16. Arya

The weekend comes too fast. Fast enough for me to barely remember any of the passed days. It appears that all I've been doing from Tuesday afternoon until now is trying to somehow communicate with Ethan or even Seth. You might call me crazy but after what happened in the cafeteria on Thursday, the two of them ignored me completely! Now, usually I wouldn't mind Seth disappearing out of my field of vision but the fact that he somehow managed to get Ethan to stay away from me gets under my skin.

They somehow managed to disappear into thin air. I only ever saw them in class and when I tried to catch them after, they slipped right out of my hands, almost running from me.

It's Saturday now and I've come full circle. Laying in my bed, no friends and nothing to do on a sunny weekend. Sam bothered me to come to the park with him to watch him and his friends play soccer but nothing can get me back there. Nothing can get me out of my state of lethargy. Especially because the park is laced with awful memories. Last time I went there, everything turned to crap and I ended up drunk in some dark alleyway in the middle of the night.

Sam getting increasingly more frustrated with my behavior then offered to call some of his friends. The ones I met at the last football game. Sure, they were nice to me then but I had seen them at my school. They are totally out of my league. They are the kind of people that would welcome anyone into their group and make them feel comfortable. They are the group that gets along with everyone and anyone. They don't care who you are. They will embrace you and that's what makes them too good for me. I know, I would never fit in with them.

So, instead of going out with my worried cousin, I stay home, trying to figure out what Seth could have possibly told Ethan to stay away from me. Obviously he must have threatened him. He must have blackmailed him, the dirty little... There is no way that Ethan would just stay away from me for no reason... Or is there? After all, I don't know him that well and after what he had done, I honestly don't know if I even want to be friends with him anymore. Until now of course.

The usual: you always want what you can't have. Why can't the human psychology be a little less complex? Ugh...

As the sun reaches its highest point, I sigh and slip out of my bed to prepare lunch. Venturing into the kitchen, I hear loud voices coming from the outside and I forget all about my lunch. I quickly make my way to the front door, pulling it open.

"How dare you show your face on my property," Sam shouts at Ethan who proceeds to cross his arms in front of his chest, a cocky smile forming on his face. He doesn't answer Sam but meets my eyes.

"Arya," he calls, slipping around Sam and stalking towards me with long strides. "Haven't seen you in ages."

He wraps his arms around me and holds me to his body. Confused, I just stand there, waiting for the unavoidable. Sam's boiling anger to burst out of him. Ethan grabs onto the back of my head, pressing my face against his chest. I gasp and put my hands up, suddenly feeling extremely uncomfortable in his embrace.

"Get off her!" Sam's voice comes out in a threatening way as he stands right behind Ethan.

"But I haven't seen her in so long!"

"Get your hands off her or I will rip your limbs off one by one." I shriek and jump out of Ethan's embrace.

"Sam! Don't you think you're going a little far?!" My voice comes out high pitched when I see his facial expression. He isn't joking. He is livid.

"No, I actually think he deserves that." Sam faces Ethan again, pointing his finger at his chest. "Get off my property. I don't wanna have to punch you again."

"Arya, I really need to talk to you. Will you come with me? There's this carnival thing this weekend and I was hoping you'd come with me so we could talk." Ethan's words come out too quickly and all jumbled but I just nod my head without thinking, hoping that I would finally find out about what Seth said to him.

"Great!" He grabs my hand and starts pulling me away from Sam, who clenches his jaw, staring me down.

"I can't choose your friends for you but I didn't think you were that stupid," Sam says as we leave him behind and although his words surge through me, leaving a stinging sensation in my chest, I ignore him as best as I can and slip into Ethan's car with him.

When we finally get to the carnival, I stumble out of the car and let out a deep sigh that I seem to have been holding in for the whole ride. Ethan is a save driver but after he got drunk and decided to almost force me into his car, I don't exactly feel secure, driving with him.

"It's cool, right?" Ethan appears besides me and puts his arm around my waist, making me jump.

I walk faster, trying to get him to lower his arm and stop touching me but instead, he speeds up as well and just tightens his grip on me. I look up at him but he just stares straight ahead at the ferris wheel that stands before us. Sighing, I accept his hand and try to think of something else.

"Where have you been lately?" I get straight to the case, making Ethan laugh.

"Later. Let's get some food?"

I groan but I agree, just now noticing that I had skipped lunch and am getting quite hungry. Ethan buys two corn dogs with mustard and a large coke for the both of us to share. Even after giving him a skeptical look, he just shrugs at me and takes a sip from the huge cup before pushing it towards me. Maybe I need to loosen up a bit because obviously I'm being ridiculous.

I bite into the corn dog and groan in satisfaction.

"Good, huh?" Ethan comments, swallowing.

"Very!" I take another bite and put it down onto the paper plate. "I'm sorry but this has been bothering me for the last few days and I really need you to talk to me."

"I thought we were just talking," Ethan sighs and avoids eye contact.

"You know exactly what I mean."

"Do I?"

