassed. Lucas's eyes twinkled back at me, and he shot me a proud smile.
The corners of my lips quirked up a little as a silent way of thanking him. He would always save my arse when he saw I was getting a little uncomfortable with the teasing.
Just as I was about to flop back into my seat, I suddenly saw Mia push through the cafeteria doors before marching over to her usual table.
She barely threw my table a glance, which made my heart sink a little with disappointment. Normally, she would at least flip me the finger or mouth something rude at me before taking a seat. Yikes, I must have pissed her off so badly in gym that she didn't even want to talk to me.
Well, it was fine- I was going to talk to her anyway...
Quickly, I swiped off her picture so she wouldn't know I was looking at it and pocketed her phone. Then with my eyes set on my target, I took off in her direction.
"Hey, Ethan?" a couple of my team-mates called out to me before I left.
I turned around in confusion and was instantly bombarded with the disturbing image of half of my team mate's groaning over-excessively while sliding their hands moved up and down their backs as they pretended to make-out with themselves.
Great, we'd arrived back at fifth grade...
"Yes, Mia, harder Mia," somebody moaned.
Even Lucas, the betraying jackass, was poorly trying to cover his mouth in attempt to suffice his laughter.
Clearly, he had a time limit on holding back on his teasing...
I just rolled my eyes and shot them all the finger before turning back around. Luckily, Mia's table was on the other side of the hall, so she was unlikely to have heard any of their bullshit.
To be honest, with how often my friend's took the piss out of my crush, I'm surprised she hadn't figured out I liked her.
As I drew closer, Mia kept her eyes down and focused on doodling away on some paper. Knowing I had a lot of interrogation to get through, I quickly pulled out the chair across from her before settling myself in with a smile.
Finally, she looked up, and her heart-stopping eyes met mine. She froze a little, and her eyes widened, clearly not expecting to see me.
That's when I noticed the small mark on her forehead- it was slightly reddish-purple and about the size of a one-cent coin. It was the same place I had hit her with the dodgeball. I can't believe I had left a bruise... I was disgusting.
Shit, you've been staring too long. Say something!
"Nice bruise," I suddenly blurted out as I nodded my head over to her forehead.
The second the words left my mouth, I internally slapped myself upside the head for yet again being a moron.
Why, Ethan, Why do you do this to us?
Her gorgeous brown eyes narrowed into furious slits. "I always knew you were sadistic, but it's nice to get some confirmation every now and then," she spat out sassily.
I recoiled a little back at the harshness, and again feeling horrible, my eyes wandered over to her bruised forehead.
I hope it didn't hurt too bad...
Still feeling the hardness of the heat of her gaze, I couldn't take it anymore and betrayed my act.
"Look, I didn't mean to hit you that hard Chubs, I'm sorry," I mumbled, my eyes focusing in on hers with intensity.
The coldness of her expression didn't even flicker for a second, clearly not believing me to be genuine.
"Just fuck off, Ethan, and bother someone else," she hissed angrily as her eyes grew even colder.
The words hit me like a sharp slap around the face, hating that she wanted nothing to do with me while I wanted everything to do with her.
It was the pain of unrequited love at its cruellest.
Swallowing back the pain, I forced a look of amused ease on my face with my mouth quirked up slightly at the corners.
"We both know you love me. I'm pretty sure I have a memory of you calling me a sexy beast or something..," I teased with a low chuckle, not being able to resist bringing it up.
She let out a cute little growl sound at the back of her throat, and I had to bite my lip to stop myself from telling her as such.
"Never. Speak. Of. That. again," she repeated slowly, her words escaping in between gritted teeth.
I chuckled softly, knowing that there was absolutely no way I wasn't going to bring that up again.
Having Mia - my crush, literally yell out to a crowded restaurant that she thought I was sexy, was a beautiful and rare moment that I never wanted to forget.
Focusing back on my mission for actually coming over here, I leaned slightly forward.
"Anyway, I think there's something you and I need to discuss. Don't you think?" I drawled as I raised an eyebrow at her in question.
She instantly froze up, and her pupils darted around a little in panic. She quickly pulled herself together enough to blink with feigned innocence.
"What do you mean?" she asked slowly.
I almost lost my shit there and then. It was adorably optimistic that she thought there was any way she could get out of this.
To unnerve here even more, I just stared at her silently and scanned my eyes interrogatively over her face.
Again, as I suspected, her eyes moved around wildly before she quickly broke eye contact.
Having played around with her enough, I cleared my throat lightly.
"I have to admit, Chubs, I didn't think you'd have it in you to break into my room in the middle of the night," I drawled.
Her body grew even more rigid, and I smirked, taking that as my cue to continue.
"You would have gotten away with it too if you hadn't dropped your phone," I smirked.
Then shoving my hand in my pocket, I swiftly pulled out her phone and presented it before her.
"Pft..that's not my phone," she mumbled quickly, the words leaving her mouth unnaturally fast.
My eyes darted back and forth between hers, amused by her persistence in keeping up this charade.
"How stupid do you think I am? Your screen saver was a bit of a giveaway," I teased.
I was smart enough to mention that I would have been able to tell her that it was her phone, from her phone-case alone. There was no reason she had to know how much attention I paid to her.
The fight in her eyes seemed to die, and her shoulder sagged down in defeat.
"Okay, I admit it is my phone. You've made your point," she sighed in defeat.
