Chapter 8 - Heartbeat

This I Promise You - N-Synch

I could hear light snoring.

And for once I didn't get annoyed.

I just breathed in, closed my eyes and relaxed into the fold of Ethan's arm. That arm was supporting my head while the other was wrapped ever so gingerly around my waistline.

His chin would rub every once in a while against the top of my head; making me growl in irritation but I ignored it.

The sun started poking through the barley closed blinds in Ethan's silent room after another eventful night of tomfoolery, fighting, kissing, more fighting and more kissing.

It had been a couple of days since we got together; meaning a couple of days since that night at the carnival and things were going very good.

"Morning."

A small smiled etched its shape onto my lips at the sound of his groggy voice, "How did you know I wasn't sleeping?" I asked, since my face was buried into his arm and his head was higher than mine.

"I know how you breathe when you sleep."

"That's kind of creepy." I muttered.

He responded with a growl and a harsh tug that brought my face parallel to his. I rolled over so we could face one another. His cloudy eyes, still overtaken by sleep gazed into mines and I felt so many emotions. Happiness, Peace, Possible love but most of all...Comfort.

"You're thinking."

I blinked my way out of my thoughts and refocused on him and answered with a simple nod of my head.

He raised both his eyebrows, "About...?"

I shrugged, "Just us. How are we just noticing we liked one another?"

"I guess me being stupid and you being in denial kind of clouded things."

I agreed with the stupid part, "Who said I was in denial?"

"Dude, I had to convince you to just go on a date with me because you were afraid you would feel something."

"I never said any of that."

He shrugged, "You didn't have to, I know you."

I gave him one longer look before sitting up in the bed, making sure to keep the covers tied securely around my waist. Ethan followed me and sat up right beside me. I couldn't help but scan the floor of his room.

Russo was basically lying on top of Jake in the corner near Ethan's closet and Jake's hand was tightly secured around him.

Ethan snickered, "Five bucks they're next."

"I would make that bet but Jake's too cookie crazy and Lee's too..."

"Asian?"

I rolled my eyes and started to come off of the bed but Ethan's hand latched under my arm and pulled me back to him.

"Ethan." I warned and he grumbled in defiance.

"It's Saturday, Spencer and its morning."

"That's kind of the point of getting up."

He shook his head and buried it into my shoulder blade, "We're teenagers, morning means sleep. Cuddle with me."

I rolled my eyes, "Go back to sleep." I muttered and pushed him backwards on the bed.

He grumbled something and slid his way back up to the bed head and eyed me as I took my shirt off of the floor and put it on.

"Are you going to make me breakfast?" I threw him a look that made him sink into the bed and pull the cover over his head.

I walked out of the room, down the hall and into the kitchen where Mr. and Mrs. Littman sat in their usual spots at the kitchen table.

Mr. Littman stopped shuffling through the paper and eyes my attire, "Another good night I see." Mrs. Littman giggled but kept her eyes firmly attached to the woman's health magazine that sat on the table with a piping hot cup of coffee firmly seated next to it.

"We did nothing of the sort." I answered back. I must have been blushing at least a little because the patriarch eyes filled with skepticism. He peered over to his spouse, "You owe me fifty."

She retracted her eyes from the booklet to return the eye glance to her husband, "Damn it," she muttered and grabbed her purse that sat on the floor next to the foot of her chair.

I narrowed my eyes, "What did you guys bet?"

Mrs. Littman grumbled and smacked the money into his hands. The happier parental figure met my eyes again, "We bet how long it would take for Ethan to get you to do it."

My eyes gaped, "What." I mumbled.

"Gregory!" Mrs. Littman scolded, "He's a big boy. He knows terms." Her eyes softly rested on me, "We had a friendly wager to see how long it would take for Ethan and you to confirm your love through sexual intercourse."

I blinked. "Ethan and I haven't done anything, yet."

She blinked, "really."

I nodded, "Really."

Mr. Littman grumbled, "Really?"

"Really." I repeated.

"Ha!" she shouted and held out her hands. Her husband growled and dug back into his pocket, yanked out the fifty and smacked it back into the hands of his happy wife.

