Bringing Back Hallie

Bringing Back Hallie: Chapter Nine

I say, "I don't even think you could eat all of this, and Lord knows how much you eat." 

"You calling me fat?" he asks threateningly, as if he actually has an extra pound of flesh anywhere on him. Yeah, right. I've seen him pushing the lawn mower in our backyard shirtless, wasn't stalking him at all, but I now know for a fact that this kid is as toned as one can possibly be. 

"Oh yeah," I scoff, reaching out and pinching his hard-as-stone bicep as if there's loose skin there, "You're huge." 

"So hurtful," he dramatically cries out, reaching out and then grabbing a handful of popcorn, shoving it all in his mouth. I watch him in amusement, wondering how a guy with looks like his can possibly be so down-to-earth and fun to be around. It's rare, that's for sure. We hold eye contact the whole time, my eyes filled with disbelief and his filled with false anger, but when his food has been swallowed he gives me the biggest and cheesiest smile I've ever seen in my life. 

"You're so weird," I laugh, shaking my head.  

He gets up and leaves to go to the bathroom just a few minutes later, and the second that I see his disappearing figure turn around the dark corner to the door, my sister speaks up and says, "You two are so obvious." 

"Huh?" I ask, turning around so that I can face hear and actually understand what she was saying. My eyes were trained on Ethan's perfectly sculpted ass, not even going to lie to myself. The dude's body looks like it was hand carved by the Gods or something ridiculous like that. And even though I hate when girls obviously check out guys and act like their pieces of meat, I don't care when it comes to this guy. My eyes have a mind of their own when it comes to him. 

She rolls her eyes at me and gives me a look that says I clearly just proved her point. She says, "You and him are like flirting nonstop." 

"What?" I ask her, immediately thankful for the darkness of the theater because I can just feel the blush rising on my pathetic cheeks. I'm not...it's not obvious that I have a little thing for him, right? That'd be so utterly mortifying. Like deadly mortifying. I mean, I know that I sneak a peek at him mowing the lawn and that my eyes my linger on his gorgeous face a bit longer than they should, but it's not like I go completely overboard or anything. Right? 

"Yeah," she giggles, looking extremely entertained that she has something to tease me about now. Something real and that doesn't take multiple hits at my already low self-esteem. "It's sad, really. The two of you are always together now at the house, always, and you're always so talky talky when y'all are together." 

"That's so not true," I shake my head, wanting her to not even pay attention, hating that she has. It's one thing when you have a little thing for someone and you know it, but it's a completely different thing when someone else has caught on. They'll always watch the two of you with that knowing look on their face, like they know that something's going on, and that they're constantly judging. I already know how bad of a flirter I am, I don't need my little sister to be watching and making that same conclusion too.  

She rolls her big eyes at me and says, "Oh hush. It's not like it's a bad thing anyways, he's gorgeous." 

"Yeah," I agree, but that's just because anyone with a decent sense of eyesight would be able to see that. "Duh. There's no way he'd even think about me that way." 

Looking completely dumbfounded with her eyebrows raised and her mouth agape, she asks me, "Are you serious? He's worse than you! He doesn't talk to me half as much as he talks to you." 

"We just have more to talk about because we're closer in age, it's not like he likes me or anything," I point out. There's no way in hell that Ethan even thinks of me as someone he could be with like that. I'm not cute enough, that's for damn sure, and he's such a better person than I am.