19. Some sense knocked into you

Chapter 19: Some sense knocked into you

Kelsey's POV

*****

After the whole argument with Ethan happened, I had been trying to stay away from him as much as I could. The girls could tell something was wrong, but how could I explain to them that their brother was a jerk? We were doing so well and then we were just back to square one.

I had been feeling so alone ever since. I had no one to talk to and I was still hurt at the fact that Ethan could just give up on me so easily. I was actually starting to like him and I told him that, but when I told him that I needed time he was very clear that I was not worth it. I couldn't wait until Noah came back from camp and until Meg came back from her trip.

When that day rolled by I was over the moon. It wasn't going to make things better between Ethan and I, but at least I could have someone to actually talk to, making me feel slightly less alone and upset.

A knock on my door suddenly broke me away from my thoughts. "Yeah?" I answered.

The door opened slightly and I saw Ethan peek his head through the door, a sigh instantly escaping my mouth as I caught sight of him. "What is it?" I asked, wanting to know why he had come to the room after days of not talking to each other.

"I just came to tell you that I'm going to go pick Noah up," he said looking everywhere but me.

"Why did I need to know this?" I asked sourly as I headed out of my room to stand in front of him.

He finally mustered up the courage and looked straight at me before speaking.

"Well, I thought maybe you would want to come with me. I know how much you miss Noah and everything," he said, placing his hand at the back of his neck, scratching it.

"Sorry, I don't feel like it," I replied, preparing to close the door on him.

He instantly stopped the door from closing by placing his foot in between the door and the frame, letting out a loud sigh before speaking.

"Look, I know you're mad at me but how much longer are you going to keep ignoring me?" He asked with hurt in his eyes.

I almost found it humoristic how he was the one who thought that I wasn't worth his time, and yet he wanted me to stop ignoring him, which I would keep doing until the feelings I had for him just die and until he at least apologizes for acting the way he did.

"I'm not ignoring you Ethan, I just need time to think about some things," I replied, despite knowing that he never seemed to clutch to the fact that a person sometimes needed time.

"I guess I'll just go alone then," he said, giving me a sad look before turning around and walking away.

Why did life have to be so hard? Why couldn't it be like the movies? The girl finds her prince charming and she lives happily ever after.

I guess life isn't like that Kels, instead we have girls that have a conversation with themselves because they are so lonely that they have nobody else to talk to.

Just shut up.

Point proven.

I walked towards my bed and jumped on top of it, burying my head in a pillow and letting out a frustrated groan.

"Kelsey, can we talk to you?" I heard the girls ask me, coming in to my room and grabbing my attention.

"Yeah, of course girls, what's up?" I asked, sitting up in a butterfly position.

"Well, I'm not good at this but Lara is, so she'll do most of the talking. In the meantime, I'm gonna go get some cookies," Ellie said before walking off downstairs.

"Traitor!" Lara yelled at her sister making me slightly laugh.

"So, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" I asked Lara after there was only the two of us left.

She sat down on my bed right across to me, looking me dead in the eye before speaking.

"Okay, Kelsey look, Ellie and I've noticed that you and Ethan are acting all awkward with each other and we don't like it.

"You have to understand that Ethan's our big brother and we hate to see him upset. You see, when I was about six, Ethan would always come home from school looking all sad and locked himself in his room. One time I even saw a tear streaming down his face and it broke my heart," she said, making me coo in my head.

Could the girl get anymore adorable? I couldn't help but question how a ten-year-old could be more mature than her seventeen year old brother.

"Listen sweetie, I understand that you're worried about Ethan, but I'm sure that the fact that I haven't been talking to him is barely effecting him," I said, remembering all the harsh words he had told me.

He was the one that called me annoying and that he didn't know how people could stand being around me. People say things they don't mean when they're angry, and I got that, but it didn't mean that it didn't hurt nonetheless. If he had even thought about saying that, then a part of it had to be true to him.

"Oh trust me, it is," Ellie said, coming back in to my room munching on a cookie.

"It's not," I stubbornly replied.

"Are you kidding me Kelsey? I don't know if you've noticed, but he hasn't brought a girl home once ever since you got here. He's been helping around the house and once I even think I heard him sing! Sing Kelsey, sing! Do you know how often that happens? It doesn't, which is a bummer because he is really good at it," Lara said, smiling at the thought.

"It's true. And ever since you guys had a fight he has been so down, he barely plays with us anymore and you, you seem as bad as he is," Ellie continued.

I didn't know what they were talking about.

I was peachy.

"I'm not that bad!" I said, standing up for myself.

The girls looked at each other and back at me.

"Yesterday you gave us pancakes with frowny faces made out of berries and whipped cream! Sadness has never tasted so delicious!" Lara said, making Ellie giggle.

"What are you guys saying?" I asked, still confused as to what they were trying to tell me.

"We're saying that you should talk to Ethan. Now you're either going to do it the easy way, or the hard way," Ellie said, pointing her cookie at me, trying to look intimidating but failing.

"I'm sorry girls. But I just can't," I said right before the doorbell rang.

Saved by the bell!

Literally.

I rushed downstairs and opened the door, revealing May and Meg, my eyes widening in happiness as I instantly tackled Meg. I had never been so happy to see her. It had been far too long without my best friend.

"Looks like someone has stuff she wants to tell me," Meg said giggling.

"You have no idea," I replied before hugging May as well.

"Is Noah here yet?" May asked, looking around to see if she could catch a sight of him.

