Chapter 21: Surprise!
Author's Note!
It's been difficult for me to get down to writing these few days because Tom Daley is my lock screen picture. He deeply distracts me. And when I get past the lock screen, he smiles at me from my home screen!
Hahaha okay. Daley's put me into a light-headed mood, so here's a funny little chapter for all of you readers out there!
"ETHAN!" Kate said slightly too loudly. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
Sawyer and I both threw her a sickened glance, knowing full well what Ethan was doing here. There was no way Kate could get her plans past both Sawyer and I. Clearly, this was Kate's plan all along. "Hey Ethan." I greeted him and he reached down for a hug.
"Hey Ana." Ethan was dressed in the flowery board shorts I had worn and a tight fitting muscle shirt.
"How's your course coming along?" I probed as Kate gleefully led us out of the shop.
Ethan paced with me while Sawyer trailed behind. "Turns out it was just a minor mistake. Someone corrected it before I could even get there." He shook his head at the inconvenience. "By the time I got there, it was time to head back."
I gave him a genuine smile, "That's good, nothing serious."
"Yeah," he agreed, his hands reaching for my shopping bags. "Let me." Flushing, I let my grip loosen around the handles and he took them.
"I'LL GET IT!" Sawyer was all legs and hands as he attempted to grab the bags out of Ethan's hands.
Ethan smirked, "It's alright dude, leave this one to me. Besides, I'm sure only one bag here is actually Ana's." Jerking his head towards Kate, he did a little curly action with his index finger. "That chick's bananas."
Even though she was probably eight stalls away, Kate still spun back to silence Ethan with her killer glare. "I HEARD THAT!"
"YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU." Ethan hollered to her, cherubic grin spread across his face. Very subtly, under his breath, he added, "Crazy."
Kate pursed her lips and dropped her bags on the floor. The shoppers beside her made a path around her, clearly realizing that she was not one to be meddled with. Kate used her index and pointed downwards, "Jerk." Without so much as another word, Kate spun on her heels and stomped into a nearby shop.
Ethan never failed to drive Kate insane. Yet, laughing out loud, Ethan shook his head at his sister's temper and cooly walked up to the abandoned bags. I observed as he collected them one by one upon his arms. No matter how bad those two fought or argued, it was obvious that they loved each other.
"How've you been, Ana?" Ethan asked as he straightened up and walked us to a nearby bench.
I thought of all the events that had passed while he was gone and sighed. "Your sister told on Christian to my dad and mom and Christian's mom."
Ethan frowned, condemning her actions. "She's insane, I told you."
My lips pulled up at a corner. "She is. I was going to go full-blown rage on her just now but decided that I was in no mood to fight with one more person I love."
Ethan chuckled, "I'll gladly throw a tantrum at her on your behalf. Just say the word." He began placing the bags by our feet, neatly lining them up. Sawyer followed suit.
"Ah, Ethan Kavanagh." I started. "Spill the beans."
He pointed at his sister who was smiling at bikinis. "Kate called. She said she needed help with her haul."
I was skeptical. "That's it?"
He swallowed and huffed. "Well, she mentioned you'd be here." Ethan rubbed his palms together and then slowly faced me. "And, I happened to want to see you."
Once again, I blushed, the blood rushing to my cheeks. Ethan's fingers caressed my jawline and I shuddered inwardly. "I missed you, Ana."
Sawyer cleared his throat.
Ethan looked up at a lingering Sawyer and pursed his lips. "I'm going to say this, so if you'd like to feel vastly uncomfortable, you can stay." In response, Sawyer squared his shoulders and folded his arms, clearly not budging.
Ethan returned to focus on me, "Ana, I'm sorry for what I said to you. About being uncertain. I was lying." Okay, that was what Kate had said. "I've always had a thing for you, but just never really got the opportunity to explore it. If you'd just give me a chance to prove to you that I am se-"
We both felt the vibration at the same time. "Excuse me," I said and reached for my blackberry. Ethan sighed as Christian's face showed up on my screen and leaned back into the bench. I have him an apologetic smile and pressed answer.
"Steele."
