It was the next day after the party, and I was lounged out on the school's bleachers bored out of my mind.

I know, I know, it was a bit of a weird location, but I liked it.

There was nothing better than sitting here after school and catching some sun. And as long as the coach didn't catch me, it was always a nice quiet place to recline back and read my book. Well, only on Thursday's because nobody had practice.

I groaned as I rubbed the kinks out of my neck.

Wait, crap. No, no, no, no. Please tell me, it didn't come off.

I quickly dug my hand into my bag and pulled out my hand mirror.

Oh, thank god.

The foundation had not been smeared, and Ethan's monstrosity of a mark was still covered. The last thing I needed was to accidentally rub it off and then have my dad see it. The thought alone made me shudder.

I jerked my head up in surprise, hearing the sound of approaching footsteps and distant voices. I growled in anger as I saw our school's soccer team, heading straight my way. What the hell were they doing here? It was a Thursday for fucks sake, and the field was mine on Thursday.

Begrudgingly, I started to grab my bag so I could get up and leave, but I stopped when something caught my eye.

Looking as perfect as ever, Ethan confidently strolled his way across the field. He dumped his kit lazily onto the side, before running a hand through the soft curls of his dark messy hair.

Well, fuck me. I guess I was going to have to stay now because I would have to be an actual idiot to ditch a chance to see Ethan running around in tight shorts looking all hot and sweaty.

I know what you're thinking, it's a little bit creepy to just sit and stare, but can you blame me?

He's hot!

The coach blew the whistle, and with a few reluctant groans of protest, they all started to jog around the perimeter of the field. Mesmerized, I watched as Ethan jogged lap after lap, without even seeming to tire for a second. Then the most beautiful thing happens. He slowed down to a halt and pulled his t-shirt over his head.

Yes, you heard me right, he pulled off his top and chucked it carelessly to the side. My eyes wasted no time in drinking up all the naked flesh he had to offer, right from his broad glistening shoulders, to his glorious washboard abs.

I blushed as I watched the muscles of his back contract and relax, in a hypnotizing manner. My gaze soon dropped, and I admired the sight of his taut ass through the elasticated material of his shorts.

Okay, okay I officially needed to stop now. I was clearly getting a little bit too carried away. It's lucky people can't read your mind otherwise Ethan would be filing for a restraining order against me in no time.

"Take a break guys, go get some water," the coach yelled.

I watched as Ethan made his way back over to the bench. He grabbed the bottle, and just when I thought he was about to take a sip, he raised it higher and doused it over his head. It was honestly the cruelest thing he could have done, because the beads of water trickled all the way down his chest, making me jealous of every last one.

You know your life had truly gone to shit when you're jealous of beads of water. Yet here I am, wishing I was one of them.

With one final glance at Ethan, I slowly climbed to my feet, knowing it was about time for me to bounce.

As soon as I stood up, Ethan's head turned my way, and his eyes caught mine. Raising his eyebrows in surprise, he looked at me questioningly, probably wondering to himself why I was lurking around on the stands like a weirdo.

Don't come up here. Please, please don't come up here.

Ethan cupped his hands over his mouth. "Wait there, I'm coming up," Ethan shouted up at me with a wide toothy grin.

Wonderful.

I frowned as I watched him start to jog his way up the scaffolding. God, why is he still shirtless? Is he trying to kill me or something?

He let out a low chuckle as soon as he reached me. "So, what brings you here? Did you come here for a show or something?" he teased.

I scoffed. "Don't flatter yourself. I just came up here to read my book. I didn't even notice you were here." I huffed.

I can't believe he was obnoxious enough to assume that I just came up here to look at him. Okay, maybe I was looking at him, but there's no reason he had to know that.

"That's funny. I didn't know you could read books upside," Ethan snorted as he nodded his head down to my book.

I glanced down at it, and cursed, realizing I was holding it back to front. As Ethan started to cackle with laughter, I just rolled my eyes weakly and shot him the middle finger.

His laughter slowly faded. "Hold on," Ethan frowned as he furrowed his brows in confusion. "What the hell happened to your hickey?" He said as he bent down to inspect my neck in finer detail.

"Must have disappeared already I suppose," I shrugged as I tried to give off an air of nonchalance.

His face held one of interest, as he took a seat beside me and tilted his head and stared at the spot where it used to be. I stiffened, feeling nervous with him his half-naked self all brushed up against me.

"You covered it up with make-up, didn't you?" He questioned almost immediately.

Well fuck.

