Thanks for all the reviews, favourites, and alerts! I appreciate all your input! I'm so sorry I haven't been updating quite as often as I usually do but I haven't been feeling very well recently. I hope you can understand. Now without further ado…Enjoy!
Sara walks towards me and I don't dare move from my spot because I don't want her to know that she intimidates me. She walks around me and I look over my shoulder and she's towering over me. She walks back in front of me to face me.
"Hello Mia" she says coldly
"Hi" I tried my best to say cheerfully. "What's up?"
"Don't play nice with me" she narrows her eyes. It's times like these where I wish Christian in my head telling me what to do and I'm sure he would enjoy it too.
"I'm sorry?" I play dumb I don't know how else to handle this situation. If Ethan is right and Sara is insane I am definitely not safe in this situation.
"Please, don't play dumb either" she steps forward "it's not cute"
"Look I have nothing to do with you and Ethan, I swear I knew nothing about you. I had no idea" I swallow. Maybe honesty is the best policy.
"Trust me when I say I will find a way to ruin you, not only your chances with Ethan but I will ruin your reputation and destroy your life" she looks like she just won an Olympic gold medal. This is ridiculous and I am going to put Sara in her place.
"Hmm" I consider what she has said "can I ask you something Sara?" she doesn't reply and I continue with my question "have you threaten Ethan's previous girlfriends?" she seems smug and that smile needs to be wiped off her face. "I'll take that as a yes. So you think Ethan hasn't noticed your catty ways?" I step forward "if you think for one second that I'm going to run away like a little girl crying to my mommy because of a jealous girl who thinks she can scare me off, you've got another thing coming lady"
"Watch yourself Mia, you have no idea who you are dealing with" she points at me
"Oh never underestimate your enemy Sara. I know exactly who I am dealing with and don't worry there are plenty of people in the world just like so don't think you're something special honey."
"You've got another thing coming if you think I'm not going to put up a fight for Ethan" she threatens
"Sad part is Sara, I don't have to fight for him because I already have him. So good luck with that" I walk right by her and she grabs my wrist. I turn back and struggle against her grip. "Let go of me!" I say through my teeth
"May the best woman win" and she let's go of my wrist and I slide the balcony door open and walk through. I rub my wrist because Sara dug her cat-like fingernails into my skin, I find that she scratched me and I am mildly bleeding. I notice that people are slowly leaving the apartment-like restaurant. I track Cassie down and ask her where the bathroom is and she escorts me to the bathroom. I lock the door behind me and take a good look at myself in the mirror. I touch up my lipstick and powder my T-zone. I suddenly have to go to the bathroom so I take my dress off completely and sit on the toilet. My phone begins to buzz and I reach for my clutch and it's a text from Ethan.
"Hey why did you leave?" What in the world? I rush my bathroom break and put my dress back on. I grab his jacket as I call him.
"Hey where are you?" he asks
"I was in the bathroom freshening up. I didn't leave, who told you that?" I ask
"Well Sara said you went home and Darren isn't here either so I just assumed you left without me" he said. Wow this girl wastes no time at all does she? My god I am beyond annoyed because after all this time Ethan clearly still falls for her bullshit.
"Look where are you? I'll come to you" I ask
"I'm in the lobby now, dinner is over"
"I can see that. I'm heading down now" we hang up and I immediately call Darren but he doesn't answer his phone.
"Darren where are you? You're not supposed to leave without me!" I press the button to the elevator and I hang up. I keep my back to the elevator and the place is empty and dark. It's starting to really freak me out. I turn my head to check where the elevator is and it's on the 9th floor. I check my phone and I quickly text Ethan.
"I'm in the elevator now, see you soon!" I press send as the elevator doors slide open. I step backwards into the elevator and I bump into someone who was stepping out and it startles me. I turn around to find Darren.
"Oh my god Darren you scared me to death" I put my hand on my chest and my breath quickens.
"Sorry Miss, Ethan sent me up to blindfold you" he takes out sleep mask and hands it to me.
"Oh" I raise my eyebrows and take the sleep mask in my hand "well then" I put the mask on "off we go!" I put my hands in front of me and Darren takes my hands.
"Miss" he says
"I said you could call me Mia"
"Alright, Mia I'm going to take your hands now and we're going to step into the elevator." He takes my hands and they are so smooth "watch your step as we walks into the elevator" I take baby steps because I'm afraid that my heel is going to fall into the slit "and then I'm going to turn you around to face the elevator door. Do not be alarmed if I lean away from you because I am only pressing the lobby button."
"Darren" I laugh as he turns me around and before I can continue I cannot stop laughing, "I don't need the play-by-play. All I ask is just to get me to this surprise safely"
"My apologies Mia" I wish he would stop talking to me as if I'm his boss.