"Hey baby, how's shopping?" I could hear a fluster of movement behind him and knew that his meeting had just ended. Leave it to Christian to be so uptight about timings.
"Kate bought the entire mall." I whined.
He laughed. "Need help with the Tyrant's load? I hear she's got hold of Elliott's MasterCard."
"And his Visa and Amex." I added.
Christian let out a low whistle. "Did you buy anything?"
"I bought a pair of slippers."
"Ana..." He groaned over the line.
"They're slim cut and bright orange!" I defended myself.
"I'd rather you get a slim cut and bright orange sundress." He scolded. "Scratch that, a bikini." I rolled my eyes. "If you look in your wallet, my credit cards are sitting there." He said matter-of-factly.
"WHAT?!" I screeched and both men leaned in. Grabbing my purse, I pulled out my wallet and unzipped it. Just as he had said, the entire left portion of card slots were full when they should have been empty.
"My money is your money, Ana. Just spend it all, I don't care." He said nonchalantly and I began pulling them out one at a time. Each and every one of them was a different colour and a different bank, with the name : Christian Trevelyan-Grey punched into them.
"Sawyer," I called. "Can I get you some Prada shirts?"
Sawyer smiled from the side, recognizing that I was off taunting Christian with my tactics. "Hell no you won't, Ana." Christian scolded.
Brave, I talked back. "Your money is my money, I'd like to spoil my bodyguard with branded goods."
Christian groaned in frustration. Ethan caught sight of the credit cards and shook his head at me. "That man's worse than Kate."
There was a sharp intake of breath and Christian growled. "Who's that?"
"Ethan."
"Why's he there?" Christian questioned, clearly unhappy that he was uninformed. Christian and I both said the word together, "Kate."
"Why's he back so early from his registration screw up?" Christian probed. Unfortunately, I had never mentioned Ethan's problem, I had only ever said he was going away for a bit.
Christian was being suspicious. "Christian..."
He laughed rather smartly, "Nothing wrong with changing his gender to girl and clashing it with the boys dormitory registration."
"Ethan, did your problem have to do with gender?" I do not even know why I bothered to ask.
Ethan nodded, "Had to go prove that I was a boy."
"Christian..." Meddling little child.
"Ana, I'm coming over now." Christian was annoyed, I could imagine him running his fingers through his copper hair. "Taylor, car."
I gave Sawyer an exasperated look, "He's bullying Taylor again." Sawyer chuckled, shrugging his shoulders.
"What was that?" Christian demanded.
"Nothing." I sang sweetly. "You know where I am, come if you wish."
"You have Ethan and Sawyer there, why wouldn't I?" He snapped and then he hung up on me.
"What did Grey want?" Ethan began helping me slot the credit cards back in.
"He's on he's way here."
"But we were just leaving!" Said Kate from behind us, causing us to jump in surprise. She had a small bag, probably filled with multiple skanky bikinis.
Ethan stretched his hand out to her, offering to take it. "I'm sure we can wait a while for Grey."
"No, we can't!" Kate insisted. "We've got a party at my apartment and Grey's not invited."
"Party?" Sawyer, Ethan and I questioned in unison.
Kate nodded with a smirk, "You heard me, now off we go, quickly."
Kate grabbed hold of Ethan's arm and tugged him up, hauling him off. As I stood to follow, Sawyer fell into stride with me. "I have a bad feeling about this, Ana."
"With Kate, anything can happen. Could you drop Taylor a text to inform him?"
Sawyer fished out his phone and did as he was told, "Kate will be the death of all of us."
"Let's play spin the bottle." Kate declared, our whole party sitting around the living room to form an oddly shaped circle. Ethan sat on my left and Kate on my right, flanking me from the ring of my neighbors in this building. Kate had, for whatever reason, invited Steve and Wren from upstairs and Jennifer and Rachel from across the hall. Then, there was Mia, looking as out of place as ever.
Leaning into her, I hissed under my breath, "Let Christian in, Kate."
Kate shook her head at me stubbornly. "My apartment my rules."
"I won't play if he's not here." I threatened.
Kate viciously narrowed her eyes, complying me to concede but I held my ground firmly. She let out an annoyed sigh and decided to compromise, "Fine. He can come in if he promises to play the game. Both of you have to."