My silence seemed to be enough of an answer for him, and he smirked. "I would say makeup was smart thinking, but it's not that durable, you know. All it would take is for someone to accidentally," he said as he swiped a finger over my neck. "brush it off," he finished. I gasped and put a hand over my neck.

"Oh, whoops, I'm a little bit clumsy," he smiled as he held up his foundation covered finger.

"Why the hell would you do that? You're a dick!" I yelled as I angrily crossed my arms over my chest.

"Because I wanted to see it, reminds me of our hot little session the closest," he winked.

"Hot?" I scoffed. "It was disgusting."

"Really? So when I heard you moan, was I imagining it?" he taunted, with the widest smirk I've ever seen.

My cheeks immediately grew hot, and I looked away in shame. "Well, whatever Ethan," I mumbled, as I quickly shoved my book in my bag and stood up to leave.

"Wait," Ethan said as he grabbed my elbow and stood up beside me. "I was just messing around, you know. You made it clear you didn't like it when you kicked me," he snorted.

I cracked a smile as I thought back to that beautiful memory.

Little did he know, that I hadn't kicked him because I didn't like it. I kicked him because I was hurt. His protectiveness was the only thing that drove him to behave the way he did, and I was hoping it was something more.

"Anyway, I wanted to ask you something," Ethan mumbled, as he started to twiddle nervously with his thumbs.

"And that is?" I sang as I gestured for him to continue.

"Well, you see, I was wondering...only if you want to of course. That maybe you might come with me on a trip out of town?" he said, finishing with a cheesy smile.

"A trip, what kind of trip?" I questioned with narrowed eyes.

"A sweet innocent trip to visit my dear old grandmother," he said, his smile growing more suspicious by the second. "As you see, she's kind of been asking about you, and I'm starting to run out of excuses for why you can't come an-" he rambled off before I silenced him with the raise of my hand.

"But why? Why on earth has she been asking about me, Ethan? How does she even know who I am?" I fired out in confusion.

He put his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth on his heels. "I might have maybe told her that you were my girlfriend, a little while back," he murmured out quietly as his eyes darted down to the floor in shame.

"Wait, what! Why would you say that?" I cried out in shock.

"W-well well every time I go over there, she's always setting me up on these dates with her friends' weird-looking grand kids. So one day, I got sick of it and said I had a girlfriend," he explained. "And your name was just the first name to come to mind," he shrugged.

"So just suck it up and tell her the truth!" I bit back.

"But I can't, it'll break her heart if she found out I've been lying to her for the past three years," he explained.

"Nope. No. No way. I am not lying to your grandma. Get some other girl to pretend to be me." I said with finality in my tone.

"Yeah about that...I might have also already shown her what you look like," he said with an awkward laugh.

"Then tell her I'm sick," I snapped stubbornly.

He widened his gorgeous blue eyes and stuck his bottom lip out. "Please, Mia, you'd make my grandma's year..." he pleaded in desperation.

Don't fall for it, Mia. Don't look at him. It's a trap. Say no. Say no.

"Well, I suppose I could-"

"Great, I'll pick you up tomorrow afternoon," he said as a massive grin stretched itself out on to his face.

"See you later, Chubs," he called out over his shoulder, as he started to jog down the stairs.

I just watched him leave in shock. This was karma, that's what this was. I stupidly stayed behind to stare at him like some weirdo creep. And now I was paying the consequences.

Wonderful, just fucking wonderful.

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

It was Friday today. And I was busily packing away, for my trip to Ethan's grandmothers. I still couldn't believe I was stupid enough to let him manipulate me into going. Spending a weekend alone with your best friend, that you kinda had the hots for, was never a good idea.

Yet what did I do? Agree to go anyway.

My mum already knew that I was going, and she was fine with it. However, this didn't stop her from dropping in a sly comment about Ethan and I's relationship to piss me off.

Now the real problem was my dad. I hadn't told him. I was waiting for the last possible moment for the safety of everyone in the household. The less time he had to yell at me, the better.

Pacing around the bedroom, I started to rehearse how I was going to tell him the news. From how dramatic I was being, one might presume Ethan had asked for my hand in marriage.

Okay, okay, I'm ready. I can do this.

Taking a deep breath, I descended the stairs and opened the door to the kitchen. My dad was deep in concentration, as he sliced through some onions, in preparation for tonight's dinner. A dinner in which he had no idea, I wouldn't be attending.

"Oh, hey Dad, look at you working all hard. Nobody cooks as well as you do," I called out, in the sweetest voice I could muster.

