"Hey!" I shout. "How are you?!" Just to stay in keeping with the repeat of history. She was the first person I ran into after Ethan asked me to be his tutor girlfriend; it's probably perfect that she is the last person I see just before I stop being his tutor girlfriend.

"Stil not deaf," she grunts, turning off my moon lamp and placing it back on its stand on my bedside table to pick up my phone instead and turn it on. "Did you break up with my brother?" she asks, glaring at me where I'm still hovering at my bedroom door, not brave enough to go near her. I'm keeping an eye out for my slippers.

"No," I tell her since it's easier to say what I mean when I'm speaking to Dell, and by negating the thing that is apparently causing her to glare at me, I'm probably avoiding another hiding... I hope...

"Then what the hell kind of message did you send him?" she asks, unlocking my phone and opening the message application.

"I didn't send him anything; my phone died before I could answer," I tell her, walking into my room and taking the phone when she holds it out to me. There, in answer to Ethan's question, is a GIF of a freaky-looking, grey-skinned man with terrible teeth tossing a kiss and waving goodbye. It feels like the kiss of death.

"Yikes!"

"Yikes, indeed," Delia laughs, and I finally dare to sit down on the bed next to her.

"I've been trying to tell him that I love him since yesterday, but it's just not working. Today, the words didn't come out right at all, and to tell you the truth, Dell, I'm starting to think that I shouldn't tell him. I think I should just let our experiment end, let things get back to normal and maybe then, if he could want me, specifically, we could start dating for real. I can't be his substitute girl for when the right one comes along... I need him to want me..."

I trail off when I see the appalled look on Delia's face, and I wisely cover my forehead with my hands, wincing in anticipation of her attack, which doesn't come. Instead, Delia sags, her face, her hair, her entire body crumbling in on itself and now I'm scared. Why is she looking so devastated?

"It doesn't matter anymore, Kiki," she says miserably. "He's leaving Summerfields."

"Ethan?!" Did she hit her head? Maybe she's the one suffering from sunstroke!

"Yes," she sighs, lowering her head, hiding her misery from me, her fingers toying with the frayed edge of her cut-off jeans. I don't like seeing her like this. I prefer the feisty, slipper-wielding Delia to this sad one. "He came home just now wearing only one shoe. Dad is so angry because they are his new shoes. Personally, I feel that Dad should cut him some slack. I mean, Ethan wears his shoes until they rot off his feet, so he lost one; it's not-."

"He lost a shoe? Where? How?"

"Dunno," she shrugs. "My point is, he got into this big fight with Dad again."

"No!" I exclaim, horrified to hear that. "I thought they were doing better..."

"They were, but-."

"Wait, your dad is home?" Is my dad home too? I didn't see or hear him.

"Yeah, Aunt Alice called to cancel, so your dad and my parents are in our living room, drinking coffee and... it's not important. Stop interrupting me!" she growls, and I scoot away before the finger of death can come out and flick my forehead.

"Ethan and Dad got into it about the shoe, and Ethan snapped. He said that nothing is keeping him here anymore now that you broke up with him and that he's sick of constantly clashing with Dad, so he is going to Hummelton University next year, and he's leaving right now."

I stare at Delia, my mind still stuck on the weird scenario of Ethan and his dad fighting over a shoe, and then her last words strike home, causing me to gasp in shock.

"Noooooo! No! No! No!" I yell. "Silverview Uni has that program that combines architectural design with engineering, and Ethan really wants to do that degree!"

"Hummelton has it too," Delia shrugs, wiping a hand over her face.

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yes, and he's taking the rugby scholarship they offered him, so he decided to start going to Hummelton High from next week so that he can get to know the people he'll be playing with next year in the varsity team. Most of them play for Hummelton High now," Delia says, rising from my bed and walking around it to the window, where she stands with her back to me, her shoulders hunched. "Kiki, the point is, he is leaving right now. He's taking his bike, and Dad will drive up tomorrow or next weekend to drop off his stuff. Mom is distraught, and your dad was trying to talk sense into Ethan when I came over here."

Her words are jumbling together in my brain, trying to form a story, but it keeps on falling apart because I cannot wrap my mind around it.

"You're lying! He won't just leave us like that?!" I exclaim, horrified and utterly confused.

"I'm not lying," Delia says with a choked voice. "He was really hurt, thinking you broke up with him in such a cruel way and... he also lost a really good shoe in the process."

