29. CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 29
ARI
I wake with a start as my body bounces on the bed and turn to see Sophie settling in beside me. “Move over, Smalls.”
“What time is it?” I groan.
“Time for you”—she jabs her pointer finger into my cheek—“to tell me what the hell happened with Ethan last night? And why Lars was acting weird when I passed him in the house?” She pulls the blanket down to expose the back of my body. “And why you’re wearing a T-shirt that’s big enough to belong to He-Man?”
I smile into my pillow before looking up at her, then down her torso. Sophie is wearing matching baby blue pajama pants and long-sleeved shirt with clouds on them, and a pair of fuzzy pink slippers. Her hair is smooshed flat on one side and wild on the other.
“Cliff’s Notes?” I turn onto my back, like Soph.
“No way. I would like all the pornographic details thankyouverymuch.”
I rub crust from my eye. “There really are no porno-worthy details. Ethan brought me home. We started making out. It got hot and heavy, and then Lars interrupted us.”
“Noooo!” Sophie shrieks in horror.
“Yep.”
When my phone dings with a text, I bolt upright, expecting it to be Ethan. I roll my body on top of Sophie’s and reach over to grab my phone off the nightstand, then roll back to my side of the bed.
“Oof,” she says with exaggeration.
At first I’m disappointed to see it’s not Ethan, but as I read Lizzie’s text, I smile and start to shuffle into a seated position. I can feel my own rat’s nest of hair falling around my head and face. “Oh. My. God! Ohmygod!”
“What?” Sophie yells back, sitting up next to me. “What is it?”
“OK, OK, OK.” I wave my hands around. “So, Lizzie just texted me that Knox told her that Gino texted him first thing this morning asking for your number!”
“Shut the front door!”
“Look, it’s right here.” I show her the text.
Sophie smiles and blushes, and then slowly her face falls. She shakes her head and pushes the phone back to me. “It’s just a fetish.”
“Huh?”
“Guys like him”—she gestures to the phone—“don’t go for girls like me”—she points at herself. “And if they do, it’s because they have some sort of big girl fetish.”
It takes a moment for the words leaving her mouth to make it to my brain, where they fester. “What?!” I bring a hand to my temple and rub. “What are you talking about?”
She pushes herself back so she’s sitting up against the headboard. “You know … they want to take the big girl for a ride to see what it’s like. They aren’t actually interested in anything real. Gino just wants a peep at the freak show.”
“Sophie Miller, you stop that nonsense right now! Gino likes you because you guys freaking hit it off last night! And you looked smokin’ hot in that dress. And you are funny, and witty, and kind.”
She looks down at her hands in her lap, fighting a smile. “Maybe you could just give Lizzie my number and we could see if he even calls.”
“If you want.” I shrug like it’s no big deal, then decide to lighten the mood. “OK, you know what? Let’s have a girls’ day. I need to get a dress for Lizzie and Knox’s party, and have someone file my toenails down. You in?”
“Hells yeah!” Sophie cheers as she scrambles off my bed. “I’m not substitute teaching today, so I’m free. I just have to get ready.”
As soon as Sophie leaves, I take a shower, then immediately check my phone and am disappointed to see Ethan hasn’t texted yet.
Screw it. I decide I’ll text him first.
Morning sunshine
While tightening the towel around myself, the phone starts ringing and vibrating in my hand, and Ethan’s name lights up the screen.
“Helloooo,” I answer in singsong voice, and am greeted with a throaty laugh.
“Morning, Red.” Ethan’s voice is rough, and it sounds like he’s out of breath.
“What are you doing, big guy?”
“I just finished a workout.” I hear him guzzling from a water bottle, I presume. “I had to pass the time somehow. I was waiting until it was at least ten to call you.”
“Why’s that?” I sit on the side of my bed.
“Didn’t want to appear needy.” Now I hear what sounds like a bite out of an apple.
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. But based on how I instantaneously called you after getting your text, you can probably guess I was waiting by the phone.” Another crunch.
We are both quiet for a minute. “Ethan?”
