"You didn't have to be so rude. Ben is a nice guy," I said chucking his Ice cream down on the counter harshly. 

"A little too nice if you ask me," Ethan said bitterly as he sunk his spoon in. 

"No, you're a little bit too rude," I argued back, trying to defend Ben. 

"Why the hell does he call you Mimi for anyway? It's such a stupid nickname," he grumbled.

 "You call me Chubs for crying out loud," I said laughing at his ridiculousness. 

"Yeah but that's original, I call you that because you have a cute little face," he said gesturing at my face with his spoon to emphasize his point.

 "You think I'm cute?" I said cocking my eyebrow up at him in amusement. 

He paused for a second, realizing that he had accidentally complimented me. "You're alright..." he said with a shrug, before awkwardly breaking eye contact with me.

After a while, Ethan turned around to glare at Ben's back who was busy clearing away a table. "He's way too friendly Mia, he definitely has a thing for you," Ethan said with a scoff, as he turned back around to face me. 

Why the hell does he care so much anyway? 

"That's because he's a nice person Ethan, maybe you could learn something from him." I snapped in an exasperated tone as I gave him a pointed look. Ethan scowled at me before proceeding to immitate me childishly.

 "Ben's so cool. Blah. Blah. Blah. I love Ben," Ethan said in an extremely high-pitched tone, causing me to let out an involuntary giggle.

 "I sound nothing like that, you idiot," I said in amusement, as I hit him on the shoulder.

 "Don't slap your customer Mia. It's rude," Ethan said with a smirk.

Deciding to be cheeky, I grabbed a clean spoon from the counter and quickly swiped a large chunk of ice-cream from his bowl.

 "Heyy, that's my ice-cream," Ethan whined. 

"Well It's payback," I retorted smugly as I triumphantly put the spoon in my mouth.

 It's nothing the dickhead didn't deserve after stealing my chocolate muffin the other day. He lifted his head to look at me, his eyes flickering down to look at my lips. Why was he looking there?

 "You have some ice-cream on the corner of your mouth," he said demonstrating where he meant by pointing on his face. 

I blushed, realizing I must look like an idiot. I wiped the corner of my mouth against my sleeve. 

"It's still there," he said with a smirk, probably getting a kick out of seeing me embarrassed. Annoyed I attempted to wipe it away again.

 "You're hopeless let me help you," Ethan said leaning across the counter and wiping it away with his finger.

 I thought he was going to wipe it on his napkin but without hesitation, he licked the ice-cream clean from the end of his finger. I just stared at him with shock; not expecting him to do that.

 "What?" he said with a shrug, looking at me in confusion. 

"Er, nothing..." I said awkwardly, even though I could feel my heart beating rapidly in my chest, feeling oddly flustered by what he had just done. And I wasn't sure if it was a good or bad type of flustered.

-------------------------------------------

It was Tuesday again and I was yet again having a terrible day. 

"What do you have next?" Chloe said leaning against the lockers. 

"Biology," I said with a sigh.

 Chloe, May, and I were currently standing in the corridor, having a quick chat before our next class started.

 "I think I might ask if I can have some extra help. I'm not doing as well as I would like in Biology and I need to be good at everything if I want to get into Stanford," I rambled out, feeling quite stressed out. 

"Calm down Mia. Didn't you get a B? How is that bad?" Chloe said with a laugh, probably thinking I was mad.

 "It's bad because I need an A," I said in frustration. 

"You're crazy Mia. I'm being forced to be tutored and you're willingly seeking it out." May said shaking her head at me in bewilderment. 

"Whatever guys, we should probably get going, class is about to start. See you tomorrow," I said with a wave heading for biology.

------------------------------------------

It was the end of Biology and the whole class was starting to pack up their stuff getting ready to leave. I made my way to the front, wanting to ask the teacher something. 

"Oh, hey Mia, are you alright?" my biology teacher said as she noticed me waiting by her desk. 

"I'm fine, thank you. I was just wondering if I could get some extra help in Biology as I wasn't really happy with my last grade," I explained to her. 

"I didn't think you needed the help, but I can try and find you a tutor if you'd like," she said smiling at me kindly.

 Ethan who had annoyingly taken forever to pack up his bag sauntered past us at that very moment. He stopped and turned to face us, butting into the conversation.

 "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. I could help Mia as I did quite well in the last exam," Ethan said putting on his formal voice, that he liked to reserve for teachers.

 "Yes, that's a wonderful suggestion, Ethan. What do you think Mia?" my biology teacher said turning to face me.

 I badly wanted to tell her no but I didn't want to come across as bratty, so I reluctantly nodded my head. "Yes, it is indeed a wonderful idea," I said with sarcasm dripping heavily from my tone, as I shot a subtle glare at Ethan who was just grinning back at me smugly. 

"We could start today if you'd like Mia?" Ethan said with a sweet smile, as he tried to sell his innocent facade to the teacher.

 He hadn't fooled me, and I could see an evil glint in his eye indicating he knew how much this arrangement was pissing me off. Still, under the watchful gaze of my biology teacher, I reluctantly nodded my head. 

"Excellent, I hope you guys have a great evening." She said with a warm smile before starting to make her way out of the classroom.

Once she had left the room, the fake smile on my face quickly warped into a scowl as I turned to face my enemy. 

"You just had to open your big fat mouth," I spat out angrily. 

