With much awkwardness, we tried to explain to Dylan we were not fighting but I was trying to give Ethan a massage because his back hurt. We decided it was for the best that we left out the blackmail.

 Bored with the conversation, as massaging seemed a lot less exciting than fighting, Dylan marched up to Ethan. 

He launched himself at his brother who caught him in his arms with a laugh. I watched with fondness, as Ethan began to tickle his brother ruthlessly, causing Dylan to flail around the sofa laughing wildly. 

"Stop. Ethan. Stop," Dylan screeched out in between laughs.

Ethan eased up his tickling, with a smile on his face. "Can we play Mario-Karts?" Dylan asked abruptly.

"Yeah, sure little D," Ethan said warmly.

The first race was just between Ethan and Dylan and I watched in astonishment as Dylan came first overall easily beating Ethan on the rainbow road track which was the hardest track. Ethan hadn't even come close to winning and was 6th. 

"Ethan you suck," Lucas said with a blunt snort, causing Dylan to erupt into a bout of giggles. 

Ethan looked genuinely embarrassed at having been beaten by a 6- year old, indicating he had most definitely not let him win on purpose. 

"Why don't you try and beat him then Lucas? It's harder than it looks." Ethan argued back defensively. 

"Okay, I will," Lucas in confidence, as he snatched the remote control from him.

Lucas lost. 

Badly. 

He had come 8th while Dylan was still 1st .

"Whatever man, this game is rigged," Lucas whined as he threw the remote control down angrily, watching in jealousy as Dylan's character did another victory lap of the track. 

"Do you want to play?" Dylan asked in excitement, as he looked over at me. Ethan swerved his head towards us, almost immediately. 

"Sorry little buddy, Mia can't play she needs to rest, she has a poorly foot," he explained to his brother softly. 

"Relax, Ethan I hurt my ankle not my hands. Pass me the remote, of course, I'll play," I said rolling my eyes. Ethan was trying to ruin my fun, by being overdramatic. Reluctantly, Ethan passed me the remote.

Dylan won again. But, on the brightside, I had managed to come 2nd overall which is much better than Ethan and Lucas. But we had officially all been beat in a game by a 6-year old, which wasn't good at all.

"Can we play soccer now. Please..." Dylan begged, as he jutted out his bottom lip and widened his blue eyes guilelessly wide. 

Ethan looked guiltily at his brother, "I'm sorry buddy but I can't. Mia needs to rest, and someone needs to stay to keep her company. Lucas will play with you though," he said shooting a look at Lucas, silently asking for help. 

"Of course, I will," Lucas said in a playful voice as he grabbed Dylan and threw him over his shoulder before making his way to the garden. 

Before he left, Lucas shouted over his shoulder. "Remember guys no glove no love."

After Lucas's mortifying comment the room went silent as awkwardness filled the air.

 "You know you didn't have to stay with me right? I'm more than happy by myself," I said bluntly. He had stolen Lucas's armchair so he could be closer to me on the sofa. 

"Yeah I know, but I wanted to," he said softly as he stared down at me with a startling intensity in his eyes. Soon enough he drifted his eyes away from me, snapping out of whatever trance he had been in. 

"But only because I still haven't finished tormenting you, that's the whole reason you're here. Remember?" he said with his usual predatory smirk, diminishing the weird mood that was starting to build up in the room. 

"Yeah, how could I forget," I retorted back drily. 

Suddenly remembering something he started chuckling. "Did you like the little surprise I left for you on your phone?" he said with a teasing glint in his eyes. 

I shot him a glare. "Which one, the photo, or the ringtone?" I said with an incredulous scoff. 

"Both," he said beaming down at me with a cheeky smirk. 

"Well the photo was nauseating enough to put me off my lunch and I don't even want to talk about the ringtone. What the hell is wrong with you Ethan? The my neck my back song. Really? How old are you five?" I said shaking my head at him in astonishment. 

"The song speaks to my soul," he said pretending to nod his head as though he was serious. 

"If that's the way your soul speaks, that explains a lot," I said with an amused chuckle. He watched me laugh with a strange look in his eye before his gaze drifted over to my swollen foot. 

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital to get your ankle checked out?" he said eyeing my ankle with a look of concern. 

"No, it's fine. I think I'll live," I said with a smile.

 "Just to let you know your punishment is over chubs. I think you've suffered enough today to satisfy me," he said looking at me with a smug expression. 

"You think?" I replied sarcastically.

Picking up my phone to check what time it was I saw it was 6 o clock. "Oh, crap is that the time, I need to go home, I said I would be home for dinner," I said as I started to sit up. I eyed my ankle nervously, wondering how painful it would be to put some weight on it. 

Before I could even attempt to stand, Ethan sprung out of his chair to stop me. "Woah, who said you could walk on it yet?" he said angrily.

 "Sorry Dr. Ethan," I said with a teasing smile. He grabbed his car keys from the table and put his jacket on as he got ready to leave. 

"I'll carry you to the car," he said abruptly not even bothering to pose it as a question. 

"You really don't have to..." I started before he interrupted me 

"No don't even bother arguing," he said in a tone which left no room for argument. Without hesitation, he bent over and effortlessly lifted me into his arms before beginning his walk towards the car. He somehow managed to open the doors of both his house and the car without much of a struggle. He then placed me down on to the passenger seat and I watched with widened eyes as he did up my seat belt for me as well.

 "I've been doing my seatbelt myself for a while now Ethan..." I said with a snort, wondering why he had done it up for me. 

"Oh yeah, Sorry. I kind of forgot you could do it...." he mumbled out awkwardly, as a light blush spread over his cheeks. I watched as he quickly made his way to the driver's seat and started up the car. 

A comfortable silence filled the car, as I thought about the events that had occurred today. Shockingly, the afternoon was fairly enjoyable and was nowhere near as torturous as I thought it would be. Ethan had actually been fairly civilized for once. He'd even, dare I say it. Been kind to me. It was beyond weird, it was almost like he was broken or something, he was supposed to hate me. I'm pretty sure it's not normal to carry your arch-nemesis to your car and help her put on her seatbelt.

Before I knew it, we had reached the house. Then I realized something. "Ethan, how do you know where I live?" I asked in a suspicious tone. 

His eyed widened slightly in panic before he regained composure. "I think you mentioned living on this road a little while ago, and I know a buddy who lives on this road," he said brushing over his statement in a cool tone. 

That still didn't explain why he knew which house was mine but I was too tired to probe any further, so I let it go.

Once he had parked the car, Ethan got out of the car quickly and ran over to my side. He opened the door and lifted me into his arms again before heading towards my door. He then rang the doorbell to the house before I had time to stop him.

 "Why the hell did you do that, I have a key," I yelled at him starting to panic. If my dad answered, I was so dead. It would be extremely hard to explain why a boy he didn't know was carrying me home from school.

 Before I could yell at him some more, the door of my house opened to reveal a grumpy looking middle-aged man or as I refer to him. Dad. His eyes scanned the predicament that faced him on his doorstep. He somehow managed to look even angrier than before as his eyes scanned over Ethan judgmentally. 

I heard Ethan visibly gulp and shift nervously on his feet, not knowing what to say. Finally, my dad talked.

"Who the fuck are you?" my Dad spat out in disgust.