The door flew open. My hand was on Ian’s shoulder and the other was on the back of his head. Ian was leaning at me, his lips still on my forehead. And when the door flew open, I jumped and pushed him away from me.
“What’s going on here?” Miranda’s familiar voice echoed the room.
“I—we’re just talking,” I stammered.
I glanced at Ian. His lying on the bed, his eyes still surprised because of the push. I turned to Miranda, who was still frowning. I forced a smile.
It turned out Miranda is not alone. She’s holding hands with Evan and I raised an eyebrow. Evan caught this and grinned. “We’re going out.”
“Where are you going?”
Evan shrugged. “I don’t know.” He glanced at Miranda. “Where do you want to go?”
“Let’s go to a club!” Miranda suggested excitedly, her eyes shining.
“That’s what I have in my mind! I thought you’re not the kind of girl who goes to clubs,” Evan said and looked Miranda up and down. Then he glanced at me and winked. “We better get going.”
I frowned. “But it’s still raining.”
“We’re bringing Ian’s car,” Evan said simply.
That snapped Ian from reality and sat in a bolt. He glared at his brother. “Why do you want my car? Why couldn’t you just call a cab?”
I rolled my eyes. What’s with car and boys? Seriously.
“Because I’m bringing a girl,” Evan replied, gesturing to Miranda. “It’s not good to bring your date in a cab. Please, Ian?”
Ian rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he snapped.
Evan punched the air. “Great! Let’s go!” He grabbed Miranda’s hand and closed the door shut. After two seconds, the door opened, Evan poking his head in. “Don’t do anything naughty when we’re gone.”
“Get out!” Ian yelled. In the same time, I shouted, “Shut up!”
Evan laughed and closed the door once again. This time, it didn’t open again.
I faced Ian who was looking away and avoiding my eyes. I frowned. “Ian? Is everything okay?”
He turned to my direction, but he was still avoiding my eyes. “I’m sorry about the kiss,” he said bluntly.
I shrugged. He’s apologizing for that? The kiss didn’t bother me. “It’s okay. At least it wasn’t on the lips. That will ruin my perspective of you.”
Ian laughed nervously. “Good. I was having these thoughts to kiss you on the lips.”
There was an awkward silence at first but I decided to break it. “Uh… let’s go downstairs. I could fix something for us.”
Ian smiled. “Do you know how to cook?”
I blushed slightly. “Not really. Do you?”
Instead of answering my question, Ian grabbed my hand and together we walked out of his room. Instead of going to the kitchen, we ended up in the living room. I sat on the couch, just beside him.
I frowned. “You don’t want me to cook?”
He laughed. “And burn my house? Hell no. Considering my last house burned, I don’t want that to happen again.”
He opened the TV in front of us and an episode of How I Met Your Mother appeared. I grinned. “Hey! I love this show!”
Ian stared at me. “Really? Me, too! I absolutely love this show.”
I locked eyes with him and without signal, he sat closer to me. He’s about two inches away from me and I took a lot of willpower not to reach out and take his hand.
We continued watching the episode in silence. When the episode ended, he sighed and changed the channel. When the other channels didn’t satisfy us, he opened the DVD player. “What do you want to watch?”
“What do you have?” I said nervously. I have experiences watching DVDs with boys. Especially Lance. Lance likes horror movies and I would end up hugging him, tearing my eyes away from the screen. But, of course, I still watch even though I was scared. Lance’s just going to tease me that I’m a coward or something.
“What are you smiling?”
“Huh?” I looked up at him absentmindedly to see he’s frowning. “I was smiling?”
“Yeah. Like you were recalling a sweet memory. What memory was it?” Ian asked curiously.
I blushed. “Nothing you need to know.”
He snorted. “Come on. Tell me. Is it about me?”
I shook my head. “Not even close.”
“Friends?”
“No.”
“Brother?”
“Hell no! I never have a sweet memory with him.”
He laughed and turned serious again. “Tell me,” he urged, looking at me with his stunningly gorgeous gray eyes.
Before I knew it, Lance name came out from my mouth. I put a hand on my mouth. “Sorry.”
