A/N--Here's chapter nine! I hope you all likey :)) Please vote/comment/be super duper awesome and whatnot! And here's another pic of Hallie.
"Tell me again why y'all have dragged me out to see some dumb superhero movie?" Darla groans as Ethan pulls his truck into the first empty parking spot he sees at the local movie theater.
My parents were gone all this morning at some out-of-town meeting with his publicist, and after a wonderful breakfast made by yours truly-yes, I made breakfast; I'm maturing-we were all being lazy bums and watching Good Morning America in our pajamas. But then we saw a preview for The Avengers movie out right now and I may have mentioned how much I wanted to go and see it.
Ethan's the one who gave the idea that we should, and, well, we decided to drag Darla along kicking and screaming just for the hell of it. And besides, I know that she's girly enough to at least bask in the glory of how hot Tony Stark and Captain America are. I feel like that'll entertain her enough so that she doesn't complain throughout the whole thing.
As I unbuckle my passenger seat seatbelt, I turn around in my seat so that I can face my blonde and unbelievably cute little sister. I tell her like it should be obvious, "Because these superheroes are awesome."
She rolls her big eyes at me and says, "You're such a sorry excuse for a girl."
"Thanks," I tell her with an overly bright smile, just for her entertainment, "Now let's go get a huge thing of popcorn."
She groans as she hops out of the truck, and underneath her breath I can her mumbling something about how she's been stuck with a younger brother instead of a cool older sister. I honestly don't care, though, that she thinks this. I'm extremely comfortable with the fact that I talk like a pubescent boy and that I love superhero movies. It's one of the few things that I'm actually comfortable with about myself. And, well, Ethan likes that about me too which makes it much easier to accept.
We all walk into the theater, me paying for the tickets because it's already been decided that I'll pay for this and Ethan will pay for the concessions. It actually causes quite the stir in Ethan on the way here when I mentioned me paying, him wanting to pay for absolutely everything because he's the guy and that's how things should be, but when I told him that I'd talk obnoxiously throughout the entire movie he reluctantly agreed.
After we each get what candy and drink we want alone with a popcorn the size of Texas to share, we all head down the semi crowded hallway and then into the already darkened theater. Those dumb pre movie local ads are playing right now, with a soundtrack of songs that were popular two months ago. Darla leads us up the stairs and into the empty row right in the middle-the best view in my opinion-and then we all take our seats, me realizing with a jolt that I'm in the middle and will be sitting next to Ethan the whole time.
As sad as it may be, I've never actually been on a date with a guy, let alone to a movie theater where I know couples make out half the time. I know that it's different because my thirteen-year-old sister is sitting right on the other side of me, but still; I'm going to have to know that this super attractive guy is going to be sitting right next to me, his cologne or whatever smelling absolutely mouthwatering, and with the lights dark.
It's going to be torture, and I have an awful feeling that I won't be able to pay attention to the movie.
Since I'm sitting in the middle, Ethan hands me the popcorn and then tells me warningly, "You eat it all...you die."
I roll my eyes at him, but am secretly pleased that he's acting so comfortably about this whole thing. I mean, I know that it's probably nothing to be uncomfortable with because we're just watching a movie-we've done this a few times back at home-and my sister is even here, but still...there's some part of me that is slightly on edge because, for some reason, I feel like I just need to impress him. Keep him entertained or something.
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.
"Shut up," she argues, "He totally likes you. And don't pull that 'but he's so much prettier than me' crap, cause we both know that's not true."
"That so is true," I hiss at her, wondering how on earth she can even say something like that. He is so much prettier than me. So much. And the sad thing is that he's so much prettier than me and he's a guy. The dude has nicer eyelashes than me and more flawless skin. Not fair.
I see her narrow her eyes at me so that she can argue even more, but her eyes then go wide as she looks at something over my head. The tension in her face slowly draining away, she then looks back at me and says, "Never mind."
It's then that I hear a rustling come from behind me, and when I turn my head I see that Ethan's back from the bathroom and now taking his seat next to me. He gives me a small smile when he catches me looking and asks me, "I miss anything?"