How hard could Spin The Bottle be? I used to play it when I was younger and the worst thing in it was to change an item of clothing with the opposite gender or kissing, both was pretty sound dares. "Sure."
Kate gestured to Sawyer, who heaved a sigh of relief as he was finally able to open the apartment door to allow his boss and Taylor in. Christian marched in, clearly pissed at Kate's behavior. Taylor nodded at Sawyer and they both hung back at the kitchen, exchanging information with each other.
"Christian, come sit here!" Mia beat me before I could lure him to buffer my skin from either Kavanagh. I felt better with Christian sitting by Mia though, that way she did not seem too afraid of the others around her.
"Kate's making us play a silly game." I explained as he sat down cross-legged across me, scanning our threesome with judgmental eyes. "Which I promise you'll play since she let you in."
Somewhat like a petulant child, Christian pouted and pursed his lips. "I'd break down that door. I would have."
"Right." Kate hissed at him and I smacked her thigh.
Adorably, Mia reached for Christian and stroked his hair in attempt to soothe him. I observed as he visibly calmed, drawing her into his embrace as she cooed at him to relax and just have fun. It was only then that I realized that the two other girls in our circle were watching on and letting out 'oooohs' and 'aaaahs'. Clearly, they had figured out who he was.
Dammit, my inner goddess crunched her knucles in anticipation for a cat fight.
"Okay, let's begin." I piped up, trying to break the trance the two girls were falling into.
"Wait, what game?" Christian asked, enjoying his sister's hands on him and refusing to move an inch.
"Spin the bottle."
Confusion filled his eyes and he began to sit up slowly. "What's that?"
"Christian… you've never played?" This was probably one of the most played games through high school, especially great for breaking the ice. Which was good, seeing that Kate had mysteriously invited Mia and allowed Christian to play. He shook his head.
Kate scoffed, "Bet you didn't have many friends."
Christian shrugged, barely defensive. He had not many friends. Christian only had one friend. Christian had Elena. That crazy troll had somehow seemed to have dissolved from our lives for quite a period that I was beginning to wonder if she had something up her sleeve.
Rolling her eyes, Kate lifted the empty wine bottle from the middle of the circle and raised it in the air. "We spin this bottle, whoever the head points to will pick up one of these folded papers," she shook the quarter-filled bottle that she had freshly done, "and do it."
"Simple enough." Christian agreeable nodded, wrapping his arm around Mia's waist.
"Yes, some of these…" She was searching for the word, "tasks…require two or more people. So upon receiving, the player will spin again and the head will determine who else will be included."
Christian shot me a wink. "Let's do this."
"Since I'm host, I'll spin first." Kate said before she put the bottle down and giving it one hard spin.
The entire circle followed the bottle in its ballet spin, dancing on it's side until it began to lose speed and slow. I crossed my fingers the same time Ethan did and we looked at each other and laughed. These tasks were usually embarrassing to the point of video recording. Kate had taped me doing too many things this game had provided her with. It stopped at Mia and she squealed, squeezing Christian's hand.
Mia bent over her knees and grabbed the bottle, making a show out of shaking it, she tipped it over to pick out one folded paper. It was impossible to distinguish them, Kate had used white paper for all. Unfolding it, Mia laughed. "I'm supposed to put three piece of ice down my shirt and dance until it falls out."
Kate vanished into the kitchen and brought out three squares of ice cubes, handing them to Mia. "In the center of the circle!" Mia rose up to the challenge, standing in the middle, she blushed a little before putting the three cubes into her chest area. We all guffawed and cackled as Mia did a couple of chest pumps and Macarena moves to get it out, I noticed that Ethan was laughing especially loud, finally, it fell onto the floor.
Kate swooped in with a towel and wiped it out. "Alright, Mia, you spin the bottle."
Still freshly damp in the fabric of her shirt, Mia spun the bottle. It landed on Steve and he quickly drew one out. "Hah!" He held on to his stomach as he laughed. "It says 'French Kiss a member of the opposite sex for 1 minute'." His eyes scanned our circle and brushed across me as well, igniting my red cheeks as I slanted away from his gaze.
