I hesitated on my answer, distracted by having him this close. But slowly, I pushed him away and cleared my throat.

"Y--yeah...I'm sure." I stuttered.

I tried to creep to the edge of his lap to create some more space between us but he didn't seem to get my memo, and just simply lifted me backward. So once again, my back was tightly pressed up against his chest.

Excellent.

I let out a small growl of frustration and as I did, my eyes latched on to some empty chairs at the table across from us.

Thank fucking God!

Sitting on his lap was doing some strange things to my body and I didn't like it. I quickly tried to stand up but I couldn't move as his arms were still wrapped tightly around me, preventing me from escape. I looked back at him in confusion.

"Let go of me, you idiot. Can't you see there's some free seats over there," I said.

He just grunted in response and wrapped his arms even tighter around me and sunk his chin deeper into the crook of my neck.

"You're fine here," he mumbled.

I let out a heavy sigh, knowing this was going to be a long lunch with bloody octopus hands behind me. But I couldn't help but smile because a part of me, a small, tiny, minuscule, barely-there part of me, kind of liked sitting on his lap.

And that scared the shit out of me.

-----------------------------------------------

It was Thursday afternoon and I was sat on the hood of Ethan's car in the school parking lot. We were supposed to have another tutoring session, so I was patiently waiting for his class to finish.

I bet 50 bucks his class had finished 10 minutes ago, and he was just caught up chatting with his jackass friends or something. He was honestly such a little people pleaser.

I have to admit, over the few weeks we had been doing less and less work at these 'study session'. I was just using it as an excuse to hang out with him if I was being entirely honest.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps and I looked up with a smile expecting to see Ethan, but to my disappointment it was Connor. He was still sporting an ugly looking black eye and his lip was all swollen and busted. I eyed him up and down in confusion, wondering why he was coming up to me.

He was on our school football team, so he was a rather wide and bulky fellow with strawberry blonde hair and forest green eyes. He looked like he had the potential to be good looking if not for his crooked nose, likely broken from one too many fights as well as the unkind expressions he liked to contort his face into.

We were hardly the best of friends; he was one of those typical shady characters at school whose favorite pastime was to torment first years just for the hell of it. And not to mention, he was the reason Ethan got all riled up the other day. This dick could have got Ethan suspended!

"Hey Chubs." Connor spat out tauntingly, putting an uncomfortable amount of emphasis on the nickname. I felt bile rise to my throat, not liking the way the words sounded on his tongue.

It sounded nothing like how Ethan said it.

He shot me a sly smirk as he relaxed against the hood of Ethan's car beside me.

"Erm...hey..." I said hesitantly. "Also, It's Mia. Only Ethan calls me Chubs." I snapped sassily with narrowed eyes.

"Yeah, I know." He said with a light chuckle. "I couldn't help but notice, you've been spending a lot of time with him lately. No longer enemies?" Connor said tilting his head in amusement.

"Yeah and?" I questioned impatiently not getting his point.

"Look, Mia. Let's cut the bull-crap. I know you're fucking him." He proclaimed boldly.

"Wh-hat? Are you serious?" I chocked out as I tried to control the urge to laugh.

Is that seriously what people thought?

Connor just ignored me and continued talking. "I Just wanted to let you know there are better options out there," Connor said as he leaned over me so that his ugly crooked face was clouding my view. He then proceeded to lay a dirty hand on the top of my legging thigh before giving it a firm squeeze.

And that's when I punched him.

All I saw and felt was red blazing anger and in no time at all my fist and his nose collided, followed by a loudly sickening crunching sound. I don't even remember getting to my feet, but I was somehow stood before him, panting heavily from the adrenaline.

"You broke my nose, you bitch!" Connor yelled angrily, as he held his hand up to his nose in an attempt to stop the gushing blood.

I felt an agonizingly painfully throbbing sensation in my hand and I realized his nose might not be the only thing that I had broken. Not wanting to come off as foolish for injuring myself, I focused on smiling triumphantly in his face.

Holy shit, I can't believe I just did that! Who am I?

His face screwed up and he was about to say something again before he saw something behind me which seemed to frighten him to death. He immediately scrambled off the hood of Ethan's car and madly dashed through the school parking lot and away from me.

I turned around in confusion and raised my eyebrows in surprise as I took in the sight of a very pissed off looking, Ethan.

"What the fuck did he do?" Ethan growled out, as he approached the car, and scanned me up and down frantically with clear fear in his eyes.

"It's fine Ethan, I just lost my temper because he insinuated something inappropriate and then touched..." I tried to explain but he interrupted mid-explanation.