"Why are you playing games? I'm obviously talking about what happened in the cafeteria on Tuesday. You know, the whole Seth threatening you and you ignoring me for the past days. You owe me an explanation, Ethan." As the words leave my mouth, I try to reign in the hysteria.

"Whoa wait," he laughs, flashing his teeth at me. "What makes you think that Seth threatened me?"

I furrow my brow at him, "Why else would you stay away from me?"

He doesn't answer, instead he looks behind me, seemingly lost in thought. That's when it dawns on me. I was right earlier. Seth didn't threaten Ethan. Ethan just decided he had enough of me. Maybe he was embarrassed to be seen with me at last or Seth had reminded him of how much of a social outcast he would become for hanging out with me. Sounds like something disgusting Seth would say.

I shove my food away from me and get up, starting to walk away without another word. Shoving my hand into my jeans pocket, I find a few pennies. Should be enough for a payphone. Hopefully I'll be able to reach Sam so he can pick me up. I should have listened to him in the first place.

"Where the hell are you going?" Ethan appears in front of me, putting his hands on my shoulders. A teasing smile shapes his lips.

"Home." I deadpan in reply.

"Why? We haven't even gone on a ride yet! There's so much to see. Let me at least try to shoot you a teddy or a fluffy unicorn. They're ador--"

"Cut the crap, Ethan. You're not really my friend. The second Seth says something, you listen and I don't need someone like that in my life. I'd rather be alone. I thought you were actually on my side. Obviously I was wrong!" For the first time, Ethan stops smiling. His forehead creases up and he drops his hands.

"You should stop assuming shit you have no idea about, Arya." His voice is low and his ever joking attitude appears to have disappeared.

"How? I have to assume if you're not talking to me. I have to make sense of things. Otherwise, I'll go crazy!" I'm breathing heavily now and I choke down tears because the last thing I want is to look weak. "Seth is the one person that has been trying to make my life hell and then you step in and make everything a tiny bit better. Instead of judging me, you actually defended me. I even looked past the fact that you got me drunk for god's sake! I looked past the fact that you made me drive with you when you were drunk. And you repay me with fuck all!"

Ethan stares ahead, clenching his jaw, his eyes focused on something in the distance but I am too angry to turn around.

"Let's go on the ferris wheel."

Before I can object, he already has a death grip on my wrist and pulls me towards the large thing. I try to explain to him that ever since I was three years old, I have been absolutely mortified of heights but he knocks the wind out of me by pushing me forward, his long legs walking much faster than mine. Seconds later I am being shoved into one of the shaky carriages and we take off towards the sky.

"I hate you." I say but clutch to him. "And if we die right now, I want you to know that you're an insufferable jerk."

Ethan finds his laugh again, "You afraid of heights?"

"No..." I drag out the word sarcastically, making him laugh harder and the carriage shakes even more, making me dig my fingernails into Ethan's arm.

"Are you trying to kill me?" The accusation comes out way too lighthearted because at this point, he might as well try to kill me. Maybe that's been his plan all along. Mess with helpless girls until they stop listening to their cousin and come with you so you can push them off a ferris wheel! Pure evil!

"Maybe," he smirks at me and I glower back at him. "If looks could kill... Anyway, I really do owe you an explanation."

He looks down as we keep going higher and higher, "I admit, I was extremely stupid to drive drunk. I didn't think the drinks would be that strong. I underestimated the power of vodka once again. I'm sorry for that."

"Ok. Go on," I push, trying not to focus on the fact that I could plummet to my death at any second.

"Patience," he mocks, looking down again. "Seth didn't threaten me and I didn't ignore you because of my reputation or anything like that. That's just crazy. You know I could care less about popularity."

"That's what I thought but why then? Why did you ignore me?" I urge him and fortunately the wheel has almost made a full circle and we are almost at the ground again, allowing me to relax a little and my heartbeat to go back to just a little above normal.

Ethan stays silent and looks at the ground once more. This time I follow his gaze and my eyes widen in surprise and somewhat shock. There Seth is and he is looking back at us. For some reason, I feel like my throat is closing up and suddenly my chest gets extremely heavy, weighing me down.

The ferris wheel stops and I get up, my knees shaky. Ethan also stands up and steers me out of the carriage.

The second my feet hit the ground, I let out a sigh but feel Ethan's arms wrap around me and pull me to him. I gasp and the last thing I see is his face coming closer to mine until he harshly pushes his lips on mine. I freeze completely instead of pushing him off. His lips move roughly on mine and I finally manage to squirm. After many seconds he lets me go. I stumble back, wide-eyed and confused.

Seth moves into my vision and I just hear everyone gasp before my eyes adjust to what's happening in front of me.

A high pitched cry escapes my mouth as Seth jumps on Ethan and they crash to the ground. I don't quite apprehend what's going on in front of me and I can't move. Seth shouts something at Ethan, who is just holding his hands up at Seth. Seth on the other hand is way past being reasoned with and smashes his balled fist into Ethan's face.

I cringe and before anything else can happen, Seth is pulled off of Ethan by security.

"What," I whisper, utterly baffled and somewhat astonished at what just happened.

And here I am, thinking that things are finally going to become clear. But instead, they just get even more confusing!