Chapter 2 #2
I didn’t want to go out with him because as soon as I stepped out of the room, he was flirting with my other classmate. Or it was because he was in the swim team of Winter High and both the teams, Summer High and Winter High, had been enemies ever since I could remember.
Ethan had his swim practice and we would go home together in his car, so I decided to wait for him on the bleachers like always.
I was surprised to see Katherine sitting beside my seat, sketching in her diary.
Waving at Ms. Bennet, who was scolding Lee Chong for being late, I walked toward the bleachers and plopped beside Katherine.
“So, this is how it’s going to happen,” she started, closing her diary. “I talked with Ryan and he’s nice enough to let you two stay at the farmhouse—”
“Isn’t he on vacation?”
“Well, he and his friends are. Not the point. You and your dicker boy can stay there for the night. Alone,” she emphasized.
A chuckle bubbled out of my throat. “Whatever you’re thinking won’t happen, Kat. We are best friends and he just had his heart broken.”
“Ever heard of rebound sex?”
“Yes, but it won’t happen.”
“While you’re busy talking to me, he is staring at you.” Before I could witness, she hissed at me, “Don’t look!”
I laughed nervously, my cheeks getting warm. “Hahaha, really? Can I check?”
“Yes, really. No, wait, Rio is talking to him and he—oh, shoot, he caught me staring at him.”
I shot my friend a glare. “Way to go, Katherine.”
A smile tugged the corner of my lips when I found Ethan gazing at me, his cheeks turning red when I waved at him.
His cap was removed, so when he ran a hand through his damp thick hair, it sleeked back.
Except for one strand that stuck to his forehead, and it was so distractingly hot that I wanted to run there, tuck it back, and run back here.
I sighed and shuffled in my seat when he turned to Rio—oh, fuck.
My butt slipped from the seat and a sharp sting of pain shot through my left elbow when I awkwardly saved my ass by supporting my weight on the elbow. Katherine let out a loud chortle while I hid my red face behind my hair, sitting back on the chair.
“Quit it,” I muttered, rubbing my elbow.
“You both are so whipped!” she said, wiping a tear.
I ran a hand over my face and looked back at him, watching in awe as his muscles tensed and relaxed when he rolled his shoulders.
“Not both, Kat.” I sighed. “Just me.”
“Okay, but don’t forget to shave everything. You know what I mean?”
“What?”
“Shave. Everything.”
“Katherine, we are not going to touch each other or do the deed. Get those things out of your dirty mind.”
“Whose dirty mind?” Rio asked, a boyish grin tugging his lips.
His hair was damp after the shower, so I figured Ethan must be in the showers. And now I was having very dirty thoughts about my naked best friend wet with water—
Shut.
Up.
Katherine asked, “Does Ethan have a crush on Kiara?”
Like an involuntary action, Rio nodded. “Of course he does! He even l—YO! You did not just hear that.” His brown eyes widened and looked between the two of us.
Oh, no.
* * *
“And that’s how I am hoping it would go,” I said, putting down the glass of water Mrs. Helen, one of Ethan’s moms, handed me when I arrived.
Her afro was tied up in a bun and her dark chocolate skin was glowing when she rocked a very sleepy Eveline on her shoulder. A wide grin split her face. “So, you both are going to spend the night together?”
Blood rushed to my neck and cheeks, but I tried to play coy and tucked my hair behind my ear. “I suppose so.”
Eveline mumbled something in her sleep, wanting attention from one of her mothers. Lilly was in the hospital as one of their patients went into labor.
Helen pecked the blond curls of her daughter. “He didn’t speak much when he came back and I knew something was wrong,” she said worriedly, glancing at his room. “I hope you get him to talk about it because I know my son and he likes to bottle it up.”
I nodded, knowing all too well how he would rather hide his feelings and get hurt than express his emotions.
“Wish me luck,” I said and pecked Eveline’s bubbly cheek.
“Of course, sweetheart.” She smiled. “I will take this one to sleep.”
