the bet // e.g.d

5

Same night
{Ethan's P.O.V.}

9:39 pm

Mia is hesitant to take hold of my hand, keeping herself distant from me.

She folds her arms and looks away from me, seeming to debate whether or not she should trust me.

"Mia, I'm not going to hurt you." I say softly with a chuckle. Rolling her eyes, she reluctantly grabs my hand and follows behind me as I lead us onto a trail.

Grayson and I used to hike through these woods when we first moved to L.A. After a few months of walking the same trails, we decided to thoroughly explore them, trying to find unique spots hidden behind the trees.

To our surprise, after hours of walking, we came across a clearing within the trees. In the middle of that clearing was a small pond.

Grayson doesn't come out here much anymore, but some days I'll take a visit to swim or read a book. It's an easy escape from all the stressors of everyday life.

I hear a small gasp leave Mia's mouth as we push through the last tree, revealing the pond and large landscape.

She let's go of my hand and walks forward. A small breeze brushes through her hair. "It's beautiful." She mumbles, looking back at me with stars in her eyes.

I smirk and begin taking off my shirt, causing a puzzled look to appear on her face.

"What're you doing?" She asks, sounding disgusted by my actions.

"Uh, going swimming?" I begin slipping off my pants and watch as her eyes trail down my body before she quickly looks away.

I can tell she's debating on what to do.

"Turn around." She demands, pulling the hem of her shirt upwards.

"Yes ma'am." I wink at her and she rolls eyes eyes, waiting for me to face the other direction before completely taking off the article of clothing.

I hear her shuffle as she takes a leg out of her jeans, a long sigh leaving her mouth as she does so.

Once it sounds like she's ready I turn around to face her. Immediately, she covers up her body. "Ethan!" She shrieks, sounding a bit hostile.

"Oh come on, it's like you're wearing a bikini." I roll my eyes and walk closer to her, a small blush appears on her face.

"Can you just, turn around as I get into the water?" She mumbles.

I furrow my eyebrows together, trying to figure out why this is such a big deal to her. 

I look down towards her lower half, noticing her lacy panties. I bite my lip and look back up at her with a smirk on my face. "You're totally wearing a thong, aren't you?"

The blush in her cheeks deepens as a laugh escapes my mouth.

"God, Ethan, do you have to be such a douchebag all the time?" She huffs and grabs her clothes from the ground, turning herself back towards the trees.

"Mia, stop." I say, grabbing hold of her wrist.

"Just let go of me!" She tries to pull herself out of my grasp, only making me hold on even tighter.

"Why can't you give me a chance?" I yell, startling her. I can see the fear in her eyes and a piece of me almost finds joy in it.

"Ethan, my wrist." She whimpers softly.

I roll my eyes and let go. She takes a few steps back from me before disappearing behind the trees.

{Mia's P.O.V.}

10:01 pm

I can still feel his fingers digging into my skin as I dart through trees, trying to find my way back to his car.

"Mia!" He calls out to me. I ignore him and bite my lip, trying to keep from crying.

Despite everything inside of me that kept telling me not to, I gave him a fucking chance. And now here we are.

I stop and quickly pull on my pants. My wrist feels like it's throbbing. I look down and see that a purple bruise had begun to form.

He left a bruise on my wrist. He's fucking crazy.

Wednesday, August 29th

10:26 am

"Mia wake up, you're going to be late to class." Jazmin says, pushing on my shoulder.

"I'm not going to class today." I keep my eyes closed and try to push her away from the side of my bed.

Jazmin sits down and giggles. "Rough date night?"

I sigh and lift my head up, peeling the covers off of my body. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

Her eyes widen before she grabs hold of my wrist, causing a loud gasp to escape from my lips. "Did he do this to you? I'll kill him!"

I pull my wrist away from her and rub it lightly. "It's fine, really it's not that big of a deal."

"Mia, did he put his hands on you?" She asks through her teeth.

I shrug and get up from the bed. "He just grabbed me, that's it."

"That's it? Mia! He can't just grab you like that, that bruise is deep." She gets angry and picks herself up from my bed, pacing back and forth.

"God, this is all my fault." My head snaps up towards her. She looks like she's about to cry.

"Jazmin, this is not your fault." A small laugh leaves my mouth as I wrap my arms around her. "Don't be ridiculous."

She nods and pulls away from me. "We can't just let him get away with this. I'm going to do something about it." She begins opening the door before I grab her arm, stopping her from leaving.

"Jazmin, seriously, let's not make a big deal out of this. Please?" I know she's just looking out for me, but the last thing I need right now is drama.

It was just a small argument. That's all.

{Ethan's P.O.V.}

10:41 am

"You grabbed her? How hard?" Grayson yells, running his hands through his hair. "I swear to God Ethan, this bet is changing you."

I roll my eyes as I place my textbooks into my bag.

She's fine. She waited for me at my car, told me to take her home, and I did. That was it.

"I'm not changing Grayson. I love you and all, but you're delusional." I shake my head and swing my bag over my shoulder.

I begin to open my bedroom door before Grayson slams a hand against my chest, stopping me from going any further.

"I'm tired of this shit. Call off the bet, Ethan." His voice raises, turning heads from guys walking in the hallways. I chuckle and shrug my shoulders.

"No, Grayson!" I reply, raising my voice back at him. "I'm not losing this fucking bet, I'm not calling it off and you're going to have to deal with it." I jab a finger into his chest, pushing him back a little.

"You're not my brother." He shakes his head and pushes past me, almost knocking me to the floor with his shoulder.

"Fuck you!" I yell down the hall at him and turn back into my room, slamming the door behind me.