Ethan's POV
The next day, Emma literally had to drag me out of bed. Or try to. She's small. She had crashed the second I put her down on the bed, and to avoid questioning by Grayson and James, especially James, I left. I fell asleep on the couch, and then returned to the bed at 3 AM. We wanted to leave a 7 AM, but it was a struggle to be awake at 10 AM. I was tired, but giddy at the same time.
So much had changed in one night. I may or may not have a girlfriend. I didn't really ask, I just cut to the kissing part. We didn't hook up, obviously. With James and Grayson around, we couldn't do anything. Nor would we want to. I think they've mostly figured it out. Grayson for sure, he keeps squeezing my shoulder and looking between Emma and I. Letting her sit in the front with me the whole trip has also been a plus. I'll have to thank him for that.
Dropping Emma off first was a mistake. The second I helped her get to the door and sneak a quick kiss, I knew. I got back in the car and put it in reverse.
"So you two are fucking now?" James asked expectantly.
"James, we like each other," I said with clenched teeth, not sure how much I wanted to elaborate.
"Oh, we all knew that," he said condescendingly. "You're literally living out what the fans tell you to do, I'm not even kidding."
"Okay, bye, James." I said sharply, unlocking the door in front of his apartment.
"You're not going to help me with my bags?" he asked.
"Nope." I snapped back.
"Ethan." Grayson chastised. "Here, let me-"
And they both got out. I was fuming. I didn't put my feelings out there and commit to someone for one of my closest friends to mock me about it. I considered calling Emma, but there was nothing she could do about it anyway. Grayson knocked on the door. I unlocked it again.
"Dude, you can't be like that towards James," he told me.
"He can't be like that towards me." I retaliated, stepping on the gas. "I don't give a shit."
"I agree, he was a little out of line, but you have to humor him. Be the bigger person." Grayson lectured. "Anyway, I'm happy for you, man. Didn't I tell you it would work out?"
"No, Bryant did." I teased, but I couldn't keep the smile off my face.
"I'm so happy. We made out a little last night." I admitted.
"Huh. Did you hook up?" Grayson asked, side-eyeing me.
"No," I assured Grayson, causing a sigh of relief from him.
"Isn't Emma a virgin?" Grayson asked quietly.
"I mean-I don't know. It hasn't come up." I said slowly, realizing that I hadn't thought of that.
"Be nice to her, Ethan. And don't fuck up. The last thing we need is a scandal, and a friend group break up." he sighed, running his hands through his hair.
"I won't," I promised him.
"Let's go over the footage when we get home. It comes out this week, E. Can you believe it?" Grayson decided.
The music video! I had almost forgotten about it while I battled with myself about Emma. A whole new wave of excitement hit me.
"No," I answered honestly. "I'm so pumped,"
"Me, too," Grayson said. "I just want to release it already."
When we looked over it that night, making sure everything looked the way we wanted it too, I felt my stomach flip when the image of Kristina, the girl who played my character's love interest, and I kissing surfaced. I cocked my head, observing how fake it looked. I had kissed her, but I was so nervous, it looked awkward. Grayson snorted, indicating he knew what I was thinking.
"You look so stiff, bro. You didn't even grab her ass!" he snickered.
"She's a real person, Gray! I wasn't about to grope her for five minutes." I defended myself.
"So you're that out of practice?" he teased.
"Dude, I haven't had a girlfriend since...2015?" I informed him.
"That's a long dry spell," he observed.
"Hey, I didn't say it was a dry spell, just three years without a girl..." I said shyly.
"Did you tell me about any of them?" Grayson asked. I could feel his eyes boring into me.
"Some," I admitted. "Not all."
"I thought we told each other everything." Grayson accused.
"You didn't tell me about your business in 2015." I snapped back.
"Okay, fine. But we tell each other everything from now on?" he asked me.
"I don't know. You're friends with Emma too so I don't know if she would want-" I began.
"Nah, she won't care." Grayson scoffed.
"Whatever, Gray. Let's just figure out the music video before we try and figure out Emma and I." I decided.
"You're going to go public? Ethma is going public?" Grayson questioned.
"Doubtful. Haven't thought about it." I said quickly, "I haven't thought about anything."
