Ethan's POV (Bonus Book)

Chapter Thirteen - Ethan's POV

The air felt thick as I stared miserably off at Mia in the distance. 

I had been kidding myself all along of any hope of a future with Mia in it. The only future, that existed was with her and Ben. Perfect, untainted Ben.

 I bet it wouldn't take too long for him to ask her out. Heck, maybe she'd even ask him out first. Then to finish the torture off, they'd make out right in front of my fucking face, just to further dig in my pain. 

To further dig in how many years of my life I've devoted to loving a girl who'd never love me.

Letting out a bitter scoff, I reaffirmed my grip on my cup and took another long swig.

I jumped slightly as a hand placed itself onto my shoulder. "You should forget about her," a voice said smoothly.

Taking my gaze off Mia, I refocused my gaze back onto April. She smiled, her eyes digging into mine almost devilishly. "Mia isn't worth it. She's into someone else. She doesn't care about you."

I visibly flinched, the words 'she doesn't care about you', ripping through me like a painful slice through my skin. 

I stilled as she drew all kinds of weird patterns against my shoulder with the tips of her finger before fixating her gaze on mine. 

"But, it's fine because other people care about you, Ethan. Better people," she whispered as she batted her eyelashes softly.

I watched in confusion as she leaned a little closer. Registering she was trying to invade my personal space, I ripped myself back. Narrowing my eyes, I felt anger wash through me 

"Actually, I think I can decide for myself who's worth it," I spat out harshly. 

 As frustrated as I was with Mia for lying to me about her crush on Ben, that didn't mean I was anywhere near okay with someone disrespecting her. Or, worse, saying she wasn't worth my time. She was always worth my time. 

Always had been, always would be.

April recoiled a little as though I had slapped her, then she blinked her way back into composure. 

She gave me a brief smile. "Yeah, of course, I know that. I didn't mean to upset you. I just wanted to give you some advice, that's all," she shrugged.

"Yeah, well, I'm good," I said sharply, not even caring that I was coming off as rude. 

Seconds of silence went by before April sharply cleared her throat. Smiling, she fiddled with the end of her hair. "So, a couple of us are going to go downstairs in a minute to play some games. Wanna join?" she asked sweetly.

The answer to her question landed on me almost immediately - Fuck no. 

I was just about to answer as such, but then I paused. "Wait, who else are you going to invite?" I asked slowly with narrowed eyes.

"Oh, probably a few girls from the dance team, some football lads, and erm...Ben's group, and Chloe's group and-"

"Chloe's group as in Mia," I interrupted.

 April smiled and nodded her head. I spared a look back at Mia, who was now relaxed back on the sofa with her friends. Making up my mind there and then, I turned back to face April and slowly nodded my head. 

"Okay, sounds like it'll be fun. I'll see you down there," I said with a forced smile. 

"Excellent," she winked. "Why don't you go down and join the others; I'll be back in a minute," she said. Then with a smile, she brushed her way past me to leave, not without providing a weirdly invasive squeeze of my bicep.