It had been a full five minutes since Mia had chased Damien around the side of the lake. After Mia started yelling at him to stop hitting the ducks, the little nightmare had done a runner on her and the two had now disappeared out of sight.
Never in my life, had I been so grateful that Dylan was such an angel of a child. I'd honestly stab myself in the face if I had to look after Damien the little brat.
Suddenly I heard a loud childlike whine. "My ears hurt," a voice cried.
Looking up from the bench, I locked eyes with little Damien who was being dragged by his ear by a very pissed-looking Mia. A still hot Mia, of course, but still undeniably pissed.
That wasn't the only thing that struck me about Mia. I also immediately noticed that every last inch of her body was now soaked, and her hair had fallen free and was now dripping profusely everywhere. Damien, on the other hand, was unsurprisingly completely dry.
The second I locked eyes with her, I couldn't help myself and immediately burst into laughter, having a strong hunch about how she got that way. Something told me it had everything to do with Damien.
"What the hell happened to you?" I choked out between cackles of laughter.
Mia looked more irritated at the sight of my amusement, but this only made me laugh harder. I know I was supposed to be trying to get officially back in her good books, but it was just too funny not to laugh.
Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm a dick...
Mia threw another dirty look to Damien who she still had in a tight ear grip. It reminded me clearly why it was best not to get on her bad side. As much as I loved the idea of Mia dragging me around after her; ear squeezing wasn't really my thing.
"Well, Damien here, thought it would be funny to chuck me in the lake. Didn't you?" she snapped as she threw him a heated glare.
Damien started to giggle hysterically, clearly not giving one gram of a fuck about pissing Mia off.
"Why the hell didn't you just stay in the playground?" Mia yelled.
"I wanted to go swimming," Damien shrugged as though this was a completely justifiable reason.
Mia closed her eyes and looked like she was trying to hold herself back from bitch slapping this child.
Suddenly, my mind went back to his earlier words. He wanted to go swimming. And I had a pool at my house...
The mechanics of my brain immediately started turning, and soon I discovered the perfect plan to trick Mia into coming home with me. If I lured the little brat that was Damien into my home, then Mia would also follow. Then boom, I get multiple hours of alone time with Mia which after a week of not talking to her, I really needed.
"I have a pool at my house. You can come and use ours if you want," I intercepted in while throwing a fake smile Damien's way.
Take the bait kid. Take the fucking bait so I can steal your hot babysitter.
Mia's brows furrowed in worry. "No, Ethan. I'm not sure that's a great idea...," she said with slight hesitancy. It took all the strength in the world, not to slam my head into a brick wall after she spoke. Why the hell was she not cooperating with my plan to trap her with me?
"Yes, please. I want to go, I want to go," Damien begged as he jumped up and down in excitement.
Yes, Mia listen to your cousin and come home with me where you belong.
Mia scowled at Damien. "You don't deserve to go swimming; you've been incredibly naughty. And besides, I'm soaked to the skin, thanks to you."
Immediately seeing yet another opportunity to get my way, I cleared my throat. "Chubs, it's fine, you can borrow something of mine," I quickly added with a smile.
I let it come across like I was trying to offer a favour, but far from it. Seeing her wearing my clothes, was something that I definitely wanted to see for my own selfish satisfaction. I liked it when she wore my clothes; it made it feel like we were together. That and the image of Mia in my big oversized clothing led my mind down a dangerous trail.
Mia once again looked my way, and her eyes softened. "Thanks for offering, but-"
A last-minute wave of frustrated panic ran through me as I realized, she was about to reject me. Not on my watch.
"My mum is also home, and she would be more than happy to look after Damien for you.." I offered persuasively with a knowing smile on my face. My mum probably wouldn't be happy to look after Damien, but that was beside the point.
Her eyes immediately lit up. "Amazing, sold, let's go," Mia said almost immediately.
Quickly picking up her backpack, she swung it on, emphasizing her now eagerness to leave. Clearly, an offer for someone to look after Dylan for her was far too good of an offer to pass on.
I smiled in victory, happy that I'd finally won and successfully convinced her to come home with me. Well, technically she thought she was coming for a free babysitting service, not a semi-date with me, but whatever, a win's a win.
