"Ethan, you're such a cheat, I just saw you move the piece," Mia cried in playful accusation.

Freezing in silence, I awkwardly looked down at the very piece on the board I had just moved. We had been playing Ludo with my grandma, and since my grandma was currently in the bathroom, I had slyly tried to shuffle one of my pieces ahead.

Unfortunately for me, Mia for once in her life seemed to have the eyes of a fucking hawk. It's typical really. She's as blind as a bat to any hint of a clue that I'm into her, but suddenly, now she's observant. It's irony at its finest.

I rolled my eyes in stubbornness. "You didn't have to snitch on me, you've already won," I grumbled.

Mia's face broke out into a cute grin. "You're such a sore loser," she laughed.

I crossed my arms childishly. "You don't know what she's like when she beats me, she really rubs it in." This only made her laugh harder.

Her laugh and smile were infectious, and I could do near to nothing to stop the corner of my lips from curving up into a smile of my own. And staring perhaps a little longer than I should, I knew at that moment I'd never get over her – not when she had a smile like that.

Gradually, her laughter eased away and soon she was looking at me with a serious kind of expression.

"Ethan, can I ask you a question?" she asked softly.

Though slightly nervous at what she wanted to ask, I slowly nodded my head. "Yeah, sure, go ahead," I said with a shrug.

She cleared her throat. "You know that girl you mentioned you had a crush on, why do you like her?" Mia asked boldly. Though Mia had a slight smile on her lips, there was a tightness to her expression that was undeniable.

I paused at her question and furrowed my brows in confusion. Who the hell was she talking about? I never said I liked anybody else. I've only ever liked her. Then I suddenly remembered. She was talking about herself.

When we were playing twenty questions all those weeks ago, I had let her believe I was talking about someone else when she had asked if I liked anybody. Surprised she had even taken an interest to remember something that far back, an amused smirk crawled onto my face.

Deciding to play around a little more with my old lie, I looked back and forth between her still curious lit eyes with a smile. "Well, I like that girl for many reasons," I started, purposefully dragging out the word girl, to mess around with her a little.

Taking a second to think, I continued. "I guess a big one's because she's funny, and how she always seemed to have some comeback up her sleeve. She's sassy and smart, and fun. And well, just beautiful," I finished with an honest smile. And as I looked her dead in the eyes, I realized it had probably been the first time I'd been truly honest about what I thought of her.

Mia looked kind of stunned by my response and had gone kind of stiffly quiet.

Remembering something to add, I smiled. "Oh, and one more," I added as I looked her up and down. "She's sexy as fuck, and her body is just, uh," I groaned as I bit my lip.

Suddenly, Mia's eyes flashed with rage. "Okay, okay, I get it, Ethan. You've made your fucking point," Mia snapped extremely sharply.

Surprised by her reaction, I looked her over and was confused to see she was rapidly avoiding eye contact and looked all heated up. I was confused for a second more before I realized, she was annoyed at me for making a pervy comment on a fellow girl's body. Which was her body, of course, but she didn't know that.

But could anyone blame me for thinking about her body after she paraded outside the bathroom wearing only a skimpy towel?

Slowly, the anger was lost from Mia's face, and locking eyes with me again, her eyes spanned over me in question. "Ethan, no offense, but why don't you grow some balls and ask this girl out?" she asked boldly.

Alarmed by the question, I shifted uncomfortably in my chair under the intensity of her stare. "It's a little more complicated than that, Mia. I have to wait a little longer until I'm good enough for her," I admitted with an honest shrug.

"Sounds like you're making excuses to me," Mia threw back without hesitation.

My face burned slightly, knowing there was some truth behind her words. The nightmare of her rejecting me did often run through my mind. "Okay, I'm not going to lie, asking her out scares the shit out of me," I mumbled with a slight laugh. "But I'm serious though about not being ready for her. I want to be perfect when we're finally together. I don't want to have anger issues, I don't want to still be in therapy, I want to be fixed. She deserves a guy who's as perfect as she is. And one day I'll be that guy, just not today," I admitted softly.

At this point, I realized Mia was staring at me with a foreign look in her eyes. She surprised me as she crawled one of her hands towards me and took my hand in hers then smiled. "Ethan, you're way too hard on yourself. There's nothing wrong with you, and you're not broken, okay?" she explained firmly. "So, you lose your temper sometimes, so what? I do too, nobody's perfect Ethan, even her."

