Ethan Adams

Chapter 18

"Alisa, offer your house for the group meeting." Ethan says as we drive to school on Monday morning. I have to do a triple take.

"Group meeting? When is this?"

"This evening." He says casually and then catches sight of my confused face. "You know, for the trip to New York?"

I nod. "I can't host it. I'm at –"

"Drama club? Oh shoot. Okay, fine, it'll be at my house. Show up when you're done, okay?"

I almost ask him if he's going to pick me up this evening but decide not to push it. As we get out and start walking to the courtyard, Ethan glances at me a few times, a strange look on his face. He's not quite smiling but he's not quite neutral – faced either. It's like he's daydreaming but I know he's not because he keeps glancing at me and repeatedly avoids eye contact.

"What?" I ask, when he does it for like the fifth time.

He smirks. "I have a surprise for you."

Immediately, I light up. "You do? What is it? When am I gonna get it? What –"

"When you come to my house this evening."

I gasp. "You can't keep me waiting that long! That's cruel!"

Ethan licks his lips and I use all my willpower to avoid looking at them. "Sorry, that's the Adams way."

"The Adams way is cruel."

He chuckles and stops, dropping his bag on a bench. "Well, when we get married and have baby Theo, that'll be your way too."

I roll my eyes and pretend like he hasn't completely embarrassed me. "Whatever. Theo's gonna be Nick Jonas' baby anyway."

"Nick Jonas? I'm way better looking than that curly headed softie."

"Keep telling yourself that, Ethan." I pat his hand sympathetically and he gasps, looking genuinely offended.

I ignore him as he starts ranting about how his boring blue eyes are so much better looking than Nick's dreamy brown ones. I don't think I've ever seen him this agitated before and it's kind of funny knowing I have this effect on him.

"You know what Alisa?" He says while I pretend to be unbothered. "I'm not giving you your surprise anymore."

"I don't want it anyway." I reply smoothly.

Truthfully, I'm lying out of my ass but this acting thing seems to be working well for me because Ethan looks very flustered. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and resorts to pretty much ignoring me up until the first bell rings for homeroom. I of course, continue talking to him about how dreamy Nick Jonas is.

That's pretty much how the morning goes for us: every time he attempts to talk to me, I mention Nick Jonas. For once, I kind of have the upper hand on Ethan and it's actually quite satisfying not having him make fun of me all day.

I decide to sit with my old friends at lunch, mostly to be a pain. They're all in good spirits and the topic of the table is New York.

"Oh my God, can we go to the Empire State Building?" David asks, his eyes sparkling.

"Blech. Looking at old architecture? Boring." Ella says. "I wanna go shopping."

"We can do both you know?"

"Nah. I'll get bored." She flips her hair and nudges me.

"Why can't we do both?" I ask, wondering why she's so opposed to a tall and pointy building. She frowns at me.