Once I was finished changing, I opened the door to the bedroom and let Ethan come back into the room. As soon as he saw me, he burst into laughter. 

"Shut up," I snapped in embarrassment. 

His clothes were ridiculously big on me, so I had to roll his jogging bottoms up around five times and tie a knot at the end of his t-shirt. This could have been easily prevented if had just let me borrow his mum's clothes.

 "You look so cute," he said squashing my face in between his palms.

 I pushed him away angrily. "I feel like you found the biggest clothes you could find, just to piss me off," I scowled. 

His smile just increased even more. "Absolutely," he laughed.

 I just gave him a dirty look before pushing past him so I could get out the door.

 "Chubs, where are you going?" he asked in confusion. 

I turned back to face him. "Obviously, to get a snack. It's like you don't even know me," I scoffed, as I looked him up and down judgmentally. 

"Are you sure you don't want to hang out a little longer in my room? Alone...." he drawled out suggestively, with a teasing glint in his eyes. I hesitated for a couple of seconds, as the memory of us heavily making out on my bed came to mind.

 "Nope" I squeaked out, as I quickly turned around and headed down the stairs. I didn't trust myself to be alone upstairs with him for too long. It would just be asking for trouble.

I made my way down to the kitchen and immediately opened their freezer and helped myself to their supply of Ben and Jerry Ice cream. Once I had obtained my prize, I skipped my way to the living room and flopped down on to the sofa with a long sigh. 

Ethan entered the living room after me, eyeing the ice-cream in my hand in amusement. "I see you don't waste any time," he chuckled as he took a seat on the sofa beside me. 

He had frustratingly decided to sit ridiculously close to me that he was completely squashed up against my side. And as you can imagine this sent my body into a hormonal frenzy. I was just an innocent girl, trying to resist the urge to jump in his bones and what does he do? He takes a seat right next to me on this ginormous fucking sofa. 

"I know my priorities," I shrugged as I flipped off the lid to the ice-cream and sunk my spoon in. I paused as I remembered I was supposed to be looking after Damien.

 "Your Mum's making sure the boys aren't drowning, right?" I asked cautiously. 

"Yeah, don't worry. I saw her sitting outside on the lounger, watching them," Ethan reassured me.

 "Excellent," I said with a contented sigh, as I cocked my feet up on the coffee table in front of me.

  Now time to enjoy my sugary treat...

However, I couldn't entirely relax as I felt Ethan's eyes digging into the side of my face. 

"What?" I snapped when I finally couldn't take it anymore. 

He just chuckled at my outburst, and his eyes crinkled with laughter. "Nothing, I just missed you that's all," he shrugged, as his eyes softened. "And I'm..I'm," he stuttered as he looked down in shame. "I'm sorry for what I said the other day, it was stupid. It was also stupid of me to think I could ignore you," he swallowed. "You're too special to ignore." 

The butterflies in my stomach swarmed."It's alright, I forgive you," I smiled. "And, I'm also sorry for provoking you with Ben. It was wrong." 

Ethan's eyes dropped  down to my Ice-cream and he smirked. "Why don't you apologize by giving me some of your ice cream?" He asked boldly. 

"Fuck no," I rudely snorted. He may be cute but no one's that cute that I'd be willing to share Ice-cream with them.

I just laughed as his mouth dropped open in shock. Then being the nasty person that I was, I decided to make a show out of eating my ice cream. I dug out a massive spoonful of ice cream and then got close to his face and then slid the ice-cream off the spoon at a tauntingly slow pace.

 "This is too good," I moaned over dramatically, with a smirk on my face. I noticed his body stiffened, and his blue eyes darken as he watched me eat it.

 "Mia, don't do this to me again..." he whispered gruffly, his voice sounding slightly pained. 

Just as I was about to put another spoonful into my mouth, Ethan grabbed my wrist and redirected the spoon into his mouth.

 I gasped as he smoothly slid the ice-cream of the spoon. "What the fuck Ethan?" I yelled as I shot him a spiteful glare. How dare he steal my ice-cream? 

