Chapter-14|Afterglow

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"Well, I am not going anywhere now. We can watch the movie you were talking about." Ethan pulled back, took my hand in his, and started me pulling me towards my room.

"Aren't you forward?" I said, teasing him.

"I don't see you complaining, Reed." He smirked, looking back at me.

"Yeah, well...." I trailed off, knowing I didn't have an answer to that because I am definitely not complaining.

"Okay, you settle down. I'll go change and be back in a minute. This dress is not ideal for a movie night." I said, pulling at the hem of my dress, looking around my room for anything that's not supposed to be on display.

Thankfully, we got dressed in Riley's room tonight, so there is no mess in my room. Also, it's not Ethan's first time in my room.

But it's his first time alone, my subconscious reminded.

"That dress is gorgeous." Ethan complimented me as I turned towards my closet to take out something comfortable to wear.

"Just the dress?" I poked further, already knowing what he meant.

"No, not just the dress." Looking over my shoulder, I watched him checking me out. My smirk got wider when his trailing eyes caught mine.

Ha! Caught you.

It would be a lie if I said that I haven't been checking him out ever since we got over that fight. He was wearing well-fitted black jeans with a very thin black shirt and an oversized black jacket. If temptation had a face, it would be Ethan Knight.

"I'll go change. You can switch on the tv. I already logged Netflix in." I informed him and went inside the bathroom to change. Peeling off the dress, I changed into white shorts and an oversized white t-shirt. I almost completed my skincare when I heard Ethan call my name.

Instead of calling back, I simply opened the door of my bathroom to hear him properly.

"What do you wanna watch?" I heard him ask.

"Whatever. I don't mind."

"What about Fast and Furious?"

"No. Watched it too many times."

"Hunger games?"

"No."

"Mission Impossible?"

"No..."

"Okay, no one says no to Iron man!"

"Oh, I watched it a few weeks back, so no!"

"You literally said 'Whatever. I don't mind.' Reed." Ethan groaned, falling back on my bed.

"Yeah, but it doesn't actually mean that I don't mind." I said, sitting beside him on my bed.

"Okay, so what about....... Harry Potter?" He said jokingly, with a funny grin on his face.

"Haven't watched it yet!" I shrugged. I know the hype around Harry Potter and trust me, I really wanted to see it but as fate would have it, I never got around watching it.

When I didn't hear Ethan immediately respond, I looked over, only to find him staring back at me with an unbelievable expression.

"Okay, it's not that shocking." I said, placing my finger under his chin and closing his mouth for him.

Too dramatic, I tell you.

"It is shocking. Watching Harry Potter is like the first step to being a child. If I knew you have never watched it when we met, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation right now." He said everything in a serious voice. It confused me whether to laugh or swoon over his adorable love for Harry Potter.

"Oh, I am so sorry, Ethan. I tricked you into this friendship. I should have started with 'Hi, I am Iris Reed. I haven't watched Harry Potter.' That would have been better?" I said, playing along.

"We can't be friends then." I continued in a teasing tone.

"Well, it's a good thing we are not friends then." Ethan said, sitting up and gazing at me with a small smirk.

"We are not?"

Of course, we are not friends. Friends don't want to kiss each other and friends definitely don't want to fuck the daylights out of each other.

"Dani and I are friends, Noah and I are friends, but you and I, Reed, we are not friends. We can never be just friends." He stated in a low voice, his breath fanning my face.

He was so close to me right now; it was becoming impossible to breathe. All of this was fueling the sexual tension, and it's becoming hard to be around Ethan Knight without wanting to tear off his clothes.

"I guess it's a good thing that I never wanted to be your friend. Let's just watch Harry Potter." I said, turning back to the tv.

"Well, you'll be dying to watch the next part after you finish watching this one." Ethan said, overcoming his momentary shock.

Ethan and I always seem to step into dangerous territories without even knowing that that's where we were headed and it's becoming more and more difficult to steer us back to the safer grounds for everyone's sake.

"I really don't think so." I shrugged, trying to seem indifferent to his enthusiasm for Harry Potter.

"I don't care Iris. You are watching all the eight movies and you are watching them with me so that I can make sure you don't skip any party." He said in a stern voice, sitting up straighter with determination.

Having eight movie nights or days, I don't know, with Ethan gave me a rush of excitement that I couldn't define. Forget Harry Potter, I am ready to watch every movie made in this world if I get to spend time with him.

"What if I refuse?" I leaned back on my arms, and instantly his eyes shifted to my exposed stomach. I could feel goosebumps rise on my skin as his eyes trailed over the exposed stomach.

"Well, then I might just have to pull out my hidden card." He smirked confidently, meeting my eyes.

"Hidden card?" I asked, curiously.

"Yeah, you know the bet." He said, emphasizing 'the bet'.

Oh! The bet!

"Yeah but I won. You don't have my number." I said confidently.

"Oh, but I do." Ethan smirked and took out his phone.

Within a few seconds my phone, which was placed on my desk, started ringing, showing a call from an unknown number. Fuck! He had my number.

"But how?" I said, looking at him in pure shock.

I specifically told all our friends to not give him my number. How could he have my number?

"What matters is that I have it and I won the bet." Ethan shrugged with a smile on his face.

"Whatever." I said grumpily, falling back on my bed and covered my face with my hands.

"Aw, a grumpy Iris. That's a new one." I could practically hear the shit-eating grin in his voice.

"You know what? Let's just watch this movie." I said, sitting up with a determined face.