"And would you relax a bit? You're always so professional and proper. I get that you technically work for me but who says we cannot be friends?"
"Understood Miss" He says
"Clearly you don't" we both laugh
"I am trying my best Mia. I've never made friends with the person I'm working for"
"Really? Why not?"
"The less you know about me and the less I know about you the better I can do my job" he says
"That makes sense. But I am the exception, let's be friends"
"You're the boss" he jokes
"AHA! See we can be friends!" I laugh and I reach out to give him a high five his silky hands "Oh you've got such soft hands, what do you use?"
"My girlfriend had me on this exfoliating scrub and moisturizing routine" he laughs
"Had?" I notice the past tense.
"Yeah we broke up about a week ago maybe even two weeks ago" he says
"Why?"
"She thinks I spend too much time working and not enough time with her"
"She's right, you practically live at my parents house. So the girl you're meeting tomorrow is the same girl or another girl?"
"Another" he says
"Darren you dog, don't you love your ex?" I laugh
"Yeah but she deserves better" he says sadly
"Don't say that, you're a great guy"
"She right though, it's not about me being a great guy. It doesn't matter cause she's moved on and so have I"
"Doesn't seem like it, but hey it's your life" I could tell he didn't want to talk about it anymore "so this new girl, are you excited to see her tomorrow?"
"Yes and no, I'm nervous because I haven't been on a first date in years"
"That sounds reasonable, but you have nothing to worry about." This is the perfect time to talk about our practice date. I just want to set things straight with Darren because I don't want him to get the wrong impression from me "so the other night, that was really fun"
"Mmhmm I've been meaning to talk to you about last night. I'm really grateful for what you did, it really put me at ease"
"Of course that's what friends do" I responded
"I just hope you didn't misunderstand" he paused
"Misunderstand?" I asked as the elevator rang and he led me out of the lift to the lobby.
"I mean it was just practice I don't want you to think that I was leading you on or anything" he says
"It was a practice date Darren nothing to worry about, plus you know I like Ethan." Although I know it was a practice date and nothing will ever happen between Darren and I. I can't help but think about how much we had in common and how nice and polite he was with me. I most importantly felt safe with him.
"Hey" Ethan says and I reach out for him. He grabs my waist "Its me Ethan"
"Yeah I kind of got that, what is all of this about?" I ask
"You'll see" I can tell he's smiling.
"Okay I can make a request?"
"Sure" he says
"Can I take this blindfold off and put it back once we're in the car? Please?" I ask
"Yeah we don't need it until then so sure go ahead" I quickly take my blindfold off and I narrow my eyes at him.
"Did you lie to me on the phone?" I ask
"About Sara and Darren? Yeah sorry"
"Unnecessary Ethan, why?"
"I saw you talking to Sara and I assumed she was back to her antics." He laughs, "So I asked Darren to help me clear out my family and meet me downstairs when you went to the bathroom"
"And the point of that was?"
"To get you down here faster!" he laughs
"I am always on time, don't even start with me" I couldn't even be mad at him. I was smiling while I was yelling at him. I can't be mad at him.
"Can we just go?" he asks
"Maybe I don't want to anymore" I walk away.
"Fine see ya" he says and I turn around. I take Ethan's jacket off and hand it back to him.
"Darren, let's go" I grab his arm
"Miss" Darren follows me out.
"Mia!" I hear from behind me. I knew Ethan would come after me.
"Yes?" I turn around
"You dropped your bag" he says. Part of me was disappointed that he didn't come back to get me.
"Thanks" I took my bag and turned back to walk towards my car when Ethan grabbed my wrist and spun me around. I hit his chest hard and I look up at him and I can feel the tension between us. He is looking into my eyes and I am looking into his. Both of us just breathing and feeling each other's chest rise and fall. He smells so good and it feels like we've been standing here for an eternity. He looks down at my lips and my breath quickens. He moves my loose hair behind my ear. He continues his gaze down to the rest of my body. He looks back into my eyes and this is it; this is the moment I've been waiting for. I hear a car honk but neither of us breaks the eye contact.
"The surprise" he said breathlessly.
"What?" I swallowed on a dry throat.
"Shall we?' he let's go of me and puts his hand on my back. He's such a tease and I swear I will get him back.
"Mmhmmm" I feel at a loss for words. I will get Darren back for this; he should have just waited another thirty seconds. If I weren't so hot and bothered I would kick the crap out of something right about now.
"The blindfold" Ethan says as he helps me into the car.
"Right" I put the blindfold on and I see nothing back darkness. I hear Ethan get into the car and he puts his hand on my thigh.
"Off we go then!" he says "you know where we're headed right Carter?"