"What do you want Mia?" My dad said without even looking up.

Crap, he was already on to me.

"Well, I kinda forgot to tell you, but I'm going away for the weekend. My friend kindly invited me to meet their grandma," I explained, making sure to carefully eliminate the gender of this friend.

"Oh, that's fine. Is it Chloe or May," he said, looking up at me curiously?

"Erm...It's actually not either of them..." I trailed off awkwardly.

His eyes narrowed, clearly detecting something fishy.

The chime of the doorbell then echoed through the house, raising a terrifying tension in the room. Dear god, that better not be Ethan. Surely he wasn't stupid enough to ring the doorbell when he knew my dad was home.

"That must be a parcel. I'll go get it," I squeaked out as I dashed into the corridor. Upon reaching the front door, I cracked it open just a tiny inch so I could safely check who was there.

And guess which idiot was standing bang-smack on my doorstep, looking all lost and confused.

"Er...what's going on Chubs?" he said with a confused chuckle, probably wondering why I wasn't letting him in.

"My dad is home, you idiot! Why didn't you text." I whisper shouted at him.

His face immediately paled as he realized his mistake. "Hurry up and go get your stuff then," Ethan said in a panic.

"Too late, I'm already here," my Dad said from behind me, causing me to jump in surprise. Luckily, I was still blocking the doorway so he couldn't see who it was.

"I would like to see who's at the door Mia?" my Dad demanded firmly. I looked over at Ethan, who was shaking his head vigorously at me, and mouthing don't. I shot him an apologetic smile and mouthed sorry before slowly swinging the door wider.

Ethan immediately stood up straight and brushed off the imaginary dust from his clothes. "Good evening Mr. Collins. It's good to see you again." Ethan said in the poshest voice I've ever heard.

I couldn't help but let out a loud snort of laughter, which I quickly tried to disguise as a cough. Seeing Ethan, trying to look all prim and proper, was just too funny not to laugh.

"Why don't you come in Ethan?" My Dad said as he gestured for him to come in.

I shook my head frantically. "No, no that's not a good idea and- "

"Mia, why don't you get your bad from upstairs." my Dad interrupted with a strangely calm tone.

"Erm...yeah, sure," I said with slight hesitation. I shot a final worried look at the two of them, before making a quick dash up the stairs.

I've never packed so fast in my life, and I hastily chucked the last remained items into my rucksack.

When I made my way back into the living room, the sight that I was met with was both funny and horrifying all at once. My dad was still holding his kitchen knife and was now swirling it around in his hand.

"Now does that all make sense," my dad said, smiling down at Ethan, who sat petrified on the sofa.

"Dad, what the fuck are you doing!" I yelled.

"Excellent, you've returned. I have something to say to both of you. Sit," he said, pointing to the sofa with the knife.

I didn't trust his mental state right now, so I quickly complied and took a seat.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush guys. You can go. But only under the following conditions. They'll be no touching, no hugging, no kissing, no funny eyes, no nothing," he snapped.

"No funny eyes?" I snorted.

My dad just ignored me and continued. "And I swear to God, if a single fucking grandchild is made on the trip, I will kill you," he said gesturing to me. "And I most definitely will kill you," he spat as he pointed his knife at Ethan.

"You're so dramatic, I'm not going to get knocked up," I huffed in frustration.

"Do we have a deal?" my dad proposed.

"Yes, sir. Absolutely," Ethan said with a slight waver in his voice.

"Wonderful! And Mia?" He said as he narrowed his eyes.

"Yes, whatever, fine," I mumbled.

My dad smiled. "Excellent, have fun," he said as he turned to leave. "But not too much fucking fun," he snapped, with a pointed look towards Ethan.

At last, I was finally in Ethan's car. We'd been driving for close to 10 minutes in deathly silence as Ethan was still pretty shaken up from what happened earlier.

"I'm so, so sorry about what happened in there." I apologized with a nervous laugh.

He shrugged. "It's fine. I get it. He doesn't want me to hurt you because you're special to him. Can't argue with that." he said, giving me a soft smile.

"Also, I forgot to tell you, but thanks," he said.

"What for?" I asked in confusion.

He took his eyes briefly off the road again to look at me. "You know, for helping me out. It means a lot," he smiled.

"You're a really great friend, Mia. Don't you ever forget that.," he said.

The word friend felt like a sucker punch to the gut, and despite how awful it felt, I grinned through the pain.

"Trust me, Ethan, I don't think I'll ever forget."

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