Improbable

Eight

"Make yourself at home," Ethan waves his arm out gesturing to his cosy living room. Books pile up everywhere, but there's still enough room to walk across the carpet without fear of ripping pages. Organised chaos.

"Where are your parents?" I ask, not moving out of fear of dampening the house.

"Out of town," Ethan explains,"at a special seminar for Professors."

I stop scanning the house and look at him. He seems different. Lately, he's not been himself and I'm kind of liking the genuine turn.

His eyes pierce through my own. I shiver, but not from my saturated clothes. I suddenly realise how alone we are. All of my friends and most of his are at school. My brother should be in physics right now, studying his butt off trying to get a scholarship. The school is pretty lazy and don't call parents up anymore to say when we ditch. They must've gotten budget cuts or something.

"Mary."

My breath catches. He never calls me by my full name. I look up at him to see he's moved closer to me, we're only a couple of inches apart.

"We should get out of these wet clothes," he says, his voice deep, catching as he looks down at me. His pale face is still dripping, but his cheeks are red from the warmth of the house.

Okay, I'll try not to take that as an innuendo.

He pulls me further into the house, brushing through the hallway until he reaches where he wants to go.

He pauses with his hand on the door nob, glancing back at me and taking a big breath before he continues.

Sky blue walls, a white ceiling. It's like we're floating in the clouds. My eyes focus on the contents of the room. I'm immediately drawn to the fact there's a bed.

Ethan has left me in the doorway and is digging through his wardrobe.

"I'm afraid I'm a few sizes bigger than you," he jokes with a smirk. "But at least these are dry. Would you like a hot shower?"

The suggestion is extremely tempting, but then I remember where I am and who's here. He is the player of our school. I bet he gets annual awards and everything. He's even managed to play me, but I guess that's because I haven't found anyone in particular yet.

Ethan looks across at me, eyeing my stance which is massively defensive I'll admit.

"Calm down, I won't touch you if you don't want me to."

My jaw drops in surprise.

"Was... was that... respect?" I ask incredulously.

"I've always respected you," he says softly sitting on his bed with the clothes in his lap. The damp clothes will be soaking his sheets. I move forward with the intent to pull him up. "I've just always wanted you at the same time."

My heart skips a beat, pale cheeks becoming redder. I'm now right in front of him. Our eyes meet and everything stops. Memories flood through me. His deep blue eyes feeling so very familiar. I remember the different person he was with those eyes, the different haircuts, heights, clothing, and expressions he's had. All with the same pair of blue eyes. The same boy.

A/N: Hey, so my last exam is tomorrow, yay life! *silently dies* After that I'll have more time for this etc. Should be good. I haven't updated in ages but I'll be updating more regularly and finish this up soon, but not too soon. Stuff has to go down people!