"Of course' Darren responds
"Alright we should be there in about twenty minutes' Ethan says as he rubs my thigh and then puts his arm over my shoulder. What is this? I thought he just wanted to be friends. This doesn't seem like he wants to be friends. I'm starting to think maybe it's better if we're friends because we'll always come back to the core of why he doesn't want us to be together. I cross my legs so it's not obvious that I want his hand off my thigh. I need to process all of what happened tonight. Am I willing to fight with some girl for Ethan? His grandmother? And am I going to fight with Ethan in order to be with him? He's the one who has a problem with our siblings dating. This is all just happening way too fast. Obviously coming here tonight I wanted to change Ethan's mind about us. But what if I am wrong? What if I have changed his mind and also mine in the process?
The car ride is silent and it goes by so quickly because my thoughts are running a million miles a minute. Ethan comes to my side of the car and I slide over to him.
"Just put your arm over my shoulder and throw your legs over my arm" he says
"It would be easier if I could see" I say
"Not necessary, just put your legs up and I'll put my arm underneath your legs" he responds
"Okay" I put my arm over his shoulder with his help and I put my legs up. His arm is there and he lifts me right out of the car and spins me around. Both my hands grab whatever of Ethan I can because I'm taken by surprise and I'm holding on for dear life. I'm holding my breath.
"I'm going to set you down now" he says, "It's not far"
"Lead the way" I exhale.
He comes from behind me and allows me to take the lead with his help. I hear a bunch of awes and giggles from people around us and I wonder who is staring at us.
"Almost there" I feel my heels are digging into what I believe to be sand. I can instantly smell and ear the ocean. Now that I know where we are I don't see why I need this silly blindfold.
"What are we doing at the beach?" I ask
"Take your heels off" he demands.
"When can I take this damn blindfold off?"
"Once you take your heels off" I take my heels off and bend down to pick my shoes up but Ethan stops me
"We're here so don't worry about your shoes. Keep your eyes closed, I'm taking the blindfold off. Wait until I tell you to open your eyes"
"Okay I've got my eyes closed" Ethan takes my blindfold off and my eyes are still closed.
"Okay, open your eyes" I open my eyes to find a blanket, candles, and wine waiting for me on the beach. How romantic and unexpected.
"Ethan I" I struggle for words "I don't know what to say"
"Don't say anything, or say you'll have a drink with me"
"What's this for?" I look at him and he smirks
"I thought we might need a drink after Sara and my grandmother tortured us. That and this is my way of thanking you for what you did tonight and apologizing to you for throwing you into a cage full of tigers"
"AH! You're right, Sara basically told me that she was going to drive me away from you"
"Oh we can't have that happening now can we?" he laughs
"Nope" I laugh "and thank you, this is lovely" We both lay down on the blanket and Ethan pops open the bottle of wine. He pours us both a glass and I look up into the sky. I cannot remember a time when a boy had went out of his way to thank, apologize, and comfort me. This one is going down in my books as one of the most interesting nights of my life.
"Here" he hands me a glass and I sit up. I take a sip and I gaze upon the deep ocean. The beach it beautiful this time of night and I've never been here so late.
"Thanks" I say "So you think you're family bought it? I mean us being together?"
"Oh yeah for sure!" he says "especially when we fed each other, very nice touch Mia" he winks and then holds his glass up to me and I meet his glass with mine.
"I ordered too much anyways and I don't like wasting food"
"I'm glad you did, I didn't realize how hungry I was until I tried your food. It was delicious by the way.'
"It was wasn't it?" I say
"Mhmm" he takes a sip of his wine.
"Remind me to thank Cassie, she's a lifesaver"
"Yeah she's great." He smiles and I suddenly feel sleepy. I yawn.
"Gosh I'm so tired" I lay down on my side and use my arm as a pillow. It's probably really late and I'm so out of it. I should really get some rest.
"Come here" he lays back and I shuffle over to him and rest my head on his chest. I can hear his heartbeat and it calming.
"If we continue this I might just fall asleep" I say.
"Then sleep I'll wake you when we have to go." He says
"Ethan" I say as I close my eyes
"Yeah?"
"If this is a dream, don't wake me up" I can hear him laugh.
"It's not a dream Mia, I promise. Now hush" he caresses my hair.
I fall into a deep sleep and I wake to find myself in my own room. Was that all a dream? I look around my room and I see that I am still in my red dress. I also see that Ethan left something behind; I am wearing the jacket he wore tonight. I don't bother changing out of my dress because the jacket itself brings comfort to me. I tighten the jacket around my body and I fall back into a deep sleep with the soothing scent of Ethan's jacket.
Let me know what you think about this chapter!