"Wait, he's not around here right?", I hid behind Hailey's back when we got to school.

"No. All clear", she said amused with my behaviour.

I sighed in relief. I didn't want to face Mike ever again even if we had same classes. I would pretend he was nobody.

"So how's you and Ethan?", she asked when we walked to our class.

"Um, just fine I guess. A little awkward", I said.

I woke up this morning finding him up already and making breakfast. All my favourites.

We ate together this morning and the atmosphere was really awkward that we didn't say anything to each other. I didn't even look him in the eyes but I knew he was staring me.

I quickly ate the whole plate and excused myself. I could feel the blush on my cheek.

"So, have you decided yet about your feelings?", Hailey asked grinning.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I'm so confused. Can you please not to talk about him?", I begged.

Hailey's eyes went soft. "OK. I'm sorry" she held my hand and walked together to class.

That was one of the best thing about Hailey. She was never pushing me if I didn't want to tell her more.

After class, we hang out with Jenny and the others. I didn't tell them any single thing about Mike or Ethan.

See I was a really closed person. I never told anyone about my private things if I hadn't trusted them or knew them well.

Because nowadays, it was really dangerous to tell people things. You had no idea how big someone's mouth could be. 

We hung out in Jenny's dorm. I didn't want to risk seeing Mike if we were in Hailey's. Besides, I'd never been in Jen's.

I stayed for two hours and decided to go home.

"Can't you just stay a little longer?", Jen pouted, holding my hands not to let me go.

I chuckled at her silly expression. "I can't. My brother's not around"

"Isn't it supposed to be freedom?", Steve raised his brow.

"Yeah. Maybe we could go somewhere else tonight. Having fun before the tests", Caleb's eyes glowing with excitement. Whatever he thought of, it wouldn't be good.

"Nah. I'll pass", I said getting up and heading to the door.

"You're suck", Jenny threw pillow at me but she missed. I just chuckled.

"See you later", I said opening the door.

I walked home safely without bumping with Mike. I didn't know what I would do if I saw him.

I opened the apartment's door and closed it behind me. I was about to walk to my room when I heard Ethan talking on the phone in the living room.

"Yeah, everything's fine. She's still in school. Yes, you're so nosy. Ok OK I got it. Bye", he hang up the phone and heard his footsteps out of the living room.

I decided to act natural. He was still looking at his phone but stopped when he sensed my presence.

He looked up and smiled to me. "You're home"

I just nodded and looked at the phone he was holding.

He noticed me staring and chuckled. "Brian called. He's asking how we doing", he said answering my question.

My eyes widened. What if he told him about Mike?

"What's wrong?", he asked.

"Does he know about Mike?", I asked with panic.

"Uh, no, not yet. I thought it would be best to tell him if he's home. I didn't want him get distracted from his work now" he explained.

I sighed in relief. "Can you do me a favor? Don't tell him"

He looked at me confused. "Why?"

"Just don't tell him. It's my problem and I didn't want to burden him", I said.

"But he hits you, Linda. I think Brian deserves to know", he said in anger.

I was shocked by him raising his voice with me. He seemed to regret what he did.

"I'm sorry", his face softened. "It's just Brian needs to know about this. He's your brother. You'll never be a burden to him", he said patting my shoulder.

"And anyway, I'm still waiting you know", he winked and went to the kitchen.

I blushed and semi run to my room. OMG. What should I do with him? I just prayed for Brian to get his job done and come home quickly.

I came out for dinner and the situation didn't get any better. The atmosphere was still awkward and his eyes keep staring at me.

"So, is that jerk still looking for you?", he asked when I almost finished.

"No", I said.

He nodded. "Good. Just tell me if he's bothering you again", he said.

He was starting to show his possessive side of him and I loved it. It felt like there was really someone looking out for me.

I washed the dishes and headed to my room. I needed to study for the upcoming tests which in two weeks. I couldn't screw this up. 

I ended up studying until almost midnight and it started to rain. The rain was getting heavier and it looked like there would be a storm. I hate storms.

I didn't continue my study and decided to sleep.

The storm made me hard to sleep. Loud thunder started to form and I was hiding myself inside my blanket.
The sound was irritating.

There was no more thunder but the rain still poured heavily. I pulled the blanket away from my face and tried to sleep.

But I still couldn't sleep. The rain and wind kept hitting the window making loud noises.

I opened my eyes in frustration and  stared outside the window. But I regretted it because the next thing happened was that I saw the lightning striking and I screamed burying my face with blanket.

I was always afraid of lightning because I'd saw someone dead because getting strike by the lightning.

I heard footsteps and someone opened the door. I didn't know who it was because I was still covered with my blanket.

"Linda? Are you alright? I heard your scream", Ethan said and pulled the blanket away from my face.

He heard my scream? Damn. Was I really that loud?

I blushed in embarrassment. "Yeah. Everything's fine", I lied.

"Then why did you scream?", he asked amused.

"What? I didn't scream I was just...", I didn't finish because there was another lightning making me yelped  and covered my face in blanket.

I could hear his chuckle. "You scream because of the lightning?"

I didn't answer him still hiding my face because of the embarrassment.

He laughed and I couldn't help but slapped his arm.

"Ow, don't hit me", he said still laughing.

"It's not funny", I glared.

"Ok ok. I'm sorry. I didn't know you're scared of lightning", he chuckled.

"I'm not scared. I just don't like it", I crossed my arms.

"Yeah, yeah. You don't", he said sarcastically. 

"I'm not", I threw a pillow to him but he caught it with one hand.

He smirked evilly and I giggled throwing another pillow at him. It'd been a long time since I laughed with him.

"Ethan", I said when he was about to leave.

He turned around facing me. "Yeah?",

"Can you stay with me, please?", I asked almost in a whisper.

He seemed surprised by my sudden request. "Uh, sure", he said still standing there.

I made a move first. I climbed on the bed and laid down giving space for him. My back facing him.

He followed and laid beside me his front facing my back making the spooning position.

I never had any guy slept on my bed and it kind of making me nervous. Especially when the guy is Ethan.

He seemed to notice my tense position

"Go to sleep, Linda. It's late", he said stroking my hair. I loved his touch.

"Night, Ethan", I said barely in a whisper and closed my eyes because of my sleepiness.

"Night, Linda", he said and I felt something wet and soft pecking my cheeks.