"Let's see who the lucky girl is." Steve spun the bottle and I crushed my eyes shut, no need for another kiss to another man, I had done too many already. There were cheers and I resisted opening my eyes.
There was a warm breath against my ear. Oh hell no. "It's not you, Ana." Ethan had whispered and my eyelids fluttered open just in time to gape at Steve getting it on with one of the two girls.
"Okay, Steve, time's up." Kate called it as her stopwatch beeped, destroying the moment. Steve chuckled as he sat back down in his spot, leaving the poor girl scarlet and very shocked indeed.
He spun again and it landed on Kate. Quietly, I wished something more intense to befall upon Kate. She was a tough nut to crack and I knew she would love the challenge anyway. "I know half the things I put in here are R21." She told us all as she dished out her fold. I knew full well she was not kidding. As she read it, her eyes turned sneaky and she cracked up. "Dry hump anyone in the circle, whether girl or boy, with your groins rubbing against each other for two minutes."
Bingo, my inner goddess cheered as she struck the lottery.
Kate looked slightly worried, she cast me a pleading glance. "I sure hope it's you, Ana."
I licked my lips and stuck my tongue out at her. "Why deprive Steve or Wren of such an impeccable opportunity?"
"SPIN IT, KATE!" The boys hooted and Christian folded his arms, clearly enjoying watching Kate suffer.
Kate gave the bottle one hard spin and we all cheered as it spun at such a high speed, swinging so fast that we were barely certain where it would stop. Finally, it began to lose kinetic energy and started to slow. "I'd laugh if you had to dry hump me, Kate." Ethan gave her a disgusted look.
"Dammit," Kate cursed. "I completely forgot I was playing with my brother!" The wine bottle's speed was dangerously slow now.
"Hey!" Mia piped up. "Christian and I are here too!"
"Oh right, dammit." Kate spat, thinking fast on her feet. "Nothing gross between siblings, we spin again if it lands on someone blood related."
"DEAL!" All the siblings in the circle declared as the bottle halted…
There was a round of shocked looks. My eyes widened as I tried to grasp who it had just landed on. My inner goddess put on her spectacles for a better look, clearly in disbelief. Kate must have offended every god there is out there. "OH HELLLLLL NO." Kate slammed her thighs in frustration.
"Re-spin it." Christian gritted his teeth.
"No re-spinning." Ethan chuckled and the others nodded in agreement.
"Come on, Kate." Jennifer clapped her hands together. Obviously, she wished it had been her instead of Kate. Ugh.
Wren gave her a playful jab from the side. "Be a good sport."
"Fine, get over here, Grey." I sat there, still stunned by the news. Taylor and Sawyer came over to watch the scene, intrigued and interested by what was being promised to them.
Christian's eyes narrowed. "I don't think Elliott or Ana will like this." He looked at me, but I was still unmoving, I could have been carved stone at this moment.
Kate mimicked him. "Of course they won't. I'm humping my boyfriend's brother and my best friend's boyfriend. Let's get this done and over with, get here." She studied me for a moment the same length Christian did as he slid over to Kate. "Sorry, Steele."
"Hey, I can cover her eyes." Ethan offered, trying to be helpful.
"Nah, I wanna watch this." Oh, I speak.
"Just know that neither of us are enjoying this one, Ana." Christian shot daggers at Ethan as he reached his destination.
Climbing on top of him and sitting as far from his thighs as possible, Kate had to emphasize. "NEITHER."
"You're not even touching him right." Rachel exclaimed, bending over and pulling both of Kate's ankles towards her. From the jerk, Kate gasped as she fell forward, her groin slamming into Christian's.
"RACHEL." She scolded.
Steve reached for the stopwatch. In a taunting tone, he waved it in the air. "Well, the time ain't counting down until you start rocking."
"Hell." She cussed and began humping my boyfriend. I watched as Kate put both her hands in the air and grinded herself against Christian over and over. Mia had her eyes shielded by both her palms. Christian had his hands at his sides, palms pressed against the floor as he glared into the ceiling.