Ian laughed nervously. “Oh…” Then he cleared his throat. “So what do you want to watch?”
“Don’t ask me. I’m just going to pick something girly. Besides, you don’t have girly DVDs. Seeing that you live alone with your older brother—well, unless he’s gay.”
He grinned. “I assure you, he’s very straight. He’s a player.”
I sighed. “Good to know he’s going out with my best friend who’s a player also.”
Ian shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe they’ll end up with each other.”
I beamed. “That’s so great! I’m going to set them up!”
He put his hands in the air innocently. “If ever you’re going to do that, don’t count me in. Evan doesn’t like commitments and he doesn’t have any girlfriends that lasts for a three days. He says enjoy life when possible.”
“Amazing. He’s like Miranda! They are so meant to be!”
“Evan doesn’t like lovey-dovey things.”
I shrugged. “There will be some other way to make them together.” A lot was going inside my mind now. Firstly, I want Suzanne and Vince to end up together. And now, I want Miranda and Evan to be together. I sighed. I know my best friends will be happy for the partners I chose for them.
“What’s the sigh for? Are you imagining about Miranda and Evan?”
I frowned, blushing with embarrassment. “No. Now let’s pick a movie.”
“Um, do you like Harry Potter? I’m a huge fan.” He sent me a grin.
I smiled. “Hell yes! What movie are we going to watch?”
“How about Harry Potter 7 Part 2? I like the finale.”
“Okay, okay. Let’s watch!”
I wiped my eyes and felt my hand wet with tears. I groaned. Stupid hormones. Every time I watch something that has a very, very happy ending, I end up crying. And, I ended up just like that. I’m such a huge fan of Harry Potter and when it finished as Harry, Hermione and Ron watched their kids leaving for Hogwarts, I can’t help but cry.
Ian glanced at my direction and grinned. “I never knew you’re such an emotional person.”
I punched him at the arm softly. “Whatever. You don’t want to piss me off considering you’re that close.”
“Wow, I’m so scared.”
I rolled my eyes and noticed our positions. The movie has ended but Ian and I were not moving from our positions. And I don’t want to.
We’re sitting on the couch comfortably. His hands were around me and my head was on his chest. Some people might be mistaken that we’re couples. But that’s so not going to happen. I just agreed because it was cold inside Ian’s place. It was still raining cats and dogs outside and I sighed, wondering when the rain is going to stop.
“Are you okay if I let you go first?” Ian teased.
I rolled my eyes again. “Whatever.” I raised my head and sat properly. Ian got up and walked to the DVD player, closing it. I yawned, feeling a little bit sleepy because of the cold weather. “What do we do next?”
“What do you want to do?”
I shrugged. “Sleep. But that’ll be highly embarrassing considering I’m in your house.”
“So? You sleep on your friends house, am I right?”
“Yes, but you’re a guy.”
Ian poked me at the ribs playfully and I slapped his hand away softly. He sighed. “I think my afternoon is going to be okay just watching you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Cut the drama, Ian. It doesn’t suit you.”
“I don’t care. It’s what I really feel.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Whatever, drama boy.” I looked outside the window and sighed. “Can’t we go to a restaurant or something?”
“Are you hungry?”
“No,” I admitted. “But at least we got something to do.”
He frowned. “If you’re really want to get out here, I’ll call Evan to bring back a car.”
I laughed. “No need. Let’s just call a cab or something.”
He frowned deeper. “As Evan stated earlier, it’s not a good to bring your date to a place with a cab.”
My brows stitched up together in surprise. “You think of me as a date?”
Immediately, Ian looked away, turning impossibly red. I giggled and he threw me a dirty look. “Stop it! And yes, I consider you as a date.”
I stopped laughing and gave him a look. “You know I can’t date, right? I still haven’t moved on from that jerk.”
“I know. I’m not entirely sure of my feelings. Sometimes, I just want to scoop you up and kiss you.”
I looked away, blushing. Damn it. When he said that, my heart stopped for a moment and I forgot how to breathe. Fortunately, I found my lungs were still working but now, my heart was beating so fast my chest hurts. I looked at Ian and shrugged. “Sorry, Ian. You’re a nice guy. But I don’t want anything serious.”
