Chapter 8

"Ugh, we're finally on break." Callie plops down onto my bed. "I'm so exhausted. We haven't even been in school for that long, but this is so much more mentally draining than I expected it to be." She groans.

"I know. And none of the professors are even hot! How are you going to be boring, assign too much work, and be old? They really don't care about us." Lorena sits at the foot of my bed.

"You guys do know you both have your own beds, right?" I raise my eyebrow at them.

"No, actually. I've never come to that conclusion before." Callie says sarcastically, making Lorena and I chuckle in unison.

"Are you guys going home for the break? What are we going to do...?" Lorena lays down in the middle of us.

We are all literally squished together, but somehow it's comforting. It reminds me of when we were kids having sleepovers at each other's houses basically every weekend.

"I have no idea. I don't want to go home, Ethan lives the complete opposite way of me." I frown.

"I forgot, you have a boyfriend." Lorena pretends to gag.

"Hey, I do too!" Callie smacks Lorenas arm.

"Yeah, but your relationship is a lot more tolerable. Whenever I'm with Ethan and Nova, they act like they're in a teenage romance movie. It makes me physically want to barf." It's my turn to hit Lorena now.

"I just think it's funny how we all grew up saying that we wouldn't date or marry a white guy because their thanksgiving would be full of bland food, or their dicks are small, their beds are on the floor, they have anger issues-"

"Or as Nova put at the beginning of the year, they beat their wives." Lorena cuts off Callie.

"And now 2/3 of us have a white boyfriend." I say, laughing.

"You two have made me feel like I have lost all faith in humanity. I'm our only hope now. I won't succumb to the mayo monkeys' charms, unlike you idiots." Lorena sits up, putting her hand on her forehead as if she is in a drama.

"You're so extra." I laugh.

"Well since I started dating Cameron, I can debunk some of the myths we've said about white guys in our lifetimes. Maybe Nova can confirm these with me. Cameron's bed isn't on the floor-"

"Nor is Ethan's." I chime in.

"Camerons parents use seasoning...salt and pepper..." We all burst out laughing.

"I can't speak on that, I haven't sat down for home cooked meals with his family yet." I say "Except his aunt, but usually it's me and Ethan doing the cooking."

"Okay, we'll just keep that as true." Lorena says, laughing.

"Okay okay, Cameron definitely does have anger issues. And I can tell Ethan does too. He's so possessive." Callie nods her head.

"What? He's not possessive." I say in defense.

"Uh huh." Lorena rolls her eyes. "Whenever we're in public, if someone is looking at you, he stands in their view. If you're wearing something that lets everyone see how fat your ass is, he stands behind you if he catches someone staring. Girl, you don't notice anything." She flicks her hand at me.

"No because he really does be doing the most." Callie laughs. I shake my head. I've never noticed those things before.

"Okay, and last one. Cameron does not have a small...weeny. Bitch, when I tell you I was shocked..." We all burst out laughing. And I mean the kind of silent but choking kind of laugh. The laugh that you only have with friends.

"I don't want to hear about that!" Lorena covers her ears.

"Well, Nova, are you going to debunk or confirm our past theory?" Callie smirks. Heat rushes up to my cheeks and I hide my face behind my hands.

"I refuse to answer." I say. The girls start screaming.

"He's totally packing isn't he? What is it, 7, 8, 9?" Lorena looks at me, amused.

"Shut up! I'm not answering that." I say sheepishly, laughing.

"I think we hit the jackpot Nova. The only two white boys with big di-" Callie's lewd comment gets cut off by a heavy knock on the door.

"Are you guys expecting anyone?" I uncover my face and frown.

"No, I'm not." Callie says, Lorena shakes her head.

"Not it!" Lorena yells, and Callie quickly repeats. I just blink, caught off guard.

"Well, go open the door dummy." Lorena grins and I laugh, sliding to the edge of the bed and getting up.

I make my way to the door and open it. The scent of Ethan's cologne wafts through the air. Both Ethan and Cameron stand at the door, Cameron holding a bouquet of orange roses, and Ethan holding a bouquet of tulips. They both are holding the flowers over their faces. I laugh at the sight, quickly taking a picture.

