Reality

Chapter 21

I turn around, and I hate that I'm already too excited to see him.

"Who is that?" Will asks me.

I ignore his question as Ethan walks up to me, and I can't fight the urge to meet him in the middle.

I am about to walk to him but Will holds me back.

I look up at him. "What?" I ask, not seeing a problem.

Will grips my arm tighter, but doesn't look at me or respond. He just studies Ethan with narrowed eyes.

"He looks drunk," Will says slowly.

Ethan is walking towards us like a zombie.

I shake my head in disbelief. "No. He's not drunk.. Ethan wouldn't.."

But somewhere in my head, I was asking myself if I really knew who Ethan Chase was. These last days with him, it seems like a different person.

My thoughts immediately stop when Ethan is in front me, his jaw set and his blue eyes dark, like the bottom of the ocean.

If he weren't so handsome I'd be scared.

"Who is he?" Ethan asks me, referring to Will, but never taking his gaze of off me.

He doesn't smell like alcohol, but he doesn't look right.

I shake my head. "Ethan you need to get home-"

"So you found a new boyfriend? Replaced me that fast?" Ethan asks me.

I bite my lip. "He's not my boyfriend."

Then I realize that Ethan is being completely unfair with me.

"What would it matter to you? If he were or not?" I'm angry now. "It's not like you ever asked me to be your- your girlfriend."

"Cath..." Will calls nervously.

"I thought the kiss... Our kiss, meant something to you," Ethan whispers, running his thumb over the scar on my cheek.

It did, My heart told him. It meant everything to me.

But not to him.

"Don't," I whisper, removing Ethan's hand from my face. "The kiss wasn't supposed to happen," I quote him.

Ethan takes a step back and runs his hands down his face. "You don't understand," he says through gritted teeth.

"You're right," I say, nodding my head, the anger leaving my body in uneven breaths. "I don't understand."

Ethan sighs. "Me neither."

I look at Will.

I have never seen anyone look so awkward in my life before. He was trying hard to focus on something else, rocking his heels back and forth.

"Why couldn't you just explain to me? What it was I did wrong?" I whisper, my eyes closed in an attempt not to cry.

Stupid, stupid Cathy. You knew this from the beginning.

Ethan walks up to me and grabs my hand.

I want so badly to let him, but my pride doesn't let me, and I pull away.

"Uh," Will says awkwardly. "Should I... Uh, go now?"

I stare at him.

"I'll just go," He says, already walking back towards the house.

Ethan nods towards the swing set, and we sit down.

"You did nothing wrong," He says quietly, his soft lips barely moving.

I look up at the stars. Then I remember what he told me about the stars and desperately try to look somewhere else.

"Catherine, this is," he takes a deep breath. "I wish..."

He runs his hand through his blond curls.

Silence.

Silence.

More silence.

"What? Jesus, Ethan. Speak."

"It's a really long story," he says.

"I'm already here," I say simply, rolling my eyes. "And I deserve and explanation, at least."

Ethan sighs.

"That day, at my house? The day of the party, where you stepped in the-" He begins.

"Moving on," I say.

Ethan nods. "Long before you and Carly arrived, Zach and I were playing a stupid game of truth or dare. Zach saw you coming, and saw what happened to your, um, shoe and he was drunk."

Please tell me this isn't going where I think it's going. God, no, no, no.

Ethan inhales. "He dared me to flirt with you," he closes his eyes and tilts his head back, covering his face with his hands. "To get you to fall in love. If I kissed you... I'd win."

He Looks me right in the eye, tears welling up in his. "I didn't know you..." his voice breaks.

A sob escapes my throat. "You used me..."

I stand up desperately and attempt to run away, but Ethan grabs my arm with one hand and wraps his other around my waist, pulling me towards him.

"I didn't... I didn't know you. I didn't know I could love someone like this," he whispers. He's so close I can feel his breathing, his strong chest rising and falling, his nose touches mine.

I shake my head, and try to loosen his grip on me, but in return he strengthens it.

"Ethan stop," I warn.

He shakes his head. "I need to do this."

He kisses me.

"Stop," I sob, struggling to get away from him.

He kisses me with more force now.

If I don't stop him now, I'll forget everything he did and let him kiss me.

He used me. He agreed to romance me as part of a dare. He doesn't care about me.

But then why is he kissing me?

STOP! My mind tells me. Stop him!

He's too strong, I can't squirm away.

I need to get him to back away, but how? I can't even move.

Think...

So I bite his lip. Hard.

Ethan jumps back, touching his lip. When he brings his hand back, its bleeding.

I stare at him in anger and sadness and pain.

"Don't you ever dare to touch me again." I sob.

I run home.