2 | Exposed ( ETHAN DOLAN )

TWENTY THREE

E X P O S E D
C H A P T E R T W E N T Y T H R E E

IN the morning, Ethan had made his way down to the gorgeous, spacious kitchen which blew him away just as much as it did when he first saw it. It had marble countertops and glossy white cupboard doors and an unnecessarily large island in the middle; a contemporary dream.

Andrea was already in there, cooking up some breakfast. Pancakes— Ethan could recognise the smell from the top of the stairs.

"Morning," Ethan mumbled, pulling out a stool from the island and sitting down on it. He took a moment to observe Andrea's appearance; she had hair thrown up in a messy bun and wore an oversized t-shirt that nearly reached her knees, and she looked effortlessly perfect.

Andrea looked up, giggling at his sleepy, disheveled state. His hair stuck up in several directions and his eyes were still heavy as he rubbed them.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" Andrea questioned, pouring the last bit of batter onto the pan.

"I slept perfectly," Ethan told her, pulling out his phone to check his notifications.

"That's good," Andrea smiled as she watched the pancakes cook. After a short silence, Andrea spoke again. "Um, Maisie wants to meet up."

"Cool. With the both of us, or just you?"

"Well, she's kind of obsessed with you and your brother, but she's gonna be so annoying about it, so I'm not gonna force you to meet her," Andrea explained, placing a plate of fresh pancakes in front of Ethan and then moving over to sit beside him. She had already set out chocolate, fruit and maple syrup for Ethan to choose from, and he didn't hesitate for a moment before digging in.

"I'd love to meet her, though. But if you want, I can stay here and edit some videos, so, I mean, it's your decision."

Andrea hummed in thought, quirking a brow in curiosity at the mention of her sister. "I'd feel bad for leaving you on your first day here."

"Andrea, it's fine. I promise. Go meet your friend, maybe we can hang out with her another day, too," Ethan suggested, moaning at how delicious the pancakes were. "You make some good ass pancakes. Grayson's got nothing on these."

Andrea chuckled. "Thanks. And are you sure I can leave you? Because I can always tell her to leave me alone."

"No, no, don't do that. You can leave me. I'll be fine."

Andrea's face was still swimming in doubt, but her gut told her to trust him and meet Maisie. After all, she hadn't seen her beloved best friend in an entire week. They had a lot to catch up on.

"I promise I'll start bringing you to interesting places tomorrow."

"Hey, don't worry about it. As long as I get to spend time with you, I don't mind what we do," Ethan smiled, and Andrea felt her cheeks heat up.

After that, they sat in silence, making silly small talk and enjoying the taste of their pancakes.

Andrea came home after a tiring day. It hadn't been too eventful, though it had felt good to reunite with her best friend. Andrea explained everything that happened, and she wasn't successful in keeping Maisie calm throughout her storytelling— Maisie had freaked out in the middle of the café they were sat in, resulting in them nearly being kicked out unless she began to start behaving more appropriately.

She did, and they ended up having a successful lunch. Andrea had left out quite a lot of information, keeping it from Maisie for the sake of protecting herself and her best friends, the twins. For example, the fact that she had made out with Grayson. That was something she would have rather kept to herself, and she was going to.

The smell of stir fry hung in the air of Andrea's home, making her mouth water. She had more important things on her mind, however, like seeing Ethan.

She went straight to his room, immediately after shutting the front door behind her, and found him on his bed, on his Mac computer, as she expected.

His eyes flicked up, filling with life and a smile spread across his face at the sight of her.

"Hey," he exclaimed, pulling his headphones off his head and making his way over to Andrea to greet her with a warm hug. He was wearing a comfy hoodie, as per usual, which made Andrea grip onto him and hold him tighter when he tried to pull away.

"How was your day?" he asked, rubbing circles into her back.

"Good," she replied. "Maisie and I got food and talked about L.A. That was it. What about you? Were you okay?"

"Yeah, no, my day was great. I got done editing nearly two videos," Ethan told her.

"That's good," Andrea murmured, then when neither of them had anything further to say, she melted into Ethan's embrace as she always did. Her dreams were not made up of clouds and skies, they were made up of Ethan's arms wrapped around her.

Then, Ethan cleared his throat. "There was something I, uh, wanted to ask you."

His voice was small, noticeably different to the loud, confident voice he usually had.

"What's that?" Andrea questioned, pulling away. Ethan gently pulled her towards the bed and he sat down on it. Andrea followed, getting comfy in a criss cross position.

"Well, I don't know. I mean. . ." Ethan sighed. The words just weren't coming out of his mouth. His tongue felt dry.

"E, what is it?" Andrea urged, taking one of his hands in hers and intertwining their fingers. "You can ask me."

"Okay, so, I know we've been on a date before, but. . . I never really gave you an option, and I know it turned out fine and stuff, but I don't know."

"Ethan," Andrea giggled. "You're acting so weird."

"Am I? Sorry."

"What do you wanna ask me?"

"Oh, right. Do you wanna, maybe, go on a date with me? This Friday?" Ethan's face was hopeful, although nervous. His eyes were wary.

Andrea didn't have to think twice about it, however. "Of course, E. I couldn't say no."

[ so... i finished writing this book. it's all in my drafts. i will be releasing one update each night for the next few days, so be prepared! also i have a new book coming soon... ]