Silently praying that it's not completely obvious we've been talking about my little crush on him, I give him a small smile back and say, "Not a thing."
XXXXXX
To say I was surprised when Jeanie came over just a few days after the pool/Fred incident would a major understatement. But she did. She called me about five minutes before eleven asking if my parents were home, and when I told her that my dad was out doing some charity thing and my mom and Darla had accompanied him-I faked major cramps to get out of it-she told me that she'd be there in ten minutes.
She gave me a hug like she always does, called me gorgeous, and then we headed up to my room joking around like we always do. I guess the whole Fred thing was just in Ethan and I's minds, seeing as how if anyone would be upset about Fred having a thing for me it'd be his girlfriend. But she's acting like she always does, not an attitude or saying out of the normal, so my nerves immediately are calmed.
"Oh I almost forgot," she says as she plops herself down on my bed. She just gone plugging her phone into my stereo so that we can listen to this new band she found, as I'd been telling her about another band before. Jeanie then reaches into her oversized black shoulder bag and pulls out a large glass bottle, about half of it filled with Vodka. When my eyes widen slightly, she gives me a smile and says, "It's even the whipped cream flavor...your favorite."
"Jeanie," I say cautiously, even though a small part of me is thrumming in excitement. It's been almost two weeks since I've touched alcohol, and I'm not going to lie, I miss the person that it makes me become. I've been slowly slipping into the antisocial recluse that I was before I ever met Jeanie and the boys, and it did leave me slightly depressed.
The only people I really hang out with now are Ethan and Darla, and while I absolutely love the time I spend with Ethan, he's slowly been becoming more and busier with his music. Darla, well, she's always been the apple of my mom's eye and so they've been doing tons of stuff without me, and it does leave me a bit cold towards the two of them.
She says, "Come on. We can drink a bunch and then prank call people...or go to the park or something. Like we used to."
"I don't know," I say, even though my eyes are fixated on the bottle of liquefied awesome personality. I'm so far from an alcoholic, really and truly I am, but I got so used to having it all of the time before the wreck. Now that it's been two weeks...I miss it.
She tosses the glass into the middle of my bed and then starts digging around in her bag again. When she pulls out a familiar brown paper bag that just smells like weed, I feel my stomach plummet into my toes. She says, "Well I'm doing either or. I'd rather smoke, but I know it freaks you out, so I was going to drink with you..."
I smile at her, feeling a bit lighter now that I no longer have to make a decision and worry about being good. I say, "I'll go get the orange juice," and then disappear out of my room and into the kitchen.
I flounce back into the room just a minute or so later, a carton of orange juice in one hand and two glasses in the other. She's already stuffed that damned bag back in her purse, thank God, and the minute she sees me she laughs then screws open the big bottle. I toss her everything in my hand and tell her to make mine while I lock the door behind me, just in case.
When I sit back down on my bed she hands me a glass filled with the orange drink that tastes just like dreamsicle but has much nicer after effects. I take the first sip and then, just like that, I've fallen back into the personality that everyone loves so much.
XXXXXX
"Ethannnn!" I call out happily, holding onto the wooden post on the back porch that holds up the balcony protruding from the media room. I know he's out here; he's always in the back yard nowadays. He's either cutting the grass for my dad, cleaning the pool, cutting weeds...anything. He's so much more useful than I am to my family. Makes me sad sometimes.
But not today! I think with a quiet giggle to myself.
I then see the devil himself walk out of the back shed, looking over at me curiously. He's all sweaty and covered in grass, a sure sign of his yard work, but he still looks absolutely delicious like always. I wish I could be as attractive as he is. I mean geez; he's gorgeous even when he's been outside in the blistering heat all day. Not fair. If that were me, I'd look like a big cherry.
"Hallie?" he asks as he gets closer, sounding almost confused or something.