I shook my head firmly. "No, you're wrong, she might not seem perfect to some, but she'll always seem perfect to me Mia, always," I stated confidently.

Mia seemed silenced by my words and hesitated for several seconds before saying something. "B-but what happens if she meets someone else?" Mia probed further, not seeming to give up, "By the time your 'perfect', she might be gone.

Her concern though valid brought an amused smile to my lips then a chuckle. "You honestly think I haven't thought about that," I laughed. "It might be a little unorthodox and kinda wrong, but I kind of keep an eye on her. I make sure nothing gets too far," I shrugged with a chuckle.

It was terrible really. But in my defense, the vast majority of guys knew that I liked her, and knew I was mad, so backed off accordingly. After all, you only have to put laxatives in one guy's drink once for a general message to be sent around the school.

"Holy crap, so you fuck around with her relationships?" Mia laughed. "You're a terrible person, you know that right?" She said as she shook her head in amusement.

I snorted. "Yeah, I know. Never said I wasn't a dick," I shrugged.

"You know I think I figured out who she is," Mia taunted smugly.

And just like that my blood ran cold. Leaping up from the chair, my heart rate leaped up fast. "No, no, no, no. What? How?" I stammered out as I ran a frantic hand through my hair.

Mia raised an amused eyebrow at my reaction which only heightened my panic. How long had she fucking known? Who the fuck told her?

"Oh, for fucks sake! Did Lucas tell you? I'm going to kill him," I cried as I started to pace around the room like a fool. Lucas had certainly threatened to tell her enough times over the years, but I didn't think he'd be piss-taking enough to do it.

"Calm down, you idiot. I'm not going to tell her," Mia piped up with a chuckle.

I immediately stopped pacing and turned back to face her with narrowed eyes. "Wait a second...who do you think it is?" I asked cautiously.

"Duh, that blonde-haired girl you were talking to at Lucas's party," she explained.

I immediately let out a shaky sigh of relief and flopped back on the chair with a relieved smile on my face.

"Oh, thank god. You really scared the shit out of me," I mumbled in between heavy breaths. Relief could barely even begin to describe how thankful I was she was still as oblivious as ever.

"I'm a little bit confused," Mia said slowly.

I snickered at her confusion. "That's for sure. I definitely don't have a crush on her, she's my fucking aunt," I explained with a wrinkled nose. I wasn't sure whether to be disgusted or amused that Mia thought there had been anything going on between us.

Mia's eyes widened. "How on earth? She looks like she's eighteen or something!"

"Yeah, she's my Mum's extremely younger sister," I explained. "My grandad remarried someone way younger, so hence the big age gap," I shrugged.

Mia blinked slowly as though fully registering that information. "Oh," she said simply.

And I'm not sure if I imagined it but Mia's eyes seemed to take on an expression of incredible relief. Before I could inquire further, my grandma re-entered the room, forcing me to drop the subject.

--------

"Yes, grandma, the sound on your TV does and has been working, you just have to turn up the volume," I repeated as calmy as I could while gesturing to the relevant buttons.

My grandma blinked back at me from her position on the sofa. "Oh, why didn't you just tell me that?" My grandma said bluntly.

I let out a heavy sigh, knowing that had been my seventh time explaining that to her. A little while ago I'd been shamelessly flirting upstairs in the spare room with Mia before my grandma had interrupted by calling me down to fix her TV.

And it turned out her TV wasn't broken at all, and she just needed a fifteen-minute discussion on how to adjust the volume of her television.

"You don't mind if I go finish chatting quickly with Mia, right?" I said with a polite smile as I nodded my head to go. "Not at all, have fun darling," my grandma said with a smile.

"Ethan?" My grandma called out as I turned around to leave.

"Hmm," I mumbled curiously as I turned back her way.

"Remember missionary's best," she stated, with a sweet little smile.

I furrowed my brows. "Excuse me?"

"Missionary's the best sex position to try with Mia for making the baby," she clarified shamelessly.

My face instantly burned like fire as I realized what she was advising me on. What was up with this woman? She was genuinely insane.