Suddenly her eyes darted up to her phone, and she quickly lunged across the table for it. "Thanks for returning it," she said quickly.
In a sharp reflex, I lifted my hand higher, so she failed to reach.
"Did you really think I'd hand it over that easily, Chubs?" I laughed. There was no way in hell I was missing a prime opportunity to get her to come home with me.
She looked up at her phone with a frustrated glare.
"Look, Ethan, I really need my phone back. My dad will kill me if he found out I lost another phone," she cried out in exasperation, her eyes digging into mine piercingly.
I felt a little part of my heart soften like it always did when she gave me eyes like that.
No, no, Ethan, focus on the mission. Don't look into her eyes. They are tricking you into submission. Don't look at them.
Quickly pulling on my normal arrogant air, I acted as though her eyes had no effect on me.
"Aww, that's too bad. Maybe you should learn to be more careful with your belongings," I said, as I jutted my lip out in fake sympathy.
Her glare shifted down to my lips, and she looked even more annoyed.
I smiled back at her. "Don't worry, you can earn it back by helping me with something," I said slowly.
Instant panic struck over her face, and I couldn't help but laugh, knowing that my wording might not have been the best.
"Relax, Chubs, I don't mean anything sexual. I wouldn't have to threaten you if that's what I wanted. Would I?" I teased with a smirk.
I was lying out of fucking arse. I had about as much confidence in my ability to seduce Mia as I did in surviving a fall of the Grand Canyon.
She looked me up and down in despise. "In your fucking dreams Ethan," she scoffed.
I almost laughed. She had no idea the accuracy of her statement. I was bitterly aware that the only success I had with her was in my dreams.
"Just get to the point. What do you want?" She spat out angrily.
I cleared my throat dramatically with a little smile on my face.
"Firstly, I would like to know what your mission was in sneaking into my room last night?" I said as I narrowed my eyes inquisitively. The CCTV footage has revealed what she had come for, but still, I wanted to hear her say it.
Again, she broke eye contact with me slightly and shuffled uncomfortably in her seat.
"Erm...I was bored," she mumbled out weakly.
I didn't need to be a detective to know that her statement was a complete and utter lie, so I just stared at her plainly with a single eyebrow raised in urge for her to confess.
She rolled those beautiful eyes of hers. "Okay fine. I was dared to steal your hoodie. Happy?" she confessed, finally giving in.
My smile grew wider in satisfaction. "That wasn't so hard to admit now, was it? I always knew you fancied me chubs but breaking into my room and stealing my clothes is a little bit creepy even for you," I said, beaming back at her smugly.
I know, I know, I was the last person to be preaching about repressed feelings and creepiness, but she didn't need to know that.
"I told you it was a dare," she hissed in between gritted teeth. "Can you just give me back my phone already?" she snapped in irritation as her hands repeatedly clenched and unclenched.
"No, as I was saying before, I still need you to do something for me," I explained with a smirk.
"And you promise that it's nothing sexual or illegal...," she asked slowly, as she eyed me in caution.
"I promise," I said with a smile, quickly assuring her.
It was a bit worrying that she thought I was sleazy enough to put her in that uncomfortably of a position, but I chose not to dwell on it. It was probably a good thing she was cautious of me; it would hopefully protect her.
"Okay, fine, sure I'll do it," she grumbled in. My smile instantly flew ten times wider, and it took everything in me not to fist-bump the air.
"Excellent. Are you free tomorrow?" I said quickly.
I would have said today, but Wednesday was therapy day - and I knew it would have been irresponsible of me to miss it.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," she mumbled, looking completely unenthused.
I stood up with a smile, getting ready to leave. I wanted to stay longer, but from the murderous glares Mia was giving me, I knew that probably wasn't wise.
"Then here you go," I said as I gently threw her phone back to her. I widened my eyes a little as I saw her fail to catch it, and it awkwardly hit the side of the table.
Oops, I forgot she couldn't catch...
About to take my flee, I suddenly stopped myself and turned back as I remembered something.
"Oh, and also don't think you can back out of our arrangement now that you have your phone back. I am still very capable of calling the police," I explained quickly, wanting to make sure there was no way she would back out of this.
Her eyes became a little more deadened after I said that, proving to me that the thought had crossed her mind.
"Oh, and one more thing," I said, remembering the awful little video of hers that needed to be discussed.
"I hacked your phone and saw that little video of yours. A bit weird to film someone while they're sleeping chubs. Anyway, I deleted it, can't have you spreading that video around. Can we?" I laughed, putting on my best-feigned face of nonchalance.
Inside, I was freaking the fuck out. I was praying to every kind of god I knew that she would not be suspicious. Fortunately for me, there were no sly comments, no laughter - she just stared at me through narrowed slitted eyes.
Holy shit, the false-confidence shit really worked...
Much more relieved now, I smiled and gave her a little nod good-bye. "See you later, Mia," I called out before finally departing the table.
As soon as I was a considerable distance from her table, I let out a relieved breath of air at the fact everything had gone to plan.
God, I couldn't wait for tomorrow afternoon.
-----------------------------
Author's note:
I think it's a bad sign that even I got creeped out by Ethan's perverted, stalkerish inner monologue at the beginning of this chapter...
But yeah, anyway, hope you enjoyed this one!
Can't wait to share the next chapter with you xx