"Okay." He said with an amused undertone.

We both got inside the covers, and Ethan clicked the button to start the movie. My bed was big enough to accommodate both of us and still have a respectable amount of distance between us, but right now, that respectable distance was not making anything easier for me. I could practically feel the heat radiating off of Ethan. He had removed his jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and as if it was possible; it made him look ten times hotter because Hello Veins!

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"Oh, my god! That was fucking amazing. It was so good, Ethan!" I gushed once the movie was over, practically jumping on my bed.

I looked over to Ethan to see him looking at me with a soft smile on his face and instantly blushed.

We both started the movie sitting upright with our legs inside the covers but somehow both of us ended up laying down so much closer than before and if I were to guess, I'd say it happened once we finished the pizza we ordered.

"So, I take it, you liked it?" He asked, continuing with the softness.

"Liked it? I loved it. I never thought I'd love it so much." And then I started rambling about all my favorite parts and the dialogues of the movie and while I expected Ethan to shush me as Dani does, he did nothing of that sort. He laid there listening to me quietly with all of his attention attached to every word I said, even though he has probably watched this movie a dozen times over.

"And Neville is so damn cute." I ended with an enormous smile on my face.

"Do wanna watch the next part?" He asked with a small smile on his face.

"I would love to but don't want to because if we watch the next part, then we'll watch the part after and then the part after that and then, we'll be here till morning and I don't want this series to end so quickly." I explained to him my dumb but very logical reason to not watch the next part. Also, I don't want to spend the entire time watching movies. I want to spend time with him now that he's here.

"Okay. This is your Harry Potter experience. We'll go as you say." He chuckled at my enthusiasm but nodded in understanding.

"Thank you." I smiled, lying back down and turning on my side to face him.

The room was dark except for the light coming from the tv which cast a light shadow on his face. I could stare at his face for hours. Whoever said brown eyes are boring is a big fat liar and I could prove to you that right now. Ethan Knight had the prettiest eyes I've ever seen, and they were brown. A beautiful brown. You could see specks of gold swirling in them, which just made it even more alluring. It took me a moment to realize that we've been staring into each other's eyes for quite some time now, but the shiver that ran up my body when our legs collided under the cover seemed to bring me out of my trance.

"Let's play twenty questions." I proposed. I want to know Ethan Knight, not just superficially, but every small thing about him.

"Okay. You go first." He replied, copying my soft voice.

"Favorite color?" I asked without hesitation, knowing this was a typical first question.

"I can't decide between red and blue. Yours?" He replied honestly with a far-off look on his face and while I could tell that his words had some hidden meaning, I didn't ponder over them.

"It's a tie between black and lavender." All things I own are black or lavender. You won't see much color diversity in my wardrobe or anything I buy.

"I remember when my last Polaroid camera stopped working, I waited six months just to get my hands on the lavender one because it goes out of stock so fast otherwise they have that ugly purple color." I tell him, remembering this random bit of information.

"You have a Polaroid?" He asked me with surprise lacing his voice.

"Why does that surprise you?" I ask him, laughing a little.

"I don't know. I just... haven't seen you with a Polaroid, I guess."

"Wait, a minute," I said, holding up a finger and sat up to take out my Polaroid camera from the drawer in my nightstand.

"Here it is. I have actually ordered fairy light and those wooden clips online. I have so many Polaroids, I want to put them up in my room. Dani, Riley, and I keep clicking polaroids every chance we get." I told him, showing him the Polaroid camera and the polaroids we took before leaving for the party tonight.

"Wow. This is pretty good." He complimented looking at the polaroid picture I showed him.

Suddenly I got an idea and before I could overthink it, I took the camera from Ethan and pointed it towards us.

"Come on, let's take a few pictures." I simply shifted closer to him to fit us in the frame.

I expected him to protest a little, but he simply smiled at the camera. We took four pictures, one of us smiling at the camera, one where both of us were sticking our tongue out, one where I was kissing his cheek, and my favorite, where he had his arm around my neck while he was kissing my cheek with both of our eyes closed.

It came so naturally to us. There was no awkwardness but a hell lot of sexual tension. I could feel tingles and butterflies when his lips met my cheek. My cheek, for god's sake. His lips were so soft, I could literally melt against them.

"These are really good." He said, smiling at the pictures we took as I started writing today's date on them with a black sharpie.

"They are cute." I agreed.

I never wanted this night to end because while this night has been hundred different shades of surprise, it has been one of the best nights I've had in a while.

Later, we resumed our game of twenty questions, keeping light and funny, but I could feel my eyes drooping because of the exhaustion.

"Sleep, Iris." Ethan said, pushing away the hair from my face.

"But you'll leave if I sleep." I mumbled sleepily, but still closed my eyes.

I heard him chuckle softly before he said, "I am not going anywhere."

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Hey guys! Thanks for all the support on the last chapter. Now, coming back to today, this update is a bit more special. We hit 2K reads, baby!!!! OH MY GOD! I was so unsure when I posted the last chapter but then I saw the numbers rising insanely fast and I knew I had to prepare this update so that we could celebrate 2K reads with a special update and this doesn't turn into another 1K situation where it took me three days to get the update ready. 

I am so thankful to every one of you. All my vocal readers and all my silents readers, thank you so much. I appreciate and love each one of you.

Don't forget to comment and vote if you liked this chapter <3

QOTD: Which series are you watching right now? I am watching 'The Greenhouse Academy'.

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