"Surprise!" They both yell and lower the flowers so I can see their faces. I move out the way so they can enter the dorm.

"Well hello to both of you." I laugh.

"Hey, you didn't say you guys were coming over." Callie quickly jumps to her feet and walks over to Cameron. He hands her the flowers and gives her a quick kiss.

"We wanted to surprise you guys." Ethan says and hands me my flowers. I smell them happily.

"How romantic." I say and peck his lips.

"And of course," Cameron and Ethan walk over to my bed, where Lorena is sitting.

"We did not forget about you." They both pull out a single red rose, and hand it to Lorena.

"Aww, such gentlemen." Lorena teases. They both laugh.

"Okay, so what are we doing for break?" Cameron and Callie sit on her bed. Lorena sits on hers and Ethan pulls me into his lap, sitting on mine.

"Actually, I already have plans." Ethan takes the flowers from my hand, and place them on my small nightstand. He snakes his arms around my waist.

"You do?" I turn to look up at him, frowning.

"Of course. You do too silly. You think you're ever getting away from me?" He laughs.

"What are you guys going to do?" Cameron perks up. "I want to surprise Callie, so I can't say."

"Then why did you ask what we're doing for break?" Callie laughs.

"Because I wanted to see what they were doing, maybe we could have spent some of the time together." Cameron pouts.

"We're going to one of my cabins up in New York." Ethan says, pulling me so my back lays on his chest. I turn to him, shocked.

"One of your cabins? In the Big Apple?" Lorena gapes at us.

"Yes." He looks down at me and smiles. "Surprise!"

"So you're rich?" Callie asks for confirmation.

"I wouldn't say that...my family is well off is all." Ethan's cheeks turn red.

"Yeah. He's fucking loaded. Only rich people pretend like they aren't rich, or say they're just well off people." Lorena shakes her head. "Nova, why didn't you tell us he is rich?!"

"Because it's not important." I sigh.

"How much money is in your bank account right now? Your savings? You definitely have a trust fund." Lorena spews. Ethan shrugs it off, laughing.

"Dude, Lorena. Actually shut the fuck up. It's not even funny." I glare at her. She gets quiet immediately.

I hate talking about Ethan's background of money and how much he has. It makes me feel uneasy and embarrassed. Whenever his money gets brought up, I can't help but to think Ethan will finally realize what a big difference there is between us.

"It's okay babe." Ethan whispers in my ear before kissing my shoulder. "I don't mind."

"That's not the point." I mutter.

"Okay...anyways." Callie says awkwardly.

"When do you two leave?" Cameron tilts his head at us.

"Tomorrow." Ethan says.

"What?!" Lorena gasps. "And you're barely telling her?"

"Yeah, you're barely telling me?" I look at him once again. "I'm going to be stressed out trying to pack." I laugh.

"Well what do you think I'm here for? I'll pack the underwear." He winks at me and the other two girls in the room make sounds of disgust.

"Should I pack your underwear too Cal?" Cameron grins at his girlfriend.

"Ugh. White men are disgusting." Callie pushes Cameron, making us all laugh.

"Okay, well, we'll leave you guys to pack for a bit. I'll take these two lovely ladies to get some food. We'll bring you both some back okay?" Cameron stands up.

"Sure, thanks man." Ethan and Cameron do a fist bump.

"Bye guys." I smile, waving as the 3 walk out the door. I let out a sigh.

"So," Ethan starts and then quickly pushes me so I'm laying on the bed. He gets on top of me and props himself up with his elbows. "now that we're alone..." He smirks.

"Hey, I have to pack." I laugh, seeing Ethan pout.

"But we have alone time." He traces the outline of my lips with his finger tips.

"And we'll have alone time on our trip. Which you didn't ask me about, by the way." I reach up, wrapping my arms around his shoulders, pulling him so he lays completely on top of me. He rests his head on my chest.

"I'm sorry." He mumbles into my shirt.

"You know I hate when you buy me things." I play with his hair.

"But I love to buy you things. It's one of my favorite hobbies." I can feel him smile.

"I don't want people to think I'm using you for your money." I groan, Ethan props himself up on his elbows again, but leaving most of his weight on me still.

