"Ethan." The surprise was obvious in my voice.

What a fucking coincidence.

"Iris. Hi." He smiled at me.

"Hi. What are you doing here?" I asked and instantly knew what a dumb question that was!

The look on his face confirmed my thoughts. He wasn't really trying hard to hide the amusement on his face.

"Getting a coffee." He replied to save me the embarrassment.

"Right. Of course." I said and turned back.

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"Are you fine?" He asked in a gentle voice, leaning in a little.

"Yeah, just wondering what to order with my coffee." I met his eye, and it just took me a look at his face to know that he knew I was lying, but for some reason, he didn't press about it.

"They have great blueberry muffins." He suggested.

"Hi, what would you like to order?" The barista behind the counter said.

"I'll have a black coffee and a flat white. Also, could you pack a blueberry muffin and a bagel for me?" I smiled at her.

"Sure thing. That'll be nine dollars." She said pressing some buttons.

"Okay." I said, opening my wallet.

"It's fine. I got it." Before I could reply, he slid his card to her.

"Could you make that two black coffees, please?" He said with that charming smile of his which has girls swooning. The girl behind the counter was not immune, so she blushed almost immediately and turned around to get our order.

"I can pay for myself." I mumbled.

"I know that." He shrugged.

We stood in perfect silence as we waited for our order to be ready.

"There you go." She gave me a brown bag with the muffin and bagel and two coffee cups to go.

"Let me help you with that." Ethan said, taking a cup from me.

"Thank you. Have a good day." I smiled at the barista.

Sipping on my coffee to distract myself, I walked out of the cafe and turned to Ethan, hoping he had to go in the opposite direction.

I know I sound rude but Ethan is insanely hot and I would be dumb to deny the attraction between us but he was a taken man, it's better I maintain my distance before I do something I'll regret later.

"I'll walk you to your dorm." Ethan says, turning to me, making all my hopes come crashing down.

"Oh no, it's fine. You must have better things to do." I insist.

"No, I have nothing to do right now. It's fine." He smiled.

"Okay then.." I trailed away.

The dorms weren't so far away from the cafe. It was a five-minute walk, but those five minutes felt like an eternity at that moment. We walked in complete silence and I am not even going to lie and say it was a comfortable silence because it definitely was not.

I did not know about what was going through his mind, but before I could ask or ponder over it anymore, we were standing in front of the dorm building.

"Thanks for walking me." I said turning to him, determined to make this awkwardness go away.

"Yeah, it's totally fine." He smiled at me.

"Here." He passed me the other coffee.

"Oh, thanks."

I didn't know what to say after that, and it didn't look like Ethan had something to say. So, deciding it was better to leave, I turned around and started making my way towards the door of the dorm building.

"Iris!" Ethan called when I was about to push open the glass doors.

I turned to see him jogging over to me with a determined look on his face.

"Yeah?"

"Look, I don't know what happened but I really don't understand this-"

"Ethan? Iris?" A voice interrupted him mid-sentence.

I looked around Ethan to see Noah walking towards him and behind Noah; I noticed Mason basically dragging Riley across the way.

"Hey." I called back, smiling, and started walking towards them knowing whatever Ethan was about to say, can't be said in front of others.

"Hi!" He gave me a quick hug.

"What are you guys doing together?" He asked gesturing to Ethan who has now come to stand beside us.

"Oh, we bumped into each other at the cafe. I had too much stuff to hold, so he offered to help." I said, motioning towards the bag and the coffee in my hand as if proving my point.

"What about you?" Ethan asked.

"We were dropping Riley." He said just as Riley came to stand beside me.

"How are you feeling?" I asked her, turning towards her and almost grimacing at her appearance.

She looked rough with her hair sticking around in all the directions and her face scrubbed off of makeup, which makes me assume boys don't really keep makeup wipes around, which is understandable.

"I feel like death."

"You look like it too." I said in a pitiful voice and the boys chuckled.

"Yeah, well, I deserve that." She said leaning on Mason who smiled at me in greeting.

"Come on, let's get you upstairs." Ethan said, holding Riley's hand.

"Yeah." And with that, both of them made their way towards the dorm.

Looks like I might have to have that conversation after all.

"You guys wanna come?" I said, turning back to Noah and Mason.

"Sure."

"Why not?"

Three of us made our way to the elevators which Riley and Ethan were holding for us.

