The Daily Life of a Slut

chapter fifteen: homework, lemonade and fake ID's

Tiffany's POV

I sat by my desk, finishing up my homework. It was around two weeks after the party at Ella's. Nothing much has happened since then, besides Ethan and I finishing up our project. Speaking of, everything in the Ethan and Aspen boat seemed to be sailing well recently. Aspen was off my radar for the time being. Yet, I couldn't shake off the faint ominous feeling that something bad was bound to happen. A faint chime snapped me out of my thoughts. I ran downstairs to greet whoever was at the door only to find Ethan. 

He smiled brightly at me. "Hey Tiffany." 

I stared at him confused. "We finished the project, you don't have to keep coming over." 

"I know that, I just wanted to have dinner with a friend. If that's ok with said friend?" He said charmingly. "Besides you look like you don't have plans, I don't have any either!" My heart warmed temporarily before I caught myself. He said friend!

"So where you wanna go grab food?" Ethan said as he sat himself down on my couch, grabbing a magazine from the end table. I plopped down on the matching recliner next to him. 

"Umm anywhere, you pick." I say, staring at him as he flips through the latest Vogue.

He places the magazine down. "Ok, Chipotle?"  He suggests. 

"Nah I don't want a long trip to the toilet after if you know what I mean." I snort, turning on my television. Ethan lets out a small chortle at my crude humor. 

"What about In-n-Out?" 

"Burgers? Really?" Ethan continues suggesting other restaurants until we finally decide to go to Walmart and get a frozen pizza. The ride there was filled with Ethan singing along to Ariana Grande songs passionately and me recording him while cackling like a witch on drugs. After finding a parking spot, I find a vacant shopping cart and I make Ethan push me around in it. 

"The frozen foods aisle is down there idiot!" I snap at him. "Where the fuck are you taking us?" Ethan pays no mind to me, instead pushing into the drinks section. 

"Lemonade or soda?" 

"Lemonade. And get some string cheese while you're there." I say absentmindedly as I reply to texts on my phone. We make our way to the frozen foods section and picked some cookie dough ice cream along the way. 

"I want pepperoni." I tell Ethan, while ignoring a dirty glance a mother of three gave me. So maybe going to Walmart in a revealing tank top and sheep shorts was not the best idea. 

He snorts. "Pepperoni? Pft. Boring. We're getting the thin crust deluxe." Ethan says as he pulls out four boxes of said pizza. 

I just roll my eyes at him. "Get whatever, I really don't care." Ethan says nothing as he pushes the cart and me to the self checkout section. 

"Are you paying or am I?" Ethan asks. I pull out my wallet from my purse and I wordlessly hand him a hundred dollar bill. He inserts the money into the machine and pockets the change. 

"Hey! I saw that!" I screech. "Give me my change back!" 

"Consider this my payment for being your taxi today." Ethan says as he packs the groceries into plastic bags. As he's pushing the cart out the door, someone in the background calls out his name. 

"Ethan! Hey man." Blake says, holding a basket full of junk food. 

"Oh hi Blake. Funny seeing you here." 

"Yeah I'm just picking some stuff up for Vincent's party tomorrow. Blake gestures to his basket. "I'm about the head to the liquor section if you want to come with." He says mischievously. "Oh hey Tiffany. Didn't really see you there." 

I smile awkwardly at him. "Yeah considering I'm in a cart and all." The three of us all stand in an awkward silence until I decide to break the ice. "You finally got your fake ID?" 

He nods in reply. "So you two aren't like dating now or anything right?" 

"No not at all.  We're just trying this new friend thing out." I say quickly. Blake makes an 'o' shape with his lips, looking almost relieved. 

"Well we should get going now. See you later Blake." 

"Yeah sure so will I be seeing you two at Vinc-," Ethan fastens his pace until he was out of earshot. 

"It's supposed to be in the oven for fifteen minutes Ethan! Not ten." My exasperated voice rang through the kitchen. 

"Ok ok I will put it in for fifteen minutes." He says obviously annoyed. "Has anyone ever told you your voice is extremely high?" Ethan says as he takes a seat next to me on my marble kitchen island. 

"Yes a high pitched voice! A symptom of the Stereotypical Slutty Queen Bitch Syndrome!" I say sarcastically. 

"Don't forget the orange spray tan! And blonde hair!" Ethan inputs as I burst out laughing. 

He looks around the cold empty kitchen. "So I take it that your dad still hasn't returned." 

"Yeah. It's been around, four months? I kinda lost count." Ethan looks at me shocked. "It's fucked up I know." 

"How's your mom doing?" 

I sigh. "She's as fine as can be I guess. Last time I saw her was about, a couple days ago? She told me that Dad hasn't even visited once. I shrug and I smile emptily. "But what can you do." 

An eerie silence takes over the large kitchen. "So how's you and Aspen?" 

"Well it's been going just fine I guess. Just she's been on my ass about a lot of things recently. 

"Like what?" My curiosity pushes me to ask. 

He stares into my eyes. "Stuff." He clears this throat and looks away. "And I don't know to be completely honest with you, I've been kinda confused since Ella's. 

"What happened at Ella's ?" I ask while tracing a pattern on the marble counter. 

"You don't remember?" 

I look and I shake my head no. "All I remember is getting a bit over the top after Aspen and you came to the gazebo. Then I magically woke up in my own home, on my own couch instead of a stranger's bed with the worst hangover of hangovers. I think Amber drove me home." 

Ethan looks away awkwardly and shakes his head. " I drove you home after you fell down the stairs." 

"Well shit." I laugh while rubbing the bridge of my nose. No wonder I had a bruise there for days. "Did I say anything embarrassing?" 

"Not really but uhm you kinda.... kissed me." he says awkwardly while scratching his neck. I turn read and make a grimace face. An icy silence overtook the kitchen before a loud chime from the oven indicated the pizza was finished. I look over at Ethan who appeared to be deep in thought. 

"You gonna get that or should I?"