"You two bet on if me and Ethan would have sex or not?"

The both of them looked at me and then at one another, "No." they chuckled in unity.

"We made a friendly wager is all."

"Unbelievable." I muttered.

"Morning all!" Ethan shouted, entering the kitchen with a topless Jake and Russo not far behind him.

The parents smiled and patted the seats next to them. Ethan came over and grabbed me by the waist and before I could protest I was already securely seated in his lap at the table. He rested his head flat against my back and wrapped his hands around my stomach for support.

I would have protested of it didn't feel so natural. My liking it didn't stop me from getting embarrassed when Mrs. Littman squealed at the sight. Jake and Russo were singing that stupid song again and Mr. Littman just went back to reading his newspaper again.

Not long after, things quieted down and went right back to normal again. The four of us spent the day playing videos games in Ethan's room that was starting to smell. But it was expected. These three boys wouldn't know hygiene if it kneed them square in the nuts.

After about five hours of playing gory games, I got tired and bored, unlike the others whose faces were firmly planted onto the television screen.

I sighed and earned sharp look from Jake, "That is the fourth time in the pass thirty seconds you huffed, Spence."

Russo peaked over, "Yeah," his eyes turned back to the screen, "Is there something on your mind?"

"I'm tired of sitting around and playing video games."

"Dude," Jake snorted, "It's only been, like, five hours."

"Yes, and if I stare at any more blood and zombie guts I'll be having nightmares of a reanimated Milla Jovich."

He snorted again, "You say that like it's a bad thing." It got silent and then a wave of realization hit his eyes, "Oh, yeah, right." he mumbled, whispering something to himself and continued to focus on the game.

After that I things go quiet. I huffed and looked over to Ethan. His tongue was half way out of his mouth and his hands moved at light speed, tapping all the right buttons on the controller without looking down once. I was waiting for him to say something along the line of 'Hey, let's go do something if you're bored' but then I remembered, this is what we did all the time to fight our boredom.

I guess spending time outside with Ethan made being cramped inside a room with smelly guys a lot less tantalizing that it previously was.

"I'm going to go." I mumbled and all I got was muffled responses and stiff head nods. All three of their eyes were still glued to the screen.

I waited a moment to see if anyone would have the decency to at least say 'bye' appropriately but I guess that was too much to ask for from these three idiots.

Silently, I stood up, grabbed my jacket and exited the room as inconspicuously as possible. Not that it mattered anyway. They were all so into the game that an earthquake could storm through this town, kill everyone and they wouldn't take notice if the game wasn't paused.

I shuffled pass the Littman parentals and jumped into my car, threw my phone into the passenger seat and took off down the road.

Half way back to my place my phone rang and Ethan's face flashed a crossed the screen. I was driving so I just allowed it to ring until I came to a red light when I picked it up and answered.

"Is there a problem?" I asked a bit bitter.

Ethan must have picked up on it because there was a weird, awkward pause. "Did...I do something?"

I sighed. He sounded so confused and I didn't have any right to be angry. "No, I just needed to get out is all."

"Why didn't you ask me to come with you?"

"I didn't want to take you from Jake and Russ."

He chuckled softly, "Dude, I see these two idiots all the time; and, to be quietly honest, I like spending time with you more."

I bit my lip to suppress a smile just as the light turned green. "Really?" The car behind me honked noisily but I blew him off.

"Yes, Spencer so how about we have a little date." he requested.

I smiled, "Sure." The car honked again, I stuck my hand out and told him to go around but all he did was blow his horn again so I just ignored him.

"Okay I'll be there in a bit."

"I'm not home." the car honked again. "That's it." I mumbled.

I stuck my head out of the window and was about to scream at the driver but the car was all too familiar. "Ethan?!" I yelled out of my window, got back into the car and opened the door.

Ethan followed, stepping out of his car with a grin from ear to ear.

He started walking over gradually with a smile dead set on his face, "So," he said into his receiver, "What kind of date did you have in mind?"

I kept my eyes on him and started walking over to him at the same slow pace, "I don't know; something fun?" i suggested, playing along by keeping the phone to my ear even though we were in hearing distance.