As I went to take another glance at her, my eyes subconsciously found themselves drifting low, and this time I looked at her for the first time properly since she fell into the lake. Mia was wearing a white-soaked top, and thanks to the water, it was now pretty see-through. I swallowed hard, realizing I could see the outline of her red bra pretty clearly. That, and how body fitting her top was now to her torso. It was outlining every last line of her body perfectly. Too perfectly.
My mind as weak as it was, then naturally started to take a little detour and soon I was thinking, and imagining things I very well shouldn't. Things that if Mia knew I was thinking about would get me a strong slap across the head.
I was vaguely conscious Mia had started to talk, but I was too distracted to let the words properly land. Suddenly, she stopped talking and must have noticed my drifted gaze, her eyes fell to look at her chest also. Immediately, Mia let out a light shriek of a cry as she saw what had become of her shirt.
"Crap, why didn't you tell me," she cried in panic as she immediately crossed her arms over her chest in panic.
I couldn't help but find her reaction incredibly cute – from the light blush of her cheeks to her large widened brown eyes.
I knew I shouldn't be trying to make things worse, but it was too late, and the next thing I knew, I stepped to move closer to her. Very close. Putting a hand on her back, I leaned my mouth down to her ear. She sucked in a slightly shaky breath, but she didn't move.
"Because I was immensely enjoying the view," I whispered honestly against her ear.
At once, the same blush from before returned to her cheek but with more fierceness. Looking up at me, she pushed me away in embarrassment with her lips lifted in a half-awkward smile.
I could tell she thought I was joking; messing with her. But I wasn't. With the years I'd put in conditioning her to think every flirtatious comment I threw her way was a joke, I couldn't exactly say it was stupid of her to think that way.
Now I suppose it was different – now I had acted on my feelings by kissing her. But perhaps, she thought I did that as a joke too. Or worse thought I was using her.
Bringing myself back to the present, I let out a low chuckle and decided to finally play nice. "Here wear this," I offered as I slid my jacket off my shoulders.
Wrapping it around her shoulders, I tucked it in neatly for her before easing off. "Only I get to see you looking all sexy in your bra," I joked with a wink. Again, not a joke.
Mia's eyes for some reason widened and she looked over at Damien in panic who was busy smacking a stick against the ground for absolutely no reason. Whoops, I'd forgotten the little fucker was here.
Turning back to me, Mia gave me a silent warning look. "Ethan, he could have heard you," she whispered in embarrassment.
"Well, I didn't say anything that wasn't true," I shrugged with a smile.
Once Mia had finished rolling her eyes at me, I finally fetched Damien from the playground and soon all four of us were en route to my car so we could leave.
I was conscious of how family like we probably looked as we walked. Two near adults, with two young kids, it probably looked a certain way to people at a distance. The idea made me smile a little, desperately wanting a future like that with Mia. I wouldn't even care if she didn't want kids – as long as I had her that would be more than enough. She was always more than enough.
We exchanged a few words as we walked to the car, but my mind was far too distracted in thought. My mind couldn't stop dancing over possibilities. I hadn't forgotten that she'd kissed me back, and now my brain was playing a dangerous game. A game where I played with the possibility of Mia liking me not just as a friend. Even thinking about it, caused my stomach to swirl excitedly at the hope. It was possible; anything was possible especially now that I knew Ben was out of the picture.
I knew it was wrong to want her to like me with all my history, but I did. At this moment, I didn't care how selfish it was, I wanted nothing more than for her to like me. Love me even.
My thoughts were becoming so incredibly frustrating, that I finally decided I had to find a way to figure it out for sure. As painful as it might be, I needed to know what she truly thought of me. So tonight I was going to test her. I was going to flirt with her harder, come on to her harder, and then I was going to directly bring up the kiss. I'd waited long enough.
Soon enough, we reached the car, and Mia and I quickly helped the boys settle into the backseat before getting into the car ourselves.
Rather oddly, I noticed the two boys making normal excited conversation in the backseat. Dylan somehow managed to find a way to woo this seemingly psychopathic child.
As I continued to watch them talk in confusion from the center mirror, I suddenly noticed how much smaller Damien looked in his seat. He didn't have a booster seat whereas Dylan did.
"Hey, do you think it's fine that Damien doesn't have a booster seat?" I asked Mia as I continued to eye his position in the backseat in concern.
Mia rolled her eyes. "He'll be fine grandma, you live like five streets away, and besides, he has a seatbelt on."
"Yeah, but your road safety is kind of questionable misses I can drive myself home without a license," I threw back, as I sent her a particularly pointed look. It was an unnecessary dig, but it was true. It terrified me that she was willing to do something so reckless.
