I never should have agreed to play this stupid game. What the fuck was April's problem?

You don't just dare two friends to kiss each other for no apparent reason. It's not that hard to think of normal non-sexually orientated dare for Christ's sake!

I really didn't want to kiss Ben. He was just a friendly face at work, just someone to keep me from scratching my own eyes out while I suffered through working at that awful place.

Ben had finally made his way over and was knelt out right in front of me. I could faintly hear the sound of whistles and cheers, from the other drunk party guests who were egging us on. My anxiety felt like it was going through the roof.

I badly wanted to refuse to comply with the dare and shuffle the hell away from him.

But I couldn't. I didn't want to seem rude or make things awkward the next time I had to see him at work.

Besides, it was just a stupid dare.

It's fine Mia. You can do this. You can do this.

Ben gave me an awkward tight-lipped smile and cupped my cheek. His face then started to move slowly towards mine and on reflex, I closed my eyes.

I had barely closed my eyes for a second before I heard a loud thud, followed by a groan of pain. I snapped my eyes open immediately and took in the sight before me, with widened eyes.

What the hell?

Ben was no longer kneeling in front of me but instead lay sprawled out on the floor and looking arguably as shocked as me. Ethan had abandoned his place in the circle and was now standing intimidatingly over Ben's body with a murderous expression on his face. He looked like he was seconds away from attacking him.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Ethan said with a harsh chuckle. The sound of which caused a chill to run down my spine. He sounded so angry and unlike himself, that it was kind of scaring me.

"Don't you ever touch her." Ethan spat furiously, in a tone that was laden with an incredible amount of threat.

"Jesus Christ, it's just a dare. You need to chill the fuck out dude." Ben stammered out as he stared up at Ethan in both fear and confusion.

"I don't give a shit if it was a dare. You don't touch her like that. Ever." Ethan hissed in between gritted teeth.

"Look man, I didn't do anything wrong. Mia was cool with it, she didn't exactly push me away, did she?" Ben argued back.

His comment seemed to rub Ethan the wrong way, and there was a momentary flash of pain in his eyes before his expression hardened.

Abruptly, Ethan lunged for Ben and lifted him up by the scruff of his t-shirt, before roughly slamming him back down on the ground again. Ben groaned upon the impact and looked up at Ethan with widened and terrified eyes.

Just as Ethan was about to throw a punch to Ben's face, Lucas leaped to his feet and caught Ethan's arm. Lucas tried to tackle him away from Ben, but this seemed to piss Ethan off even further and he kept fighting back with an unquenchable rage.

"Ethan calm down. You're making a scene. He's not going to kiss her anymore, okay?" Lucas explained in between heavy breaths as he struggled to restrain his sharp movements. Ethan seemed to visibly relax upon hearing his words and gradually stopped trying to attack Ben. As though he was worried, he might change his mind, Ben immediately scrambled off the ground and returning to his seat in the circle. Far, far away from Ethan.

Ethan then snapped his head towards me, his jaw tightened, and his eyes were guarded and Stoney.

Why the hell is he looking at me like that? What the fuck did I do?

I then watched with widened eyes as he stormed his way over to me.

Was he going to push me over next?

"Get up, we're leaving." he snapped, as he grabbed me by the wrist and hurled me off of the floor and on to my feet. Everyone in the room remained completely silent, as they had for the whole of Ethan's outburst.

He managed to drag me as far as the basement stairs before I suddenly came to my senses and realized, I was just letting him treat me like a rag doll. I angrily ripped my arm out of his grasp and halted in my place.

"Who the fuck do you think you are ? How dare you drag me around like that." I hissed in annoyance.

Ethan turned to look back at me and let out an exasperated sigh, as though I was exhausting him. "Look, Mia, I haven't got the patience for your difficulty today. I'm in a bad mood," he scowled.

I scoffed at his audacity. "I don't care what kind of mood you're in. I'm not going anywhere with you." I spat out angrily.

He narrowed his eyes before moving intimidatingly closer to me, so close that I could feel his chest brush up against mine. "You can either walk up the stairs on your own free will Mia or we can go with my favourite option where I haul your ass over my shoulder. Your choice," he whispered.

From the daring look in his eyes, I could tell he wasn't joking. I knew for a fact he would go through with it.

"Fuck you." I spat as I pushed past him angrily and stormed my way up the stairs in defeat.

Once I had made it out of the basement, I immediately started to march my way to the living room so I could go and find Chloe so we could leave.

Before I could get so much as three steps away, I felt someone capture my wrist before swinging me back around to face them with incredible speed.

I was met with the sight of a miserably faced Ethan, with a prominent scowl on his face.

"You were just going to just let him kiss you? What happening to you not liking him, huh?" Ethan hissed with anger.

"This is ridiculous. I can't believe you're mad at ME. I'm not the one who's been ignoring you all fucking week." I fired back angrily.

The rage in Ethan's eyes faded and he broke eyes contact and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

When he didn't say anything, I scoffed. "Why do you even care so much anyway?"

He shuffled awkwardly on his feet and seemed fixated on staring at the ground. "Because .... because...I just don't like that you lied to me," he mumbled. "You said you didn't like him and I was stupid enough to believe you," he said weakly as he slowly raised his eyes back up to meet mine.