"Good to know grandma, but got to go," I rushed out quickly. Then without another look behind, I rushed off in the direction of the staircase, not all too keen to hear my grandma input more opinions on Mia and I's imaginary sex life.

Once I'd jogged my way up the stairs to the second landing of the house, I became perceptive of voices coming from the direction of the spare room that Mia was in. Was she on a call?

I drew closer to get a better listen. "But don't you wonder why he has such a short fuse?" I heard a voice cockily hum.

"I don't know, probably from too many years hanging out with you," Mia threw back sassily.

Finally recognizing the voice from before as belonging to Connor, my heart jumped in panic, and I rushed forward and threw open the door. Scanning my eyes over the room, I spotted Mia still sitting on the bed as I left her, and on the armchair beside her, I locked eyes with Connor.

I froze at the sight of him and scowled. "What the fuck are you doing here?" Connor just stared back at me with a calm expression.

"Not much just making conversation with your pretty little girlfriend," Connor snickered before throwing a wink Mia's way.

Feeling sick to my stomach, it took everything in me to stay still and controlled. My mind was racing with all the disgusting things he could have said, or dare I even say it, done to her when I wasn't there. The piece of shit had already groped her thigh in the school parking lot.

Rising from the chair, Connor slowly sauntered his way over to me. He paused a few steps before me and something in his eyes seemed to smile. "And boy, was it a good chat," he chuckled.

That was the final straw for me, and leaping forward, I grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and slammed him up against the wall.

"I thought I told you to leave her the fuck alone," I yelled.

Connor laughed. "But I didn't, so hit me then. What are you waiting for, you coward? Hit me!" he sneered, excitement dancing behind his eyes.

It was only as I heard him speak those words, that my anger faded to shame as I processed what I was doing. Slowly, I released the tight grip I had on Connor's shirt and took for once in my life, a controlled step back.

"You know what, you're not even worth it," I scoffed. "Just get out!"

Connor shook his head at me with a smirk. "You're truly pathetic, Ethan, you truly are," he laughed as he finally turned and left the room. I didn't feel the desire to chase after him and hurt him because for once I realized, it wasn't going to get me anywhere. It wasn't going to make Connor any less of an asshole, it wasn't going to make me any less angry, it would simply put me ten steps back.

As silence filled the air, I remembered Mia and turned her way to find her sitting on the bed watching me carefully. I immediately scanned her up and down in worry, to check for anything out of the ordinary. I still wasn't entirely sure what Connor had done and didn't want to take any chances.

"He didn't harass you or anything, did he?" I asked softly.

"Nah, not at all. He was just chatting his usual shit," Mia mumbled with a lopsided smile. "Just forget about it and come sit," she said as she patted the spot beside me.

I wanted to quiz her further, having a hunch that she was lying but instead I held myself back and walked my way over to the bed and flopped down on my back beside her. Deciding to join me in laying down, Mia flopped onto her side.

Rolling over, I used my arm to prop my head up so I could get a better look at her. Finding she was much closer than anticipated, I felt my breath grow unsteady as I tried to stop myself from doing something I sure as hell knew, I didn't have any right to be doing. So lost in staring, I wouldn't have even realized Mia had started to speak if not for the movement of her lips.

"You did the right thing, you know," she said as her lips curved into a smile.

Knowing she was kind of right; I felt a brief surge of satisfaction rush through me. "Well, only this time. But I guess, it's a start," I said, as I returned her smile.

Every day I resisted getting angry, was a day closer to a time when I could no longer live in fear. And more importantly, a day closer to a possibility of Mia fully being mine.

After a couple of seconds of comfortable silence, Mia's eyes seemed to sparkle as though hit with a thought. "You know, your grandma is kinda crazy," she laughed.

I cracked a smile. "Yeah, I know. She can be a little bit forward at the best of times."

"A little bit?" Mia scoffed. "The woman wants me pregnant by the end of the year," she laughed.

I shook my head at the ridiculousness of it. "Hmm, I'm not sure your dad would be all too happy about that," I muttered in amusement.

"Yeah, he probably wouldn't be thrilled if he found out we shared a bed either," Mia laughed.