"It's your fault for teasing me. You're lucky that's all I did," he said warningly, as his dark eyes flickered down to my lips. 

The way he was looking at me, distracted me for a brief few seconds. But then I scowled as I remembered what he had just done. I rudely shoved him off the sofa, as a punishment for his crime. 

"Fuck," he winced as he hit the floor.

I chuckled happily to myself and went back to eating my ice-cream. "That was a bit rude," he mumbled, as he returned to his seat. 

"Well stealing someone food without permission, is also rude." I bit back.

I continued to eat my ice-cream in peace for a while before he interrupted me yet again. "You have a little ice-cream on your cheek," he said looking over at me in amusement.

 I groaned in annoyance. "Where?" I said gesturing to my face. 

"Right here," he said pointing to the corner of his mouth. 

I sighed before trying to wipe it off with my sleeve. 

"Still there," he laughed. I glared at him and tried to swipe at it again. 

"Nope," he snorted.

 "Whatever, I don't give a shit" I snapped in annoyance. I was too lazy to keep trying.

 "Don't worry, I'll get it right off for you," he smirked.

Before I could even fathom what he was about to do, he grabbed my chin and pulled my face closer to his. My eyes widened as his eyes dropped down to my lips and he inched his way closer to me. 

Holy fucking shit. Was he seriously going to kiss me again? 

I let out a small gasp as I felt his lips loosely brush past mine before I felt his tongue slide out and lick the corner of my mouth. Then he pulled away and smiled.

 "All gone," he whispered, and just like that, he let go of my chin and leaned back on the sofa with a contented sigh.

 I just stared at him in complete shock, as he just innocently glanced around the room in boredom as though he hadn't just licked the ice-cream off my fucking face. That was honestly one of the shittiest things you could do to someone who is barely holding together their self-control, not to kiss you. 

"What the fuck Ethan, you can't just lick people's faces," I cried.

 Ethan glanced over at me and shrugged. "Well, I've kissed you, so what's the difference," he argued as his eyes lit with a troublesome spark. 

As soon as he said that, the whole mood of the room changed, and the look in his eyes proved that he knew he was ruffling up trouble. Great, now it was out in the open. I was hoping that I could go to my grave without having this conversation. 

"I'm surprised you brought it up...," I commented cautiously. I worked hard to keep my face neutral and expressionless. 

 He swallowed and stared at me with an unwavering gaze. "Well, there's no point ignoring the elephant in the room, is there?" he said plainly. 

I just hummed in agreement, as more silence filled the air. The tension in the room was getting so sharp, it wouldn't be unfathomable that someone could cut themselves with it. I decided to just get my most frightening question over and done with 

"Why did you kiss me?" I asked boldly.

 Ethan's poker face slipped, and panic was visible in his eyes. He took a while to answer as he fidgeted nervously in his seat. 

"I.... er..." he swallowed, as he nervously raked a hand through his hair. "Why did you kiss me back" he finally said. 

Well shit. 

I immediately broke eye contact, scared that if he looked into my eyes, he'd somehow be able to read my mind. I considered telling the truth for all of a nanosecond before I immediately shot down the idea. I couldn't face direct rejection. To hear him say the words 'I don't like you' to my face would probably hurt more than a physical stab in the heart. 

 And I knew that's what he would say. I wasn't stupid, I saw the love in his eyes when he talked about his crush, or dare I say it his soul mate. I could never even come close to getting him to feel that way about me. I hope that stupid dumb bitch, knew how lucky she was. 

I let out a heavy sigh, getting ready to give him his answer. "Let's stop beating around the bush. It was a mistake. You don't like me that way, and I don't like you that way. We both just got caught up in the moment. We're just friends." I said in what I hoped was a convincing tone.

 I looked him in the dead in the eye as I said it, as I wanted him to believe I meant every word.

For a fraction of a second, his eyes looked so broken, and the sadness in them sent a chill down my spine. And just like that, it was gone. His eyes now looked so emotionless; I was positive that I must have imagined anything different. 

