“Yeah, I’ll do that. So this is not it? You don’t enjoy drawing and panting? Nothing in the art department?”
He shook his head. “I suck at this.”
“It doesn’t matter. You just have to enjoy it. Besides we always keep improving.”
“No, I don’t really enjoy this. It feels like a task.”
I nodded and took out the page from my back pocket in which I had listed down all the things we were going to do today. I crossed off origami and painting and rounded gardening because it was a strong contender for his hobby.
The next thing on the list was cooking which we had already done but will do it again because it was almost time for lunch and I wanted us to make lunch for everyone today.
We got started in the kitchen and after two hours, we were finished. Only my dad and mom would be the judges for our cooking. I wished Keith was here to taste the dishes because his expert feedback would’ve been very valuable.
I knew before we even started that Ethan liked cooking and so I rounded it on the list as well.
We all sat together for lunch and my parents complimented our cooking. It wasn’t the best like Keith’s or even the new cook’s, they admitted but they were still pretty impressed.
“So what about cooking?” I whispered to Ethan who was sitting right next to me.
“Yeah, I like it. This can be my hobby.”
I nodded. “I knew it.”
After lunch, we did the dishes with him scrubbing it clean and me washing them.
I led him to my room after that and we settled in my bed comfortably.
“So the next thing we’re going to do is reading. Because if you want to be a writer, you first have to be a reader.”
“Oh yes, I used to read so many books when I was young.” Ethan said, a smile on his lips and eyes staring off into the distance as if reminiscing his memories.
“You can still enjoy reading but you should make time for it. You always busy yourself with work that it makes me think that you don’t work to live but live to work. It’s not healthy. You should have other things in your life you like doing.”
“I know. So what are we reading today?”
I bit my lip, a little hesitant before reaching out to my bookshelf and pulling out a brand new copy of Thursday’s Child by Sandra Brown.
He looked at the book in my hands. “I’m not sure. I’ve never read books in this genre. It’s all just mush and stuff, like watching chick flicks.”
“No. You don’t have a choice here. We’re going to read this book.”
The reason I was insisting on this book was because it was similar to what was happening in my life right now.
The female protagonist in that book pretends to be her identical twin sister and I was going to make Ethan read it and tell me what he thought about it. I would subtly ask him what he’d do if he liked a girl who was just pretending to be someone else. I knew this was a little risky but I had to know and had to have a little idea of how he’d react when I told him the truth.
“Why can’t we read some other book?” He whined.
“I want to read this one.”
“Okay then you read this, I’ll read some other book.” He said, already browsing through the other books.
“No, we’re both going to read the same book and it’s going to be this one.”
He groaned. “You said you never read books in this genre. Start with this one. You might actually like it.”
“Okay, whatever.”
He snatched the book from me and patted the space next to him where I sat down. He opened the book and flipped through the first chapter and then we started reading.
Throughout the whole time, he didn’t react to what was going on in the book, not even when the main character started pretending to be her twin. I was dying to ask a question about it but held my tongue for a good two hours. We had read nearly a hundred pages by then after which I pushed the book back and turned to face him.
“So what did you think about it so far?”
“It’s not bad. It’s good. I mean I love the romance part. It’s sweet.”
“And… what do you think about the girl who’s pretending to be someone else?”
“It’s a story. There’s got to be some kind of drama.”
“Yeah, but like if you were in Spencer’s place and you found out the truth, how would you react?”
“I think I’ll be very shocked. I… I’ll be a little mad but I know that Allison’s feelings are genuine so I think that’s all that matters.”
“That’s right! As long as feelings are genuine, it should be alright.”
I must’ve seemed a little too excited because he raised an eyebrow at my apparent happiness at his words.
“Why do you ask?”
“Oh, nothing. Just wanted to see if you were liking the book.”
“Oh.”
Then we resumed reading.
I was sure that the day I told him the truth, he’d understand as well. He might get a little mad at me but I was sure he would eventually forgive me and see that although I was living under someone else’s name, my personality and my feelings for him were very much real.
After another hour, we finally closed the book after sticking a bookmark into the page we were at.
“We’ll finish reading this together sometime.” I said as I went to put it away.
“I like reading.” He said after I returned.
I knew it hence the reason why I had already rounded it off in my list. For being a writer, you first had to be an avid reader.
I got out of the bed, my butt feeling numb from hours of sitting. I stretched and heard my neck and back crack.
“Ready for a game?” I asked.
He stopped and looked at me confusedly.
I dragged him to the badminton court with him whining about how he didn’t want to play.
“Seriously Juliet, I’m not good at this. Plus, I don’t do any physical activity so I’ll get tired out pretty quickly. The only form of exercise I do is at the gym I visit a couple of times every month and even then I procrastinate and shorten the time. I already know this is not something I’ll enjoy.” He tried to reason with me as I handed him a racquet which he grudgingly held.
“Hey, you at least have to try it out. Even I suck at playing this. It’ll be fine.”
With a lot of effort I made him stand at the other end of the court without him trying to run away.
“Okay I’m going to start!” I yelled as I got ready to hit the shuttlecock.
“Okay!” He said as he gripped his racquet.
Half an hour later we were both soaked wet in sweat. True to my words, we both sucked at the game, him more than I did. After he was unsuccessful in hurtling the shuttlecock right back at me for what might be the thousandth time, he let the racquet out of his grasp and collapsed on the ground.
“I don’t want to do this!” He shouted across the court.
I laughed. “Come on, it’s not that bad.”
“No no no. I don’t like any type of sports so cross that off the list.”
I jogged over to his side and laid down next to him, looking up at the sky while we tried to catch our breath.
“Okay, it’s not my favorite either. We don’t have to torture ourselves any further.”
“Thank you!”
I turned my head to look at him but he had his eyes closed. I smiled faintly and followed his lead. We were lying there under the open sky for quite some time. It felt so nice, I didn’t want to get up again.
But we had to because it was almost time for dinner and our date was coming to an end.
We got up eventually and realized we both badly needed a shower again and that was exactly what we did.
Once we were clean and fresh, we didn’t have any energy to cook or do anything and so we had a quiet and lovely dinner with dad and mom.
After dinner and about an hour of aimlessly watching news and movies with the rest of the family, my dad and mom eventually retired to their room and finally we were the only ones remaining.
“So that was our third date.” I concluded, feeling bittersweet about it.
“And now I have to grade you.”
I nodded. “I hope I get an A.”
He chuckled as he fished at the coffee table for a blank piece of paper which he found along with a pen which was going to stop working anytime because its ink was almost entirely used.
Ethan drew three columns and named them first date, second date and third date. I rolled my eyes and chuckled at this.
“Let’s just go to our rooms, I’ll give the marks on the way.”
“Okay.”
We stood up and began ascending the stairs together all the while he fiddled with the paper.
Once we reached in front of our rooms, I turned to him and peered down at the paper to find that it was still blank.
“Do you need more time?” I asked.
He didn’t answer right away although just as I was about to say that he could just tell me the next day, he abruptly looked up to meet my eyes.
“You know,” he started, crumbling the paper in his hand and tossing it away. “I find this pointless.”
“What do you mean?”
“I experienced all those dates and I could see how much thought you put into it and how you really wanted me to have a good time and wanted to protect me. And after all that, writing on a piece of paper to determine our fate seems ridiculous. We’re special than that.”
“So what now?” I asked, still not fully sure what he was getting at.
He stepped towards me and I stood rooted in my spot.
His large warm hands cupped my cheeks and we held each other’s gazes until we could see the want swimming in each other’s eyes. He closed his eyes and leaned in before initiating the kiss.