E T H A N

Benedict looked at me straight in the eyes. I really thought at first that he was joking. After all, he's quite a comedian himself. His hand was on my shoulder and I made sure to remove it before laughing at his comment.

I then repeated what he said, this time with a bit of a chuckle, "You want me to make to court her? That's ridiculous."

Can you even believe this guy? He wanted me to try to get the heart of the girl I almost killed back then.

Benedict almost rolled his eyes at me as he then crossed his arms - looking at me with a raised eyebrow. "It's already obvious that you've taken a liking to her, Ethan. You just won't admit it."

"I don't like Claire that way, Benz. You know that," I told him, trying to convince him that I wouldn't do such a thing.

Claire and I were just acquaintances. I haven't even treated her as an apology.

"If you're scared of being rejected, then try to be with someone else," Benedict said before shaking his head. "You and Vanessa aren't even official and it's more like a one-sided love, so why stick to it much longer?"

"She's like a little sister to me. I'm sure she's also the type of girl who won't let go that easily," I explained to him before waving my hands to disagree, "So, that's a no."

"You won't be able to break it off with Vanessa then."

"I'll try my way first, Benz. If she won't accept it, then I'll have it your way."

"Good luck with that then, buddy." He gave me a thumbs up after.

I don't really want to do Benedict's plan unless I have to. I'm pretty sure that I'll just embarrass myself if I do that anyway. I excused myself before Benedict can say anything more about courtship.

When I walked back to the living room, I saw them having fun and not really noticing me. Claire was the only one who was on her phone, looking and possibly talking to one of her classmates. She seemed busy too so I didn't really mind it much.

I went straight to the pool area while sitting on one of the chairs there. My head turned quickly back when I heard footsteps following. Claire stood there, looking at me with a worried gaze.

She suddenly approached me and sat down next to me. We both stared at the pool, waiting for Benedict to come out.

"Are you okay? You look stressed," she asked me as she didn't take his eyes off the water. I just looked down and then used my cellphone.

"I'm not stressed. Just thinking." My eyes went wide when I saw a missed call and saw the caller's ID. I blushed when I found out that it wasn't Vanessa who was called but Mom.

I try not to freak out in case I receive a message afterward. Why did I even deny the call? That was my mom. I almost facepalmed at this point.

And soon after, I got her message.

Mom | 8:20 pm

Ethan, prepare your explanation. I won't hesitate to ask you about your sudden agenda.

Why me? She really wanted to ruin the day when I'm here with Benedict to have fun. Here we go again, I have to explain all of this.

My fingers ran through my hair as I release a breath out of exasperation. I looked at Claire and she returned the gaze at me, frowning.

"Ethan," she called to me as she came over to my side to pat me on the shoulder. I suddenly looked at her as she then went caressed my back to calm me down.

To be honest, it just makes me more nervous.

"Claire, I thought it was Vanessa who called. It was Mom. How am I going to explain this mess now?" I answered, my fingers almost getting tangled in my hair.

I know right away that when Mom tells me to explain, what I say to her must be important or either long or essential.

In other words, it should be important and not trivial.

Claire made a serious face at me. Maybe she was also wondering if she could get into trouble. Well, I won't mention her to Mom and Dad so that the problem doesn't get worse.

In my extreme stress, I didn't realize that I pulled Claire to me and I suddenly hugged her. I only noticed that when she accepted my hug and hugged me back.

We stayed like that for a few minutes before we pulled away from each other. Claire's face was red and I looked like I wanted to run away from embarrassment. Damn it, why am I feeling like this?

A few minutes later, I saw Benedict and Sam approaching us.

"Oh look, the lovebirds."

Irritated, I walked away from Claire and pushed Benedict into the pool. There, I heard Sam and Claire gasp, and my face flushed red with anger.

"Are you serious Benedict? Always! I already told you," I answered as Benedict looked at me with wide eyes, his hair wet, and didn't really expect that I'd push him.

"And I kept on telling you but you won't listen!" Benedict shouted after rising to the pool, freezing cold. It was too late so I can't really blame him if he's shaking a bit. I wasn't worried though since I've already known that he doesn't mind the cold.

Sam ran back inside to ask for a towel and came back minutes after. "Benedict, baby, are you okay?"

Benedict grabbed the towel from Sam, still irritated but he told us to go back inside and pick a movie. Of course, we agreed to the idea of a movie night. I don't want to get stuck with the actual lovebirds in this house.

After Sam went outside, we already noticed that Benedict's parents went ahead and decided to go upstairs to sleep early. So, they didn't really know that their son got a bit soaked.

Benedict quickly went upstairs to change as we all sat down on the sofa and waited for him. As he was doing that, I scrolled through a bunch of movies on Netflix.

I almost threw the remote when I saw that most movies are about romance.

And most of them had happy endings on it.

"Did you guys already pick a movie?" Benedict asked us as Sam went to play the movie, 'When in Ethan', which I already finished. I paid no attention to both of them and decided to just scroll through my phone.

However, I was shocked when I saw Claire sitting right next to me, with only a pillow between us.

Damn it, why is my heart beating so fast?

No, it can't be.