"That was like one-time Ethan, let it go," she huffed.
Annoyed that she wanted me to drop a topic, that could have ended in her death, I frowned. "No, I won't let it go. Your life is important to more than just you, Mia," I snapped a little harshly.
I couldn't help but get frustrated, feeling manically possessive over Mia's safety. It would kill every part of me if something bad happened to her. Especially if the bad thing that happened was completely preventable.
Mia clearly not gauging the seriousness of what I was saying, turned to me with a slightly curved-up smile. "You sound like my dad," she commented with a light laugh. "Should I call you Daddy, Ethan, now?" she joked.
Suddenly, I completely lost sight of any earlier thoughts, getting intensely distracted by what she'd just said. Did she want to call me Daddy?
Instantly finding her slip-up hilarious, my face immediately broke out into a grin. "I'd very much like that actually, you can call me daddy any time you want to," I teased with a wink.
Mia immediately realized her mistake, let out a long groan, and threw her head back against the headrest. "Why do you have to make everything sound wrong?"
Before I had a chance to reply, I noticed there was now silence from the backseat, and when I checked the mirror, I saw Dylan's little face was scrunched up in confusion. "Why are you calling Ethan, Daddy? He's not your Daddy?" he called out.
My eyes widened realizing we were once again having a highly inappropriate conversation in front of two young kids.
Mia looked even more panicked than me and had gone completely pale and sat rather rigidly in her seat.
Deciding to be a dick, I kept my mouth shut while grinning away and decided to let her deal with this shit show on her own. Hey, it was a good learning opportunity.
Mia threw one final glare my way before turning to face Dylan and flashing a light smile. "You're right, Dylan, he's not. I was just making fun of him," she explained softly.
Damien suddenly tapped Dylan on the shoulder. "My daddy's a firefighter, what does your daddy do Dylan?" he asked.
The second the question left his mouth, my heart stopped. And expectedly, Dylan's eyes dropped to the ground, and his bottom lips started to wobble like he did when he was about to cry.
"He's-"
"Boys, I think you can find something else to talk about," I snappily intercepted, not wanting Dylan to continue.
It absolutely broke my heart that Dylan had to grow up without a dad. It wasn't fair. That boy deserved everything. After the son of a bitch left, I tried to step a little into that role, but a twelve-year-old child can never really fill the role of an adult. What made it worse was that Dylan knew our dad was in prison. My mum didn't think it was fair to lie to him so when he started asking questions, she had to sit him down and tell him how his dad got sent away for being a bad person. She was kind with her explanation and showered him with love, but it still wasn't enough to make him not long for a father – every child wants one. The only problem was our one was a piece of shit.
Suddenly, I started to notice how much Mia was looking my way. She kept glancing at me and then staring at my hands on the steering wheel. Glancing down I realized why; I was holding them with a painfully tight grip to the point my knuckles had turned white. I imagined my face mirrored the anger that was displaying itself in my hands.
Realizing I needed to calm down so as not to alarm Mia, or get her to ask too many questions, I took several deep breaths. Releasing one hand onto the armrest, I tried to relax as best as I could. Glancing back at Dylan in the backseat, I noticed he looked a little better- his eyes still looked a little sad, but he was starting to at least talk to Damien again.
It's fine, Ethan. He's fine.
Finally, after some seconds, I started to feel my anger ease away. Still feeling Mia's eyes drifting my way, I finally took my eyes off the road to look at her.
Deciding to make a joke to lighten the mood, I let a small smile curve to my lips. "Mia, I get it. I'm hot, but would you mind taking a break from staring at me, it's kind of creeping me out."
Mia's brows which were once knitted together in concern washed away to be replaced by a dry unimpressed look. "Actually, your face was just so distractingly ugly that I couldn't look away," she scoffed.
I smirked. "We both know that's not true," I stated confidently.
Mia clearly too pissed to fight with me, rolled her eyes.
"You know, you roll your eyes a lot," I chuckled, in observation. I wasn't wrong though- she did do it a lot; especially around me.
"No, I don't," she snapped defensively.
"Yes, you do," I sang back annoyingly.
Mia's eyes twitched, further amusing me.
"I can see how hard you are trying not to roll your eyes, this very second," I laughed.
"Yeah, okay, whatever, maybe you have a point," she sighed in defeat.