"That's garbage!" I snap. 

"Yeah, well, you could've given him a reason to stay," Delia accuses, glaring at me again. "He often talked about the possibility of doing exactly what he's doing now to get my dad off his back once and for all... and now it's happening."

"That is not true!" I don't want it to be true. I want Ethan and Uncle Ian to laugh together, play together, and be father and son together the way they used to.

"I am not lying! Come see for yourself!" Delia snaps, stabbing a finger at my window and with my legs shaking, I rise from the bed to join her at the window. There is Ethan, with a pack on his back, in the process of tying another load to his motorcycle. This is not possible! It makes no sense, and yet, there he is.

"I don't think you'll see him until Christmas," Delia tells me, looking really sad now. Christmas is months away; surely, he'll come home for weekends... when he's not playing matches. "Unless you go to Briar Cove with us this school holiday to hang out with Hunter." Hunter is their cousin. They go there for a week each year, and sometimes I go with them. "I'm not so sure I can be around you right now, Kiki," Delia tells me, her words stabbing at my gut. "I trusted you with Ethe. I never thought you would crush him like that."

"But I didn't!" I protest. "The phone crushed him. The phone sent him that GIF... besides..." This makes no sense, but Delia is not looking at me anymore; she turned her head away to gaze at her brother, in the process of pushing his bike down their driveway to their gate. "No," I sob. "This makes no sense!"

"You could stop him... probably," Delia says, turning to me with burning eyes. "Tell him you need him to stay here to protect you from... some guy who came onto you at the dance last night..."

"What? You want me to lie to him?" She really must be desperate! "Why would that make him stay if he is so fed up with fighting with your dad?"

"He is very protective of you," she says, her eyes shooting blue sparks at me. "Stop asking stupid questions, and go fix what you've ruined!"

I take a step back, frowning at her, really hurt by that accusation.

"Please, Kiki," she says more gently. "Don't let my brother leave us. You're the only one who could stop him. Clearly, your father wasn't able to change his mind. Mom was crying so much..." She bites her lip and sniffs, turning her head away again, and while my mind is still not grasping any of this, my feet decide to take the lead, and I flee from my bedroom.

This is the second time today I'm running as if my life depends on it. Running with Ethan as the inspiration, but this time, I'm not running away from him; I'm running towards him. I nearly fall down the stairs in my hurry, and once I make it outside, I ignore pebbles cutting into the naked soles of my feet as I run for our gate, reaching it just seconds after Ethan passed it.

He got on his bike after closing their gate behind him, started the engine and took off without seeing me running down our driveway. I throw open our gate, running into the road, just in time to see him speeding off down the road towards the junction, where the school road comes into our circular road.

"Ethan!" I scream, but I can tell that it's hopeless; I've been screaming his name from the second I saw him at their gate, starting his motorcycle, and he didn't hear or see me then; there is no way he is hearing me now, either. He is too far away, the motorcycle engine drowning out the sound of my thin voice.

I'm vaguely aware of gaining an audience to my heart, shattering into a million pieces on the tarmac. Jonah was hosing down his friend Josh in their front yard, and they stopped their squabble to look at me instead. My drama provides them with more entertainment than tormenting each other. Mrs Henderson is walking her dog, Rampant, frowning in confusion at my antics, and Mrs Riley, two houses down from ours, is watering her rose bushes, giving me concerned looks where I'm standing in the road, in line with her house.

I see all of this without really seeing it, my ears filling with white noise as the blood drains from my head. I suddenly and vividly understand all the Asian drama characters I've harshly judged through the years, cringing in disgust when the female protagonist, finding herself in a situation similar to the one I'm in now, sinks to the ground and ugly cries like a child throwing a tantrum in a supermarket. During scenes like those, I would always frown at the screen, saying something like: "Are you a friggin' toddler? Go cry in the toilet like a grown-up."

Right now, I want to sink to the ground and cry like a baby with a broken toy. Twelve years of my life is reaching the junction, putting on the right indicator on his motorcycle, and riding out of my life. Ethan will no longer be the first person I see every morning (whether I want to see him or not). He will no longer send me annoying text messages in class. We'll never play in the waterfall pool again. I will never feel the softness of his lips on mine or taste his intoxicating flavour again.

No, I'm not being dramatic! I am falling apart here!