"Are you?" He smiles. I frown, still running my hands through his hair.

"Of course not." I roll my eyes.

"Then nobody will think that." He grins and kisses both my cheeks.

"Now, back to my original proposal." Ethan smirks and reaches for the bottom of my shirt, lifting it halfway up. "How about it?"

"At least lock the door first." I blush, looking away from him. His eyes light up and he quickly gets off of me and locks the door.

He takes off his shirt as he walks back to my bed and basically jumps on top of me. I feel a tingly sensation in my stomach, feeling a sudden rush of adrenaline run through me. Ethan straddles me and grins before leaning down and brushing his lips against mine.

"I can't wait to be in New York with you baby. Alone, just the two of us. Doesn't that sound fun?" He whispers against my lips, the butterflies in my stomach going wild at the thought.

"Having you all to myself with nobody else around to distract us? Sounds perfect to me." I smile and connect our lips.

He kisses back with passion and I swoon. Every time we kiss, it feels like it's for the very first time. I wish this can last forever. I can't wait to go to New York with him, though I have a feeling that he's going to try to make me stay inside most of the time...

"Nova." Ethan pulls away. He offers me a small smile.

"What's wrong?" I tilt my head, twirling a strand of his hair around my finger.

"Nova Nova Nova." He repeats, not breaking eye contact.

"What?" I laugh. "You're being weird."

"You drive me crazy." He whispers, smiling like he knows something that I don't.

"You're so weird." I laugh, pulling him down to kiss me again, and he does with no hesitation.

I feel his fingers at the bottom of my shirt so I pull away for a second, quickly lifting it over my head.

"You're so pretty." Ethan looks at my body, eyes glued to my boobs.

"I'm pretty, or my titties are?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. He looks at me and chuckles.

"Both." He says, tilting his head. "Is this a new bra?" He runs a finger along the fabric of my cup.

"N-no." I shiver at his touch.

"I've never seen it before." He leans down, leaving kisses on the exposed parts of my breasts.

I tilt my head back, moaning quietly. He stands up, unbuckling his pants. I quickly slide mine off as well, both of us just making a pile of our clothes on the floor. He quickly gets on top of me, connecting our lips once again. He slowly starts to move his hips against mine, I arch my back at the sudden touch.

"Fuck. Nova." Ethan groans. The little fabric between us doing very little justice.

"Ethan." I beg against his lips.

"What do you want baby? Tell me." He bites my bottom lip gently.

"I need you. Please." I moan. Ethan pulls away from me, licking his lips as he looks at me.

"Your wish is my command princess."

~~

"That was nice." Ethan gives me one last kiss before plopping on the bed next to me, both of us out of breath. "You did so good." He pulls me to him and covers us with my blanket.

"Don't say things like that so casually." I blush, hiding my face in his neck. He just laughs, wrapping his arms around me.

We lay like this in silence, neither of us talking. I rest my eyes with a small sigh. I'm so tired I don't even want to get up to put my clothes back on, but I know my friends will be back any minute. It's been a bit over an hour since they left. I don't want to leave Ethan's arms though.

"I love you." I freeze, my eyes flying back open. Did I really hear that? Or was it my imagination?

"I love you so much." He whispers, pushing me away from him just enough so we can make eye contact. I just blink at him.

"I know it's taken me a long time to say it. But I'm so sure of it now. And it's not because of the sex, if that's what you're thinking." He laughs, rubbing my back. "I've been thinking about it for a while now, what love means to me. And every time I even thought about the word, you came to mind."

I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry.

"You are an angel on earth. You're patient with me, and supportive. You educate me on things that I previously didn't even know about. You make me melt with one single touch. I can't take my eyes off of you. I get irritated when other guys look at you, and I know it's weird, but I just want you to myself. You're kind, and beautiful. You are so considerate of my feelings, and you get mad when I buy you things. I love everything about you. The way you shiver when I touch you, the way you furrow your eyebrows when you're indecisive, the fact that you always lean into me while we walk together. The way you look when you're focused in class. Hell, even when you're mad you're still the most beautiful thing in the world." He kisses my forehead. "I love everything about your personality. I can go on for hours about the things I love about you. But we don't have that kind of time." He laughs.