The two of us continued to bicker on for the entire rest of the drive, and I enjoyed every last second of it. I'd spent six long years finding ways to bicker with her, so I couldn't deny I missed it. It would always be our thing.
Finally, I found myself pulling my car into its usual place on our driveway where I quickly parked. Once I'd helped the boys out of the car, I walked everybody over to the front door. As soon as I'd unlocked the door, Dylan and Damien ran right past me up and up the stairs like their life depended on it. You'd think the boys had never gone swimming in their life.
Before I got a chance to get a foot in the door, my mum emerged from the living room and her eyes lit up quite considerably as she noticed Mia in the doorway.
Considering I had started the morning miserable over Mia and I's fight to now all jolly with her on my doorstep, my mum was understandably a mixture of relieved and shocked.
My mum gave me a weird knowing look in her eyes before turning back to me with a bright warm smile. "Oh hey, Mia. It's lovely to see you again. Come to play judo again?" she joked.
My face burned hot as the words left her lips. My mum clearly wasn't ready to forget the time she walked in on me on top of Mia. Nobody wants a reminder that their mum caught them trying to make a move on someone.
Mia equally as embarrassed at the memory stiffened uncomfortably.
"Why are you wet sweetie?" my mum asked in confusion as she did a sweeping glance up and down her torso.
Mia let out a heavy sigh. "I-"
"She wanted to go swim with the ducks, so she jumped in the lake," I interrupted, unable to resist. Pissing her off, would never not be a fun pastime.
Mia shot me a daggered glare before turning back to my mum. "He's lying, my six-year-old cousin, pushed me in," she explained. "I brought him over; I hope that's alright. He kind of wanted to use your pool," she mumbled awkwardly.
I threw my mum a pleading look, begging for her to go along with it so I could spend alone time with Mia. Meeting my eyes, my mum's eyes softened, clearly sensing what I was pleading.
"Yeah, of course. I'm sure Dylan would love to have someone to play with. I'll keep an eye on him for you," she offered with a smile. "Also, Mia, you can borrow some of my clothes if you want," my mum said as she gestured to Mia's wet clothes.
Annoyed that my mum was ruining my plans to get Mia to wear my clothes, I immediately stepped in. "No, she's wearing my clothes," I snapped as I thew my mum a special look. A look that was once again, begging for her to work with me here. Did she want me to die alone, or what?
My mum smiled knowingly before lightly rolling her eyes at me. "Yeah, Ethan's right, it's probably best you borrow something from him," she chuckled.
Mia gave the two of us an odd look but thankfully didn't further question.
Once we got past my mum, I led Mia up to my room and immediately started rummaging in my closet for something for her to wear. Mia leaned herself by the side of my door frame as she watched.
"I'm surprised you have any clothes left, considering the number of items I've stolen from you," Mia joked.
"I don't mind," I admitted honestly with a smile before straightening up and chucking her one of my t-shirts.
I decided to hang back on giving her any trousers, hoping to try my luck. Hey, maybe today would be my lucky day and she'd be up for walking around pantless around me. It's worth a shot.
After she caught it, Mia looked down at it and then back up at me with a cocked-up brow. "I need bottoms too, Ethan," she said flatly.
Damn it.
"You do?" I smirked
"Yes," she snapped.
Finally having to admit my pervy plan had failed, I chuckled before opening up another drawer and finally throwing her some joggers. Deciding to be petty, I purposefully picked the biggest on the pile, as a punishment for ruining my plan.
As soon as she caught them, I immediately plopped myself down on my desk chair with my arms behind my head while staring up at her expectantly with a smile.
"So, are you going to strip, or what?" I asked boldly.
Mia's eyes widened. "What the fuck? I never said you could watch, you pervert!"
I didn't even blink at the insult. "I wouldn't exactly call myself a pervert. I prefer the word opportunist," I shrugged while keeping my butt firmly planted in the chair.
I knew the actual probability of seeing Mia change was slim to none, but I'd still be stupid to not at least fight my case.
"Well, this isn't an opportunity, so get out, Ethan," she snapped as she pointed to the door.
Letting out a long dramatic groan, I slowly rose to my feet. "You're so mean to me," I sighed.
As I walked past her, I stopped and looked her up and down. "It's fine, I'll see it all one day," I teased before confidently walking out of the room.
I left just in time to see Mia's blush colour her cheeks, and I chuckled as I left.
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