Can I still text him? Will he come back if I do? None of this is making any sense to me. Dell said nothing is keeping him here now. He'll build a new life in Hummelton and meet new people at school there and at the university next year. There will be many, many great girls adding themselves to the nine million three hundred and seventy-five females willing to give him the love he longs for.

He might come back for a weekend here or there, but there will be no place for me in his life anymore. I had my chance, and I blew it! I'll meet new people too, but there will never be another Ethan. This cannot be how it ends. It just cannot!

Why was I so slow to see how I really felt about him?

Right now, I know that I'm not too much of a coward or too proud just to accept it if he doesn't feel the same about me. So what? As long as I can have him in my life, have him here in Egret's Rest where he belongs. He doesn't have to be mine! He doesn't have to love me back...

Ethan means the world to me.

I just stare helplessly at the empty corner when the motorcycle disappears around it, taking Ethan out of my view. My eyes are burning with tears, my fingers have lost their feeling, and my legs are like clay. Turning away, I blindly start to stumble back home, my vision blurry through the salty tears streaming down my cheeks.

I'll call him on his phone and beg him to come back. If he doesn't hear the phone while he's driving, I'll wait a few hours until he reaches his grandparents. I don't care how, but I swear I am going to beg him to come back. I'm not too proud to do that.

Things were definitely getting better between him and his father. Ethan loves his dad, and he would never just leave his mom. He is a total Mama's boy. She'll be devastated if he leaves like this after a stupid fight. Usually, he just goes for a run after a fight; he doesn't uproot his entire life. Is Dell right? Is it really my fault? She hates me now. That is what I've been afraid of right from the start. Does she at least get it now?

"Are you alright, Kira, dear?" Mrs. Riley inquires, now watering the flowers near her gate, and I give her a wave and a nod, trying to smile but unable to speak. The boys in the Winslows' yard have lost interest in me now that I'm not screaming names and running down the road like an idiot anymore, but am walking back home quietly with my tail between my legs.

I just want to crawl into my bed and cry forever. I need to fix things with Dell; she's my best friend, and I cannot lose her too. I'm not naïve enough to think that we'll be together forever. I don't ever want to leave Muddville. I love it here, and Daddy is here. If I leave, he'll be all alone. Dell will probably move on eventually, build a career, and have a good life somewhere. Perhaps she'll bring Ethan with her when she comes for a visit. That way, I can meet his wife and 4.3 children. The tears are falling freely now, making a liar out of my heartfelt hope that Ethan finds true happiness, even if it is with someone else.

I jump back with a startled yelp when something buzzes past me, stopping right in front of me, and I almost walk into it. Looking up, my vision streaming, I make out a hazy silhouette climbing off his motorcycle and tearing off his helmet, revealing soft blond hair glowing in the sun.

"You heard me!" I breathe in surprise.

I didn't even hear the motorcycle approach! I'm too afraid to believe my eyes as I watch Ethan put his helmet on the seat before he comes closer to me.

"No, I saw you in the rearview mirror. What-." he stops talking when he sees my face, and his expression changes to one of concern. "Kicks? What's wrong? Did something happen?" he asks, placing his hands on my shoulders. "Why are you crying?"

What does he even mean?! He happened! He happened big time!

"Please don't leave, Ethy," I beg, just like I said I would. See, I'm keeping my promise? I'm not proud, and I desperately want him to stay. "Please don't go to Hummelton now. I'm sorry about how I reacted in the park. I lost the right words and... I was running away to look for them, that's all. I didn't send that GIF... the phone sent it with its dying breath. I'll help you find your shoe, and then you can make up with your dad. Please don't leave."

"Huh?"

"Please, you belong in Egret's Rest... with us... with me."

"Huh?"

Is that really all he is going to say? I stop talking, struggling to get my breathing under control, waiting for him to say something containing actual words, even if they're going to hurt.

"Look, Kicks, I'm sorry I scared you with how I acted," he says, swallowing hard, and those words do not make sense at all. "I've been trying so hard not to do things I shouldn't do, and then I go and get carried away like that. You know I'll never force you to do anything you don't want to do or are not ready for, right?"

"Huh?" Oh, great! Now I'm doing it. I don't understand this conversation. Is he leaving town and walking out of my life because he kissed me and touched me a little bit too much, or because he lost his shoe and had a fight with his dad, or because he thinks I broke up with him? Or all of the above.

