Ethan's POV:

Francesca Salatino is such a sly little bitch.

I noticed that she had taken one of the water bottles that I kindly brought us, so I grab the other before chasing after her, ignoring the obvious pain of my balls – I'll give it to her, she caught me off guard with that.

"Francesca!" I yell, only causing her to run faster away from me, nervous bubbly laughter echoing around the gym.

This is a cat and mouse chase, and in this very particular situation, she's dealing with a very pissed off cat.

Turning the corner, she's caged in, the only way to escape is across the trampolines, and she knows as soon as she goes on there that I have her.

"Well, this was quick." I muse, cocking my head to the side as her mossy green eyes meet mine. She's so effortlessly beautiful – her cheeks are rosy with the heat, her hair pulled back in a messy bun, her features on show, no makeup in sight. She's fucking perfect.

"Like you are in bed?" She teases, and I suck on my teeth, she's really pissing me off now.

"Oh, really? Remind me the next time we sleep together to finish first then." I say, her face dropping slightly. It's an empty threat, I think we both know by now that a woman's pleasure arouses me more than my own.

"Fuck you." She only makes me grin at her statement.

"Have done; best ever." I retort, and she groans in response, but I detect no lie. "What's your next move, darling? You're in quite the predicament."

I watch Francesca closely, her eyes glancing to the trampoline to my right, her left – if I wanted to, I could grab her right now, but I want to know how she'll play this.

Playing me like the tease she is, she puts her leg out to go right, yet takes the left and I'm soon following her, but she's too slow. My arms reach around her waist easily, and I pull her down with me, her squeals filling my ears as we bounce on the trampoline.

"Caught you." I mumble, her laughter drowning my voice out.

"No fair!" She whines, rolling onto her stomach next to me.

"How? You could have teased me and slipped past." I give her one example and she pouts, looking defeated but then a sinister grin comes to her face, a devilish twinkle in her eye.

What has she got up her sleeve?

I'm too slow, the cap of her water is already off by the time I notice her bringing it up into my eye sight, and I shake my head slowly, her own head nodding.

"Wet me, and you're in trouble." I warn.

"Oh no, I'm so scared." She says with a fake worried tone, my smile dropping when she tips the bottle, the water dripping down from my collar bone to my chest making me shiver from how cold it is. I mean, I only just got it from the fridge.

"Oh, it's on!" I grab my own bottle, and she squeals getting to her feet.

"If you can catch me!" She yells, running off, leaving me laid on this trampoline. Fuck this, not again.

I unscrew my bottle top, running after her, at least I have more water than her now. She's heading back the way we came, and I let her believe she's free, but before she knows it, I actually put in some effort, running up behind her and my arms are once again wrapping around her. Pulling her against my chest, I pour the water over her head, her shrill scream meeting my ears only making me laugh.

"Ethan, stop, stop, it's cold, it's fucking cold!" She exclaims, and as much as I want to continue soaking her head with water, I leave some in the bottle. "You're such a dick!"

"Thanks." I reply with a smug grin, letting her go.

Immediate regret.

She bats her eyelashes up at me and before I know it, freezing cold water is dripping down my chest and down into my shorts making me jolt. I start to jog backwards, and that's when she throws the whole damn bottle over me, and I halt to a stop, my jaw hanging open as the cold consumes me.

"Oh. My. God." I mutter through clenched teeth.

"You started it!" She puts her hands up in defense, and I'm quick to shake my head.

"No, you fucking did!" I yell, and with the remainder of my bottle, I throw the content at her, drowning her chest and she's quick to cover herself.

"You did that on purpose!" She accuses, and I shrug. She's not exactly wrong.

"What the fuck!?" Scar's loud voice makes me purse my lips together. Don't laugh, Ethan.

"It was Ethan's fault." Francesca is quick to say, and I blink at her in disbelief before I turn around to face him. She's such a bitch.

"Hey." I say, running my fingers through my now wet hair, thank you very much Francesca.

"Fuck sake, I don't know why I expect any less from you two. Both of you, clean this up and get out of my hair." He dismisses us before leaving, and I turn towards Francesca, shaking my head at her.

"Are we banned for the day?" She whispers with a laugh.

"Think so." I mutter, shrugging my shoulders.

"But I wanted to kick your ass." She sulks with a pout on her face.

"You wouldn't be able to anyway." I point out and she raises a brow, and before I know it, she quite literally kicks me on the ass, not hard or anything, but she still does it.

"You were saying?" She asks, both hands on her hips.

"Nice nips." I point out, and she immediately crosses her arms over her chest.

"You're such a dick." She says, and I nod, smiling at her.

"Now, grab a mop, we have some cleaning up to do." I say, and she groans, looking at the floor which is covered in water.  

~~

"You've got admit, that was fun." Francesca says, pushing her feet into my face yet again. I'm seriously about to throw her off my bed if she keeps this behavior up.

"What part? The getting soaked with freezing cold water, or mopping said water up?" I'm not impressed, but I do have to admit, it's cooled me down.

"You know what I mean. It was carefree fun, and I still kicked your ass." She points her big toe, it coming way too close my nose.

