Friendly Dating 2 - Ethan

Chapter 25 - Long-Term Plans

"So, Kicks, is it okay if we go to the mudflats tomorrow after lunch?" I ask, switching on the dishwasher and turning to face her when she joins me at the counter. "If we go before lunch, we'll have to hurry back, and I'll get hungry, and you know what that will be like."

"Yup," she says, grinning at me, and I know she's about to tease me. I wonder if Kira realises how much she loves teasing me. She thinks I'm the one always messing with her (and she's right), but she gives me some serious competition in that regard. "You turn into a whiny baby when you're hungry." 

"Hey!" I exclaim, snapping a tea towel at her, but she expertly evades it and dances away to fetch two mugs from a cabinet. So, she's not having coffee with us. Yeah, I'm disappointed but not surprised, I saw her suppressing yawns during most of dinner, and she grew quieter and quieter as time passed. Kicks is tired. "Well... exactly," I admit, adding water to the coffee maker. "I'm no fun when I'm hungry."

"I'm helping your mom make lunch anyway," she shrugs, handing me the bag of ground coffee. "Look, Ethy, if you'd rather not, you don't have to go to the mud fl-."

"What?!"

Is she saying that because she thinks I don't want to go, or does she not want me with her and is trying to call off our deal? After adding coffee to the machine, I close the bag and turn to frown at her, where she's leaning up against the counter near me, chewing on her bottom lip, looking uncertain. She seriously shouldn't do things that draw my attention to her lips; my brain instantly stops working, and memories of our first kiss try to murder me. How am I supposed to remember what I'm talking about under such cruel circumstances?

"I really want to..." My voice broke when I was about 13 years old; I have no idea what it is trying to do now, going all hoarse and high like that. I clear my throat in the most manly way I can manage and try again, forcing it a couple of registers lower, ignoring the amused giggle bubbling from Kira, making my ears very happy, and the soft snorting sound coming from her father. "I'm looking forward to going with you. It will be fun."

"No, it won't," she assures me, and I give her a look because she deserves one. Isn't our outing tomorrow supposed to be fun?

"It won't?"

"Nope, no fun allowed at all," she assures me with eyes narrowed in warning, making me chuckle. Just what is it she thinks I'll try to get up to? Oh, wait... she knows me... "It's going to be purely educational, Ethy."

"Sure, I could educate you on some fun things... like how to take cool pictures of mud and water," I hurry to add when Kira huffs and Uncle Joe pauses in cleaning the table to cock his head, blinking at me. "Will you people get your minds out of the gutter? I am an upstanding member of society!"

"Society of primates, yes," Kira agrees, crossing her arms and pulling a face at me while her father chuckles, happy to hear his feisty daughter put me in my place. I cannot think of even one comeback that will not land me in some kind of trouble and have Uncle Joe giving me his version of the castration speech, and he has some gnarly equipment with which he could perform the procedure himself if he wants to. For safety reasons, I just let my responses run freely in my mind, silently grinning at Kira.

Are you inviting me for some monkey business, Kicks?

I'll monkey around with you anytime.

And my all-time favourite!

"How about I be Tarzan to your Jane and sweep you off to my tree house? Together we can rule over the jungle.

"Oh, shush," Kira says, making me wonder if I said any of those aloud. I quickly glance at Uncle Joe to see if he heard it too, but he is calmly hanging up the cloth he'd used to wipe the kitchen table. Kira does sometimes have a weird way of reading my mind, and right now, she is blushing prettily, a slight smile playing on her lips.