All of us made small talk in the elevator, but I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the door to the dorm.

"Wow. I didn't expect to see you out of the bed." I said impressed with Dani, who was sitting completely dressed on the couch. You had to look really closely to even know that she was hungover.

"How the hell are you looking so fine?" Riley accusingly.

"Well, this one basically ordered me to go shower before she left." Dani said in a low voice, looking up at everyone piling into the room.

"Oh, everyone is here. Hi." The frown on her face was long gone and replaced by a small smile as soon as she saw Mason.

"Hey." Ethan said.

"Good morning." Noah teased in a cheery voice.

"Hi." Mason gave her a gentle and comforting smile.

Aw.

"Oh yeah, I remember now. We have to go." Riley mumbled in realization.

"You guys going somewhere?" Noah asked, collapsing on the couch beside Dani, whereas Mason and Ethan took the seats by the kitchen counter.

Choosing not to reply, Riley was already inside her room with, "I'll just go get ready."

"Okay. Yeah, we have to go shopping for the dorm today. You know those detail decor and stuff." I said, turning to Noah.

"Where are you going?" Mason asked, looking up from his phone.

"We were thinking Ikea. We don't have the power to go from shop to shop and search, so Ikea sounds safe." Dani informs.

"Won't you get tired walking around the floors?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah, but it's better than going in a shop and not finding what you are looking for and Ikea has like everything." I replied and gave Dani her coffee and the bag.

"Thank you. What's the muffin for?" Dani asked, sipping on her coffee.

"That's for me." I said distractingly as I was scrolling through yesterday's pictures, deciding which one to post.

To my surprise, I had pictures with the boys as well. There was one of Noah and me where we were dancing and he cracked some joke, so I was laughing in the picture. Mason and I were sitting on the couch and you could see we were clearly discussing something amusing. While these pictures were candid and I didn't know when they were taken, the one with Ethan was taken with my permission. It was while Dani and Mason were playing their match. Ethan and I were talking when Aiden came up to us and asked us to pose. One of my arms was around his neck while he was hugging me to him with his arm around my waist. It was a good picture.

"You don't like blueberry muffins.." Dani said with a confused expression, bringing me back to reality.

Oh fuck.

"Yeah, I thought I'd try it again." I didn't have the courage to look up and meet Ethan's eyes, but I could feel him staring at the back of my head.

"Hello," Noah said, picking up his phone when it ringed for the fifth time.

"Yeah... What?.... What the fuck dude?..... Keep him out of the kitchen! Give him food on paper plates for all I care." I was tempted to laugh at the last one, but he seemed really pissed off.

"No, it's fine... Yeah, we'll do that... Yeah cool bye." He hung up and huffed out a breath.

"Fucking Valentino broke five more plates today. We gotta buy some dishes."

Ethan and Mason groaned as if it was something that happened regularly and they are fed up with it.

"Who is Valentino?" Dani asked.

"A guy on the team. He lives with us and has broken about fifty plates by now. He is clumsy as fuck."

"Hey, you guys are already going to Ikea. Mind if we join you?" Mason said hopefully.

He wanted to spend time with Dani. Aw, again.

"Yeah, that sounds good." Ethan agreed.

"Okay, I don't mind." Dani shrugged, but I could see her blushing faintly.

"Let's go!" Riley said, emerging out of her room.

"Let's go." Noah hollered.

"Wait.."

"We are coming with you." Noah told her.

"Oh, okay. More the merrier. You can also push the cart around." Riley smirked.

⤎❁⤏

"All this stuff is heavy." Noah groaned as he pulled out bags and bags of stuff from the back seat of my car.

Mason, Dani, Riley, and Noah drove in Mason's car as we had only two cars at the go. Ethan and Noah were too lazy to pick up their cars from the basketball house.

Ethan and I were in my car with the backseat full of bags and stuff we bought. Ikea trips are always fun, especially when you have someone else to push the carts around.

Ma and the girls picked up some cushions, rugs, and fake plants to make the place cozier. I know we should have taken some real plants, but I don't wanna kill any plant and we were too careless to take care of a real plant.

College students and real plants don't go well together.

I also picked up some sheer curtains and frames to hang on the wall behind my bed and in the living room.

"I am glad, we got actual stuff instead of getting carried away and buying total useless stuff." Dani acknowledged.

"We did get carried away, to be honest..." I said sheepishly.

