Friendly Dating 2 - Ethan

Chapter 39 - It's Almost Weekend

"What happened to your eye, Ethe?" my ever-observant mother asks when I kiss her goodbye. "I don't remember seeing this injury last night."

I hoped to be off to rugby practice long before anybody else was up, but I took too long to leave Kira's room. I couldn't stop looking at her sleep, all innocent and sweet.

Yeah, I'm creepy like that.

Usually, only Mom is up when I get ready to leave. I've told her a million times that I can get my own breakfast; she doesn't have to get up so early to feed me. Day after day, while I'm upstairs getting dressed, she's down here in the kitchen making me something really good to eat - and people wonder why I'm such a Mama's boy!

Sometimes, she'll sit with me, and we'll chat while I eat; sometimes, she kisses me and goes back to bed; other times, like today, she has her coffee outside on the terrace, enjoying the early-morning cool breeze before the day gets hot. Today, she returned from having her coffee just as I put my dishes in the dishwasher after rushing upstairs to brush my teeth and grab my stuff. Dad and Deli joined her for their breakfast as if on cue.

That means that I'm late... really late.

"Did you smack yourself in the face again while you were shadow-boxing in front of the bathroom mirror?" Delia asks, dragging a chair into position so she can take her place at the kitchen table. It's a valid question; I have done that before... a few times...

"It's nothing, Mom," I assure my mother, and I mean it. It's just a scratch and a bruise... it looks worse than it feels and is a bit close to my eye, so it could've been bad, but it's really not. I've had worse just from saying hello to my friends. I don't know why it is being obnoxious, making my cheekbone look like I wrestled a cat... a big one. It doesn't even hurt much.

It's just annoying!

Smiling, I pat my mom on the head to show her how fine I am and am about to scratch her behind the ears and tell her she's a good girl, but she is still frowning at me. Instead, I drop my hand, kiss the top of her head and try to dodge past her to the kitchen door. I groan when my dad steps in my way, looking like he's about to make a puddle on the tile floor. What's wrong with my pets today?!

Maybe I should pat him on the head too... and scratch behind his ears...

"Did I do that?" he asks, looking horrified by the idea, and I'm about to say no when he runs his hand through his neatly combed blond hair, shaking his head. "I thought I saw the door bounce back from something last night when I ran up the stairs and pushed it open, but it was too dark to be sure. I'm so sorry, Ethe; I thought I'd imagined it. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it wasn't you. Besides, it's nothing! It's less than nothing." How is he even jumping to that correct conclusion so fast? Probably because he always assumes everything bad is his fault.

"Don't say it's nothing; it is really swollen!"

"It will be down by lunchtime," I grumble, starting to get irritated now. "Besides, it wasn't you who did it... it was the door... because it was being a little bitch... and got in my way."

"Ethan..."

"Seriously, Dad, I'm going to be late, and then Coach will make me run laps again... that will be worse than this little scratch," I tell him in all sincerity because it's true, and I really don't want to get into any discussions with my dad this morning. I can see that he feels bad about last night. He'll apologise for all the wrong things, and then we'll end up fighting again about the things he didn't apologise for. Things like wanting to send me to Hummelton.

This scratch is nothing; sending me to Hummelton is everything.

"I'll drop you off," he says decisively, aiming for the hook on the wall that holds his car keys and with an irritated grunt, I try to reach the door again. I don't want him to drop me off. I'll be trapped in the car for a full three minutes and 12 seconds while he goes on and on and on about Hummelton University.