"I've said things similar to you already. But what made me realize that you really do care about me, and love me, is the fact that whenever I need a shoulder to lean on, you're the first one to offer it. Whenever I get excited about something, the first person I want to tell is you. You make me so happy. You've came with me countless times, with no hesitation, to take care of my aunt. And you're always the one who asks to go. You have no idea how much that means to me. Even she loves you." He laughs. "You've been nothing but nice to my family- well the ones you've met so far- and they all love you. I love you. I've never felt this feeling before, but i love it. I love being around you, you make me feel safe and happy. I was always bouncing back and forward between sleeping at my aunts place for a couple days, then my parents house for a couple days, and then my aunts and the cycle just repeated. I never felt like I had a real home before. But you, Nova, you feel like home."

"You're such an idiot." I sniffle, wiping a traitorous tear that escapes my tear ducts. "I love you." I hug him.

"I love you too. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us. Geez, I can't wait to make you my wife." He says, my heart melting.

"Your wife?" I grin up at him. I picture myself on my wedding day, with Ethan standing at the end of the aisle. I've never wanted to get married so badly than in this second.

"Mhm. My wife." He gives me a kiss before pulling us both back down to reality. "We should really put clothes on before everyone gets back."

I laugh, standing up. I hand him his clothes and quickly get dressed in mine. Ethan lays back down on my bed, grinning at me. I jump on top of him excitedly.

"You love me?" I straddle his waist, grinning down at him. He laughs at my excitement.

"Yes." He smiles at me.

"You love me?" I repeat, kissing him.

"Yes, I love you." He says when I pull away.

"You have no idea how happy I am." I say, all the tiredness I felt before is now gone.

"I'm happy too. I just want to tell you I love you all day now. I love you." He gives me a cheeky smile.

"I love you too." I grin.

Just then, I hear the doorknob turn. When it doesn't open, I hear keys jingling. I quickly get off of Ethan and just lay beside him. I look up at the door as our friends enter.

"Welcome home" I wave.

"Hello." They all reply.

"We brought you guys some sushi." Cameron hands me a bag and I sit up.

"Ooh, thank you!" I grin.

"Did you get a lot of packing done?" Callie asks, climbing onto her bed and facing us.

"Not too much. I planned out what I wanted to take but Ethan was tired so we took a nap most of the time you guys were gone. We literally woke up like, 10 minutes ago or something." I lie, biting my lip. I hope they actually buy that.

"Aw, well that's okay! Callie and I will help you pack." Lorena says excitedly. I smile and nod.

Ethan and I eat and then afterwards, him and Cameron talk about god knows what boys talk about, while my friends start going through my clothes. We all argue on the fashion of New York, then finally come to the agreement that it doesn't matter what I wear, as long as I look good.

"Oh, we bought you a few presents. We don't know how long you'll be out there so we bought you 3 different things, for 3 different days." Callie and Lorena share a secretive glance.

"But you cannot, under any circumstances, look at them until you're in New York okay? Please promise me that." Lorena holds out a pinky.

"Okay, I promise. Thank you guys." I pinky promise Lorena before giving them both a hug.

"Are you ready love?" Ethan stands up from my bed, stretching. "Spend the night at my place tonight so we can just leave from there in the morning. Make sure you have your passport, ID, and everything else." He says. My passport? I thought you didn't need those when you fly within the states. I shrug, grabbing all the things I need and putting it in my carry on.

"I'm going to miss you guys. Text me everyday okay?" Water fills the brims of my eyes as I stand in front of my three friends.

"Dumbass, don't cry." Lorena's eyes get watery. "You're going to make me cry." I look at Callie and tears are already streaming down her face. Cameron is just staring at us awkwardly.

"Call us when you get to where you're staying okay? And when your plane lands, if you're not too tired. I love you, please be safe." Callie pulls us all into a hug.

"Okay, I will. I love you guys too." I wipe my tears and we all laugh at each other.

"Ethan you better take care of her." Lorena narrows her eyes at him. "But both of you guys be safe." He says.

"I promise, I'll protect her with my life." Ethan grins, grabbing my suitcase while I grab my bag that I'll use as my carry on, and we leave.