He placed his hand on his chin, "How about something wet?"

We finally met at the hood of his car and the rear of mine, "What do you mean by 'wet'?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

He looked right and my eyes followed him. I almost forgot that alongside the road that lead to Ethan's neighborhood that there was a shore.

"How about -," I stopped and hung up the phone and looked at him, "How about no since I don't have any swimming attire."

"You wearing boxers?"

"Standard English, please and yes, a pair of yours." I narrowed my eyes, "Why?"

He had this mischievous spark in his eyes that was near hard to read; and, I would have not known what he was planning if they didn't have the clear ocean behind us swimming in them.

But knowing simply wasn't enough. I tried to warn him before he could do anything but the moment my mouth started to open; he took that as his cue to dash forward and throw me over his shoulder.

The sudden upward jerk made me mistakenly drop my phone and I watched, in horror, as it crashed onto the pavement and splitting into several different pieces.

"Ethan, you dick stick!" I yelled, "That phone was worth half of your body!"

He didn't respond verbally. He didn't have to.

His shoulders' constant jerking made it clear that he was chuckling at my dismay and anger. That just made me angrier.

He walked, then started to jog then full on ran to the shores, slowing down once he hit the sand and then collapsing into the sea with me still tangled up in his vice grip.

The water was shallow but that didn't stop it from engulfing me and because I was yelling profanities at him the entire way to the sea, I didn't have time to close my mouth once my back smacked the blue waters. That led to me reluctantly tasting the salty water and nearly choking.

I kept my eyes closed and ascended from under the water, gasping for air and rubbing my eyes that stung of sea water.

Close by, I heard rush of water and a huge gasp for air followed by a vile cackle that only could have come from one source.

"You should have seen your face, dude!" My eyes were finally clearly up, at least enough for me to glare at Ethan. He was holding his stomach and laughing, nearly choking at one point.

All I saw was red. "Ethan!"

He jumped at the sound of the anger that jelled with his name. He looked over, read my expression, and then folded back.

"You broke my phone, ruined my clothes, my watch, my shoes and I have to sit in my car wet." I paused with a growl, "Wet. On leather." I hissed.

He jumped again and recoiled. "Sor-"

"Don't" I barked immediately, stopping him in his tracks. I blew out hot air, "Don't say sorry."

He was about to say it again but read my tempting expression. His eyes drifted to the sea and the atmosphere noticeably changed.

The smell of fish stuck but the emotional weather swiftly raged from wrath to awkward sadness. None of us spoke.

I sighed. Maybe I was blowing things out of proportion. "It's okay."

His eyes drifted up at the sound of my voice; and they held a glimmer of hope. "What did you say?"

I rolled my eyes and folded my arms a crossed my chest, "I said, I forgive you." That glimmer of hope that sat in his eyes shifted to full on glee and he surged as fast as the water would let him in my direction.

"Woah, Woah, big guy." I warned but with a no sense of anger; in fact, I chuckled a bit while holding out my hands.

He grinned and came closer, moving my arms and wrapped them around him. We stumbled back a bit at the force of his weight pushing forward onto my body but caught ourselves before we dove in.

Ethan bent his head down and rested his chin on my shoulder, "Sorry." He whispered and snuggled into the crook of my neck.

I patted his back, "It's okay you big moron."

I couldn't see it but I knew he was smiling. I could just sense it.

He pulled back, and looked at me with that same mischievous glint earlier, only this time; this one was much softer. "Do you want to do something stupid?"

I blinked. "No."

His smile didn't falter. He was already accustomed to that response. "Do you want to watch me do something stupid?"

I smirked, "Now you're talking."

He snickered, grabbed me by the wrist and led me out of the water to our cars. I hesitated to get into mine because the water would for sure damage the leather seats. "This car is way too expensive to mess up, E."

He looked over from his car and thought for a second before a wave of realization crashed into his eyes; he went into his back trunk and took out a beach towel and wrapped my seat with it. "Try to sit forward."

I nodded and got in.

Ethan went around me in his car, ignoring the fact that the light was currently red and started down the road. I rolled my eyes and apprehensively followed.