I wasn’t surprised when I found his back to me, his notes spread on the desk. His bed was made and the clothes that were dumped in the corner this morning had disappeared and probably were hanging in his closet. His room was too clean and I knew the reason why.
“Why were you buttering my mom and sister?” he asked, not turning back to look at me as I closed the door and smiled at the polaroids on the wall.
It had our pictures since we were born to the latest one. We were standing together and my mom had given us ghee-shakar for the first day and clicked the picture. I was grinning at the camera and Ethan was smiling.
I walked toward his desk and plopped myself on it. “I don’t need to butter them, Ethan,” I said with a smirk, my eyes flickering from his Chemistry notes to his sharp face. “We’re going out.”
He finally looked up, fixing his glasses, and leaned back in the chair. “Why and where?”
“It’s a surprise, E. Come on, get up and get dressed if you want to, we will be leaving in ten.”
His eyebrows furrowed and before he could protest, which I knew he would, I interrupted. “If you won’t come with me, I’ll burn your algebra notes you handed me this afternoon.”
“You wouldn’t,” he whispered, his eyes widening with disbelief.
“I just might.”
Of course I was lying, but he didn’t need to know that.
I could be very persuasive if I wanted to be.
Like when I wanted him to sneak out with me to go to a gay club, or the time when we trespassed at someone’s bungalow in Italy to swim in their pool, or the time when we collected money from people and gave it to a homeless woman, or when we tried marijuana for the first time.
He removed his glasses and ran a hand through his dark locks. “Do I really have to? Can’t you take Katherine or Rio or Volt?”
“No, Ethan, I’m doing this for you.” I took his palm and held it in my hands, mustering my best sad eyes. “Please?”
His gaze didn’t waver and his jaw twitched. “Fuck, Kiara. You know I can’t resist that look on your face. Where are we going again?”
He stood up, placing his notebooks in organized order in the corner, and opened his closet, checking different shirts and T-shirts.
I smiled at the dark blue waves we had painted on the ceiling and remembered playing with paint when it was done.
It took us two whole days to make it, including the details of transparent droplets with white paint.
“It’s a surprise, Ethan, and I’m driving,” I said and closed the window behind me, which was attached to my room’s window through a fire escape. We always kept our windows open so we could sneak into each other’s room to either study, cuddle, or talk.
Ethan removed his T-shirt and even though I had seen him shirtless almost every day because of his swim practice, I couldn’t help but stare at the contour of his abs and how his muscles tensed when he wore a darker color shirt.
Damn, it should be illegal to look this good in a simple shirt and pants.
“Are you taking me out on a date?” he asked teasingly.
YES!
“No, Ethan,” I huffed. “Pfft, of course not. You broke up today and I am taking you out to cheer you up.”
“Are you trying to kidnap me, Ms. Sharma?”
Instead of the perfect pronunciation of ‘Sharma,’ Americans or in fact every non-Indian pronounced it like ‘Shawr-mah,’ but I stopped correcting them ages ago.
I winked. “Why, yes, of course, Mr. Kane. I’m going to take you to my warehouse and ravish your chiseled body.”
His eyes darkened with swirls of emotion and I could feel the temperature in the room increase as my heart pounded in my chest.
How to make things awkward by Kiara Sharma Volume III.
“Uh-huh, sure.” He cleared his throat. “But what about dinner?”
I resisted the urge to spread my legs and give him a knowing smirk, saying, ‘Dig in.’
I needed a glass of water. Holy water would do.
My cheeks and neck warmed, his eyes dropping to my neck, probably wondering why I was so flushed. I let out a nervous laugh. “Don’t worry about it, E. Dinner’s on me. I’ll wait outside.”
I slid off the desk and tried not to sniff his musky cologne when I walked by him and closed the door behind me. My legs were shaking and I pressed my hands on my cheeks, forcing them to cool off.
“I’m just a hormonal teenager going through a phase,” I muttered to myself and walked to the kitchen to get a glass of cold water.
If I was this nervous right now, then what would happen when we got there. And spend the night alone? Pressed against each other? I shook my head. I couldn’t let that happen. Ethan was my best friend.