We helped the boys pick out some cutlery, and luckily they were not as clueless as I thought they would be. Getting sidelined, we also bought some plates and bowls simply because they looked cute.

"I am actually proud of you, Iris." Dani said with amusement, picking up one bag.

I am absolutely the worst to go shopping with. First, I can't aimlessly walk around the shop browsing stuff, it's useless according to me. Second, I don't think twice before buying anything. If I like it, I am getting it, doesn't matter if I actually need it or not. I am a real spendthrift and Dani has always tried to tame that about me.

"Me too," I said laughing because of which the bag slipped from my arm and the contents of it were all over the place.

"Shit. Don't worry, you guys go ahead. I'll get it." I said, nodding at everyone else to go ahead when they stopped to help me.

"Are you sure?" Mason asked.

"Yeah, yeah. I got it."

I started collecting the stuff and the voice of footsteps faded away as they went ahead, but I didn't notice Ethan still standing there. It was when he crouched down to help me, I finally notice him.

Instead of saying anything, I silently continued picking my stuff up. When all of it was in the bag, I stood up to my full height and was about to go inside, when Ethan suddenly took hold of my wrist, sending tingles through my arm.

Silently, he took the bag from my hands and placed it on the hood of my car.

"What are you doing?" I asked him, raising my eyebrow.

"We need to talk." Ethan said seriously, still holding my hand.

"What do you want to talk about?" I asked, looking him straight in the eyes.

I wasn't afraid of confrontations, but this confrontation was not needed because I knew exactly what this was about and I had no explanation for it.

"You have been ignoring me or dodging me since the morning."

I couldn't deny it because I was trying to avoid Ethan. I was obviously failing at it if we are having a private conversation right now.

"Yeah, I know." I agreed.

"Why?" He looked highly confused and mildly hurt.

"It's just..." I didn't know how to say it or even what to say.

Hey, I am attracted to you but you are in a relationship and I don't wanna make a fool out of myself. Okay, bye.

Nope.

"Look, Iris. I am so sorry if I made you uncomfortable last night. I wouldn't have flirted with you if I knew you were uncomfortable. I am so sorry. It's just... I thought you were in it too. I am so sorry, I sensed the situation wrong. It wasn't my intention at all, I would never do something like that." Ethan rambled and whisked three steps away from me.

"Hold up!" It shocked me. He thought I was uncomfortable.

"I know, I am so-" He continued.

"Hold up!" I said again louder, instantly cutting him off.

"What?" Ethan said in a small voice. He looked like a puppy who has been kicked to the side.

"You didn't make me uncomfortable. I would have told you if I was uncomfortable even in the slightest. In fact, I am sorry. I was such a bitch last night. It was so insensitive and disrespectful of me to assume your relationship status. I shouldn't have flirted with you when you have a girlfriend. I am so-" Before I could complete that, Ethan placed his palm on my mouth, shutting me up.

I widened my eyes at his action because ever since Ethan realized that I have been keeping my distance from him; he has been trying to keep the physical contact between us to the minimum. Even in the Ikea store, he made sure that when we were walking side by side, two people could easily pass through space between us.

"I don't have a girlfriend," Ethan whispered.

As soon as he said that. I felt a weight lift from my shoulder. This whole situation was troubling me a lot subconsciously, I realized.

"You don't?" I asked like a dumb person, pulling his hand away from my mouth but still in my hand.

"No, I don't. Brooke isn't my girlfriend." He confirmed with a small smile on his face, almost like he understood something that I didn't.

"Okay." I couldn't help the smile on my face.

"Okay."

"Maybe okay will be our always." I mused with an enormous smile on my face.

"You did not just quote 'The Fault in Our Stars." He groaned, shaking his head.

"I did." I looked at him with a huge teasing smile on my face and soon we both broke out in laughter.

"Are you guys even alive?" Noah said, turning around the corner, looking at Ethan and me.

"Yeah, Noah. We are still alive." I said, shaking my head.

"Good thing. You might wanna join us now, we are ordering food." He said in a sing-song voice and went back inside the building.

⤎❁⤏

Hey guys! So here it is. We are definitely progressing with the story. This is one of my favorite chapters till now because of the small moments and the details if you notice them. Tell me which one is your favorite moment in this chapter?

Don't forget to Vote and Comment if you enjoyed this chapter. 

Take Care :)