"I'm about to slap yours if you don't stop." I grab her foot, pushing it down and she kicks against my hand. That's when I do the inevitable, I easily lift her side and slap her ass making her jolt upwards, scowling at me. "I warned you."

"Are you assuming that I didn't want it?" She squints her eyes at me with a smile, and if she had said this around a month ago, I'd be shocked, however lately I've gotten used to this.

"When have you got work?" I ask, changing the conversation.

"I'm going to call in sick, I can't be bothered going in." She says, and this is the first time I've ever heard her say such a thing. "I just- I've had such a good day. I'm so happy right now, and I don't want work to ruin that. It's not like I've ever rang in before because I actually haven't."

"Do you want me to ring in? I'll be real convincing." I raise my brows, it's not my first rodeo.

"Will you? I don't really know what to say anyway." She says shyly.

"How about you've been throwing up for the last two hours – you certainly can't be around food then?" I suggest, and she brightens up at it.

"Perfect." She says, and I smile but that's soon caught off when her foot is again in my face.

"What the fuck is wrong with you and your foot?" I ask, I just have to.

"It hurts." She pouts.

"You want a free massage?" I guess, and she smiles up at me, a real pushing-your-luck kind of smile. I grab her foot, rolling my eyes. "You're lucky I love you."

A sad yet truthful statement. Our profession of our love was through an argument, a place where I never expected it to happen. I hate that she first told me she loved me because she was scared that I was leaving. I hate that I first told her such a feeling whilst in that argument. It's my biggest regret, but I couldn't not say it back, I couldn't keep such a thing from her.

It was on Christmas day when I truly realized that what I was feeling, the feeling that had me confused and fully consumed, was love. It's a wild feeling, a feeling that I never have ever experienced and truly has scared me.

I love Francesca, I just have to keep her at arms length for now as I wait for her. A waiting game that I'm willing to play. I will wait however long she needs, whether that's days, weeks, months, even years – but truly, I don't think my heart could handle the latter.

"Hey bitches, hide your asses if you're having sex." Felix greets, opening my door wide open, his eyes closed shut. An unusual yet common statement that comes out of Felix's mouth. He then opens his eyes, and smiles at us but then laughs. "Are you her personal masseuse now?"

"Oh shut up, what do you want?" I ask, not stopping the pressure my thumb has on the bridge of her foot.

"Well, wouldn't you like to know?" He muses, and I groan, not in the mood for this today. "No, nothing? Oh, well. Okay, so, you'll never guess what."

"Oh my God, just spit it out." I roll my eyes.

"Fine. Has anyone told you, you have a short temper?" He asks and I kiss my teeth, yeah I may have a short temper, but he's going to get the heat of it in a minute. "Okay, fine, fine. So, get your shit packed. Francesca, go get Lauren, Matt and Hanna – we're going to the beach house for the weekend."

"You have a beach house!?" Francesca exclaims, directing that question at us both.

"Yeah, it was mine and Scar's parents before they passed. It's around a three-hour drive away. Now, get your shit together, we've got a weekend full of fun to endure." Felix is basically jumping on the spot right now. 

"We're seriously going there?" I ask, hiding my excitement for it – it's the one place I really wanted to take Francesca when we were dating.

"Yes, now come on! Frankie, I'll be bringing the van that we hardly... never use, you'll have to take your medication, is that okay?" He checks with her, and I hope she will.

"Of course, it takes around thirty minutes to work though." She says shyly.

"That's fine, take it as soon as you get in. I'll pick you up at... three?" He questions, and I look at my digital clock – it's just hit two PM.

"I'm sure everyone will be ready then, yes." She smiles, and I drop her foot as she sits up.

"Now, come on, get your asses into gear, we've got a beach house to get ready for!" Felix yells as he finally leaves my bedroom, and Francesca turns to me with a massive grin on her face.

"You heard the man." I mutter, smiling slightly.

I guess we've got a beach house to pack for.

~~~~~

A/N

THIS IS THE SHORTEST YET MY MOST FAVORITE CHAPTER THAT I'VE EVER WROTE!

This is the first happy chapter in Ethan's POV's because I always make bad things happen, and I'm so here for it. Also, are we loving the more common point of views of his? I want to involve his thoughts more often in this book because honestly, we'll be delving more into his past than hers. So excited.

I'M SO EXCITED FOR THE BEACH HOUSE, BE READY FOR SO MUCH TO COME! THE NEXT 10-12 CHAPTERS ARE GOING TO BE EVENTFUL!!!

Life update: I mean, it's like two hours since I wrote the last update since I've not stopped writing, but I hope you're all okay. I guess, mental health check in here? How is everyone doing? Is everyone okay? I'm doing really good lately, and I'm here for anyone, just drop a comment or message me, either here on Wattpad or Instagram!

Question of the chapter:

What's your favorite quote if you have one?

'I have a story to tell and so many more years to fill the empty pages, so why waste the ink?' –  Francesca/me in 'never & forever'. I've got many of favorite famous quotes, but I personally love this one of mine.

I hope this chapter was okay!

Thank you for reading! Please comment your thoughts, vote by pressing the little star, and if you want, you can follow me too. I'm also on Instagram – @daisyclouds89 Xx

1953 words!

~B