He smiled—a confident smile. Not a fake or forced smile. “It’s okay. It’s not like I want to have something serious with you. Because that’ll be weird.”
I frowned. “Are you calling me weird?”
Ian laughed shakily. “No, no. That’s not what I meant. It’ll be weird because Coach Vince is your brother and I can’t stand inside the locker room and think, This is my girlfriend’s brother. Act normally or you’re dead.”
I laughed so hard that I punched his arm affectionately. “Damn, that was so funny!”
Ian joined my laughter and for a few minutes, we just stared at each other and joked around. We didn’t notice that the door opened, revealing two figures of Miranda and Evan, worn out from dancing.
I looked up and sighed with relief. “Thank God you’re here! Now I can go home!”
Miranda eyed the two of us. “Nothing happened when we were away, right?”
I stared at her incredulously. “I thought you trust me!”
Evan laughed, swinging an arm around Miranda’s waist. “We don’t, dummy. And besides, you’re not a virgin so you know the fun in…” But his voice trailed off when he saw my red, blushing face and Ian and Miranda’s smug face. “Wait. You’re still a virgin?”
I looked away as Miranda squealed yes and Evan laughed his head off. “And you’re seventeen! Shucks, this is so funny!”
“It isn’t!” I retorted.
“Yeah, she doesn’t know what condom looks like,” Ian said, joining in with the laughter.
“Not you, too!” I shouted, annoyed.
“It’s just funny! We met because of the condom,” Ian said, recalling the day.
“Seriously?” Miranda said, laughing. “Wow, that’s a good story when you tell your kids how you met their mother.”
This time, it was Ian and I who were glaring at her. “It’s not funny!” we both thundered.
“Whew, I’m getting scared here, Miranda,” Evan said, grinning. “Let’s just get out of here.”
“Wait. You’re not going to take the car!” Ian demanded.
“Says who, little brother?” Evan said, smiling crookedly and I caught Miranda smiling at him dreamily.
I raised an eyebrow. It’s very rare to see Miranda like that. She never looks people and smile at like that dreamily. Well, except if you’re a hot rocker or something.
I grinned. She is surely falling for him.
They both left the house again, leaving Ian and I in a strange silence. I smiled at him apologetically. “Sorry about Miranda. She’s just a jokester—just like Evan.”
Ian rolled his eyes. “Are you still sure you want them to end up together? Just imagine them getting married and have kids. Their children will be twice annoying than them.”
“Miranda is not that bad,” I said, grinning. “She’s a good friend. I guess you say the same with Evan?”
He sighed. “I got to admit—Evan is a good brother. But he’s immature and irresponsible.”
“Yeah, Miranda, too.”
“I can’t imagine them getting married. What a chaos.”
We laughed silently. Then I mustered some courage to ask him a question. “Do you… do you think about the woman you will marry, Ian?”
“Of course,” he replied with a snort.
“Who do you think she is?”
“If you asked that question to me last year, my answer would be Patricia Mercer. I love Patricia so much. She’s been my childhood friend when I arrived at London. We shared the same boarding school and the same dorm. I would never hesitate to propose to her when I came to the right age.” He paused. “How about you?”
“Same as you, I guess.”
“You’re thinking about marrying Patricia?” Ian said, his voice very shocked.
I laughed and punched him hard enough at the arm. “No, asshole. Lance.”
Ian nodded. “It’s good you saw him cheating on you.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Oh? And why’s that?”
“Because it’ll be a pity if you two are still together now and you never knew he’s never honest with you.”
I sighed and slowly nodded. “Guess you’re right.”
Suddenly, Ian looked at me at the eyes. “Promise me to tell me if you’re falling in love with someone else.”
I frowned. “And why’s that?”
“Because I would seriously kill that guy if he will cheat on you.”
I laughed shakily. “Ian, I told you I’m not going to look for another guy again. I’m sick of boys.” I gave him a guilty look. “No offense.”
But he didn’t answer. Instead, he leaned closer to me. So close that our lips almost touched.
The song of this chapter is Back To December by: Taylor Swift! :) A lot says that this song is for Taylor Lautner, and I do think so. xD What do you think?