Chapter 4
I NEED TO GET A GRIP
KIARA
It had been two days since the night at the farmhouse. The night where I was drunk and alone with Ethan. That wouldn’t make me nervous daily, but it was making me nervous because we almost kissed each other. I almost kissed my best friend. My best friend.
Damn it.
I stumbled into someone and muttered a quick sorry.
I had been zoning out all day, thinking about Ethan and that almost kiss.
I could feel the way his warm hand cupped my cheeks and the spicy, musky cologne when he leaned closer, his eyes a turmoil of emotions.
I shook my head to erase those thoughts.
It didn’t happen and I should be thankful for it.
But why was a part of me disappointed and sad?
A strong hand held my wrist and I stopped to look at the person. Clenching my jaw, I followed him as he dragged me to the nearest empty classroom.
“What the hell are you doing, Liam?” I asked, rubbing my wrist when he let go of me, slamming the door behind us.
His stormy gray eyes were livid. “Me? I should be the one asking you that. What the hell are you doing with Ethan?”
Nothing. Yet.
Scolding my mind, I crossed my arms. “What do you mean? I’m his best friend.”
“Best friends don’t hide things from each other.”
Ignoring the pang of hurt, I snapped, “Best friends also don’t betray them by kissing their girlfriends and have sex behind their backs.”
That shut him up. I walked closer to him and pushed his chest, my eyes gleaming with tears. “You betrayed Ethan and me, Liam. If you didn’t have any feelings, then why would you ever—”
His eyes averted to my lips and trailed back to my eyes. I hastily wiped the tear because I didn’t want him to know that what he did had affected me.
“Did you tell Ethan about us?”
I scoffed, “There was no us. And why would I ever tell him about that?”
“We kissed, Kiara,” he said. “When you . . . when you—”
I clenched my jaw. “Don’t you dare say it.”
His eyes softened and he stepped closer. “You have to tell him, Kiara. This would break him.”
“Which is why I am not going to tell him. He would blame himself and pretend he is happy.” I took a deep breath and said, “Our kiss meant nothing when you decided to have sex with Ariana while she was dating Ethan a-and I hate you for that.”
I pulled away from him and didn’t look back when I walked out of the empty class with my heart broken and the memories of that evening flashing in my mind. We did kiss, but I was not going to burden Ethan with that useless information.
* * *
With my forehead leaning on the book, I groaned and hid my face with my arms. It felt like someone was hammering the back of my head.
Repeatedly. Why did I think it would be a good idea to write three thousand words at three in the morning?
After talking to Liam, I had cried in the washroom.
Sadly, I had to sit in calculus and now I was ready to explode.
A warm hand lay on my palm and squeezed it. “Are you all right, Bella?” he asked, his voice deep and husky, sending shivers to the most sensitive part of my body.
I gulped and raised my head to look at him. He was sitting across from me with a frown etching his handsome face. It should be illegal for someone to look this good.
“I am fine,” I murmured with a small smile and held his hand, the warmth tingling in my palm.
Katherine swallowed the contents of food and asked, “What happened, Kia? Long night?”
Yeah, you could say that. I had been imagining the worst-case scenarios if we had kissed and what would’ve happened the next day.
But to my surprise, Ethan was acting like he didn’t ask me for a kiss.
He was perfectly calm and collected while I was a nervous mess, ready to jump and run away if he tried to talk to me.
What the heck was happening to me? I had never been like this before.
“Yep, stayed all night and wrote some stuff because I couldn’t sleep,” I said, raking a hand through my hair.
“You don’t have to wait for me after school.” Ethan said, “You should go home and get some rest.”
“You can’t!” Volt yelled, sitting beside me, and wrapped his arm around my shoulders to give me a side hug.
Ethan glared at him. And the arm that was around my shoulder.
“Why not?” I asked, pulling away from his aggressive hug.
“We are meeting at the farmhouse.” Me and Ethan straightened at the mention of the farmhouse when Volt added, “Do you guys ever read our group texts?”
“I don’t like to stare at four images of the good morning every night at twelve,” Ethan said and took a long swig of the orange juice. I stared in awe as his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down with each gulp.
Katherine nudged me. “Stop eye-pussying the poor guy!”
I hid my blush and looked down at the fantasy book I was reading before the headache took over me.
Volt asked, texting furiously on his phone, “You guys are coming, right?”
My best friend whispered in my ear, “Someone is coming all right.” This time, I nudged her ribs, glaring at her.
