"actually, you're the only one I've ever called that."
I swallow the air in my throat, definitely not expecting him to have said that. even if he is just saying it, which he certainly is lying, he sure has a way with words. and for the slightest beat of a second, I felt my heart leap in my chest.
but I don't let myself fall for it.
"you're so full of shit," I laugh under my breath to come across more lighthearted. I have to look down from his eyes because I can't make eye contact with him when he's being all fake sincere.
ethan cocks his head to the side, looking almost confused at my response. "why? I was being truthful."
I shrug, looking back up to his eyes now. "it's just kind of hard to believe considering your favorite hobby." it's no secret how many girls he gets with on a regular basis. he must really think I'm stupid if he wants me to believe he's never called any of them pet names like princess.
he takes a step away from me, and just looks at me for a moment. it feels like time is passing impossibly slow and I hate the rush of nerves I feel prickling me all over from the weight of his eyes on me.
I start to worry that maybe he's losing interest. I want to play hard to get but not to the point that he doesn't want to waste his time on me anymore.
"you know what I don't get?" he finally asks me, eyeing me down with genuine curiosity. I raise my eyebrows to encourage him to go on. "how you seem to have this whole mapped out idea about who I am. do you just believe anything you hear?"
"don't act like it's not true." I cross my arms and watch as he scoffs. "and it's not just what I hear. I know how these things go."
fuckboys are very predictable.
a smooth smirk forms on his lips, almost like he's just come to this grand realization. like he's figured something out. "oh, I get it." he chuckles to himself. "you've been hurt, haven't you?"
"huh?" I question. he isn't wrong, but what did I say that made him assume that right away?
"you've got major trust issues," he clarifies. his observation brings a turmoil of insecurities and negativity into my mind, feeling almost scared that he can read me so easily. despite all the noise in the room from the talking and music, it's like we're the only two here. tunnel vision.
so subtly, he leans a little closer to me, and his deep, gritty voice fills my ears. "gilinsky really left you that fucked up, huh?"
my body stills.
his hooded eyes watch me, and I feel shock, anger, and embarrassment rush through me all at once. I need to internally tell myself to keep my cool and ignore the urge to slap that sly smirk off his face. I feel so embarrassed ethan knows anything about that. and angry that jack can't keep his mouth shut. it's nobody's business.
my face feels hot. all of these emotions, both good and bad, that he's making me feel just from his words is making me realize just how he gets girls under his control.
he's trying to make me vulnerable and it's working.
my eyes wander past ethan, to where jack is sitting on a couch watching the game of beer pong going on. so smug and sure of himself, not a care in the world. and I can't help but wonder who else he's been telling. probably twisting the story for his own convenience.
I finally bring myself to lift my head and narrow my eyes at ethan, annoyed that he thinks it's okay to say something like that. "you're suck a dick, you know that?" I shoot back at him, hostility inevitably laced into my words.
"I may have heard that once or twice." his licks his lips, knowing he's getting to me. I don't understand what he's doing. is this his way of getting in my pants? by bothering me? or maybe he was right—I really don't know his intentions.
I roll my eyes, having had enough of him. "I don't get why you invited me here. to make me feel like shit? annoy the hell out of me? because if so, congrats. you did it."
he shakes his head, crossing his arms across his chest. I admit, I had to tell myself not to let my eyes wander down to his buff arms. "no, not at all. I want you here because you..." he pauses for a moment to think, "entertain me."
"I entertain you?" I repeat. as if he didn't already sound like a complete dick. "so I'm just here for your amusement?"
his lips begin to curve into a smirk, as if something filthy just popped into his mind. "I mean, you could be here for something else, too..." he raises his eyebrows suggestively.
"I'm leaving." I turn around from him, not waiting for a response. I can't believe I ever doubted that he's just in this for sex.
but at least he still seems interested. I just need to keep playing hard to get.
as I begin walking away, I stop abruptly as I almost run into someone else's chest. I look up to see kellan towering over me with a drink in his hand. "leaving so soon?"
I take a deep breath, feeling ethan's presence still close behind me. I'm practically sandwiched between them. "yeah, I think I've had enough."
ethan's fingers lightly run down the skin of my arm, making tingles run up my spine. I'm quick to move away from his touch—I can't handle it.
"come on, don't leave," I hear ethan's recognizable voice near my ear. "I didn't mean to scare you off."
"you didn't," I say, turning to face them both so ethan isn't behind me anymore. "I'm just gonna go get a drink and meet up with my friends." I quickly look over to the kitchen, checking if they're there. they are.
"ethan!" a deep voice comes from the back of the room. we all look towards the voice, seeing grayson calling his brother over. "it's your turn, bro," he refers to the game of beer pong that was going on before I arrived.
"hope to see you later," kellan gives me a quick wink and takes ethan with him to head to the back of the living room before ethan could say anything. I just start walking to the kitchen to find reese and julian.
the kitchen is packed with people all over the place—majority of them drinking since all the alcohol is here. I find reese sitting on the counter in the corner of the room, julian standing next to her and leaning his head against one of the cabinets. "evie, come here!" she shouts, waving me over.
when I reach them, I bump my shoulder with julian's since he's practically dozing off. "what's with you?" I ask while he looks at me with sleepy eyes.
reese answers for him. "he's been out of it since the car. his fault for getting high all day before this." she gives him a disapproving look. "now I've just been playing babysitter."