"No, but he should be here in about half an hour," I replied.

She nodded before going over to Ellie and Lara and hugging them whilst Meg looked at me and gave me a sympathetic smile, noticing the bummed look I had.

"Let's go talk, May, do you mind taking care of the girls?" Meg asked her sister.

"Wow Meg, you're making me feel like a horrible babysitter, having your little sister take care of them," I told her.

"Would you rather have them listening?" She asked, nodding her head in their direction.

I looked at the girls who were looking at me intently, as if they were examining my every move.

"No, I guess not. We won't take too long May, I promise," I told her.

"That's alright, I don't mind. Come on let's go play in your room," May told the girls, leaving me alone with Meg.

"Alright, spill!" Meg said flopping down on the couch.

I flopped down next to her, laying my head on her shoulder and telling her everything that had happened.

Well, almost everything

"He really said that?!" Meg asked in shock, to which I simply nodded my head. "But I don't get it, do you like him or not?"

"Yes, I do. He's funny and he acts so sweet sometimes, but then other times he's an arrogant jerk, just like he was when he said all that," I said.

"Kels, we're humans, we're all bound to do stupid when we're hurt. None of us take rejection seriously. Plus, there's another thing you probably don't know," she said, stopping to think whether she should tell me or not.

"What?" I curiously asked.

"Well, I've been talking with Jake," she said, her face instantly lighting up at the mention of his name making me feel happy for her.

"And?" I asked.

"And apparently Ethan won't stop ranting on how he messed up and how he feels horrible," she said.

At that point, I didn't know what to make of the information.

It felt nice that he actually felt bad and talked about it with his best friend, but on the other hand, he should have never said it in the first place.

"Yeah. He should feel horrible! He made me feel like a fool. He had no right to say that after I went to his room so that we could straighten things out and be friends again after the awkwardness that that stupid kiss brought with it," I said, suddenly remembering that I had left out that tiny detail from my explanation.

"Wait, you said nothing about him kissing you," Meg shot up.

My face instantly started heating up. I didn't know how Meg would have reacted upon hearing that Ethan and I had kissed, especially not after I had promised that I would instantly tell her if anything ever happened with Ethan.

"Keep your voice down! Yes, he kissed me, and yes, I liked it, but it's not even important anymore," I sighed.

"It's okay baby girl. I'm sure everything will be okay," she said, leaning her head on mine as soon as the front door opened, making our head shoot towards it.

My lips instantly formed a grin as soon as my eyes caught sight of Noah.

"Noah!" I said as I ran up to hug him as soon as he stepped into the house.

"Can't breathe," he said after a while of me squeezing him.

"Sorry," I said, releasing him from my grip.

"how was camp?" I asked.

"It was good other than a girl trying to kiss me every chance she got and stalking me everywhere I went," he said, shuddering at the thought.

"Aww my baby bro's got game," Ethan said, making me roll my eyes.

We suddenly heard a throat clear, making us all snap our heads towards May, who was standing in the middle of the staircase looking at Noah with her arms crossed and eyebrows raised, clearly having heard his previous statement.

"May!" Noah said, his eyes widening as he saw her.

Awkward.

"Kelsey, how kind of you to tell me that May was here," Noah said, glaring at me.

"Sorry bud," I replied shrugging.

"At least I hope you're happy to see me?" May asked walking towards him, letting out a chuckle.

"Are you kidding me? Of course I am, you don't understand how much I've thought about you," he said as he picked her up and spun her around, making her giggle.

"Awww," Meg and I cooed, probably ruining the moment.

"I'm glad that at least one of the Walker brothers is a gentleman," I whispered in Meg's ear.

"What was that?" Ethan asked, raising an eyebrow. Oops.

"Erm, nothing," I replied.

Meg cleared her throat, ensuring that she had gained our attention.

"May and I have to go now because we really have to unpack, my parents got mad that we wanted to come here before unpacking, and we really don't want to get grounded. See you later," Meg said before hugging me and dragging May away.

Noah eyed Ethan and I suspiciously before speaking.

"Erm, Kels can you help me unpack?"

"Yeah, sure," I said, going up after Noah.

I knew that what he actually wanted was to talk to me. Specifically talk about what happened with Ethan.

As we got in his room he instantly closed the door and turned to look at me.

"Ethan told me that you're not talking to him," Noah said as he opened the zipper of his luggage.

The day that Ethan kissed me, Noah called, and after noticing how weird I was acting, he asked me what had happened. I ended up telling him everything, and he was the one that tried to get me to talk to him after that. I didn't tell him what happened afterwards because I didn't want to ruin the rest of camp for him.

I went to help Noah fold his clothes and think about whether I should tell him about what happened. Ethan was his brother after all and I didn't want him to think lowly of him.

"Come on Kels, talk," he said, looking me dead in the eye.

"Well something kind of happened after I went to talk to Ethan," I said as I took some of his folded clothes and placed them in his dresser. "He told me he liked me, and I told him that I wasn't ready for anything. Then he said some really hurtful things and so I've been avoiding him ever since. He hasn't even tried apologising."

The fact that he hadn't even tried to apologise hurt even more because it might have meant that he actually meant what he said.

Noah sighed and moved his hand through his hair.

"Honestly Kels, I'm sick of all this drama. My brother needs to get some sense knocked into his head. I'll talk to him later," Noah said as we continued to unpack.

"But you need some sense knocked into you too," he mumbled.