None of those reasons feels valid to me at all.

"I know you wouldn't..." I mutter, and then my eyes fall on his necklace, my necklace, the mother-of-pearl disk catching the sun, winking cheekily at me from the hollow of his throat. He is still wearing my necklace, and I am still wearing his. As long as you have that and I have this, we know that we have a deal, and we're committed to this.

"I love you, Ethan!" I gasp on a last escaping sob when the memory of his words jolts me into action. There, I've said it! "So friggin' much! It's fine if you want to end our deal, but please don't leave. Don't walk out of my life. I want you to be in it in whatever role you want. Please don't make me act like I'm starring in a Japanese drama!"

"I don't understand anything you're saying, Kicks," Ethan breathes, and lifting the hem of his shirt, he mops the tears from my face. "Why the hell would I go to Hummelton now... or at all? Well, except to visit my grandparents."

He stares into my eyes while the minutes tick by, and I'm trying to make sense of exactly what is going on here.

"Did you lose one of your new shoes?"

"I got stuck on the boulder, and it swam away, but it was one of my old ones..." He is frowning as if he doesn't see the relevance.

"So, you didn't just have a fight with your dad about losing one of your new shoes and decided that you're going to do what he's been asking and go to Hummelton Uni next year?"

"What?" Ethan laughs, feeling my face with the palms of his hands. I think he is searching for signs of a fever. "My dad is with my mom and your dad in Palm Grove. And no, after our chat the other day, he is completely on board with me going to Silverview... What's going on, Kicks?"

I look past him at his bike, tilting my head to get a better look at the bag tied behind the seat. "Is that your tent and sleeping bag?" I will recognise it anywhere; I've helped him pack it so many times when we all went for overnight adventures in the woods.

"Yeah," he shrugs. "I decided to go join the guys. You're right; I don't know how many chances I still have left to camp out with them... and it seemed like you needed some space... so..."

"Your sister is evil," I inform him, and he shrugs, nodding his head. He doesn't even ask me why I'm saying that. He knows she is.

"I don't want to break up, Kicks," his voice suddenly changes, his eyes burning into mine. "I figured if I'm not here, you c... Wait," he blinks, his eyes clearing, and a hesitant smile starts to pluck dimples into his cheeks. "Did you say you love me?"

He only registers it now?

"Yes," I blink at him, watching his smile grow. I don't even care if he's going to tease me now. He can tease me every day for the rest of my life if he wants to. "I told you last night too."

"Last night, I heard you tell Yvette that I'm the only one you want, but I thought you and Deli were just trying to show her how stupid this whole break-up thing of theirs is because she and Archer are nuts about each other... and when you said that at the car I wasn't sure... Do you mean you love me as your friend, your neighbour, Deli's brother?" he pulls a face. "Your brother?"

"No," I shake my head and step closer, pushing my forehead into the bottom of his chest and wrapping my arms around him. "But I'll settle for that if it is all you want from me."

His heart is beating as fast as mine is, its speed steadily increasing in my ear as I nestle closer when he wraps his arms around me. I don't even care that Mrs. Riley is flooding the street because she's not keeping her eye on where she's watering. I also don't care that the boys are whistling and whooping, making remarks that are startlingly crude for ones so young.

I don't care about anything except being in Ethan's arms while he holds me tightly in his trembling embrace.

"Kicks," he mutters into my hair. "I've loved you for 12 years; from the first time you told me you hated me, I knew you were the only girl for me. The only one I really want as my girlfriend."

"What?" I whisper, tilting my head back, trying to see his face. "What about the girl who broke your heart and drove you into Amber's arms."

Ethan pulls away from me to frown down at me. "That was..." he stops himself from saying whatever it is he was going to say and, smiling, shakes his head. "Just a misunderstanding. I thought you were sleeping with Liam..."

"What?! Ew!"

"I know... I was an idiot," he chuckles, pulling me into his chest again, tangling the fingers of one hand in my hair. "Does this mean you'll stay my girlfriend... for real this time, please?"

"Yes," I say, and now I'm the one pulling away from him to frown up at him. "You weren't just dating me to get the car and to be tutored?"

"Oh, wow, Kicks," he laughs, grabbing the tip of my nose between two of his knuckles and giving it a gentle tug. "For a bright girl, you are really thick."