"Well yeah," I say giggling, "You silly goose. Who else looks exactly like I do? Well, unless I have a twin or something which would be kind of awesome, haha, she could take my tests for me and maybe my grades wouldn't-woah!" He catches me as I fall forward, me not having realized that I'd been twirling around the same wooden post.
"What the hell have you been doing?" he asks me, and for a split second it sounds like he's almost mad at me. But he can't be mad, I realize, no one's mad at drunk Hallie. Everyone loves her, right? That's what everyone else says anyways.
"Nothing!" I exclaim innocently, but, not being able to get over how good his arms feel around me, I lean and press my face against his tight chest, not caring that he's slightly sweaty. "You're so comfy, Ethan," I murmur, rubbing my cheek against his shirt until I get into a position I like.
I feel his arms tighten around me for just a brief moment, but just as quickly as I felt it, I don't anymore. Instead he pulls at my arms, moving me off of him, and then leans in closer to my face. I instinctively close my eyes and tilt my head to the side, thinking that he might kiss me or something-which would be fucking awesome!-but I just hear him take a quick sniff before he pulls back away. "Vodka. Really, Hallie?"
"So you're not going to kiss me," I pout, jerking my arms away from him. I really thought he was going to for a second and I got so excited, but now...now I'm all sad. Why can't he just kiss me? I really want him to. Really, really! And lots of guys kiss drunk Hallie. Why can't he?
"Not when you're..." I hear him murmur, but his voice goes so quiet that I can't hear the end of his sentence. Suddenly really mad at him, I turn away from him and try to go back into the house, but he grabs at my arm and pulls me to him.
"What?" I snap at him, "I thought you hated me. If you hate me, don't touch me."
"I don't hate you," he says, rolling his eyes at me. "I'm just slightly irritated with you."
"Well I'm slightly irritated with you too!" I yell, but my words don't sound quite as smart as his. I don't even think I said irritated right. Oh well. It's not like I'm slurring, I'm just talking in cursive or whatever that saying is.
He asks me, "How'd you get drinks?"
"Jeanie," I mumble, looking away from his seriously cute mad face. I can't believe he's not going to kiss me! He can't just be polite and give me a little one or something?
He asks, "Is she still here?"
"No, that's why I came to find you!" I tell him, "But I shouldn't have...because you're being a real meanie, you know that?"
"Hallie," he says, his voice suddenly really intense. He reaches out and grabs at my hands tightly, but not so tight that it hurts. I still try not to look at him, his face doing nothing but making me want to kiss him more, but then he takes one of his hands off of my wrist and uses it to tilt my chin upwards. My eyes go wide at the sight of his face, his seriously pretty blue eyes intently staring at me. He asks me seriously, "Did Jeanie drive home?"
"Fred came to get her," I say, and for some reason my voice sounds all breathless and whatnot. And I don't even sound like I'm talking in cursive when I say that. All of a sudden I'm really tired and my brain feels all light and weird, and I just want to go sleep. "Ethan," I mumble, feeling like my feet can't really hold me up anymore.
"Yeah?" he asks, but I can't even bother to answer him because I've already slumped against him. My face once again pressed against his chest, I murmur to him, "Drunk Hallie's sleepy."
"For fuck's sake," I hear him say underneath his breath, but I don't even have the energy to be sad that I've made Ethan mad at me. He then pulls me up into his arms, holding me like I'm a baby, and with my face never moving from its position resting against his sternum, and carries me into the house and up to my room.
He gently places me on my bed, and after placing a garbage can on the side of my bed just in case, he pushes the hair out of my face. Even though my eyelids weigh a thousand and five pounds, I can't move my eyes away from his, me feeling like I'm in a trance or something. He goes to leave the room, but before he's out of the door I call out his name.
"Yeah?" he asks, one of his hand's perched on the door handle.
I ask him, "Can you come lay with me?"
He closes his eyes for a second, his forehead looking really tight, but when he opens them he seems fine. A bit stiff, but fine. He says, "No Hal. You just need to go sleep, okay?"
"You're mean," I whine again, but the minute that he walks out of the door and shuts it behind him, I'm dead asleep.