"Yeah, I couldn't have said it better myself," he said smoothly, not seeming the slightest bit bothered. 

I swallowed harshly, knowing his agreement was a blunted rejection, and God did it hurt. It was kind of ironic really, that he had rejected me with my own words. I forced a smile on to my face. 

"So, we're good?" I said. He looked over at me and returned my smile, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. 

"Yeah, of course, we're good, Chubs," he said.

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

"So, you rejected yourself?" Chloe asked in confusion.

 Chloe, May and I were having a sleepover at May's house, and we were all sprawled out on the floor of her bedroom. I was having a discussion with Chloe about my awkward kiss conversation with Ethan, and she seemed avidly stuck on the idea, that I had single-handedly fucked up things for myself. 

"No, you're not listening. By agreeing with me, he indirectly rejected me," I explained in frustration.

 "Well, he didn't have much of a choice but to agree, you tore him to pieces," Chloe argued.

 I just rolled my eyes at her and turned to face May. "May, tell Chloe she's talking shit?" I said.

I waited for her to look up at me, but May completely ignored me and continued busily texting away on her phone, with a little smile on her face. I looked at her curiously.

 "Who you texting?" I sang. 

Her head immediately shot up. "My mum," she mumbled quickly, before going back to texting. 

"Do you think I'm an idiot. Nobody smiles at their mum's texts like that," I snorted.

 "It's so obvious, it's Lucas. I keep catching you looking at him across the cafeteria, ever since you guys got all hot and heavy in seven minutes in heaven," I teased playfully.

 "No," she snapped far too quickly, as her cheeks went red.

I shot a knowing glance at Chloe, who also looked very amused before we both burst into laughter.

 "It's okay May, we won't judge if you're sexting him," Chloe said, patting her on the back reassuringly. 

I snorted and held my hand out to high-five Chloe. 

"You guys are bitches," May snapped sourly, shooting daggers at us as we high-fived. This only made us laugh harder, getting kicks out of pissing her off.

 It was so weird to see May like this, she never gets crushes. Like ever. So, I certainly wasn't going to miss the opportunity to tease her relentlessly about it, otherwise what kind of friend would I be.

May's phone suddenly started to ring. Chloe smirked and snatched the phone from her hand. 

"Hey, what the hell?" May gasped in surprise. 

Chloe just giggled and leaped to her feet. She pressed the answer button and held it up to her ear.

 "Hey, Lucas," she drawled, as she winked at May. May, immediately jumped to her feet in a panic and tried to grab the phone back, but Chloe just dodged her. 

"Give it back,Chloe," May whined.

 "Yeah, it is Chloe. May is a little preoccupied right now, so I picked up for her." Chloe laughed as she shot May a smug look. 

"You know what, do what you want." May huffed, as she gave up and flopped back down on the ground beside me. I just patted May on the back in sympathy. Little did she know I was totally on Chloe's side because this was hilarious.

Chloe went silent for a while as she listened to Lucas talk on the other end.

 "Oh, really? Sure, we'd love to come," Chloe chirped in excitement. "I'll tell her you said that. Okay, bye," Chloe snorted as she hung up the phone and threw it back at May.

"What did you just drag us into?" I asked suspiciously. 

"May's boyfriend invited us all round to his house. He's having a little friend-get together," Chloe smiled.

 May groaned. "Shut up. He's not my boyfriend," May snapped.

 "Really? Because he said he really wants you to come May," Chloe said, giving May a pointed look.

 "Well, I guess that's settled. We're going," I cheered.

 I wasn't about to miss an opportunity to drive May and Lucas closer together; it was my responsibility as her friend.

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Author's Note:

-Chapter 32 done! Hope you enjoyed it and I'm kinda terrified to tell you that you're only half-way through the book lol. ( I honestly don't know how I made it that long, I clearly have no self control lmao)

Anyway,

How many people wanted to strangle Mia in this chapter? 

What do you think is going to happen at Lucas' house?

The next couple chapter are gonna be wildly embarrassing, just warning you. 

Next update: Monday (6-8PM-English time)