Friendly Dating - Kira

Chapter 15 - Heading to the Waterfall

I'm just closing the cooler bag I've stuffed with fruit, containers filled with sandwiches and a flask of homemade lemonade when Ethan bursts into our kitchen.

No, he hasn't knocked since about two weeks after we moved in here.

The guy has the patience of a three-year-old! The ten minutes only passed about four minutes ago. All I did was make sandwiches. It didn't take long. The ingredients for the fillings were ready to use. Chicken fillets left over from our dinner, cheese, mayo, gherkins, jam, peanut butter and chocolate spread.

Not all together on the same sandwich, of course!

I believe in variety; besides, Ethan is always super hungry, and he usually comes with an entire army of guys with similar appetites. I'm not looking forward to hanging out with them, but I've found that when I have enough sandwiches and fruit with me, they're too busy eating to hassle me. The lemonade is always in the refrigerator. My dad loves it, so I keep him in stock.

This whole charging in and complaining about waiting for me for ages and ages is completely unjustified. Fortunately, also just like a three-year-old, Ethan is easy to distract. I shove the last small piece of chicken left on the cutting board into his mouth, and he is immediately all smiles, noticing the cooler bag.

"I have the best girlfriend," he grins.

"Awesome!" I say, washing the last of the items I used to make our lunch. "Does that mean we're done with this weird exp-"

"Shut up," he snorts, looping the cooler bag's strap over his shoulder. "Ready to go now?"

♀

I don't resist when we reach the road, and he takes my hand in his. My heart, my hand, my face and a few of my other parts want to dance a little jig, but I give all of them a stern warning and clamp my teeth together to suppress a giddy giggle.

I'll check myself for a fever later; I might be coming down with something.

So, this is apparently going to be a thing we do now and... well... I'm not complaining. I'll probably feel embarrassed once we start running into people we know and they see us. I'm not looking forward to that. There's no way I can walk around holding this guy's hand without drawing way too much attention to myself. I'm either going to have to make peace with that or end this... whatever it is.

I glance up at Ethan and am surprised to see a slight smile touching his lips. He probably also wants to giggle about the absurdity of this whole crazy situation. I don't blame him.

His friends are waiting at the foot of the hill, where a footpath splits off from the road, snaking into the small forest, systematically climbing along the slope.

To their credit, the three stooges don't say anything when they see us walking hand in hand, and to my credit, I don't yank my hand free and run away. James is the only one who reacts, and even his reaction is an almost imperceptible smile before he looks away.

So far, so good.

I'm a little thrown by the fact that Tonia is the only other girl in our group. Usually, there is a whole crowd of them hanging around these boys. I've never seen Jet without a girl clinging to him. He looks unfinished right now, leaning against a tree, looking me up and down as if he's considering a menu option. The guy is good-looking, and he knows it all too well, from his sunbleached surfer hair, over his tanned muscles right down to his flip-flops.

Ugh.

I'm not surprised to see Tonia; I think her and Lurch's tissue might be fused together permanently. I hardly ever see the one without the other, and they are almost always involved in some kind of awkwardness-inducing embrace. She gives me a quick smile, and I'm not sure (I don't know her well enough), but she seems to be feeling a little bit uncomfortable. Perhaps she is not enjoying their public display of oh, so much affection as much as I thought.