Chapter-10|The Lunch

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Entering our usual lunch place, I looked around and instantly found Ethan sitting at the table by the window looking as handsome as ever. Walking over, I watched Ethan's neck snap up from his phone, and a smile grace his face as I stopped by the table.

"Hey." I said, wearing a smile similar to his.

"Hey." He replied and got up from his and hugged me in greeting.

The smell of cologne filled my sense as soon as I hugged him back, barely reaching his chin.

"You're late." He stated with a teasing grin on his face as we sat down, facing each other.

"No, I'm not. In fact, I am five minutes early." I replied, rolling my eyes.

"Yes, you are." He agreed, now having a full-blown smile on his face.

"You are stupid if you expect people to come everywhere ten minutes early just like you." I teased back with a slight smirk on my face.

"At least, I don't expect people to come everywhere ten minutes late like you." He retorted with a smirk.

"I don't know why I am having lunch with you, all you do is mock me." I said with a mock thoughtful expression on my face, propping my head on my hand.

"I don't know, maybe because I let you have my food when you realize I order better food." He said narrowing his eyes in a teasing manner and leaning towards me, mirroring my position.

"Huh? Guess we'll never know." I sighed and leaned back with a tired expression but soon broke out in a chuckle with Ethan shrugged with nonchalance in reply.

"Come on, let's order." He said chuckling lightly and pushed the menu towards me.

"Tell me what are you ordering?" I asked, peeping at him over my menu.

"I am not telling you."

"Come on, Ethan."

"Nope."

"It'll be better, either way, I would end up having what you have. So, it's better if I order it separately." I tried to reason.

"No Iris. You don't eat my food because you like it better, you eat it because you enjoy having different dishes, so just order whatever you want to have and you can still eat mine." He told me with a small smile on his face and a look of adoration in his eyes.

"But then, I'll eat your portion and you'll be hungry and I don't like that." I said with a slight frown and a pout on my face.

"Don't worry, Reed. I don't mind and just for the record, you don't eat as much as you think you do." He said with a teasing look in his eyes and flicked my nose softly, making me scrunch it in response.

"You are cute, Reed." He said chuckling softly and just like that, my cheeks turned a shade of red faster than I could blink.

Before I could reply, his phone started ringing. He pulled back and flipped back his phone because he placed it screen facing on the table to avoid notifications.

Checking the name on the screen, he looked up with an apologetic expression on his face, "I gotta take this. It's the coach."

"Yeah, it's okay." I smiled in understanding.

"You order. I'll be right back." He insisted, standing up.

"No, it's alright. I'll wait." I said.

"I'll be quick." and with that he was out of the door while I occupied myself with my phone, replying to a meme Noah sent me, which was pretty hilarious.

Ethan came back just as I posted a story of the view from the glass window, which looked pretty aesthetic.

By his expression, I could tell it was not something good. The thought made had me worried instantly.

Against my instinct to question him as soon as he was within earshot, I decided to let him take a seat first.

"I am so sorry." He said as soon as he made contact with the cushioned seat.

"What happened?" I asked with urgency in my voice because of all the worst-case scenarios running in my head.

"The coach called, I have to meet him in his office in ten minutes. I tried to push it, but he is leaving for Seattle in an hour and won't be here for a few days. So, he wants to go over some things." He said, looking genuinely sad about it.

Instead of being annoyed, I sighed out in relief, thankful that he's not being kicked off the basketball team.

"Oh, thank god.." I sighed out.

"What?" Ethan said, looking at me in confusion.

"I thought it was something worse. Way worse." I said, shaking my head at my own overthinking capabilities.

"You are such an overthinker, Reed." He chuckling, momentarily forgetting about the call.

"Yeah well.." I said, embarrassed.

"It's cute." He said with a gentle smile.

"Oh, shut up! Don't you have a meeting or something?" I said in an attempt to change the topic.

"Yeah, I am so sorry about that." He said, tilting his head down and I almost kick myself for reminding him.

"Hey, it's okay. We can always have lunch some other time." I said with a comforting smile. It's not his fault, he is the captain of the team, he has to look out for the team and if his coach wants a meeting, he can't say no. I understand that being on the cheerleading team myself.

"Yeah, but I really insisted you have lunch with me and you came here specifically for this lunch, your classes for the day are already over." He said remorsefully.

He was right; I was already done with my class for the day and still had hours left to spare before this lunch. So, I went back home and change before coming back to kill time.

"Yeah but it's not like I live hours away, it takes fifteen minutes at best. Ethan, it's not your fault. Stop feeling bad about something you can't control." I said, taking his hand in mine.

"Still, I am sorry." He insisted.

"It's okay." I said, rubbing my thumb back and forth on the back of his hand in an attempt to comfort him.

"I have to go now." He said, looking at the time on his phone.

"Okay." I said, standing up and picking up my bag.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"I am not having lunch alone." I said, looking at him like he is crazy.

"But then you'll go home and forget to eat altogether." He said, almost scolding me.

