Chapter Twelve #3
“I’m sure Izzie still likes you. She probably doesn’t want to like you at school, or around her friends, or alone, because she is fourteen.”
Ethan laughed, but it sounded hollow, and my heart ached. Without thinking, I pressed up against his arm. “I didn’t know you when you dated Emmie, but I think you’re pretty cool.”
“Careful. I might start to think we’re friends.” Reaching out his free hand, he tilted my chin toward him and took a step forward so my knee was resting low on his stomach. Leaning in, he dropped his voice and said, “Close your eyes.”
I swallowed hard and did as he asked, willing myself to think about anything other than how we were barely six inches apart.
If I wanted to kiss him, his mouth was right there.
The cotton round slid across my eyelid, leaving a greasy trail, and I pushed away the thought of Ethan’s mouth.
“This probably makes us friends, doesn’t it? ”
“Finally.” I felt Ethan’s chuckle where his body rested on my knees. “I’ve been waiting for you forever.”
The cotton round moved to my browbone, and I opened my eyes to see Ethan’s honey-brown gaze studying my face again. He bit down on his bottom lip but didn’t move away. My heart thudded in my chest. This was it. He was going to try and kiss me, and I was going to let him.
“Can I tell you something?” he said softly. “Now that we are friends?”
“Yes.” My eyes searched his face as I waited for him to close the distance between us. I held my breath.
Ethan moved even closer to me, his voice tickling the sensitive spot below my ear as he whispered, “You look like a raccoon right now.”
With that, Ethan burst into laughter, and I shoved his shoulder, mad at myself for even imagining that he was going to kiss me.
Leaning across the sink, I looked in the mirror. Ethan was correct. While he had managed to remove a whole mess of glitter, the Vaseline had smeared big dark circles of mascara, eyeliner, and eyeshadow around my eyes. In short, I resembled a raccoon.
“If I kick you right now, it’ll really hurt.” I huffed, sitting up straight.
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist,” Ethan wheezed.
“Give me that, and I’ll do the rest myself.” I held out my hand for the toner and cotton round he was holding.
“No, no. I’ll finish,” Ethan said, gently pushing my hand aside. “But you have to admit that you do look funny.”
“I do not,” I managed to say.
“Stubborn. Close your eyes one more time.” Ethan’s voice was still infused with humor. When I didn’t immediately comply, he said, “Please. I promise I’ll be nice.”
“I’m no longer sure you’re capable of that.” He reached for my face with his free hand. His expression grew serious as I said, “Some friend you are.”
“Don’t say that, Jamie.” Ethan’s voice was low.
I liked the way my name sounded when he said it.
Soft, like it was a prayer. His thumb traced the edge of my jaw.
Ethan swallowed. Whatever playful energy he’d put between us seemed to disappear, the room going completely still as his gaze jumped to my lips.
His eyes traced a path along the curve of my cheek and across my nose, until they met mine.
Exhaling a shaky breath, he said, “And what if I wanted to be more than—”
The sound of two mechanical beeps came, indicating that the door had been unlocked and was about to open. Both of us froze. Ice water ran through my veins. Then fear.
“Shit,” Ethan said.
“No,” I said at the same time. I dove off the counter, the faux leather of my dress squeaking as Ethan jumped back to the other side of the sink.
“Ethan, are you here?”
He reached toward the counter and grabbed an armful of makeup-removing stuff right as Buzzy’s crisp New England accent floated through the room.
For one wild moment, I considered hiding in the shower, which wouldn’t have been a bad plan if the thing hadn’t been made of frosted glass.
My heart slammed in my chest as I searched for some escape.
Literally, if there were a window I could have dangled from, I would have done it.
When that didn’t materialize, I turned back to Ethan, his eyes wide with panic, even as he took a breath to respond. “In here.”
I shook my head violently, hoping to buy myself a second to see if maybe I could turn into a towel rack, but it was too late.
“I didn’t think you’d be back so soon. I would have ordered—” Buzzy stopped midsentence as she rounded the corner to the bathroom.
Her lip curled slightly as she took me in, from the tips of my tennis shoes to my head.