"Sorry, he fucking touched you?" Ethan spat out in disgust, as though he could barely stomach the words.

He laughed cruelly. "Just wait here Mia, I won't be long," Ethan sneered as he took a step to run after Connor.

"No!" I said as I quickly grabbed on to his arm to stop him. "Ethan he's not worth getting into trouble for! You've got an amazing future, don't let this jackass pull you away from it." I exclaimed.

"You're going to be the cute young doctor who gives lollipops to kids after their check-up appointment." I laughed. "You're going to be saving people Ethan. Not hurting them." I finished softly.

The corners of his lips lifted slowly into a weak smile at my words and the anger in his eyes faded.

"Besides, I already dosed out his punishment." I sighed as I held up my injured hand.

His eyes then snapped down to my hand, and his expression immediately changed from one of amusement to one of concern.

"Oh Mia, you're an absolute idiot! What have you done?" he said grabbing my hand gently so he could inspect it in more detail.

"Well his face looks equally as jacked up," I said with a chuckle.

"Mia, when you punch someone, you're not supposed to hurt yourself along with them," he said angrily, scolding me like a child.

"Well, that wasn't exactly my intention...." I said with a scoff

"I'll get you some ice for this when we get home, it's just a little bruised." he explained softly, as he opened the car door for me. I furrowed my eyebrows at him, wondering why he had opened it for me but I got in anyway.

As he got into the driver's seat, he turned to look at me with a teasing smile on his face. "I have to admit, knowing you go all badass on him is kinda sexy ...." he said a smirk.

I know he didn't mean it and was just playing around, but that still didn't stop my heart from fluttering when he called me sexy.

"Only you would find someone punching someone in the face sexy," I said shaking my head at him in amusement.

"I think I'm spending too much time with you to even do that in the first place," I said turning to look at him accusingly.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Ethan laughed.

Ethan unlocked the door to his house, gesturing for me to go ahead of him. I made my way into his house and headed straight for his kitchen, feeling comfortable enough to just help myself. He followed behind me and started laughing when he saw me immediately shove my hand into a packet of cookies.

"Don't be shy, help yourself to something to eat?" he said sarcastically, his eyes shining with amusement.

I just ignored his comment and turned to look at him. "Why do you always insist we study at your house?" I asked curiously.

He paused for a bit, his face contorting slightly in embarrassment. "Because your Dad scares the shit out of me...." he mumbled.

I started laughing hard, incredibly amused that Ethan of all people was terrified of my Dad.

"What, can you blame me, he's literally a police investigator. If I make one wrong move, he'll probably have me arrested." Ethan said trying to defend himself.

"He only pretends to act tough, he's really a big baby," I said rolling my eyes. "Yeah maybe to you, I'm not sure he feels the same way about guys who lik- I mean guys who hang out with his daughter," he said with a scoff.

I just shrugged my shoulders and made my way to his living room.

"I'll be there in a second Chubs; I just need to get you some ice for your hand," Ethan called out after me.

I flopped down onto the sofa with a sigh and glanced at my bag, contemplating whether I should bother to do any work. Luckily that's when Dylan; Ethan's little brother, came bouncing on into the room.

His face stretched out into a cute little grin upon seeing me. "Mia," he screamed as he came running over to me. He launched himself on to my lap and wrapped his tiny little arms around me for a hug. I returned his hug, with my mouth stretched into so wide of a smile it hurt.

"It's good to see you Dyl," I said with a laugh.

"Dylan, how many times do I have to tell you to wait for me before running off?" a woman said as she entered the living room.

I instantly recognized her as Ethan's mum, from seeing her around at school events and socials. She was an incredibly beautiful middle-aged woman with beautiful dark hair and striking blue eyes. She held herself with incredible poise and elegance like a model.

It was no wonder Ethan had turned out looking the way he did, with a mum like that.

She paused upon seeing me, clearly not expecting to find a random girl sitting on her sofa.

"Sorry Mummy, I should have waited for you," Dylan said looking down in guilt.

Ethan then walked into the living room with an icepack in his hand. He gingerly handed it over to me and greeted his mum with an awkward smile.

"Oh, hey Mum I didn't realize you were coming home early today," Ethan said in surprise.

"Yeah my client canceled," she said with a heavy sigh.

"Anyway, what's going on here?" she said gesturing between us.

Ethan looked over at me with a smirk, his eyes sparkling with mischievous. "Oh, right this is Mia. She's my girlfriend," he said with a proud smile, subtly shooting me a sly wink.

My eyes widened to an incredible degree as soon as the words 'girlfriend' fell out of his mouth.

I'm his girl what now?

