little lies (an e.d. fanfiction)

✭ chapter 25

ethan's pov

i saw the way alex lit up when claire accepted his request to be his partner. i saw alex sit with claire at lunch.

i saw it, and i've seen enough.

i groan out of frustration in the locker room and sit down on the bench, still in my football gear.

"hey bro, you alright?" i look up to see grayson furrowing his eyebrows with sweat glistening on his forehead. practice had just ended.

i shrug and turn around putting in my locker combination. i hear grayson sigh behind me, "hey, i'm sorry me and the guys were being dicks this morning," he pauses for a second, "i know we already asked you, but are you sure you don't wanna go to the party? you know our group isn't complete without you."

i freeze my actions and begin to think. well, claire is hanging out with her friend anyways.

or is she?

what if she lied about a friend even coming to visit so she could hang out with Alex? no no no, i'm overthinking it. claire would never do that to me.

or would she?

after all, she did lie about her age. if she is lying i wouldn't be surprised, compared to her past lie this one seems like nothing.

but what's her reasoning? why would she like alex if she likes me?

or does she?

i could be a part of her plan, her getting a popular senior boy like me for the clout, then possibly getting on good terms with her ex cheer friends because she's with me.

not to sound conceited, but nobody beats me. not even my brother. by her having me as even a friend it automatically boosts her popularity. i'm not dumb.

i turn around to look at grayson, seeing he looks annoyed that it's been taking this long for me to answer.

i crack a smile as i start to think about going to the party. i haven't been to a party in a while, why not let loose?

"yeah, actually i do want to go. the reason i didn't is because claire and i were going to go out but," i clear my throat awkwardly, "she's actually busy," i pause and look up to grayson but immediately a devilish smirk appears on my face, "so, you know what? let's fucking party."

grayson's tense body relaxes as he lets out a smile, "fuck yeah!" he grabs my hand and pulls me up from off of the bench and we do the bro handshake, "now that's my brother."

i smirk and see jack and cameron walk into the locker room with their sweaty hair sticking to their foreheads.

they both pause in place and look at grayson, "he said yes!?" they both say in sync and i let out a chuckle as does grayson.

grayson nods proudly, as if the reason that i'm coming is because of him.

"yep, he's coming alright."

jack hits me on the head, "that's my boy!"

i hear a couple guys break out into laughter listening to our conversation. more than 75 percent of the people in this locker room are going to the party. we're fucking varsity football.

cameron stands up on the bench and dramatically cups his mouth with his hands while yelling, "who's ready to fucking party tomorrow?!"

the entire locker room roars, banging their fists on lockers while yelling loudly.

jack, grayson and i laugh but then join in with the rest of the football teams chaos.

tomorrow should be fun.