Runaway

Chapter 25: Mia

It's been a few days since the party. I woke up that morning not realising where I was at first and then everything came flooding back from the unwanted guy at the party to Ethan and Jake finding me in the bathroom to how I ended up in Ethan's bed.

I'd put my jeans back on but keep on Ethan's shirt not really wanting to put on the small top that I'd worn to the party, and made my way downstairs to find Jake and Ethan in the kitchen with an assortment of pastries for breakfast.

They didn't ask but I knew they wanted to know what happened last night. So I explained that I was dancing and got some unwanted male attention and he won't take no for an answer and we'll they know the rest.

Ethan dropped me home not long after that and I had to explain the whole story again to Ella. We say on the lounge for a while just talking, she knew how it would have affected me given what I went through with Ryan.

I been working most days lately which is good to try and get my mind off things. I was on the lunch shift day and finishing in about an hour then I had the next day off. After cleaning a few tables from outside I make my way towards the back to put down the dirty glasses I had when I noticed a familiar guy standing at the bar. As if sensing me walking towards him, Jake turned around and smiled at me.

"Hey" I greeted Jake as I got closer to him "Let me just put these down, I'll be right back" I walk into the washup area and put down the glasses and make my way back to Jake. It's pretty quiet now that the lunch rush has died down.

"Hey, how have you been? Haven't seen you since the morning after the party" Jake's says, which is right after I left their apartment I've been working most days so I haven't had time to see anybody although I have been messaging Ethan nearly daily.

"Good, busy working and everything. How about you?" I asked

"Not bad busy too with classes and hockey now the season has started. Actually wanted to see if you're free after your shift to grab a coffee, it feels like forever since we caught up?" Jake asks

"Sure I finish in about an hour, you want to meet me there, just the coffee shop on the corner?"

"Sounds good, I'll see you soon" he responds while standing and heading towards the door.

After I finish up, I walk down to the coffee shop where I know Jake is waiting. We haven't caught up together for a while and I enjoy Jake's company. As I've said before he's like the brother I never had. He stands up as I make my way to the table he's at and give him a hug. He's already ordered my drink as he know exactly what I need after my shift, double shot vanilla latte.

As I sit down across from Jake my phone goes off. I take a quick look and I instantly have a smile on my face "Who's put that smile on your face." Jake asks while I take a sip of my coffee. I can't help but smile, his messages always seem to make me smile lately. "Can I take a guess and say maybe my best friend"

"Hey I thought I was your best friend" I push at his shoulder as I can't feel a slightly blush creeping up my cheeks. I know Jake knows something happened at the Fair but I haven't given details and I'm sure if Ethan has either.

"If you are talking about Ethan then yes it was" I answer not sure whether I want to let him know what's in the message. He's been messaging me all day and this latest one, he's asking if he meet me him now. "He asked if we could meet up now since he's finished classes for the day"

Jake let's out a loud laugh "Watch this" he pulls out his phone and starts to call somebody while putting it on speaker so I can hear too

"What's up Jake" I hear the familiar voice say

"Nothing much. Just wanted to see if you wanna grab a coffee with me, I'm at Theo's near the bar"

"I'm kinda, might be busy, I'm just waiting to hear back from someone" Jake tries to hide his laugh

"That someone isn't a cute little brunette that you seem to be messaging everyday whose name rhymes with Lia???" he chuckles

"Maybe" Ethan responds and I hope Jake doesn't notice the blush on my cheeks

"Well I know she only just got off from work so how bout you meet me while you wait and if she doesn't answer you, well maybe she's just not that interested. She got straight back to me only like 5 minutes ago" I reach out and slap Jake across the shoulder but he just laughs.

"Fine, I'll see you in 10" and then Ethan hangs up.

I'm not sure what Jake plans to do when Ethan arrived but I can tell he has a plan. We talk about his classes and work until I notice Jake look over my shoulder and smirk. "Catch ya later" He stands up and walks away before I even get to say anything.

I turn to follow where he walks to and he goes straight over to Ethan who has just walked in the door. Jake points towards me and says something to Ethan before slapping him on the back and walking out. Ethan makes his way over to where I'm sitting and takes the seat where Jake was.

"Hey" I start the conversation but I'm so embarrassed I hope that Ethan doesn't think this was my plan "sorry about him, he was with me when I got your message. I was going to reply but Jake... well he was Jake"

Ethan laughs and straight away that puts me at ease "Yeah, he told me as much when I got here plus this is definitely something he would do"

We ease into easy conversation just catching up before Ethan suddenly seems to get nervous, shifting in his seat "There was something I wanted to ask you" he hesitates before looking into my eyes and speaking again "I wanted to see if you were busy tomorrow, um I wanted to see if I could take you out on a date?"

Ok so this is happening, I knew this was going to come up again after his message after the fair bit he just asked me on a date. I've spoken to Ella about this numerous times and she convinced me that when he did ask that I'd say yes. The way he took care of me after the party, that showed that he actually cares about me.

"Its ok, if you don't want to it's ok" oh god, I've taken too long to answer "No, sorry I'd love too" I send him a smile hoping that he can see it's genuine and then I see his smile on his face.

We talk for a while longer then Ethan walks me home and kisses me on the cheeky "I'll pick you up at 3 tomorrow and dress casual" and with that he walks away and I can't wipe the smile off my face. I have a date with Ethan tomorrow.

I'm so nervous, I know I want to spend more time with Ethan and there seems to be something between us but there is so much in my past that I'm not sure I can fully put myself into any type of relationship. Then all of a sudden there's a knock on the door. Ok breath I tell myself.

I make my way over to the door and open it to see Ethan standing there with his signature smile on his face and his ocean blue eyes sparkling at me. After our hellos I grab my bag and we make our way down to his car. The drive was almost silent with the soft music coming from the radio.

Ethan pulls into a carpark at the local lake. The weather is getting cooler theses days but the sun still provides some warmth during the day. He hopes out of the car and comes around and opens my door for me, then grabs what looks like a picnic basket off the back seat.

We walk side by side around to the other side of the lake were iti s much quieter. Our hand brushed up against each other occasionally as we walked and I could feel my nerves. Ethan stops underneath a large oak tree and lays out a blanket. We sit down and he get out all the food her has for us

"I wasn't sure what you'd feel like so I made sandwiches, cheese board, fruit platter and I also have a few sweets too" I was in shock, he had gone to so much trouble getting all this together. This is the sweetest thing anybody has ever done for me.

"Thank you, this all looks so nice, you didn't have to go to so much trouble"

"Its no trouble at all, so what would you like to start with" We had a delicious lunch and great conversation, it just flowed. There were subtle touches of hands and lots of laughter. At one point he was feeding me a chocolate coated strawberry. I'd never been treated this way before. I actually felt special. He made me feel comfortable. He made me feel safe. He made me feel more like me.