When her eyes landed on my face, her expression changed.
Then she glanced over at Ethan, who aside from looking guiltier than a kid caught shoplifting candy was still clutching all her makeup remover.
Turning back to me, she simply said, “Oh my.”
Then Buzzy started cackling. And I mean truly howling. She slapped her leg and leaned against the bathroom doorframe, completely ignoring Ethan and me as our eyebrows shot to the ceiling.
“I’m trying to help Jamie. She went to a makeup panel, and it went badly,” Ethan said over his grandmother’s uncontrolled giggling.
“I can see that,” Buzzy wheezed and swiped at her eyes with one of her coral-manicured hands. Looking at me carefully, she added, “Darling, you look awful.”
“I…” I peeked at myself in the mirror. I still had the massive, greasy raccoon eyes. Even better, the grease had started to work on the glue of my false eyelashes, so one of them was peeling awkwardly off my eyelid. Turning back to Buzzy, I said, “It looks better than it did.”
That seemed to send Buzzy over the edge again. After a full minute of additional cackling, she said, “You should have used Pond’s Cold Cream. Doesn’t your grandma have any of that?”
“I’m not sure. Ethan found me before I had to show my face to too many more people,” I hedged, careful to avoid telling her the fact that my own grandmother had covered my face in more makeup than a drag queen could go through in a month. “I should probably ask her.”
I pulled on the edge of my dress and gestured to the door, hoping I could sneak by. Instead, Buzzy held out a hand to stop me. Giving me a once-over, she said, “Let me take this off you before you go. Despite what your grandma might say, we’re not monsters in this family.”
It took everything in me not to flinch when she reached toward my face. Instead of mauling me, she gently peeled the loose eyelash off, then set it on the bathroom counter before saying, “I have to hand it to you, Ethan. It was clever to use the Vaseline to loosen up the glue like that.”
“It works on goo stuck to car windows,” Ethan mumbled, as if he was worried that his response could trigger a full meltdown on Buzzy’s part.
“That’s my sweet boy. Always so helpful,” Buzzy crooned, and it took everything in me not to laugh. Clearly, Ethan could do no wrong in his grandmother’s eyes. To me, she said, “Let the Vaseline sit on the other one for a few more minutes. It’ll be ready to come off soon.”
“Thank you.” I nodded and finally slipped past her, feeling safer now that I was out of her reach. “And thank you, Ethan. I appreciate the help.”
Ethan nodded and gave me a tentative smile, as if he didn’t trust himself to speak.
“And, sweetheart, if your grandma doesn’t have any Pond’s, come back here.
That product would be faster, but what Ethan has here will work eventually.
” Buzzy started to walk toward the door, so I picked up my pace, careful to keep an extra foot of distance between us, in case she decided to take a swing at me with her cane.
As I reached for the door, she added, “And if you don’t know how to use Pond’s, I have a video up on my account.
Search ‘ten things grannie knows about makeup’ plus my name and it should come up. ”
“I will.” I pulled the door open. In reality, there was no way I was watching that if BamBam was in the room, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. Stepping through the doorway, I caught sight of Ethan standing outside of the bathroom. “Thanks again.”
“Anytime,” he called.
Buzzy looked like anytime was a stretch for her, but she put on her best smile and said, “Night, sweetheart.”
With that, the door closed, and I took off down the hall, careful to make sure I was yards away before slowing down.
I’d take my chances being seen with a greasy, half-glittered face in the elevator over Buzzy coming back to try to finish the removal job.
By the time I’d reached the elevator, the survival adrenaline had worn off, and I’d started to think clearly again.
What had just happened? I’d started the night with a plan.
Film the DJ party and get home before either of our grandmothers knew we were gone.
Instead, Buzzy now knew that Ethan and I knew each other well enough that he let me in their room.
A rookie mistake. Thinking about their room made my cheeks hot for an entirely different reason.
While it wasn’t great that his grandmother knew that I was in her orbit, that wasn’t the only mistake I’d made tonight.
Ethan Wyatt had almost kissed me.
And I’d almost let him. That could never happen again. Even if I really wanted it to.