Hannah's Story

Chapter 20 - The Guys

Another month has flown by, and here is my measly update. I hope you enjoy it. Also, Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans! May we remember to be thankful and to count God's blessings everyday, not just today.

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ETHAN
I was upstairs contemplating whether or not I wanted to go downstairs to witness Hannah and Gabe all cozy at game night when there was a knock at my door.

"Who is it?" I yelled, pausing the video game I was half-heartedly playing.

"Jesse," said the voice on the other side of the door.

"Come in," I replied.

My brother walked into my room with a creepy smile on his face.

"What's with the Joker impression?" I asked.

"Shut up," he said, taking a second to glance in my mirror at his facial expression. "I have a surprise for you," he said, trying not to smile.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Hannah is downstairs and Gabe isn't. He cancelled. I convinced her to stay and be your partner," he said.

I was standing, ready to go downstairs before he finished his sentence. Hannah was just what I needed. Nadia and I had been fighting for the past week. It wasn't over any one thing, but a culmination of events. First, according to her, now that Hannah had someone, I was fixated on her instead of focusing on my relationship with Nadia. Secondly, she claimed I was boring in bed, and that whenever we did try something different, I didn't last long enough. Lastly, she said she didn't want to come to game night on a regular basis anymore. She said it felt juvenile. I, on the other hand, didn't think I talked about Hannah all that much, thought our time in bed was spectacular, and thought her wanting out of game night was hurtful and

We made the decision to take a break from each other over the holidays and reassess our relationship when we returned to school for the spring semester. No matter the outcome, we were roommates until the second week of May.

"You are the best brother a guy could ask for," I said.

"Just remember," he said, "she wants to be your friend, not your girlfriend."

He knew me well. I was going in with a positive attitude. Worst case scenario, we could become better platonic friends. Best case scenario, this could be the spark that ignited round two of our romantic relationship.

I walked downstairs a few moments later to find Hannah sitting on the sofa and talking to my mom.  They were talking about Hannah's brother, Jonah, and how he likes his job at a nearby hotel.  He was a pretty cool kid from what I could tell.  He used to come over all of the time, but had lost interest in game night as he got older.  I guess I couldn't really blame him.  I'm pretty sure my relationship with Hannah was what had kept her interested for so long.  Her friendship with my sisters didn't hurt either, I guess.

"Hi," I said to Hannah as I stood beside where my mom sat. 

"Hey," she said, pushing her hair behind her right ear.  I resisted the urge to give her a once over.  I didn't  want to be that guy.

"Here you go, Sweetie," my mom said, standing up.  "You can sit here.  Hannah and I were just catching up."

"Thanks," I said as I replaced my mother on the sofa. 

As my mom walked toward the kitchen, I turned to Hannah.  "So, my brother tells me we're being partnered up tonight."

"Looks that way," she said, her smile making me feel things in places I probably shouldn't have been thinking about in that moment.