I walked back to the bench with a sour look on my face, sopping wet and dragging Damien painfully by the ear. Why am I wet, you ask? Because of Damien, that's why. The little dick decided to chuck me in the lake.

"My ear hurts," Damien whined as I dragged him along. I just ignored him, feeling absolutely no sympathy for him.

Ethan, who was still sat on the bench, took one look at me and immediately burst into laughter.

"What the hell happened to you?" he choked out between cackles of laughter.

"Well, Damien here, thought it would be funny to chuck me in the lake. Didn't you?" I snapped as I shot him a nasty glare.

Damien started to giggle hysterically, clearly not feeling the slightest remorse for his actions.

"Why the hell didn't you just stay in the playground?" I yelled.

"I wanted to go swimming," Damien shrugged.

Give me fucking strength...

"I have a pool at my house. You can come use ours if you want," Ethan butted in, as he gave Damien a kind smile.

"No. Ethan. I'm not sure that's a great idea..." I said hesitantly. I didn't trust Damien to not ruin Ethan's beautiful house.

"Yes. Please. I want to go, I want to go," Damien said as he jumped up and down in excitement.

It was extremely worrying how quickly Damien had agreed to come, considering he had absolutely no fucking idea who Ethan was. Someone clearly needed to have a chat with this kid about the potential dangers of strangers.

I scowled at Damien. "You don't deserve to go swimming; you've been incredibly naughty," I scolded. "And besides, I'm still soaked to the skin, thanks to you."

"Chubs, it's fine, you can borrow something of mine," Ethan added in rather quickly.

Why the fuck was he being so persistent?

I let out a heavy sigh. "Thanks for offering but-"

"My mum is also home, and she would be more than happy to look after Damien for you..." Ethan sang persuasively, with a knowing smirk on his face.

"Amazing. Sold. Let's go," I said immediately.

I quickly grabbed my backpack and put it on, in preparation to leave. There's no way I was going to miss an opportunity, to dump Damien on to someone else. He was Ethan's mum's problem now.

"Okay, go get Dylan, and we can-"

I stopped talking as I realized Ethan's eyes were no longer on my eyes but glued to my chest. I looked down in confusion, and I let out a little cry of surprise as I saw what had become of my shirt. The white t-shirt, that I was wearing had completely soaked through, making my bright red bra easily visible through the wet material.

"Crap, why didn't you tell me," I cried as I crossed my arms over my chest, in an attempt to protect my dignity.

Ethan got up off the bench with a chuckle and started to move closer to me. Much to close. He leaned his face closer, so his mouth was right by my ear.

"Because I was immensely enjoying the view," he whispered gruffly. I felt a flush creep up my face, and I shoved him away, feeling embarrassed. The corners of his eyes crinkled in amusement, and he let out a low chuckle.

"Here, wear this," he said, as he slid off his jacket. Without even waiting to see if I was okay with it, he wrapped it snuggly around my shoulders. "Only I get to see you looking all sexy in your bra," he joked as he shot me a flirty wink.

He said it rather loudly, so I looked over at Damien in panic, wondering if he had overheard our conversation. I was relieved when I saw he hadn't heard us, and seemed pretty preoccupied with whacking a stick against the ground.

I turned back to face Ethan with a sigh. "Ethan, he could have heard you," I whispered in embarrassment.

"Well, I didn't say anything that wasn't true," Ethan shrugged.

Once Ethan had called Dylan over from the playground, we all walked in the direction of his car. A happy smile crept on to my face as we walked, as I was so happy that Ethan was finally talking to me again. We were back to normal.

Or as normal as you could be with someone you kissed...

He hadn't brought it up, and neither had I, which was perfectly fine with me. This wasn't like the movies where kissing always had to mean something. He was simply a horny boy and I was just there. Hopefully, in years to come, we could just laugh about the time where the two of us got caught up in the moment and tried to hook up. Eventually, I'd get over my stupid dumb crush, and we'd be with other people, laughing at this. I just knew it.

Despite all logical reasoning, a single thought kept fighting through- What if he likes you?

But I knew he couldn't. He wouldn't have ignored me if he did, and he wouldn't have told me he liked another girl. The facts were all right there in front of me loud and clear- he didn't like me.

Not now, not then, not ever.

Finally, we reached the car. Ethan and I helped the boys into the backseat, before getting into the car ourselves. As I got myself settled in my seat, I couldn't help but eavesdrop into Damien and Dylan's conversation. They were getting along.

Damien wasn't threatening him, or bullying him, or hitting him. He was dare I say it, acting like a normal six-year-old boy. He was clearly taking after his older brother, in his talent for charm.

"Hey, do you think it's fine that Damien, doesn't have a booster seat?" Ethan said as he eyed the backseat in concern.

I rolled my eyes, "He'll be fine grandma, you live like five streets away, and besides, he has a seatbelt on," I scoffed.

"Yeah, but your road safety is kind of questionable, misses I can drive myself home without a license," Ethan said, as he shot me a pointed look.

"That was like one-time Ethan, let it go," I huffed.

"No, I won't let it go. Your life is important to more than just you, Mia," he frowned.

He looked all moody and cute, that my mouth couldn't help but curve up into a smile. "You sound like my Dad. Should I call you Daddy Ethan now?" I joked.

Ethan's head snapped towards me incredibly fast, and his mouth broke out into a humungous grin. "I'd very much like that actually, you can call me daddy any time you want to," he winked.