"Hey, I thought you wanted help," he said holding his hands up innocently. Knowing he was right, I slumped down in defeat.

 "Yeah I do," I said with a sigh. 

"Then I think the words, you are looking for are thank you, Ethan. I love you, Ethan. Please marry me, Ethan. Please have my babies Eth.." he said teasing me. 

"Yeah. Yeah. I think I get it," I said cutting him off before he could finish. 

"You're a lucky girl Chubs, you get to ride in my Mercedes again," he said wiggling his eyebrows at me. 

"Yup, I'm thrilled," I said sarcastically.

--------------------------------------

"No Mia, you left out the link reaction, that's what comes after glycolysis, not the Krebs cycle," Ethan said in frustration, looking at the biology textbook he had laid out on his desk.

 I was lying on my back on his bed staring up at the ceiling, wishing I were anywhere but here. On the bright side, his bed was incredibly comfortable, and it smelled like him and God did I like that smell. 

"Don't sound so judgmental. It's easy enough when the textbooks right in front of you." I huffed.

Ethan had decided the best way to teach me was to quiz me from the textbook. We had been at it for about two hours now and I think both of us were starting to get a bit testy. With a sigh, Ethan took off his glasses and swerved around in his chair to face me. Glasses which seemed to somehow make him look even sexier, much to my annoyance. 

"Maybe we should take a break. I think we've been worked for long enough," he said with a sigh. 

Agreeing with him, I shot my thumb up in response.

Ethan flopped down onto the bed next to me on his stomach and propped his head up with one hand and turned to face me. 

"What should we do now?" he said with a sigh.

 I twisted my head to the side so I could face him, swallowing harshly as I found him closer than anticipated. "I don't know," I mumbled softly, barely able to concentrate with him this close. I could literally see every detail of his near-perfect face and it was extremely distracting.

 "How about we play 20 questions?" Ethan suggested, looking across at me expectantly.

 I hesitated, as I thought about the potentially embarrassing things, he may ask me but I kind of wanted to ask him a few questions of my own, so I decided to comply. "Yeah, sure," I replied softly. 

"Okay you go first," he said.

"How would you describe yourself in 3 words?" I said, deciding to start easy. He thought for a few seconds before replying.

 "That's easy. Sexy, fit-as fuck and hilarious," he listed off confidently with an obnoxious smirk on his face. I snorted. 

"It's nice to see your ego is strong and healthy. I also didn't know fit as fuck was all one word," I said smiling at him in amusement.

"Okay, my turn. Do you have a crush on what's his face from the ice-cream place?" he rushed out almost immediately. He tried to ask it nonchalantly, but his eyes were staring at me probingly, giving away the fact that he was very interested in my answer.

 "Oh my god, Ethan, not this again," I said in exasperation, as I rolled my eyes at him. "Why are you wondering if he's taken?" I said with a suggestive wink. 

"Trust me, Mia. I'm not gay," Ethan said with a scoff. 

"Can you just answer the question already?" he said with a hint of tension. 

"No Ethan I do not have a crush on what's his face from the ice cream place," I said rolling my eyes. He seemed to visibly relax after I said that.

I decided to be a copycat and ask him the same thing. "Do you have a crush on anyone?" I probed, arching my eyebrow up at him in curiosity. 

 His eyes widened slightly as I asked him the question and a long period of silence ensued before he finally answered. "I do have a crush on someone.... but she sort of, kind of hates my guts," he said with a nervous chuckle.

 I snorted. "Really? What did you do?" I asked my eyes lighting up in amusement.

 "A lot of mean things I guess..." he said trailing off awkwardly. 

"Why don't you apologize then?" I suggested. 

"She'd probably just laugh in my face and besides she's better off without me anyway..." he said with a harsh chuckle, his eyes looking distant and cold. 

"You're not even going to tell me her name?" I asked in frustration, I wanted to know for some reason. I was curious to hear what kind of girl Ethan was into. 

"Sorry Chubs, it's far too embarrassing for me to admit," he said as a slight redness started creeping up underneath his skin.

"Anyway, it's my turn again. Who was your first kiss?" Ethan asked. 

Why did he have to ask me that? Quick come up with a lie I thought to myself. "I.... errrr...haven't," I mumbled out, my mouth betraying me.

 Upon hearing this, Ethan's eyes widened in shock, and his eyebrows raising comically. "Wait, are you actually serious?" he asked in a bewildered tone as if he couldn't believe what I had just told him. 

"Hmm," I hummed in response too embarrassed to admit it for a second time He probably thought I was a loser. "If you're going to tease me, can you just get on with it already," I snapped impatiently, waiting for him to break out into a fit of laughter. 

Surprisingly he never did. 

 "I'm not going to laugh at you, I was just shocked that's all. I just assumed you would have because you're so confident and pretty. Not that it means you aren't because you haven't been kissed.." he rambled out cutely, his face getting redder and redder the more he spoke. 

Wait a second did Ethan Blythe just call me pretty? 

"I think it's best you quit while you're ahead," I said trying to save him from embarrassing himself any further.

"My turn now. What are you most afraid of?" I asked him.

 As soon as the words left my mouth his whole demeanor changed, and he immediately shot out of the bed as if I burnt him. 

"It's getting late. I should take you home," he said abruptly, completely ignoring my question. 

What the hell was that all about?