“I am in,” Rio said, munching on fries from Ethan’s plate.
Katherine turned to me. “I’ll go if you go. I can’t handle these guys alone.”
Alice had her cheerleading practice, so she wouldn’t be present and I would be saved from the lecture of ‘Vivian this’ or ‘Vivian that.’
I faced Ethan. “What about you?”
Rio leaned on the table and said with a cheeky grin, “You know that farmhouse has a pool too.”
Ethan looked at Rio like a five-year-old on Christmas. He loved swimming and if he could, he would never get out of the pool.
I grinned. “Okay, Volt. Count us all in.”
I hoped going back to the farmhouse wouldn’t affect our friendship. But I really wanted to know what was going on inside Ethan’s mind when he had asked me for a kiss when we were sloshed.
* * *
The headache didn’t go away. If it was possible, it became worse.
I massaged my temples when Volt, Rio, and Ryan’s friends, Carter and Samuel, started a fistfight, every two minutes screaming at the PlayStation. Volt was sporting a black eye, and Rio and Samuel had nosebleeds from the random punches.
Man, boys are weird.
By the sound of high-pitched giggles of my friend, I knew Ryan was keeping her busy in the kitchen. I smiled when he teasingly whispered something in her ear, making her laugh, and they started making out. Shuddering, I quickly looked away.
Ethan was sitting on the other couch, completing his homework so he could focus more on his swim practice.
He was wearing his study glasses and I smiled when his tongue occasionally poked out of his lips to lick them when he calculated the answer in the calculator.
One of the strands of his hair fell down when he was writing on his notes and I had the same urge to go and tuck it back.
I shook my head. No. I can’t have these thoughts about Ethan. I should have brought a book or my laptop with me, but we came directly here after Ethan and Rio’s swim practice. I looked out of the glass doors, at the swimming pool. I could use some fresh air.
“I’ll be outside,” I muttered to no one and made my way to the pool, which was in the backyard where no one could see or disturb me. I would probably swim for a while.
“Hey, Kiara.”
I stopped and my heart quickened when I turned toward him.
“Can I join you?”
Hai Bhagwan.
I smiled. “Of course, Ethan. I’d love that.”
I could feel his burning eyes on me when we stepped outside the glass doors, cool breeze brushing against our bare skin. Ethan slid the doors behind him. I swallowed the lump in my throat when I realized no one could see us from the living room or the kitchen unless they walked out here.
We were completely alone. Just like that night.
“Are you going to swim?” I asked, removing my shoes and sitting on the edge of the pool, dipping my bare legs in the cold water.
His tall frame loomed over me and he sat beside me, following my actions. “Probably later.”
I swayed my legs in the water. Even though I had naturally tanned skin, thanks to my Indian genes, Ethan had a darker skin tone than me.
I wondered how we would look pressed against each other.
I bit my lip to stop my imagination from wandering too far and thinking of my legs wrapped around his strong torso.
I studied his profile and his eyes were trained on our legs floating in the water.
With a small kick, a few the water droplets fell on his clothes and I hid my smile.
He looked at me and did the same, water spraying over my black skirt and sweater.
I giggled and swayed my legs harder so his pants were wet with water.
Uh-oh.
“Ethan!” I shrieked, a bubbly laugh escaping my lips when he held my wrists in his one hand and leaned closer, about to push me in the pool.
He grinned, his green and blue eyes glinting with mischief. “Would you like to swim, Kiara?”
My eyes widened in disbelief and I whispered, shaking my head, “Ethan . . . you wouldn’t. D-don’t do it.”
I tried wrenching away from his grip, but he smirked and I held my breath when he pushed me inside the water, my body downing in the pool and water gurgling around me.
My skin prickled with the icy cold water as I surged up on the surface, moving my hair from my face and glaring at my best friend, who was busy laughing at me. Jerk.
“I didn’t peg you as a jerk, Ethan,” I snapped when he easily lifted me from the pool even though my wet clothes were weighing me down.
He snickered, his cheeks flushing when he handed me a towel. “You started it, Bella. Don’t blame it on me.”
I sighed and shook my head when the skirt and sweater stuck to my body. I didn’t have spare, but I hoped Ryan would have Katherine’s clothes in his room, which I could borrow. Dripping with water, I sat beside Ethan, who was staring at my wet clothes that stuck to me like a second skin.
“So, what are you thinking about?” he asked, clearing his throat, and looked away.
“You.”
“I hope you’re not thinking about pushing me in the water for a payback.”