I let out a long groan and threw my head back against the headrest. "Why do you have to make everything sound wrong?" I groaned.

From the rear-view mirror, I saw Dylan's face screw up in confusion. "Why are you calling Ethan, Daddy? He's not your Daddy?" Dylan piped up from the backseat.

Oh shit, I completely forgot that they could hear.

Ethan didn't say anything to help me and was just grinning from ear to ear, clearly reveling in my embarrassment.

I turned around to face Dylan with a smile. You're right, Dylan, he's not. I was just making fun of him," I explained softly.

Damien tapped Dylan on the shoulder to get his attention. "My daddy's a firefighter, what does your daddy do Dylan?" he asked.

I noticed Dylan's little face drop slightly, and his bottom lip wobbled. "He's-"

"Boys, I think you can find something else to talk about," Ethan snappily intercepted.

His eyes had gone cold, and the blood had drained from his hands from how hard he was clenching them. I looked at him with furrowed brows, as he angrily shoved his keys in to start the car up.

As we started to drive, the boys went straight back to mindlessly chatting while Ethan and I just sat in silence. It was blatantly obvious, that Ethan didn't want to hear any talk about his Dad. Come to think of it, I've never heard Ethan mention a single word about his Dad. It was like he didn't even exist, as I'd never even come close to seeing him in person. The only photo of him in their house was the one on Ethan's bed stand, and it looked like it was taken years ago. I couldn't shake the thought that maybe he was dead. It would make sense.

If he was dead, what kind of terrible friend would that make me? I didn't even know who my best friend's Dad was. I glanced over at Ethan in worry. I was relieved to see he looked a lot calmer now, and had one arm reclined out on the armrest, and another on the steering wheel. I desperately wanted to know what had happened, but it would just be nosy and selfish of me to ask. If he wanted me to know, he would just tell me.

Ethan cleared his throat before taking his eyes off the road briefly to look my way. "Mia, I get it. I'm hot, but would you mind taking a break from staring at me, it's kind of creeping me out," Ethan bluntly remarked.

I scoffed at him. "Actually, your face was just so distractingly ugly, that I couldn't look away," I spat.

He just smirked as I said that. "We both know that's not true," he confidently stated.

I didn't even bother to grace him with a response, and just rolled my eyes. "You know, you roll your eyes a lot," he chuckled.

"No, I don't," I snapped defensively.

"Yes, you do," he sang back annoyingly.

"I can see how hard you are trying not to roll your eyes, this very second." he laughed.

"Yeah, Okay. Whatever. Maybe you have a point," I sighed in defeat.

We continued to bicker for a while until he finally pulled into his driveway.

Ethan helped the boys out of the car, and we all walked them over to the front door. As soon as he had unlocked the house door, Dylan and Damien ran up the stairs like their life depended on it.

From how fast they were running you'd assume there about to go bungee jumping not swimming.

Ethan's mother emerged from the living room and smiled once she saw me. "Oh, hey, Mia. It's lovely to see you again. Come to play judo, again?" She joked.

Oh, not this again...

She was about to say something else but then paused, as she surveyed my clothes. "Why are you wet sweetie?" she asked in confusion.

I let out a heavy sigh. "I-"

"She wanted to go swim with the ducks, so she jumped in the lake," Ethan interrupted.

I shot him a glare before turning back to face his mum. "He's lying, my 6-year old cousin, pushed me in," I explained. "I brought him over, I hope that's alright. He kind of wanted to use your pool." I mumbled awkwardly. It only just dawned on me that it was a bit bold of me to assume she was okay to have him over.

"Yeah, of course. I'm sure Dylan would love to have someone to play with. I'll keep an eye on him for you," she smiled. I kind of felt bad for her, as she had no idea what kind of monster I had just let inside her home.

"Also, Mia, you can borrow some of my clothes if you want," she said, as she gestured to my wet clothes. I was just about to accept her kind offer, when Ethan rudely interrupted me, yet again.

"No, she's wearing my clothes," Ethan snapped, as he gave his mother a funny look. She smiled wildly and seemed to get whatever he was silently communicating.

"Yeah, Ethan's right, it's probably best you borrow something off him," she chuckled.

Well, okay then, that was weird...

I followed Ethan to his room and awkwardly waited by the door as he rummaged around in his closet, to find me something to wear.

"I'm surprised you have any clothes left, considering the number of items I've stolen from you," I snorted.

"I don't mind," he shrugged as he chucked me one of his t-shirts form his drawers. I caught it and then looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I need bottoms too, Ethan," I sighed.

"You do?" He smirked.

"Yes," I snapped impatiently. He just chuckled as he opened up another drawer and threw me some joggers.

Ethan then plopped down into his desk chair, put his arms behind, his head, and looked up at me expectantly. "So, are you going to strip, or what?" he smirked.

I gasped. "What the fuck? I never said you could watch, you pervert," I yelled.

He didn't even blink an eye at my insult. "I wouldn't exactly call myself a pervert. I prefer the word opportunist," he shrugged, as he kept his butt firmly planted in the chair.

"Well this isn't an opportunity, so get out, Ethan," I yelled, as I pointed at the door. He was truly fucking crazy if he thought I was changing in front of him.

He let out a dramatic groan before rising to his feet. "You're so mean to me," he grumbled.

As he walked past me, he stopped and gave me a slow once over. "It's fine, I'll see it all one day," he smirked before confidently walking out of the room.

As shameful as it was to admit, his words made my heart rate quicken as a part of me hoped that what he said was true.

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