Stay (A TBZJL Fanfic)

ONE

He smiled and led me to his car, which was much fancier than I expected. How on Earth was he so rich?

"How long has it been? At least a few years, right?" Ethan tried to make conversation, so I sighed.

"At least," I looked down at the key to my flat in my hand, knowing that night would be the last night I'd have it. I rubbed at my wrist, the one with the tattoo, and looked out the window.

I had two tattoos. One on my wrist, which was the word 'stay' in bold letters, and the other was on my right shoulder, close to my collarbone. It was a trail of stars.

"What have you been up to?"

I looked down at my lap. "Well, I was evicted last week, thanks for asking. I move out tonight."

It wasn't meant to solicit pity from him, and the fact that he did pity me caught me by surprise. He really had changed.

"You have a place to stay, right?"

I bit the inside of my cheek and shrugged. I did, yet I didn't. I wouldn't consider 'a hotel' to be an answer he was looking for.

"You don't, do you?" He answered for me. When I didn't say anything, he pulled out his phone and dialed someone's number. "Josh? Hey, I need to ask you something."

I narrowed my eyes and turned to look at Ethan, but his eyes were on the road. He continued on the phone.

"I have a friend, and she's getting evicted today. Could she stay at the house with us for a bit?"

"What? No, Ethan—" I grabbed his arm and tried to pull the phone away from him, but he was much stronger than he used to be.

"She can? Great, we'll be there in a bit."

He hung up the phone and I scoffed.

"I'm not doing it. You can't make me, and besides, once you take me home I'll just lock you out until you leave."

"We're not going to your flat," He smirked over at me. "We're going straight to my house."

"No, we're not," I said through gritted teeth. "Don't piss me off, Ethan, you don't want me to fight you on our reunion day."

"No offense, but you're probably no more than 50 kilos. I'd crush you."

"I'm not that small," I protested. "You can't force me. Besides, I need my things."

"No you don't, not until tomorrow," He snatched my key from my hand and started laughing as I tried to take it back from him. "You told me where you live."

"Ethan," I groaned. "I'm serious."

"So am I," He pulled up to a very large house and I widened my eyes. It was a freaking mansion. "Come on."

"Nope," I shrunk into my seat and crossed my arms. "I'm not moving until you take me home."

Before I could process what was happening, he'd gotten out, opened my door, and reached across me, undoing my seatbelt. "Come on. Don't make me carry you."

"Ethan, I'm not staying here. You can't just—no no no, hey!" I gripped my seat and the center console as he tried pulling me out of the car, but it was no use.

He threw me over his shoulder and pulled me out of the car, starting towards the house. I hit Ethan's back, shouting and kicking and trying to get away, and once he set me down inside the giant house I quickly tried to go back through the door.

Ethan grabbed me by my waist and pulled me back so that I was standing next to him.

"You're such an asshole," I struggled against him, but stopped when I noticed someone's eyes on me.