Friendly Dating - Kira

Chapter 37 - Night Visitor

The temporary separation of activities seems to have strengthened Tonia and Lurch's relationship, or it made a dent in Lurch's confidence and caused him to realise that he could potentially lose his girlfriend. He definitely does not want that.

Whatever it is, the balance seems to have shifted a little in Tonia's favour. If she plays her cards right and doesn't abuse that shift, they could have that close, strong relationship she's craving. Sometimes, it is necessary to take a stand and make yourself heard on things that are really important to you. One just has to go about it wisely, and Tonia did it in the perfect, gentle but firm way.

They probably had a lovely evening together after our swim because they'd been whispering together a lot whenever I saw them today, sharing sweet smiles, and during break time, Lurch wasn't quite as touchy-feely as he usually is. He was sweeter if a barbarian like him could be called sweet.

Dell was playing hockey during lunch, so Simon and I joined Ethan and his group in their usual spot. Ethy wolfed down his food and made himself comfortable with his head in my lap while I read my book. It was quite lovely. I no longer felt like a sore thumb sticking out uncomfortably... unless I looked up and saw the less-than-thrilled looks Wendy was giving me. She didn't say or do anything nasty, but it was clear that she would love nothing more than to have Ethan sleeping in her lap.

She seemed happier when Jet decided that she'd make a good pillow, and he followed Ethan's example. I don't think he slept, though, because I heard Wendy giggle quite a bit. At that stage, they were no longer in my scope of view; I can, therefore, not say for sure what he'd been up to. Monday's two plotters of my demise did not sit with us today. It seems that there is a consistent core group, and the others just come and go at random.

Ethan's circle of friends is not the exclusive clique I always thought they were. I guess I'd always had that impression of them because I never felt like I belonged with them. I probably don't, but I belong with Ethan.

Oh, my word! What?! No, I don't!

Today felt pretty much like any other day (except for break time). Ethan didn't send me any weird text messages during class, and people were no longer giving me curious or confused looks... well, not as much. I understood those looks; I'm confused too, after all. Ethan misbehaved in most of the classes the way he always does, except for maths, where he sits at the desk next to mine.

During maths, his mischief was a lot more subtle and consisted mostly of him trying to hold my hand while I was trying to write and stealing kisses, making me blush so much I wanted to crawl under my desk. Since he got all caught up with the basic rules and principles of algebra and Trigonometry, Ethan seems to really enjoy maths. Today, he even paid attention while our teacher was explaining new work and only misbehaved when we were supposed to be working.

Since Simon had basketball practice and Ethan had rugby after school, Delia and I walked home alone. She's always been very perceptive and is clearly worried about me, so she kept on asking me probing questions, trying to find a chink in my extremely advanced emotional armour. I finally surrendered and told her that the whole thing between Ethan and me was starting to become too confusing because it felt too real.

She gave me a sweet smile, hooked her arm through mine and simply said: "It feels so real because it is so real."

That made no sense, and I told her as much.

"Kiki, if there's one girl on this planet that could have my brother's heart and soul, it's you. Just go with it. He loves you."

I wanted to explain to her the many ways in which that statement was completely warped, but none of my arguments came out right, and she just kept on batting them away and saying silly things like I'm her sister-in-law after all.