"I promise I'll eat lunch when I go home." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Promise?"

"Promise." I said, smiling at his childish behavior.

"Okay, I gotta go."

"Do you mind if I walk you there?" I asked, not wanting our time together to end just yet.

"No, absolutely not. Come on." He said, pulling me with him towards the door, with my hand still in his.

"When is the first match?" I asked as we made our way towards the sports building.

"In a week." He replied looking down at me.

"I still can't get over, how short you are..." He said looking actually a little shocked.

"Just shut up." I glared at him, "and I am not short."

"Yes, maybe not compared to other girls, but compared to me, you're a minion." He said smiling at me teasingly.

"Or maybe you're just a giant." I countered.

"Nah, you're just tiny." He smirked, looking ahead.

"I should have never agreed to have lunch with you." I groaned.

"Maybe but you couldn't deny the opportunity to spend more time with your crush." He said smirking.

"Huh? Then I should be with Jace right now, you know, following your logic." I said to rile Ethan up.

Jace was another guy on the team and while we don't hang out that much, we are really good friends and as far as I could tell; he has a little innocent crush on me.

"Yeah, maybe you should be." He said trying to seem casual but let me tell you, clenched fists are kind of gave it away.

"Maybe I should text him and see if he's up for lunch." I said, taking out my phone from my bag.

"Yeah, no, I don't think so." He took my phone from my hands as soon as I took it out.

"Ethan, give me my phone back!" I said reaching on my toes, in an attempt to grab my phone but he just pushed himself higher.

Before he could reply, my phone started ringing and instead of looking at the caller, like anyone else would, he simply gave me my phone back.

Looking at the caller, I felt my hands clench around the phone when I saw "Chase" flash on the screen. Instead of answering the call or denying it, I simply slid my phone back into my bag.

Ethan seeming to understand the sudden change in my mood dropped the Jace topic and ignored the phone call, which I was very thankful for.

"You realize that you would be cheering for me in the match, right?" He said smirking at me, trying to change the topic.

"Correction: I'll be cheering for the team." I said, shaking my finger in a 'no' notion.

They selected Dani and me for the cheer team and while I wanted to withdraw right away, Dani begged me not to do so because then she would be alone in the cheerleading group. She wanted me to help her settle in, and honestly, I was okay with it.

"Yeah, the same thing."

"Not at all." I said, rolling my eyes.

"We both know, no matter what you say, you'll be cheering just for me." He said, lowering his voice to a whisper as we came to a standstill in front of the sports building.

"And for the record, you look gorgeous today." He said placing a light kiss on my cheek and with that, the red tint was back on my face. If we kept going at this rate, I probably wouldn't need to apply blush anymore.

I was wearing a powder blue dress with flared sleeves and tiny buttons down the front, paired with white slide heels and a white bag.

"Thank you." I replied, tucking my hair behind my ear.

"Maybe we can get the lunch tomorrow?" He proposed pulling back slightly.

"Okay." I agreed, smiling softly.

"I'll text you the time." He said confidently.

"Cool, but there is a slight issue there." I said, taking a step back to smirk at him.

"What? Are you not free?" He said, sounding disappointed.

"I am free but you don't really have my number, so I don't know how you would text me."

"I have your number." He said.

"No, you don't, sherlock." I said confidently, folding my arms across my chest, making his eyes flicker down. But as fast as they went down, they came up.

"I do." He said.

"Just check your phone. You don't." I said, shaking my head at his persistence, and watched him take out his phone and scroll through his contacts.

"Okay fine, but you could always give me your number." He said offering me his phone to save my number.

"Now, why would I do that Ethan?" I said in a sing-song voice.

"Seriously, Reed?" He said with a bored expression, but I could detect the hint of amusement in his voice.

"Yes, Knight. I am not giving you my number." I said walking backward.

"And why would that be?"

"Because you don't get everything you want." I said, smirking.

"Is that a challenge?" Ethan said walking towards me and stood right in front of me, stopping me from walking away further by placing his hand on my elbow.

"Yes, Ethan Knight. It's a challenge." I said looking him dead in the eye with a slight smirk on my face.

"If you have my number by Sunday morning, I'll do anything you say and if you don't, you'll have to do anything I say." I proposed and turned around to walk away, knowing he was going to accept it.

"Challenge accepted, Reed." Ethan yelled.

It was Friday today and there was no way he was getting my number in two days. I'll make sure of it.

This is going to be so fun.

⤎❁⤏

Hey guys! So, this was Chapter-10 of "Overcoming" filled with Iris and Ethan. I am very sad that they didn't get to have their lunch date or whatever they call it. It would have been fun but guess, we'll never know.

It is one of my favorite chapters so far because it shows off the bond between them so beautifully. Tell me your thoughts in the comment section.

Also, A Very Happy Holi to everyone who celebrates this festival, and even if you don't, may this Holi fill your life with every color and gives you immense happiness and peace of mind.

Don't forget to vote and comment if you enjoyed this chapter.

I love you <3

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