Cherry

Chapter 16

Cherry

I feel a little more connected to Ethan after sharing bits and pieces of my past with him last night. Ethan hasn't brought up last night, and neither have I. I don't think we're avoiding it, there's just no reason to talk about it. I obviously didn't tell him all of the details, but I told him more than I've told anyone in a while. It might have been a mistake, but it actually felt good to open up to someone instead of keeping it to myself. I told him the easy stuff; just the tip of the iceberg. I don't know if I'll ever tell anyone the other stuff about my mom. But, who knows. I never thought I'd find myself getting closer to someone again, and here we are.

As I stand at the cash register counting the earnings made from today, I can't help but stare at Ethan. He's currently wiping down the last messy table in the diner, but he somehow makes it look sexy. With a wet rag in his hand, he moves in a circular motion, cleaning the table. As he swipes and wipes, I notice a few veins popping out of his hands and arms. He looks up at me and catches me staring, so I quickly move my head back down to the drawer to count the money to make it look like I'm busy.

I hear Ethan chuckle, and he says, "I know you were staring at me."

"I was not-" I laugh, but get interrupted by the diner's door opening. Ethan and I both look over and find a man coming through the door, completely ignoring the closed sign that Sylas had flipped over about twenty minutes ago. Who does this guy think he is?

"Excuse me," I tell him. "I don't know how you missed the big sign on the door that said closed."

The brunette man walks right past me and heads for Ethan, completely ignoring me and the fact that the diner is closed. Ethan sighs, "Wyatt, you can't just walk in here when we're closed."

Wyatt. This is Ethan's roommate?

"The door was unlocked. Totally not my problem," Wyatt smirks and rests his arm around Ethan's shoulders.

I roll my eyes and say, "We don't have to lock the doors because usually, whenever someone sees a closed sign, they don't come in."

Wyatt looks at me and asks Ethan, "Who's this? She's feisty."

"Cherry. Cherry, this is my best friend, Wyatt."

Wyatt's eyes widen. "So this is the girl you've been fucking? Nice, dude."

"We haven't-" Ethan and I say at the same time, catching us both off guard. "We are not fucking," I make clear.

Ethan clears his throat and Wyatt says, "Okay, okay. My bad. I knew Ethan didn't have it in him." I can tell Ethan is getting embarrassed by Wyatt, but I find it kind of funny.

Ethan rolls his eyes and removes Wyatt's arm off his shoulder. "What do you want?"

"I'm having a party tonight and wanted to invite you," Wyatt then looks at me and says, "You can come too. The more the merrier."

"Tonight?" Ethan asks. "That's a little last minute, don't you think?"

Wyatt sits down at the table Ethan is cleaning and explains, "I know. I just met this girl today and I want to impress her somehow. I thought maybe if I threw a huge party, she'd think I was cool, or something."

Ethan smiles and shakes his head sideways. "You think that would impress a girl?"

"Maybe. I'm proving just how rich I am by throwing a huge party and supplying drinks and shit. I just came up with the idea like twenty minutes ago."

"I can tell," Ethan walks away from the table and works on the one beside it. "I just don't know how this involves me."

"It doesn't. I'm just inviting you because you're my best friend, man."