“Stop. Please,” I gasped for air, crumbling to the floor with my heart beating fast.
Keith halted at the top of the stairs and laughed at me.
“Man, am I out of shape,” I grumbled.
It was a quiet Sunday with practically no one in the mansion. Mr. and Mrs. Jenson had gone on a little picnic and Olivia was sleeping because she was too tired from studying already on the second day.
Ethan surprisingly took a holiday today for the first time since I had been here. He was bugging me all morning because he thought I was avoiding him by not letting him in my room but in reality I was just taking my classes. After about ten minutes of him constantly whining, I finally stopped answering him. He left fifteen minutes after that.
There were only three people at lunch, Ethan, Olivia and I. Of course he demanded what I was doing in my room all morning but I just gave an excuse that I was sleeping as I was tired.
After lunch, I quickly put my dishes in the sink and with a quick goodbye to Keith, I bounded up the stairs because I knew what Ethan was up to.
As soon as I had emerged out of the kitchen, Ethan who had finished his lunch way before I did and was patiently waiting for me to finish, got up and ran after me. I already had an inkling of his little plan and was quick to react. He had chased me all the way to my room where I slammed the door on his face and I think he broke his nose. Oh, well he should’ve just left me alone.
I didn’t know what he wanted from me but once in a while he came up to to my room door and suggested for us to go somewhere to which I sometimes replied with “go with Heather” or ignored him all together.
After my classes were over after four, I had nothing to do so I had asked Keith if he was free which he was so I had invited him to watch movies with me in my room.
My phone’s battery was about to die out so I had asked Keith if he could hand me the charger from one of the drawers on his side of the bed.
What I forgot was that was where I had hidden my old phone. So he questioned about it and I kind of leapt on him to get it but he was faster and wouldn’t give it to me unless I’d tell him why I had an old phone with a cracked screen.
So that began our little game where I chased him throughout the mansion to retrieve my phone from him. We had been at it for about ten minutes before I finally stopped to catch my breath.
“You okay?” Keith asked, looking as if he was going to burst out laughing again at my misery.
“Give me my phone, Keith,” I demanded in the most stern voice I had.
“Or what? Why would a girl like you have this old phone which I’m positive you would never use?”
“I don’t have to answer to you,” I said, slowly approaching him as he examined the phone which gave me the opportunity to gain a little on him.
“Don’t switch it on!” I exclaimed as I saw he was about to.
Keith scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, seemingly unaware of how close I was getting to him.
“What’s the big deal?” He asked.
Although my phone was password protected, I couldn’t afford him seeing my lock screen. It wasn’t much, just a picture of Olivia and I outside my college. She had come to get me for work one day.
Keith knowing this phone existed was a big enough risk. He looked back down and was about to press the button for it to switch on but I quickly pounced on him.
He shrieked and lost his footing. We both fell down with me being lucky enough to have a soft landing on Keith. My phone slipped from his hand and I quickly reached out for it while still being on top of him.
I heard a door open before an angry voice snarled at us. “What the hell is going on here?”
Ethan towered over us and I quickly slipped my phone into my jeans pocket.
Realizing what he was referring to, I looked down to see I was still on top of Keith and somehow his hands were lightly resting on my waist. Oh, how awkward.
I scrambled to get up and I felt Ethan lift me up and put me down on my feet. Keith got up too and brushed away the imaginary dirt from his apron.
“Sorry,” he said, not knowing what else to say to Ethan when he was clearly drilling holes into his head. “I’ll see you later, Juliet,” he said to me.
“How about you never see her again and only do what you’re paid for?” Ethan snapped at him.
“Ethan!” I hit his chest. I turned to Keith. “I’m sorry, Keith. You can go. You don’t need to listen to him.”
Keith left after apologizing to Ethan again which I told him not to.
I turned back to Ethan with a hand on my hip. “Why are you being like this to him?”
“He’s not paid for having fun with you. He’s paid for only cooking. If he thinks he can be your best friend or something and is okay for him to hang out with you or cook with you or watch movies with you, then that’s not okay with me and I’ll make sure he doesn’t work here anymore.”
“Were you spying on us?” I asked, looking at him incredulously. There was no other way he would know.