"Shut up!" I growl, stepping out of his reach and punching him in the stomach. "I don't know what to make of this, Ethy. You lied to me?"

"Just a little bit... Grandpa is always saying things like that to me, so... but he was already getting the car ready to put it through the tests and transfer it to me. When I told him I'm dating you, he said he'll do it faster because he doesn't want you on the back of my bike. I'll have it soon."

Yes, his grandfather is always saying he cannot give the Citroën to a ne'er-do-well-ruff-a-tuff, which is why I believed Ethan so easily. Perhaps I just wanted to believe him so that I could have this chance to be with him. I just didn't know it. He's right! I'm completely dense!

"Delia knows everything, doesn't she?" I grumble, all of it suddenly as clear as day to me.

"I'll neither confirm nor deny that," he grunts, pulling a face and taking my hand in his; he brings my fingers to his lips, and just like that, I cannot quite remember what I'm angry about anymore. "I'm sorry I wasn't honest with you, Kicks. This is our last year of high school; we don't know what will happen in life and where it will take us. I got scared of losing you, and I panicked. Think about how many times I've asked you to be my girlfriend in the last few years and what your reaction was each time, and then tell me this was not the best way to get you to give me a chance."

I do think about it, and I remember all those times when I thought he was just trying to irritate me, and I usually ended it by throwing stuff at him or hitting him with whatever I had in my hands at the time. Had he been sincere? Biting my lip, I peek up at him from under my lashes. "I'll neither confirm nor deny that."

I puff out my breath; my head is spinning now. I'm feeling so many things at once. Relief, joy, anger, confusion... some fear... He loves me? Me... and he doesn't mean like a sister?

Ethan presses his lips together and squints his eyes guiltily. "I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have done it... Shit, Kicks, why is it so hard for you to see? I love you so friggin' much! Please don't be mad."

Mad? Am I mad at him? Do I look mad? Well... I am frowning, but it's mostly because I'm feeling too many things right now, and my heart cannot contain it, and my face has no clue what expression to wear.

"This is mad," I giggle. "You really are a fruitcake, Nahte! A nutty one!" I grab the front of his shirt and pull myself up and him down so that I can get to those beautiful glowing lips of his and kiss him. I think I'm going to be kissing this guy a lot from now on because I've got this whole kissing thing figured out now, and I rather love doing it with him.

He doesn't resist, and now, we're giving everybody out and about in our street a show. I don't care! Well, actually, I do care a little bit, especially since Jonah is shouting instructions at us now (his brother, Lance, would be so proud), and Josh is laughing his head off. 

Ethan's lips are cool and soft, and they taste like mint and chocolate. I love it. I love him. My heart is expanding, making more and more room to let him inside, and my brain is singing happy songs.

"There goes the PDA rules," Ethan chuckles when we come up for air.

I blush, burrowing my face in his chest again. Maybe I'd rather not give the world a show, after all. This is just between us; it is special; it is ours.

"Get on; I'll take you home," he says, letting me go to take the helmet from the motorcycle seat and place it on my head. I slip onto the seat, and instead of getting on too, Ethan pushes the bike the few metres to our gate.

"Ethy, I still think you should go camping tonight," I tell him, tracing the beautiful veins popping out in his forearms.

"Yeah, I'll go, but I've got plenty of time to have coffee with my girlfriend first and talk about why the hell she thought I was leaving town and what's the story about my dad and my missing shoe... and to do some more of the fun things the spreadsheet says we're not allowed to do in public... We can even make a new spreadsheet," he suggests, turning his head to look at me while grinning cheekily at me.

Delia holds our gate open when we reach it, and I glare at her, narrowing my eyes into murderous slits. In true Dell form, she gives me a saucy grin and a one-shoulder shrug. "You're welcome, Kiki," she says, and her eyes are glowing with joy.

I shake my head, laughing, while Ethan pushes his bike with me, holding onto his arm for balance. I've made up my mind. Next time we're visiting his grandparents, I am totally going to tell them: "Ooooh, Ethan is just the best boyfriend ever!"

I might even do a silly little voice and flap my hands around.

The End

♂♀

Note:- Thank you so much for taking the time to read Friendly Dating 1, Kira. I hope you had some fun, and it at least helped you unwind for a bit and have a chuckle or two.

If you would like to see what was going on in Ethan's mind during this story, Friendly Dating 2, Ethan, will tell you.