"I was telling the truth, Ethan. I don't like Ben." I explained in an exasperated tone.

"Then why didn't you push him away?" he said with narrowed eyes.

"Only because I didn't want to ruin the game." I cried. "Besides it's just a stupid kiss. It's not a big deal," I shrugged dismissively.

Ethan let out a loud scoff, as though my statement had somehow offended him. "It is a big deal. It's your first kiss for goodness sake," he argued.

"Don't you want it with someone special?" he said softly, as his blue eyes burned through mine with a hypnotizing intensity.

His gaze made my heart flutter momentarily before I immediately shoved the feeling away. "I told you I don't care Ethan so just drop this and leave me alone."

Before he could get another word in, I pivoted around and rushed away to go and find Chloe. I found her still sleeping soundly on the living room sofa. Her limbs were clumsily draped out all over the place and her hair was a mess. I was surprised she managed to get to sleep, considering how loud the speakers were.

"Wake up Chloe," I said shaking her vigorously.

Chloe groaned and slowly peeked open her eyes. "What time is it?" Chloe croaked as she slowly started to sit up.

"Time for us to leave," I said simply as I grabbed her arm and started to hurl her off the sofa.

In the distance, I could see May heading our way. She had clearly abandoned the game downstairs, in search of me. As soon as she reached us, I grabbed her arm as well and started to drag them both along with me to the door.

"Sorry to be a sour bitch, but I'm tired and I want to go home," I muttered moodily.

I stopped and turned to face May. "Do you have Chloe's car keys?" I said as I held my hand out for them expectantly.

"Are you sure you're okay to drive Mia? I know you're worried because you don't have a license." May said as she hesitantly fished the keys out of her pocket and dropped them into my open palm.

"Yeah, of course, it's only 5 minutes away," I said waving my hand around dismissively.

"What the fuck? You're not seriously going to drive without a license Chubs," an angry loud voice snapped from behind me.

I turned around and groaned in annoyance, as I saw Ethan stood before me yet again.

"Yes, I am going to drive Mr goody-two-shoes." I scoffed.

He let out a harsh chuckle. "Sorry but there's no fucking way I'm going to let this happen," he said as he rudely snatched the keys from my hand.

"I'm driving you home," he stated confidently as he marched his way out the door and down the driveway.

I let out a long exaggerated sigh before slowing trailing behind him. I couldn't be bothered to start another argument and I just wanted to go home. And this was the easiest way.

May and I helped Chloe into the car, as she giggled and wobbled drunkenly on her heels. As soon as we had got her all seated and buckled, I was just about to slip into the backseat beside Chloe when May rudely bumped my hip and stole my seat.

May smirked and gave me a little triumphant wave. I sent her a death glare, knowing she had done that on purpose, so I was forced to sit next to Ethan.

I reluctantly flung open the passenger side door and slumped moodily down on to the car seat beside Ethan. I could feel his intense gaze on me, but I didn't even spare him a glance and just stared forward.

"Just drive us to my house," I said simply.

He let out a sigh before pulling the car into drive. As we drove, I silently stared out the window and absentmindedly watching as various cars and houses flew by. Ethan kept glancing over at me every few seconds, as though he was itching to tell me something. I hoped what he wanted to tell me was an apology for the shitty way he's been acting lately because I honestly had no clue what his problem was.

Not only had he tried to beat up Ben for trying to kiss me, but he had then decided to humiliate me even further by dragging me out of the basement like I was a child. It was like he wanted to take up an additional job as my second overprotective dad.

I glanced over at Ethan, who was focused on the road ahead. I noticed he looked a lot calmer now and the lines on his forehead had fallen away and his mouth wasn't twisted up into a scowl.

When we finally reached my house, I immediately unbuckled my seatbelt and was about to climb out of the car without a word of good-bye.

"Wait," Ethan said quickly.

I turned back around and quirked an eyebrow up at him.

"Please can I talk to you alone for a second?" Ethan asked softly, as he fiddled nervously with his hands.

I was just about to say a rather strong 'fuck no' but then I saw the desperation in his deep blue eyes, and I felt my resolve melt and I slowly nodded my head.

I threw my house keys to May, as a silent indication to go ahead without me. May opened her door and helped a half-conscious Chloe out the door.

When we were finally alone, Ethan cleared his throat and turned to face me. "Look, Mia. I fucked up today and I'm sorry," he mumbled in a guilt-ridden voice.

I widened my eyes and looked at him as though he had grown two heads. Ethan has never given me a proper apology all my years of knowing him. I was so shocked I could barely even construct a sentence.

He took my silence as a sign to continue with his speech. "I'm also sorry for ignoring you, Mia. You did nothing wrong, okay. It was just all me and my stupid issues," he explained.

"Can we just forget all of this happened and go back to being friends or acquaintances or enemies or whatever the hell we were before?" he said with a chuckle as he looked at me expectantly, his eyes brimmed with vulnerability.

His apology had annoyingly won me over, and I soon found myself smiled softly at him.

"We're cool Ethan and I'll happily go back to being your number one sworn enemy," I said with an amused chuckle.

However, in my heart of hearts, I knew that wasn't true. Strangely enough, I was starting to see Ethan Blythe as my friend.