ALL NOVEL Chapter 32: The Sidekick and the Confession (Part 1)
“Have a good break, Mr. Morrison,” I said, throwing my backpack over my shoulder and falling in line behind Ethan and Amelia. Nora walked beside me, close enough that our elbows kept bumping.
“You all have a good break too. Don’t do anything too crazy.”
“We won’t,” Ethan replied.
It didn’t seem his promise meant much to Mr. Morrison who pinched the skin above his nose. He nonetheless waved goodbye in acknowledgement, and we left his classroom. The hallways were fairly sparse of students, likely because everyone was in a rush to begin their vacation as soon as possible. I couldn’t blame them, wanting to leave once I retrieved my coat from my locker. On our way past the main office, we were forced to split up.
“Our lockers are in this direction. Have a nice time off, you two. Hopefully, we’ll see each other soon,” Amelia said.
“I’ve got something in the works for Monday.” Ethan winked at me. “You’re coming over tonight to hash out the details, right?”
I recoiled in disgust. “That’s the plan.”
“Nice, I’ll see you later then. Have a good one, Nora.”
“You too,” she said.
And with that, Amelia and Ethan went off on their own. We continued on our trek until reaching the row of lockers at the end of the hallway. Ours were near each other since mine was 6-101 and hers was 6-107. I spun the lock combination around with practiced ease and took out my coat. Wrapping it around my waist was my best call for now, considering I was going to be stuck here a while longer than I wanted to be. Sure enough, Nora pounded on the door of her locker, unleashing a long string of curses. I sighed and stepped up next to her, mulling over my words carefully to avoid becoming part of her frustration.
“Need any help?”
She shook her head. “I got it.”
A few more tries revealed that she certainly did not have it. Rather, she spun the lock in almost a haphazard manner, choosing to go right or left like it was a freedom of expression. On one attempt, it almost appeared as though she was pushing the combination lock upward.
“42, 30, 11.”
After giving up, Nora moved aside and allowed me access to her locker. I followed her instructions and pulled up the handle. It opened with a quiet creak, and she was quick to snatch her coat before slamming it shut.
“How’d you even get it open in the first place?”
“Amelia,” she said.
Well, that would explain why she was being so prideful about it. God forbid she had to rely on the person she loved to hate for help.
“Anyways, I’m coming over on Wednesday to borrow the rest of the series.”
“Of the manga?” I asked. “I knew you’d like it if you gave it a shot.”
“I’m just bored, so don’t read too much into it.” Scampering away, she flipped around for a moment. “It’s a promise?”
“You got it.”
The hallway was empty now, the quietest I’d ever heard it. I sent Ethan a text, figuring I could afford to give Amelia a little more time alone with him.
____________
The side door to his house was unlocked like always. No surprises there. What was a surprise was running face to face into his mother. She wasn’t often home when I visited–she was an important businesswoman and had to work abroad in Europe a good amount of the year–so I must have looked a little shocked.
“Don’t stare at me like I’m a ghost or something. This is my house, you know.”
The playful lines she spoke very much contrasted her strict appearance. Don’t be mistaken, she was a beautiful and charming woman, which is probably where Ethan must have gotten his charisma and good looks from. It was just her expressions were always cold, no matter what her mood. The business suits she often donned didn’t help in that regard either. Still, that didn’t give me an excuse to stand there like an idiot.
“Sorry, ma’am. I wasn’t trying to disturb you, but Ethan invited me over.”
“I know you’re polite but quit it with that ma’am nonsense. Makes me feel older than I already am.” She slipped her other high heel off, smiling as it tumbled to the floor. “He’s been waiting for you in the living room. Better hurry up and get in there. You know how that son of mine gets when he’s impatient.”
I chuckled, a tad forced. “That’s true. Have a good night then.”
A gentle smile crossed her face. “You as well.”
Her light footsteps faded as she headed upstairs, and I headed into the living room. Ethan glanced up at me expectantly. “You finally decided to come to the love guru? An excellent choice, my disciple. I’d say… hey, you just got here. Don’t walk away from me!”
A better person would have felt bad, leaving their best friend without a word when he so graciously agreed to host you at his house and lend an ear to your concerns. I felt no such qualms. It brought me great pleasure to watch him squirm around on the couch and be forced to chase after me.
I paused in the corridor leading to the kitchen. “Should’ve known better than to come to you for serious advice.”
“Oh, c’mon. I was just having a little fun. Don’t be such a spoil-sport.” He flung an arm around my shoulder, guiding me back toward the living room. “But you and Rika? I knew there had to be a little spark there.”
Back when we went to the mall together, Ethan had called it. Well, what I wanted anyway. What Rika wanted was a whole different story. An unknown.
I shrugged his arm off. “I have no idea what to do about it though. I don’t even know if she likes me back, so confessing is kind of…”
“It would be kind of nerve-wracking,” Ethan said, finishing my sentence for me.
Nodding in response, I sat in the lounge chair next to the couch. He laid down on the couch, nearly crushing his cat in the process. She swiped at him being quite displeased about its forced relocation. The cat scampered away, curling up by my feet with a hiss.
“If you scratch me, I’ll end you,” I whispered to the cat, who had the gall to lay there like nothing had happened between us.
“We’ll move right past you threatening my poor cat.” Running a hand through his hair, he hummed to himself. “I think Rika likes you too, but it’s hard to tell what that girl’s thinking. Truthfully, you’ll be taking a risk. Either that or you hold onto these feelings for the next two years until you graduate and move on. Or who knows? She might even end up going out with someone else in the meantime.”
There was a lot to unpack there. It was scary to take the first step out of my self-induced role of being a sidekick. I played second fiddle to my best friend for so long that I was afraid to strike out on my own. Not that I was complaining; I had chosen that role for myself. It was scary, but my gut twisted at the thought of her going out with somebody, especially if I never gave it a shot. And I had promised to take a page out of Katy’s book way back then.
I needed to try my best too.
“I’ll help you no matter what you do, but you need to be the one to make the final decision,” Ethan said.
“I want to ask her out.” I drummed my fingers on the arm of the recliner. “I’m just nervous about how it’ll go down.”
“Don’t sweat it. I have a plan for this exact situation.”
Wondering if I should be concerned about another one of his plans, I couldn’t help being amused. “Care to share with the class?”
“I will, but before that, check out this pic Chloe sent me.” He tossed me his phone, which startled the cat, and had it fleeing into the other room. “How about it?”
I was once again concerned and had some questions. Why did Chloe have such a picture? Why did Ethan save it? Why was Rika’s eyebrow partially shaven? What was going on with her eyeliner? And how was she still so freaking pretty despite everything? I decided to ask all of them, except that last one.
“She took it at one of their sleep-overs. I think it’s funny. Dare went wrong. Another part of the dare going wrong.” Ethan inhaled sharply, having rapid-fire answered them. “That wasn’t the point I was trying to make. I was trying to show you how, at the end of the day, she’s still human and can look like a mess just like the rest of us. But, you were probably thinking something like ‘she’s still so amazingly beautiful,’ weren’t you?” He smacked me hard on my back, almost causing me to topple out of the chair. “Damn, dude. You really are a lost cause. What about this though?”
He shoved a wrinkled flyer in my face, ramming it into my nose. The writing was too close to properly make out anything besides a bright smudge and the name of the city where the aquarium was.
I hazarded a guess. “Fireworks?”
“Fireworks, my man!”