"s-shut up, reese." julian rubs his eyes. "I've been making you laugh." he tries to defend himself.
reese nods and gives in. "I guess he has a point. him doing stupid shit is fun to watch." she looks away from julian now and puts her focus on me. "wait, so what are you doing here with us? how's it going with ethan?"
I shrug, honestly not really knowing how it's going. "I don't know, he's confusing as fuck." I bite my lip, a stupid nervous habit of mine. "but I think he's interested in me."
julian looks at me and grabs my shoulder. "he's a dude with a dick and you're a girl with somewhere to put it, of course he's interested," he slurs.
his comment catches me off guard, and reese and I can't help but burst out laughing. "julian, what the fuck!" I say through the laughter, playfully shoving his shoulder from finding what he said hilarious.
reese wipes under her eyes, "guys I'm crying." we keep laughing, and I can feel people staring at us like we're crazy, but I don't care. I never knew stoned julian could make my day.
someone taps my arm behind me, making me turn around. "what's so funny?" a girl says, and I bring myself to stop laughing, only to see lana is the one standing there with a big smile plastered onto her face.
immediately, she kills the mood. "nothing," I tell her in hopes of cutting this interaction short, not wanting to have a conversation with her.
she looks at me, confused. "well, you guys were laughing an awful lot. I just wanted to hear what it was all about." her voice is sweet, making me even more confused.
"it was an inside joke," reese adds to help back me up. "you wouldn't get it anyway."
lana nods understandingly. "okay. well, I'm glad you made it, evie! hopefully we can talk more later?" her eyes are like puppy-dog eyes, filled with hope.
"um, yeah maybe." I give her a small grin, and lana takes it, walking away back to wherever she came from. reese and julian look back at me, just as weirded out as I am.
"why was she being so nice?" reese whispers under her breath so only we can hear her. I only shrug, not having an answer for her. reese doesn't look convinced. "she has to want something. there's no way she suddenly just wants to be friends."
julian, reese and I all have history with lana. to say the least, we've been enemies since middle school when she tried recruiting reese and I to join her little friend squad and we rejected to stay friends with julian—with good reason. those little middle school bitches were cutthroat, ready to stab you in the back if you disagreed with them on which skirt looked the prettiest on them.
the fact that she's been holding that grudge from then until senior year is pathetic. but suddenly she wants to be buddies and it's freaking us out, to say the least. while she is ridiculous, she has resources. sure I can talk shit and make up good comebacks at her, but I wouldn't want her on my bad side.
"is that yours?" I ask reese, referring to the cup on the counter beside her. she nods, already handing it to me. I need to take some of the edge off of this night. "thanks."
I take a gulp of it, and the immediate and intense burn in my throat surprises me. I almost cough. "is this just straight bourbon?" I ask, feeling the bitter taste on my tongue as I peer into the cup to see for myself.
reese looks at me unapologetically. "I've had a tough week, okay?" I pat her knee and laugh before giving her back the cup. since I'm driving home, I don't need more than one sip of that. my mind already feels lighter. "so let's talk about the issue here," reese continues.
"what issue?" julian questions. I nod my head, also not seeing what she's talking about.
reese motions at me. "the issue that you're here and ethan's way over there." she waves her hand in his direction to emphasize the problem of our distance. "you need to be flirting with him."
julian scrunches his face, almost acting like he's grossed out. "I don't wanna hear this. I'm gonna go take a piss." he leaves our corner and starts making his way to the bathroom, slightly stumbling while he walks.
I bring my attention back to reese. "he's so hard to flirt with. do you know how much of a jerk he is?" just based off of my one conversation with him tonight, I've only been confirmed of this.
reese looks at me intently. "hey, you knew that going into this. come on, don't back out now."
"I'm not," I quickly defend. "I just hate that you're right. but how am I supposed to flirt with him when he's busy playing beer pong with the guys? I can't do this with them right there watching."
it's too fucking embarrassing.
there's silence between us, both of us trying to think of something. an idea suddenly pops into reese's mind, and the look she gives me makes me think I'm not going to want to do whatever extravagant plan she just conjured up.
"I have an idea, but you need to hear me out before you cut me off. got it?" I let out a long sigh, but nod in agreement nonetheless. she hops off from where she was sitting on the counter and grabs a cup from the island, pouring some random bottle of alcohol into it. once it's filled, she turns back to me to explain her idea.
"pretend you're giving him a drink and spill this on yourself-"
I shake my head. "no fucking way, that's so cliché and stup-" reese shushes me, telling me to let her finish.
"you need to get him alone, right? just pretend to spill the drink on your shirt and he'll probably take you up to a room to help dry you off. if he doesn't then he really is a douche, but there's no way he won't." she gives me hopeful eyes. "this'll work, come on."
unfortunately, it's a solid plan. it'll get us alone so I can flirt with him and try not to barf while doing it.
I reluctantly take the cup from her, and she smiles at me in return. then I start walking back to the living room where I left him before this, feeling nerves already invading every inch of my body.
here goes nothing.
______
25 votes + 10 comments for next chapter
I know, I know. I suck. it's been a long time since I've updated but senior year is stressful asf. plus, I have sooo many really good ideas for this book but writing it out is just so hard, idk why.
anyway, hope you're enjoying so far <3 good stuff is coming
- lexi