The Rules of the Red - 2nd Edition |✓|

Chapter Seventeen, Part One - Naked

"So am I officially your partner in crime now?" said Ethan an hour later as he climbed inside my car.

"That's right buddy." I gave him a sunny smile, looking at him over the top of my sunglasses. The Camaro's built-in GPS had already calculated the route to The Bakery. The navigation system indicated we had plenty of time for a good chat, so I figured now was a better time than any to make sure he hadn't been contacted by Eve. "So, anything eventful happen after the Gala last night?"

"I think I could ask you the same thing." Ethan crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat.

"What do you mean?"

"Mimi, I saw my Dad's paper this morning. There's this big picture of you on page three, and you're wearing the same dress you had on last night. Why didn't you tell me you had to rush off to go do an interview? If that's all you were worried about you didn't have to hide it from me."

"Oh, well, you know..." I felt an immense amount of relief at my good fortune. For the time being, it looked like my dirty little secrets were still safe from Ethan. "Interviews kind of make me nervous but sometimes I like to deal with things on my own..." That was true. The thought of standing on the other side of a recorder while Chandler asked me a bunch of personal questions did seem daunting.

"Yeah, well, the article was good but the picture was better." He gave me a sideways look.

"It was just good lighting." Yet I smiled just the same. "You know, Ethan, I wanna start spending more time together. I mean, friends that are just friends--and not in any way more than friends--can still do stuff like spend the night. Right?"

"Well if I'm not getting laid what would be the point?" He closed his eyes, suggesting he had little interest in the conversation. Except I knew he did.

"Oh, come on. It could be fun. Think about it--me, you, popcorn, hot wings, maybe a few really bad B-movies..."

"First off, I don't like popcorn. The kernels get stuck in my teeth and they're hard to get out. Second, I don't eat anything spicy because I happen to be of the opinion food shouldn't hurt."

"Oh-kay," I said. "So we'll skip the popcorn and the wings and we'll order Chinese instead."

"Uhhhhh, pass."

"Ethan--"

"Really. I'm busy."

"Doing what?"

"Stuff. Busy stuff. The kinda stuff that... keeps you busy."

"Ethan, I want us to be friends, normal friends--"

"See, that's the thing Mimi. You say you just wanna be friends, and yet I was your date to the gala, I'm dancing with you at your cotillion, and now you want me to go to a sleep over. I'm starting to feel used."

The guilt was awful. Ethan was right. I was using him, despite the fact that I gave him such a hard time for tricking me into letting him become my Champion. Wow, when I had I become such a hypocrite?

"You're right." I nodded. "I have been using you and I'm wrong for that. We're not dating--we're just friends--but sometimes I blur the lines. I'm sorry."

I hadn't told a lie yet, and as presumptuous as it seemed it did make me feel a little better. But I knew I hadn't told him all the truth. And I couldn't promise him that I wouldn't use him in the future. It was wrong, I knew, but I'd already dug the hole, and there was no way out of it.

Ethan cleared his throat. "Fine. Apology accepted."

"Honestly, I feel terrible. Give me a chance to make it up to you?"