Dana crossed her arms and stared straight ahead, ignoring Ethan's eyes on her. They were on their way to Italy to celebrate her best friend's son's first birthday. She would be lying if she said she wasn't excited about the trip. Her friend had finally had Nicolas after a complicated pregnancy. He was a precious gift to not just his parents but Dana as well, seeing that her friend had wanted the baby so much. Also, Dana had never been on an airplane before, had never left the country. This just added to her excitement. However, the arrogant human sitting a few feet away from her was putting a damper on her mood.
Her friend had asked her to travel to Italy with her family. Dana loved the idea immediately but asked her to make sure her stupid brother-in-law wasn't going to be on the same flight. She had previously had a first hand experience with the irritating ways of Ethan Salvay and refused to stay in the same space with him for the 9 hours it would take for them to reach their destination. However, when Dana boarded the jet, she saw Luke's brother, Ethan, casually sitting on one of the seats. She had seemed to have an automatic headache just by looking at him. If she could, she would have turned around and walked out right then.
Now, they were almost half way through to Venice, Italy.
"The fire in your gaze is enough to burn the aircraft down." Bianca whispered to her jokingly after catching her give Ethan a dirty look, who sat their with a smug face because he knew his presence was bothering Dana.
Dana rolled her eyes at her friend. "You told me he wasn't coming." She couldn't stop the hint of annoyance from seeping into her words.
"He wasn't. But then I guess he changed his mind." She said while shrugging her shoulders lightly.
Dana let out a breath and sneaked a glance in Ethan's direction and realized that at the same exact moment, he had turned to look in her direction as well. When he saw her looking, he smirked and wiggled his fingers at her and mouthed 'hey.' She just gave him a fake smile before cursing and looking away.
They didn't have a lot of history together. But what little history they had was enough to make Dana certain about who he was. Ill-mannered basically sums it up.
And hot...
As soon as that small voice spoke in her head, she asked herself to shut up and concentrate on her current conversation with Bianca.
"How does it matter anyway?" Bianca wondered out loud. Her question meant only for Dana's ears.
"Look at his face. It annoys me just looking at him. How does your husband have such a brother?" She said, looking at Luke who held a sleeping Nicolas in his arms.
"You guys got off on the wrong foot. Ethan is a good guy." Bianca said, making Dana snort.
Good guy? She thought incredulously, remembering the day when Ethan had first showed up at her place to pick Bianca up from her night over. Good guys don't stare you up and down and whistle. They don't barge into your house, mock you and sit on your couch while looking around like they own your damn house! He even had the audacity to steal her mug with her precious morning coffee 5 minutes after knowing her. That was a deal breaker right there.
She didn't know him much but she knew that guys like him take less than a second to charm the pants off women and run in the opposite direction from the mere mention of commitment. Ethan Salvay was far from a good guy and exactly like a guy she ran miles away from.
"We didn't get off on the wrong foot. He is just the wrong guy." She muttered, closing her eyes and falling asleep.
A couple of hours later, they landed in Venice.
When the aircraft door opened, Dana was the first one to unbuckle herself, grab her bag and walk out. But her efforts to stay away from him became vain when when a few seconds later, he was right beside her.
"Hello, gorgeous." He greeted while leaning in.
She threw him an exaggerated smile before walking to the cars quickly, leaving him behind.
Luke and Ethan's family awaited them when they reached their mother, Rosabella's place. She was the one who had planned the party for her first grandchild's first birthday.
"Aww...come to nonna." She said, grabbing Nicolas from Luke's arms. "Look at you! You are all grown up! You were a month old last I saw you." She looked at him with a tender smile, her eyes shining with delight.
Bianca placed a hand on Nicolas's head and smiled at Rosabella. "How are you doing?"
"Great. Great now that you guys are here." She hugged Bianca with one arm as she held Nicolas in the other. "Oh! Dana! It's so nice to finally meet you, sweetheart," she hugged Dana and kissed her forehead.
Dana smiled widely. "Nice to see you too, ma'am."
"Oh stop it, dear. Call me Rose." She smiled back. "Alright, kids. Let's go inside. We have so much to talk about!" Rosabella lead everyone inside, asking them about their flight and complaining about how none of them were eating enough.
Ethan and Luke looked at each other and chuckled at their mother's typical mom-like comments.
~3 days later~
Today was Nicolas's birthday. The guests had started arriving around 7 PM for the lavish party that Rosabella had thrown for her grandson. Family and friends who had not yet met the new addition to the Salvay family were finally being introduced to him. Luke greeted the guests as they arrived and Bianca mingled around with Nicolas hitched up on her hip. Ethan stood with a glass of whiskey along with a couple of his cousins as they conversed. Slow music played in the background, mixed with a light chatter and occasional clinking of glasses.
Bianca wondered where Dana was and started looking around for her. When she couldn't spot her, she excused herself from the group of people she was standing with and walked around in an attempt to look for her. Just as she moved towards the staircase she saw Dana descending down, dressed in a red gown she had brought for her.
Dana smiled at Bianca as she came to stand beside her. "Sorry I'm late. Do I look over the top?" She whispered quietly, while running her fingers over Nicolas's soft and silky hair.
"Just perfect." Bianca replied, grabbing her hand so she could introduce her to the guests.
Together they walked back to the group of people Bianca was talking to earlier. Dana's charming smile drew everyone's attention to her.
