Chapter Three #2
This moment was nothing like the movies. I mean, I stared, alright. But unlike in a movie, he knew exactly what effect him being shirtless and two feet away from me was having on my otherwise-rational mind.
Ethan smirked. Tossing the shirt on the edge of his chair, he asked, “You doing okay?”
A little spike of panic coursed through me, and my brain temporarily disconnected as I cast about for a way to recover any chill that he might have thought I had.
My eyes landed on my sunscreen, and my ability to think kicked back in.
Throwing my braid over my shoulder, I picked up my bottle of sunscreen and held it out to him.
“My mom is as white as you are. You are gonna burn in fifteen minutes,” I said, doing my best to seem totally unfazed, like cute boys took their shirts off in front of me all the time.
Ethan looked down at my hand, then back at me. His confidence didn’t falter whatsoever as he sat down. “I’ll put it on in a minute.”
“You truly are full of bad ideas.” I tossed my sunscreen onto his lap.
“You wound me.” Ethan threw a dramatic hand over his heart and slouched. “You don’t know me well enough to know that my ideas are incredible. Yet, anyway. We’ll be friends, eventually.”
“Name one good idea you’ve had since we met.”
“Sitting next to you.” He grinned as if I’d walked right into his trap. “See how fun this is?”
I rolled my eyes. “Someone is going to tell our grandmas, and then it’ll be like TrendCon Miami all over again, only without my dad here to break up the shouting match before mobility devices get tossed around.”
“I was at a soccer tournament last year, so I don’t have the same emotional baggage from Miami—although I heard my grandma really took more of a swing than a throw, which was still impressive, of course.”
“Uh, her cane was lightweight, and she wielded it like a bat. Plus, BamBam was in a walking boot, so she couldn’t get out of the way fast enough, although really Buzzy’s cane just grazed her thigh.
” I shook my head and wondered how I let myself get sidetracked instead of encouraging him to go away.
“But that’s not the point. If you don’t want the trauma of seeing your grandma take her earrings off for a fight, you should leave. ”
“Who is going to recognize us? It’s not like I wear a swimsuit on my channel.”
I arched a skeptical eyebrow. Somehow, I doubted that people would forget a face like his enough to have him go completely unrecognized. But maybe his main audience consisted of stereotypical cishet men drooling over engines.
“Trust me.” Ethan gestured to his bare chest. My eyes started to follow the motion but stopped as soon as he pointed at me. “And you literally don’t exist on the internet. You’re like a ghost.”
“You were looking for me?” I wrinkled my nose at him.
“I—” Ethan blinked at me for a second, his cheeks turning a shade of pink that had nothing to do with being in the sun.
“You’re telling me you didn’t look for me?”
“Nope.” I shook my head as he raised an incredulous eyebrow at me. It was almost adorable watching him squirm. I sighed. “But Nittha did. She says you’re into cars.”
Ethan’s face erupted into a grin. “Oh, I see. You got someone else to do your dirty work.”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not like I asked her to.”
“Sure. I believe you.” Ethan’s gaze followed in the direction I nodded, where Nittha was holding Cricket above the water for a photo. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone how you research the competition.”
I shook my head and tried to focus on my computer. “So, you admit that we are in competition, then? Do you always fraternize with the enemy?”
Ethan studied me. “We’re not enemies. Our grandmas are.”
“But you just said we were.” I grinned as an idea turned over in my mind. If I couldn’t make him go away, maybe I could make Ethan useful. Tilting my chin toward Sterling, I asked, “Do you know that guy over there, the one with bleach-blond hair?”
Ethan’s gaze followed the direction I’d pointed him in. “You mean Sterling?”
“Yeah.” I nodded, fighting the urge to get too excited.
“I do. Did. Kind of. We’re friends-ish. We used to play soccer together in Portage Park.
” Ethan stumbled through his explanation of his relationship with Sterling, then readjusted in his chair slightly, as if the question made him feel uncomfortable.
Pulling at an invisible loose thread on his shorts, he added, “He works with someone I used to date, so it’s complicated.
We don’t talk as much anymore, but we were close.
If you are asking because you think he is cute, bad news: He is gay. ”
“Google already told me that, but thanks for lookin’ out.” I laughed, then explained. “My grandma thinks she might want to work with him, but I wanted to do some reconnaissance before she talks to him. Don’t tell her I told you.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Ethan’s frame relaxed a little.
He said, “Don’t let the glitter fool you.
Sterling is supersmart, highly competitive, and dead serious about his business.
The guy is twenty-four/seven thinking about his brand and how he positions it.
Honestly, he’d probably be the perfect match for Ms. Mini. They both have big personalities.”
“Thanks for the intel,” I said before returning to my work.
Ethan leaned back in his chair, ostensibly soaking up sun.
Meanwhile, I tried to focus on BamBam’s content schedule, so I could figure out where I wanted to slot her latest brush video into the plan.