“Ari?”
I chew the inside of my cheek. “Hi.”
I hear him breathe. “Hi.”
“Is this weird?”
“Is what weird?”
“That we didn’t talk for several years and now we’re all, ‘I’m waiting with bated breath for your phone call?’”
Another crunch, and then he answers with a full mouth. “Nope. In fact, I think it’s the most right thing that’s happened in a long time.”
I flop back onto the bed and after a moment of silence ask, “So, you know that guy Gino, Knox’s friend?”
“The one Sophie was talking to last night?” I hear him stomping up the stairs, then the opening and closing of cupboards.
“Yes, him. He asked Knox for her phone number.”
“Go Soph!”
“Right! Thing is, she has a hard time believing he would actually be into her.”
“Why’s that?” More crunching, but louder. Then, with a full mouth, “Sophie’s awesome.”
“What are you eating now?” I ask.
“Cereal.”
“Ah … Anyway, I told Sophie the same thing—that Gino would be lucky to have her—but she still lacks confidence, and I feel like some therapy in the form of pampering will help.”
Ethan is quiet briefly, then says, “I assume Sophie’s hesitation comes from her past experiences?”
“You could say that.” I sit up and swing my legs to the side of the bed. From here I can reach the dresser, so I pull a drawer open and dig around for a pair of underwear, then open another drawer and find a pair of jeans. “She has experience , if you will. But it’s all just so sad. Violated repeatedly by the men who should have protected her, one after another. No wonder she doesn’t trust anyone who shows interest.”
“Is your past similar to hers?” Ethan asks hesitantly. “Your romantic past, that is?” I pause with my pants pulled up to my thighs and gulp. After a moment Ethan adds, “You don’t have to answer that.”
“It’s not that, it’s just … I’m honestly considering the question.” I zip and button my pants. “In some ways, yes. In other ways, absolutely not.”
The line is quiet again before Ethan lets out a heavy breath. “I will never regret anything more in my life than leaving you in that house.”
“Ethan, I have never been angry at you for leaving. Ever. I’m happy for you. Proud of you. Besides, I left first, technically.” A beat goes by, and I decide to turn the tables. “What about your past?”
“What about it?” His answer comes out garbled.
“Are you eating something else?”
“Yogurt. What do you want to know?”
“OK … How many?”
“How many what?”
“How many women have you been with?” I hear what sounds like him scraping the bottom of the bowl. “Good grief,” I say when he doesn’t answer. “I’m just looking for a ballpark answer here. Are we talking dozens?”
“No! For God’s sake, Ari.” He sighs. “I had a handful of relationships—girlfriends, I guess you could say. And then a handful of casual encounters.”
After a beat, Ethan asks, “So, what’s your number?”
I close my eyes and suck in a breath. Just the fact he’s asking means Fonz told him the sordid details of my time with Sean. And I’m sure my hesitation to answer his question lets him know that I know. But he doesn’t give me an out this time. He just waits for me to reply.
“Three,” I say softly. “Including Sean, it’s three.”
Silence. Eerie, black silence. “Ethan?” I check to see if he’s still there.
“I’m gonna hang that asshole by his testicles if I ever see him.”
I smile. “I support that.”
After another pause, he asks, “You ever see Axel?”
“No,” I respond immediately. I don’t want to lie to him, but I know he will never understand. Getting to the closet, I open it and find a bra. “Look, Ethan, I don’t mean to cut this conversation short, but I have to finish getting dressed before Sophie comes barreling down here to get me.”
“Wha— Have you been naked this whole time?”
“I guess you’ll never know.”
“Oh, that’s cold. Were you in a towel? Just in your panties? Give me something here!”
“Oh, big boy, you’re just going to have to use your imagination.”
He curses under his breath and grumbles something about me not wanting to know what’s going on in his imagination, and then I hear the front door open upstairs and Sophie bellowing my name.
“Gah! Gotta go!”
“Wait! Send me a pic!”
I laugh. “Bye, Ethan.”
I hear a sigh. “Later, gator.”