"Guys, this is Dana Johnson, my best friend." Bianca chirped.
A couple of them nodded at her while others shook her hand as they introduced themselves.
"That color suits you." Someone commented, looking at her dress.
"Thank you." Dana said politely. She stood there for a little while to get to know the people. She felt a little out of place but tried not to show it. These people were completely different than the people she was used to hanging out with. When was the last time she had a casual conversation with a woman who wore a necklace so grand that Dana felt like the light reflecting on the glittering piece of jewelry would blind her?
Forget that, the voice in her head said. When was the last time you were wearing something equally as blinding? Never.
"I've never seen her before." Ethan looked at one of his cousins who had just spoken. His lips parted in surprise when he realized he was talking about Dana. His eyes followed as she walked to the bar.
"Is she the friend Bianca was talking about?" The other asked. "I don't think I've seen her before in any of our previous parties either."
Ethan watched her as she stood at the bar and called the bartender. He ignored his cousins and walked in her direction, placing his glass on one of the waiter's tray on his way.
"You look like something out of the world tonight." Dana turned around at the sound of his voice, taken back by his compliment and the look on his face.
Then her expressions changed to a bored one. "I know." She said, lifting her chin just as the bartender placed her drink in front of her.
Ethan ordered himself a drink as well as he took a seat beside her.
"Enjoying yourself?"
"Why do you care?" She sipped her drink and turned around in her bar stool to face the crowd. She didn't ask it in a rude way but wondered after a moment if she had sounded rude.
"Don't you ever give straight answers?" He looked at her face, his eyes drawing to her lush lips covered in a bright red lipstick.
"My answers are pretty straight forward. They are just not what you expect."
"That's one of the things I like about you." He raised his glass to her.
"And I suspect that my karate skills are not included in that list of things?" She asked jokingly, referring to the first time they had met. He had pissed her off enough for her to throw a punch at him. However, he had blocked it with ease and teased her about her poor fighting skills.
Ethan chuckled. "You really took that comment to heart."
"Nothing gets that far." She said in a low voice, doubting that he had heard her as her mind travelled to her disturbing past.
"Ethan, darling!" Their attention drew to Susana, one of Ethan's aunts, as she walked closer to them. "You didn't even meet me!"
"Hey Aunt Susana." He greeted her, his eyes widening as his drink threatened to spill out of his glass when Susana hugged him without prior warning.
"I missed you! You don't visit Italy much anymore!" She complained.
"I know people miss me when I am not around." He said cockily, making Dana roll her eyes and shake her head. "I'll try visiting more often. Sorry."
"Apology accepted. Now, who's your date?" She turned to Dana who almost spat her drink out of her mouth. Date?
She smiled at Susana and shook her hand. "I am Dana. Bianca's friend. Not his date." She said, stressing on the word 'not.'
Soon, Ethan and Luke's cousins joined them at the bar. A few minutes later, she was pulled away by a couple of them. She looked at Ethan over her shoulder as she walked away with them while he rested his elbows on the bar behind him and watched her walk away.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention please!" Rosabella spoke on a mike, halting everyone's chatter as they turned to look at her. "Today is my beautiful grandchild's first birthday. I thank you all for joining us for the celebration and hope you're having a good time. We will be cutting the cake shortly and..."
"Have you seen Ethan?" Dana zoomed out of Rosabella's speech and watched as Bianca questioned Luke, who shrugged while looking around. "I told him to stay around when we cut the cake. Dana? Do you mind calling him and finding out where he is?" She requested.
Dana opened her mouth to protest.
"Please." Bianca interrupted whatever she was going to say and handed her a phone. "I want Nicolas's uncle to be here when the cake is cut."
"Fine." Dana agreed reluctantly and walked away from the crowd. When she was away from where most of the people were, she searched for his name in Bianca's contact list and called him.
"Where are you Richie rich?" She muttered to herself when he didn't answer.
After her 3rd call went unanswered, she went searching for him.
She thought of looking for him downstairs before going up to search for him in the rooms.
What kind of an uncle was he? It was time for everyone to celebrate his nephew's birthday and he had busied himself somewhere else. So irresponsible, she thought.
While looking around, she decided to sweep her eyes around the balcony too. She pushed the curtains aside and took a step further.
What she saw made her eyes go wide just before she shut her them, turned around and walked out quickly.
"Oh! Dana!" Ethan called out as soon as he saw her, pushing the woman in his arms away. He excused himself and followed her. "Hey! Wait up!"
"Bianca is looking for you. You better hurry." She said as she continued walking.
"Sorry you had to see that."
"Don't remind me of that torturous image. And for god's sake wipe your face! Her lipstick is on you. You're at your nephew's birthday party not at some night club." She looked at the pink lipstick mark on his face.
"Jealous, babe? Don't worry. I prefer your red lipstick marks on me over hers any day." He smirked, snaking an arm around her.
"Get your hands off me, Ethan." She hissed, throwing the people around a smile. She couldn't even push his hand away because it would definitely look odd.
"My hand likes it here." She felt his fingers caress her side through the dress. She quickly smacked his hand with her clutch purse, making him yelp and pull his hand away.
"That hurt!" He exclaimed with a little anger as he looked at his red knuckles.
Serves you right, she thought giving him a sly smile while putting her clutch purse back under her arm.
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-Keen_writer1