Any previous amusement I possessed, was lost and my smile slid right off my face. My heart stopped as I reprocessed her dad's threats. He had said no touching, no kissing, no hugging, no funny eyes and I'd literally down all fucking three if you count the cheek kiss. He was going to end me if he found out.

I eyed Mia warily. "You won't tell him, right?" I rambled out quickly.

The corner of Mia's eyes crinkled in amusement. "Of course, I'm fucking not! You're annoying Ethan, but I don't want you to die," she laughed as she rolled her eyes at me.

I immediately let out a heavy sigh of relief, happy I was going to survive another day. Wandering my eyes back to Mia, I noticed she was staring at the arm I was using to prop up my head rather intensely.

"How the hell are you so ripped?" she spat out abruptly.

So unprepared for those words to tumble out of her mouth, my eyes nearly shot out of my head. Then, unable to help myself the most ginormous grin stretched out over my face.

I mean, how could I not smile? Mia for the first time in her life had given me an unsarcastic compliment. Mia looked like she had instant regret over her words, as a pained expression crossed over her face once she spotted my smile.

Not going to let this slide, I laughed. "Did, my imagination just run away from me, or did Mia Collins just give me a compliment," I teased.

Mia's face had gone slightly red, and she looked seconds away from wanting to slap me across the face. "And this is exactly why you don't get them," she snapped. "Just hurry up and answer the question," she ordered.

"Erm...," I said as I tried to think. "I suppose because of Soccer practice, but I guess boxing keeps me in a little shape too," I shrugged. I decided to leave out the fact I hadn't really gone boxing in a little while because I'd been spending all my normal training hours 'tutoring' Mia instead.

"Wait what? You're into boxing? I didn't know that!" Mia exclaimed in surprise.

I'm surprised, you didn't either, Mrs stalker," I teased as I sent her a pointed look.

She knew instantly that I was referring to the time when she tailed my car, and gave me a playfully daggered glare

"Let it go, Ethan, it was one time!" she argued.

I just laughed. Only Mia would try and defend herself after literally stalking someone halfway across town. I didn't mind, of course, she could stalk me any time of the year. Or better yet kidnap me - I'd sure as hell fucking enjoy that.

Mia broke me out of my shameless thoughts by clearing her throat. "Well, are you any good?" she probed.

Seeing my opening, I smirked. "In bed?"

Mia rolled her eyes aggressively but I didn't miss the subtle smile on her lips. "No, you idiot, I meant at boxing!"

I scoffed. "Well, of course, I am, I'm the best," I remarked with an arrogant smile.

Mia looked like she was about to cuss me out before she paused; her eyes dancing back and forth between mine as though hit with an idea.

Then, with completely no warning, Mia suddenly pushed me back hard and threw herself on top of me. I let out a grunt of surprise as my back hit the mattress roughly. The next thing I knew, a leg was thrown over the top of me, and hands clasped mine before pinning them down on either side of my head.

My heart raced faster than it had ever done before as I saw Mia's face hovering above me with the sexiest looking stare I'd ever seen. My chest rose and fell fast as she lay above me as I tried to work out what the fuck had happened and how I could make it keep on happening. It was like last night's dream had come to life.

"Still think you're the best?" she taunted down at me, her eyes sparkling devilishly. Her words turned me on in a way I couldn't even describe and I never wanted her so badly in my life. She was dangerously hot.

Blinking back to regain sense, I processed her words through my racing heart and realized she had tried to catch me off guard to prove she was the superior fighter.

Realizing something, my eyes danced between hers in amusement. "This is wrestling Chubs, not boxing," I laughed.

Mia immediately went still from above me, and an undeniable look of embarrassment crossed over her face.

The weight of her hand on my own lifted as though she was about to get off of me, but not ready to give her up yet, I quickly hooked my leg around hers and used it as momentum to roll us around.

The second her back hit the mattress; I pressed her hands dominantly on either side of her head in the same way she'd done to me. Leaning over her, I smirked arrogantly and was amused to find her breathing hard while looking all flustered and majorly caught off guard.

"But it's fine, I'm still better at wrestling than you anyway," I said with a wink.

Snapping out of her temporary daze, Mia's face burned red with embarrassment and within seconds she started flailing around underneath me in an attempt to try and free her hands and turn me back around.