We had been driving for an hour and a half before I with reason, started to become annoyed.

I had a mind to call him and ask him where the hell he was taking us but my better judgment told me that was a bad idea. Ethan could barely stand, let alone drive and talk all at once; so I decided to remain seated quietly and bake in silent aggravation; making sure to keep behind him.

After an hour, we had finally arrived to where he supposedly was going. Mercy Street. Better known as Biker South.

As the name implied, it sat in the south of the town and had quite the reputation. Supposedly, Biker South was the night life of town and according to news reports, most violence took place on this long road that was lined with bars, strip clubs, sex stores, a concert hall, clubs and, you guessed it, bikers. Hardly the place for minors.

However, according to Ethan, Jake and Russo, who were frequent Friday night visitors, the strip didn't quite live up to all the hype and fear that had become synonymous with it's nickname.

I begged to differ, the scent of alcohol, most brazenly whisky, was so strong that I could smell it from my seat. The hoots of men and women silenced my radio; and, yes, you guessed it, bikers were in front of some of the bars.

I was getting anxious. Here I was, some little teenage boy from north of this town, in a pricey vehicle strolling down this road that was laced with thugs, thieves and potential murderers. Nervous wasn't the word. I was slightly terrified.

Ethan didn't feel that way. His car horn blared almost every minute up until the half way point of the street with strange looking characters waving at him. I, however, was met with weird looks and narrowed, confused glances.

Ethan finally came to a stop and pulled into a parking lot. I quickly followed him in and parked alongside him.

We both stepped out under the florescent lighting via street light that just turned on. The sun was sinking quickly and though it was still visible in the sky, it didn't do much in brightening up the area. It had that tinge of orange it does when it starts to disappear from the skies.

"Hey." Ethan said, snapping me back to reality. He smiled, "Pay attention."

I rolled my eyes and looked at the two story red and white concrete building that say to the left of the parking lot. "So, what is..." I squinted my eyes to see the sign clearer, "...Pablo's Parlor?"

Ethan smirked and grabbed me by the wrist again, "You'll see."

I yelped at the sudden tug but let him drag me inside. He opened the door and waved, "Hey guys!"

Everyone seemed to look up and greet him with hoots, waves and friendly grumbles. Some eyes landed on me but I chose to ignore them. I didn't want to keep eye contact, I didn't know if meant they were challenging me to a fight or something.

Man I was prejudice tonight.

Ethan led me pass them and down the hall from the main room to another room that had no door.

A male, bareback and tattooed from head to toe looked over and smiled wildly when he saw Ethan.

"Senor, Ethan! Como estas!"

Ethan jogged over and gave him a man hug with a pat on the back, "bueno bueno."

"That's good, man." 'Pablo's' eyes traveled from Ethan to me and back again. He said something in Spanish that Ethan surprisingly understood.

Ethan looked back at me, smiled and pointed his head in Pablo's' direction, as if to usher me over. I wanted to tell him not to summon me but this Pablo guy looked like a killer so I obeyed and shuffled over.

Ethan held out his hand for me and after a split second of thought, I placed mine into his.

Pablo's eyes drifted down to it and came back up to meet Ethan's. "So, he's the one you're doing this for?"

Ethan nodded excitedly. Pablo looked back over to me, inspecting me from head to toe and back again. Making me uncomfortable in the process. "Ah, he seems sweet and genuine, he's a keeper."

"I know." Ethan said cockily with a smirk. Pablo smiled a bit and instructed Ethan to sit in the chair that was behind him. I was getting nervous. What was this idiot up to now?

Ethan sighed exasperatingly and covered his face with his hands. Pablo went over to some draw and pulled out a needle machine and like cold water in the morning, it hit me.

My eyes, for the first time since I walked in scanned the walls. They we're all pictures of people being tattooed and designs of tattoos.

My eyes widened and I stormed over to Ethan. He removed his eyes and raised an eyebrow, "Is there something wrong?"

"You're damn right there is!" I shouted, "You are not about to get a tattoo!" Out of all the stupid things this kid could do he does this?

He didn't look fazed at all. He wore a steady smirk and took one of my hands. "Babe, calm down."