The One That Got Away - Ethan Torchio Fanfic

Le Parole Lontane

"Ethan, what do you want from me?"

I stood in the kitchen, with my arms crossed over my chest as I locked my gaze with Ethan's while I waited for him to reply. His attitude confused me, and I was too tired of all the drama surrounding our relationship. I was starting a new life in Rome, and he was pretty much the reason why I had left everything in Paris, so the less he could do was giving me an explanation for his new and sudden change of behavior. I was glad that he had came, but that didn't mean that we could act like nothing, that we could be all friendly without talking things first.
"You invited me to the party, that's why I came." He shrugged lightly, leaning against the counter as he opened the champagne bottle.
"That's not what I asked you." I shook my head, sighing softly as I glanced outside to make sure no one was coming. "What do you want from me?"
"I..." He closed his eyes, running his fingers through his long hair as he breathed deeply. "I can't stay mad at you forever, but I'm still hurt at what you did with Damiano."
"I understand that, and I've already told you how sorry I am for what we did." I nodded, biting the inside of my cheek as I looked back at him. "I swear I never wanted to hurt you, but sometimes you do stupid things when you're desperate."
"Desperate?" He looked up, raising his eyebrows.
"Ethan, the whole plan came up when I saw you and that girl at the store." I could see the wheels turning in his head as he nodded. "I thought that you had moved on, that you had forgotten about me. So, the only way we came up to find out if you still had some type of feelings about me was to make you jealous."
"You could have asked me." He shrugged, frowning before turning to pour some champagne into the flutes.
"Would you have been honest back then if I asked you if you still felt something for me?" I arched one eyebrow, pressing my lips together as I waited for him to reply something I already knew.
"Probably no." He admitted, shaking his head as he glanced at me.
"With what Damiano and I did, before you knew the truth, did it spark something in you?" Still with my eyes on him, I wrapped my fingers around the corner, preventing myself to get closer to him. "Did that make you realize that you still loved me?"
"In a way, it did." He finally admitted, looking down at his feet. "You were back into my life, and suddenly Damiano had all your attention, while it looked as if I didn't mean anything to you anymore." He looked up, taking another sip of his drink as he took a step closer to me. "But I didn't realize that I still had those feelings until I thought that I was going to lose you again to someone else."
"So, what Damiano and I did, also helped you to come to terms with your own feelings." I wasn't trying to justify what we did, cause I had already taken the blame but, at the same time, I couldn't deny the damned plan helped us both to get closer.
"But that could have also happened if we spent time together, without any game ruining everything." He made a point there, maybe trying to be friends first would have led to us getting closer again.
"Yes, but you forget that I was working against the clock." I bit down my bottom lip, pressing my body against the counter as he took another step in my direction, leaving very little distance between us. "I couldn't and didn't want to waste more time, so the plan was the easiest and fastest road."
"Would you have done the plan if I told you I was single?" He raised one eyebrow, placing the now empty glass on the counter next to me.
"No, like I said seeing you with that girl was the trigger." I quickly shook my head, holding my breath as he took the last step, leaving just a few inches of separation between our bodies. "After everything that has happened, do you still want me?"
"I just-" He stopped in his tracks before glancing to the kitchen door as the voices of our friends got louder.
"Guys, we are all leaving to get some dinner. Do you wanna come?" Elle walked into the kitchen, a guilty look on her face as she realized that she had interrupted us.
I looked at Ethan in silence as he took a step back while nodding lightly.
"Sure, we can finish this later." I nodded, knowing that the atmosphere was broken and there was no point of staying alone.