She had a sponsored video for a hydrating face cream going out soon, too, and I wanted to time the brush video’s release so that it didn’t draw potential viewers away from it—
“So, you and Nittha seem close. She was with you in the lobby.” Ethan’s voice interrupted me.
I faced him only to find him watching me, tension tracing his jaw as he tried to sort out how to say whatever it was he was getting at.
Ethan took a deep breath and gestured in a circular way as if the motion would help me connect the dots.
“Is she your friend…girlfriend…platonic life partner…”
For a moment I blinked at him, and then I started laughing.
Ethan’s face looked like he might crawl into a hole at any moment.
This happened a lot with Nittha and Gabby.
They were both so pretty and outgoing. I couldn’t really be mad at people for asking the sidekick friend if they were single, even if Ethan’s attempt was clumsy.
“We’re just friends. But, bad news for you. She typically dates girls. And trust me, right now, she’s got a whopper of a girlfriend.”
“I wasn’t asking about her for me.” Ethan looked shocked that I would think he was asking about the dating status of an objectively pretty girl for benign reasons.
“Sure. You and everyone else who’s ever asked me.”
“No, really.” Ethan sputtered. Clearing his throat, he tried again. “You’re not interested in her?”
“Girls aren’t for me so far, but even if I was interested, I’m not Nittha’s type.
Everyone she dates is about a foot taller and ten times louder than me.
” I laughed, envisioning Nittha’s current girlfriend.
That girl was basically a walking megaphone.
Anytime she needed to do anything, the entire world got an announcement about it: tying her shoe, losing a pen, changing a tampon.
“So, what would be your type?” Ethan asked, drawing out the o in so.
I snorted. “Nice try. You seem like the kind of guy who’d flirt with a light post if it were in front of you.”
“Nah,” Ethan said, suddenly very interested in the seam of his swim trunks again. I pursed my lips together and waited. “Can’t a guy ask his new friend about her life?”
“Again. We’re not friends. You’re the one who said we were competition, remember?”
Ethan laughed, and I caught myself smiling even as I tried to scare him off. “Okay, then how about we know just enough about each other to be cordial when our grandmothers aren’t around? What’s your favorite color? It’s probably dark purple.”
Great. He’d noticed my nail polish, and now my imagination was working overtime to bring the whole friend scenario from the plane back again. That couldn’t happen. Sometimes fibs were for the greater good…
“Actually, it’s—”
“Miss, you can’t have your dog in the pool area.” The lifeguard’s voice rang out, startling both Ethan and me. We paused to see Nittha looking like she might try to argue and get all of us banned from the pool, while Gabby looked like she’d commit homicide if Nittha did that.
“Well, that’s my cue.” I stood and started packing up my stuff as Gabby pushed Nittha to start walking. Throwing my sundress over my head, I then glanced over at Ethan. “Keep the sunscreen.”
“You’re leaving?” Ethan said, looking between me and my friends, who were slowly wading out of the pool as if the delay would make a statement about the rules. “I can bring it back to you.”
“Keep it. You’re gonna need it more than me.” I laughed and started cramming Nittha’s stuff into her bag right as she reached the chairs.
“Can you believe…” Nittha stopped midsentence, noticing that Ethan was sitting next to me. A Cheshire cat grin spread across her face as whatever romance she was spinning in her head started to kick into high gear. “Hey, I know you from—”
“Nope. No small talk, the lifeguard is coming. We gotta go,” I said, taking Cricket from her arms and handing her a swim cover-up.
“Jamie didn’t tell us your name.” Gabby jumped in where Nittha had left off, enjoying the fact that I was squirming. “I’m Gabby, this is Nittha.”
“I’m Ethan. Nice to meet you both.”
“Okay, great introductions. Time to leave.” I cut in again.
Gabby’s face turned from mischievous to surprised as she watched me pick up her and Nittha’s bags.
Apparently, she had underestimated how quickly I could get myself out of an awkward situation when highly motivated.
I passed Gabby a tote and tucked the dog back into her carrier, then looped my arm through Nittha’s and said, “Bye, Ethan.”
He smiled at the two of them as if they were old pals, then turned to me, wearing an expression every bit as mischievous as Gabby’s, and said, “See you later, new friends.”
“Not if I can help it.” I rolled my eyes and tugged on Nittha’s arm to get a move on.
“What was that about?” Gabby asked, ducking her chin to try to catch my eye as I steered us toward the exit.
“Nothing,” I said, shaking my head. “Ethan was trying to get us both disowned by our grandmas. Again.”
“Ugh. You’re gonna tell me that you sat there the whole time and had no fun? Who doesn’t want a little forbidden love?” Nittha giggled and took Cricket’s bag from me.
I was halfway through denying it when a sneaky little voice in the back of my head pointed out that I had had a smidge of fun with Ethan.
“Nope. No fun. And, I value my life, so don’t get any ideas.” I said that last part to myself as much as Nittha. I certainly didn’t need to be getting any ideas about Ethan either.