His mum raised her eyebrows. "Really? You have a girlfriend?" she asked in surprise, as though the idea of Ethan dating was a deathly shock to her.

I glared at Ethan, as I felt my cheeks heat with embarrassment. "I'm not...We're not...I..Ethan is a liar," I stuttered out nervously, barely able to form a coherent sentence.

Ethan cracked a smile, before bursting out into laughter. "I'm kidding Mum, it's Mia. You know the used to hate my guts, Mia. She came over to study." Ethan said with a chuckle.

His mum's eyes bulged out of their sockets. "Wait, this is that Mia! Like Mia, Mia?" she said scanning me up and down like I was some kind of alien. I had no idea why she was looking at me like that.

I looked over at Ethan suspiciously, wondering what kind of crappy lies, he's been telling his mum about me.

"Maybe...." he mumbled quietly, looking slightly embarrassed for some reason.

"Wow, no wonder you couldn't stop going on about her. She is extremely pretty." his mum said shooting an unsubtle wink at Ethan, with a teasing glint in her eyes.

Ethan just groaned loudly and buried his face in his hands. "No offense Mum, but please, please for the love of god shut up," he begged, his voice tight with desperation.

My ears perked up in interest. "No, no please continue Mrs. Blythe. What else has he told you about me?" I asked her curiously, with an enormous sized grin on my face.

I couldn't tell if his mum was making up things to purposefully embarrass him, or if she was genuinely telling the truth but either way it was hilarious to see how red his face was getting.

Incredibly fast, Ethan snapped his hand up. Marching towards me before his mum could utter another word. "That's it we're studying upstairs." Ethan snapped as he yanked me up by the wrist and hauled me in the direction of the stairs.

I saw his mum smile at us in amusement, as she watched us leave "It was incredibly nice to meet you Mia," she called out with a laugh.

Once we were in his room, he slammed his door back with as much as violence as he could, muttering something under his breath about how his mum was a little snitch.

"Wow, why didn't you tell me your mum was so awesome? She's hilarious!" I said with a chuckle.

"Of course, you'd find her funny...." he grumbled, as he flopped down on to his bed with a heavy sigh.

I just snickered and lowered myself down on the bed, sitting cross-legged beside him. He just stared aimlessly up at the ceiling with a miserable look on his face.

"Aww. Did mummy Blythe embarrass you?" I said in a baby voice, as I reached out to squeeze his cheeks.

"Shut up..." he mumbled weakly as he swatted away my hands.

"Nah I don't think I will. I have a lot more gloating to do." I taunted smugly.

"Will you ever be done gloating?" he grumbled in annoyance.

"Er...let me thing about it..." I said rubbing my chin in pretense thought. "Nope." I snorted.

He glanced over at me with narrowed eyes, before his mouth slowly stretched out into a smirk. "Well, I guess I'm going to have to do this." He simply said.

"Do wha-"

Before the words were even completely out of my mouth, he jumped on top of me and started to tickle me. I squealed in surprise as he ruthlessly attacked my stomach, causing me to fall on my back and shake with laughter.

"Stop, Ethan. Stop!" I managed to squeak out in between giggles, barely even able to breathe.

"I'll stop if you promise you won't bring up what my mum said ever again." he bargained as he smiled down at me.

"No way," I screamed in between bouts of laughter, as I desperately tried to pull his hands away, so I could stop laughing like an idiot. I hated being tickled, it was like a weird socially acceptable form of torture. He just chuckled and grabbed my wrists and pinned them above my head, while his other hand continued their merciless attack on my body.

"All you have to do is promise Mia," he said, looking down at me with an obnoxious grin on his face.

"No," I said stubbornly, as I tried to kick him away with my legs. He let out a heavy sigh and sat on top of my legs.

"Say it," he demanded as he tickled my sides cruelly, with an evil smirk on his face. Not being able to take it more I gave in,

"Okay fine, I promise," I screamed. He immediately stopped.

"Now that wasn't so hard, now was it," he said smiling down at me with a smug little grin on his face.

"You're mean..." I said breathlessly, still tired from laughing so hard.

As he smiled down at me, I gulped realized the intimacy of the position we were in. He still had my arms pinned above my head, with his legs straddled either side of my waist. I looked up at him with widened eyes, still breathing heavily as I tried to regain my breath.

I knew that would have probably been a good time to tell him to get off, but I didn't. The intensity of his gaze held me captive and I couldn't help but let myself get lost in his darkened blue eyes. His eyes flickered between mine, as his face inched closer and closer to mine.

And at that precise moment, I couldn't think of one good reason why I should move away.

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