He didn’t answer my question. “Tell him to be in his limits.”
“What limits? What was he even doing? I was the one who invited him for the movies. I wanted to learn how to cook from him. I wanted to hang out with him. He’s my friend. Don’t do this to us.”
“Us?” Ethan questioned with a raised eyebrow. “Is that what he is now? Your boyfriend?”
“God, I didn’t mean it that way. We are just friends.” I said, stressing on the last word.
“I don’t think he thinks the same.”
“But we are, okay? So leave him alone. Leave? us? alone.”
I immediately regretted saying it. Ethan looked genuinely hurt. He swallowed hard.
“Was he in your room all morning?”
“Stop assuming things that didn’t happen. He’s my friend, just like how Olivia or even Tristan is my friend. Just like that.”
“I wanted to just spend some time with you. I really like spending time with you. But you chose him over me,” He shook his head. “It’s always him over me, isn’t it?”
“I don’t choose between you two. Stop being so immature and don’t make a big deal out of things that aren’t so. Why don’t you see it? I spend time with the both of you.” I was actually surprised that he said that he enjoyed spending time with me. It made me feel happy because even I liked his company.
“Don’t lie to me. I was waiting for you since morning to finish whatever you were doing. You don’t know how hard it is for me to admit that because I was supposed to hate you. But I know when I’m not wanted.” He said quietly. “I won’t force my presence on someone who doesn’t want to see me.”
With that he turned around to walk back to his room. Unexpectedly, I felt something inside me break for him at his words and the vulnerability he showed me.
“No, Ethan it’s not like that.” He didn’t turn back to look at me. “Stop.”
He didn’t. So I ran after him and just as he was going to slam the door on my face, I put all my strength together and managed to open it. He didn’t look at me.
“Just go. Go to him. I know that’s where you want to be.” He didn’t look at me, his back was facing me and I felt guilty and sad for him.
I didn’t answer as I walked up to him. Tugging on his shoulder hard, he finally faced me but wouldn’t meet my eyes still, his face downcast so I gently cupped his face with my hands and made him look at me. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. We stared at each her for a long time before I finally got the courage to wrap my arms around him in what I hoped he would feel was a comforting hug.
He didn’t do anything for about a minute but then he finally, almost reluctantly wrapped his arms around my waist. I rested my head on his shoulder and smiled. Soon his arms tightened around my waist and he pulled me closer to him with his face buried in my neck.
By this time my heart was threatening to leap out of my chest. Never had I been hugged so tightly that made me feel as if we were one. A simple hug like this stirred my emotions up. I ran my hands through his soft hair and tugged at the ends as I felt his lips on my collarbone and my breathing quickened. His lips lightly grazed its length and his breath tickled me.
This was? wrong.? I? should? stop.
But I couldn’t seem to summon the strength to pull away. A few minutes passed and he started peppering kisses along my neck. I didn’t know where this was going but it felt too good to put a stop to it.
He pulled back a little and stared into my eyes, his arms still wrapped tightly around my waist and mine around his shoulders. There was an unspoken emotion in his eyes. I had never seen him look at anyone like that. He tilted his face, his eyes roaming all over my face, absorbing every inch of my features and I found myself doing the same.
His eyes shut slowly and his face neared and so did his lips to mine. I felt myself subconsciously lean into him too.
Just as our lips were about to meet and just as we were about to commit the biggest mistake we ever could, I broke out of my daze induced by his intoxicating scent and his deep dark brown eyes.
I backed away from him. “I-I should go.” I made my way to the door and pulled it open. Just as I was about to walk out, I spoke. “I’ll be in my room, not with Keith.”
Without waiting for a response, I entered my room and closed the door.
If I hadn’t backed away, would we have kissed? But it would be a horrible mistake. Ethan was dating Heather. If she got to know what we were about to do, I don’t think she’d help me anymore. In fact, she might be the one to tell everyone about who I really was.
Shaking my head, I vowed to never let anything like that happen. I have to be cautious around Ethan. I couldn’t let him and his charms mess with my thinking.
When did we get like this? Like how we were just about to kiss each other. Not a month back we were at each other’s throats.
I just hoped that we would forget that tiny bit about today and there wouldn’t be any awkwardness between us whenever we were around each other.