I knew they were not enjoying it, but still I failed to keep the pinch of jealousy within my system under control. My inner goddess pressed play on the memory of my meeting Christian. It would have been Kate. Would she have been living my lifestyle now if it had been her?
Taylor and Sawyer watched on as amusement played across their faces, trying their best to stifle their laughter at the awkwardness that had transcended upon us all. It must have been the longest two minutes of my whole entire life. "TIME!"
Kate and Christian practically leaped apart from each other. With a new sense of annoyance, Christian pointed at Ethan and jerked his thumb to his abandoned hole in the circle. "Move."
Ethan laughed and nodded, crawling over to Christian's spot as Christian replaced Ethan's. Christian pressed his lips against my cheek in reassurance and his left hand clasped over my right, his thumb gently stroking it as if trying to revive my security.
Kate shook off the chills he had brought her and whirled the bottle. Many rounds were played; by the time I came back from the land of my imagination there had been many changes in our circle. Jennifer had her shirt off, Wren was flaunting his abs in just his boxers, Mia was wearing Kate's bra and Rachel was proudly in Wren's shirt.
I was barely focused until it landed on Ethan. Kate laughed, "That took for-ever to land on you, bro. I'm begging for payback."
"This one's interesting." Ethan's eyebrows knitted together. "I'm going to have to spank a member of the opposite gender 20 times in her underwear."
And the heavens must have been watching, because his spin landed the bottle on me. Nobody could miss Christian's sharp intake of breath. "These Kavanaghs are off doing nasty things with others' boyfriends and girlfriends." I heard Wren comment teasingly.
"No." Christian said firmly, his hand a death grip on mine.
I contemplated whining about it and insisting Ethan pick someone else. But, then again, I had just watched Mr Christian Grey receive a warm humpity hump from my best friend. He was not the only one getting all the fun today. It was time for some revenge.
Snatching my hand back I jumped to my feet, "Well, bring it on Ethan."
"No, Ana." Christian growled.
Casually, I leaned down to whisper into his ear. "Not as if I'm not used to it, Mr Grey. You won't be having all the fun."
There were a few whines, especially from Kate. "She can't back out now!"
I stood upright again and crossed the circle. "I'm not." I assured them. Ethan chuckled as he stretched his arms wide to receive me.
"Grey, I'll do you a favor." He told a furious Christian who was now wearing one of the world's best hooded gazes. "She won't have to take off her skirt, just lift it."
"You're such a sweetie, Ethan." I cooed sarcastically as I lowered myself to his lap. Mia moved away a few inches to make way for my hands and head. Rachel shuffled back as well, but held on to my feet. This reminded me very strangely of Christian's thigh holding my legs down.
Ethan's body vibrated with his laughter. "Not to worry, I'll be gentle." A cool gust of wind chilled my ass the moment his lifted my skirt. Thank my lucky stars that I had chosen to wear sexy lingerie today; it would have been extremely embarrassing if I were wearing my granny panties. "Brace yourself!"
Ethan landed a palm on my butt cheeks and I jumped a little, unfamiliar to the softness that he was in comparison to my other perpetrator. Ethan gave me another one and I realized this was not actually a punishment, his smacks picked up speed and resembled feathers against my buttocks. He was barely spanking me.
"You're not even whacking her, come on." The others jeered, all except for Christian.
"We're at ten." Ethan stated. "I'll hit a little harder, but nothing more!" I winced as he hit slightly harder and by the time he was done, I was just slightly stinging. "FIN." The memory of Christian making love to me after spanking me was suddenly very hilarious and bubbles of giggles escaped my lips.
Before Ethan could lift me off him completely, Christian's hand seized my arm and he tugged me to my feet. "Enough." He snarled and then very violently hauled me out of our apartment. Sawyer gave me a worried look as we exited the apartment, Taylor and himself uncertain if they should interfere.
Before we could get down the stairs, an angry voice pursued us. "STOP. RIGHT. THERE."
Playlist:
I KNEW YOU WERE TROUBLE;TAYLORSWIFT
EVERYBODY TALKS;NEONTREES
ON TOP OF THE WORD;IMAGINEDRAGONS