Loving the fat girl [Book 1]

17 - The Kiss

17. Arya

My hand clasps over my mouth. Seth stands in front of me, legs apart and breathing heavily. Ethan slowly gets up off the ground, wiping the blood off his mouth before spitting it onto the floor. I cringe. My fingers hover over my lips as the pressure of Ethan's mouth still lingers on them.

"Come with me," Seth orders and grabs onto my arm.

Confused, I stumble after him as people stare at us. The group he was with earlier includes his usual posse of friends. Most of them I don't know by name... except Leena of course. That bitch, I will never forget. But right now, she and her glare are the least of my problems.

Still stunned, I let Seth drag me away from Ethan who makes no attempts of following us. Instead I catch a glimpse of him, talking to the security guards right before Seth pushes me behind a food cart and stops walking right in front of me. He doesn't block me from leaving but I am frozen on the spot, my tongue feels thick in my mouth and renders me incapable of speaking at all.

Seth stands in front of me and I notice his shaking, bloody hands as he stares me down. His bright eyes bore themselves into my dull brown ones intensely. He doesn't say anything but his lips tremble and he clenches his jaw in frustration. He lifts his right hand to run it through his tousled hair before taking a deep breath and eyeing me from head to toe.

I realize that I'm still in my baggy jeans and t-shirt that I usually wear to lounge around the house. How could I have known that this would be the outfit that I would wear on the day that everything comes crumbling down around me?

"Do you like him?" My eyes snap back up to look at Seth but I refuse to make eye contact so I let my eyes linger on his lips. His mouth is in a straight line but he can't hide the tremble of his lower lip.

I ponder this question in my head. Do I like Ethan? I barely even know the guy but I can say one thing for sure: If it wasn't clear before it is clear now. That kiss has proven to me that I have no feelings for Ethan. He is a friend. My only friend. And that's it.

I shake my head once and swallow the lump in my throat, "I do like him."

Seth's reaction to this almost makes me laugh but the fire in his eyes quickly drowns that urge.

"As a friend. I like him as a friend."

"Then why did you kiss him?!" Seth's voice goes from unsure to angry in the matter of a second and now I get a glimpse of his eyes. A dark shadow seems to have dragged itself over them, leaving them cold and pained.

"What business is it to you?" I put my hands on my hips and keep a steady glare on him.

"Just answer the damn question!" He steps closer to me but makes no contact. In fact it seems like he wants to pin me back but something is holding him back and I can't help but imagine how disgusted he must be by me. By my physique. He has never made a secret out of how repulsive he finds me. I was never anything more than fat and ugly to him. So where does the sudden interest in my non existent love life come from?

"Honestly, Seth, I don't owe you any explanation." My voice is still shaky but this is the time to speak up for myself so I am not going to miss the opportunity.

"I tried talking to you. I even came to your house to settle things with you but you wouldn't stop with your constant bullying. Now that I've made a friend, you can't seem to grant me that. You just won't let me catch a break. So what if I kissed him? Which I didn't by the way. Ethan kissed me."

For the first time, Seth breaks eye contact and his tense exterior appears to loosen up a bit.

"He's playing with you." The words barely reach me as they are but a whisper.