It didn't take much effort, to keep her pinned to the bed since most of her movements were uncoordinated and slow. If I was being entirely honest, most of my concentration went to trying to stop her from feeling my boner press up against her through my shorts.

She continued trying to fight for several seconds and I was half-tempted to just let her win, so I got an excuse to feel her pin me down again. But I refrained, not wanting her to get all cocky about beating me.

After a short ten more seconds of Mia trying and failing to free herself and flip me back around, she flopped heavily back down against the bed in defeat.

"Well, that was a bit sad, wasn't it?" I laughed.

Mia rolled her eyes down below me, looking kind of exhausted and annoyed. And that's when I noticed just how genuinely tired, she looked as though she had been putting in a genuine effort to try and win.

"Wait a second," I paused. "Please tell me that wasn't your best attempt to flip me," I said slowly as I looked down at her in concern.

"Pft...no," Mia scoffed.

I stared down at her with a blank look.

"Okay, okay, maybe it was...," she trailed off in embarrassment.

I frowned, realizing how truly vulnerable she would be if faced with an attack. After all, there were much stronger, and heavier guys out there than me, who would be a lot more determined to keep her down than I was. And it wasn't exactly like assault was incredibly uncommon.

I swallowed hard before speaking. "What would you do if I were attacking you for real, Mia?" I asked in full seriousness.

She looked up at me and shrugged. "Realise I'm screwed and cry," Mia joked.

"This isn't funny, Mia," I snapped. "If a guy was really attacking you, a smart option would be to knee them in the groin. It will buy you a few seconds to run, I explained.

Mia nodded, and she had a reflective look on her face as though she was storing that knowledge away. Happy that she was listening, I continued "Also, a good option could be to –

Suddenly out of nowhere, Mia sharply shot up her knee and kneed me right in the balls. "Holy, fuck!" I yelled as the pain ricocheted up and down my body.

Instantly releasing the grip I had on her wrist, I flopped down on the bed beside her in the fetal position and groaned as the pain shot up to my stomach, making me feel like being sick.

And as I genuinely wondered if my balls would ever be the same again, I realized Mia could definitely deliver a much stronger hit than I thought.

--------

An hour later, I was driving the two of us home. Cradling my ice-pack closer to my groin, I focused straight ahead out the car window and ignored all temptation to look towards Mia in the passenger side seat.

I was giving her the silent treatment.

After the incident, she had helped get me ice and been apologetic to me for all of ten minutes before immediately starting to poke fun at me.

You'd think as my friend, she would want to protect my ability to have children one day, but apparently not. Apparently, she thought it was hilariously to knee those motherfuckers in the face. I'd be lucky if I could ever make more viable sperm ever again at this point.

My grandma seemed to think on the same lines and seemed deeply distressed and confused at why Mia wanted 'to destroy the source of her future children.' And for once I didn't even feel bad about my grandma's inappropriate question. Mia deserved to feel uncomfortable after what she did to me.

Rustling the icebag, a little louder, I sent a briefly daggered look over to Mia so she'd feel extra bad. It had stopped hurting half an hour ago, but I'd kept the ice pack to make her feel more guilty. Petty, I know, but when was I not.

Finally, Mia let out an exasperated sigh and broke the silence between us. "Look, Ethan, I'm sorry, Okay. I didn't realize it was going to hurt that badly."

"You don't sound all that sorry to me," I threw back childishly. I tried hard to maintain the scowl on my face but I soon caved in as I felt those soft eyes of her resting in guilt at the side of my face.

Looking her way, my eyes softened. "At least I know you have some form of defense in an emergency," I sighed honestly. "But you're still not that good so I'm going to teach you self-defense," I stated with finality.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," she mumbled dismissively.

"I'm not joking, Mia, there are terrible people out there who are capable of awful things," I snapped, my grip on the steering wheel tightening.

Mia glanced my way, her face visibly confused. "Why are you getting so worked up about it?"

I paused, and swallowed hard, not ready to tell her about my dad and as a result, why I felt so passionate about keeping her safe.

"I just don't want to see you hurt okay," I finally mumbled. 

---------------------

Author's note: 

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I sure as hell enjoyed writing Ethan being petty.

Anyway, can't wait to share more with you soon, hope you're all doing well.