A Tough Choice

Chapter Eleven

The next few days at work were becoming increasingly awkward, as it became
clear that Caleb was avoiding me. In some ways I was relieved, but I
had hoped that we could remain friends. I glanced over at Caleb and
saw him instantly look away. I sighed and grabbed my jacket; at least
another day was over. My head snapped up as I almost walked into
Ethan.

"Are you finished too?" he asked.

"Yeah." I said quietly.

"Do you ermmm....?" he started.

"Do I what?" I sighed. I wasn't really in the mood for playing games with him.

"Never mind." he said quietly.

"Ethan, for god sake, spit it out." I said impatiently.

"I thought I'd buy you a coffee." he said quietly.

I stared at him for a moment. Did he mean as friends or was he asking me out?

"To say sorry." he added.

"Sorry for what?" I frowned.

"For not letting you know that I wouldn't be at the party, did you get
home okay?" he said.

I blushed and nodded slowly.

"A coffee will be nice." I smiled.

I felt guilty. He obviously thought that I was avoiding him because I
was angry with him, but in truth I felt awkward about what had
happened between me and Caleb. Even though Caleb had promised that he wouldn't tell anyone, I didn't trust him to keep it a secret. As I
followed Ethan to the cafeteria I realised how much I'd missed being
around him. He had a calming presence that always made me feel at
ease.

"You find somewhere to sit and I'll get the coffee." he said kindly.

I nodded and quickly found a table. He returned a few moments later.

"Peace offering." he said, as he handed me a slice of cake.

"I'm not annoyed with you." I insisted.

"How have things been?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Fine, it's a bit of a difficult time with Christmas coming up." he
admitted. I knew exactly what he meant.

"Can't you spend it with Caleb?" I suggested.

"I'd rather be alone." he said sadly.

"You can spend Christmas at mine if you want?" I offered.

"No, you have your own family, I don't want to impose." he said.

"Nope, I usually just spend it with Koda." I chuckled.

He looked at me curiously, clearly wondering why I wouldn't be
spending Christmas with my family, but to my relief he decided not to
press me.

"Are you sure it's okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's fine." I reassured him.
He looked down and seemed to be staring at something on the table. I
frowned as I watched him, quickly realising that his hands were
shaking. It was painful, as I waited for him to make eye contact with
me. He slid my plastic coffee cup towards me silently.

"Are you okay?" I asked.
He nodded slowly as he picked at something on the table.

"I have to ask you something." he said, blushing slightly.

I remained silent and waited for him to continue. He shook his head
and fell silent once again. I couldn't understand why he was acting so
weird. I'd almost dared to hope that he was going to ask me on a date.
It was obvious that we had a special connection, if he liked me too,
why wouldn't he just ask me?

Ethan's POV
I stared at the table and silently cursed myself. Why was I so afraid
to ask her out? The worst that could happen was that she would say no
and we would move on. As much as I kept telling myself that, I still
couldn't seem to get the words out.

"I should go." I said quietly and quickly stood up.

Emma's POV

I frowned as Ethan walked away. We couldn't keep doing this; we
couldn't keep avoiding each other. I stood up and quickly walked after
him.

"Ethan!" I called as we reached the door.

He stopped and turned to me.

"It's snowing." I stated, gasping as a snowflake landed on my nose.

"Yeah." he said, as he glanced up at the sky.

"What did you want to ask?" I whispered.

He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. I couldn't help
but smile at how adorable he looked. I placed my finger over his lips.

"I think I know what it was." I whispered softly.

He made eye contact with me, as I leant forward and kissed him gently.