Unexpected

7

EMMA POV

"Soooo...what's up with you and Ethan? You two have been inseparable the last 3 weeks" James asked, attempting to turn his attention to me, while the tech worked on his nails.

I shrugged and gave him an I-don't-know look. I didn't know. Maybe I had a crush on him and maybe he had a small crush on me, too. Neither of us was gonna admit it.

"We're just hanging out I guess." I said, shrugging again. I was doing that a lot lately, i never knew what to tell James when he brought up the subject of me and Ethan. How could I answer him when I didn't even know myself?

"Are you gonna see him today?" He asked, pressing me for more details.

"No, Grayson is picking me up and we're gonna go see a movie." I said handing my tech the pale pink nail polish I wanted for my acrylics.

He raised an eyebrow at me. I shot him back a What? look. Was I not allowed to have friends besides him?

"Look at you miss Emma. You have both of the Dolan twin boys in the palm of your hand." He teased.

It didn't matter to me, there was only one Dolan boy I was interest in. Gray was just a really good friend.

"Ahhh so then you do like Ethan!" James, covered his gasp with his hand.

Shit did I admit that out loud?

—

ETHAN POV

"Alright bro I'm heading out" Grayson called out from across the hall. I hopped out of bed to ask where he was going and potentially tag along. Or maybe I would just text Emma and see if she wanted to hangout?

"Where you going?" I asked, finally catching up to him. He was searching for his keys, 2 coffees and wallet in hand.

"Nowhere really, just going to pick up Emma from the nail salon. Probably gonna take her to a movie." He said, casually.

It slightly ticked me off how nonchalant he was being. Hanging out with Emma wasn't just whatever, it was everything to me.

"Oh. That's cool." I sounded defeated. There went my chances of seeing Emma today. "Mind if I tag along?"

"Yeah actually I do mind. It's kind of more of an us thing. You understand right bro?" He shot me a smile and flashed his car keys at me, finally finding them.

Something about his tone really bothered me. Why did he have to be such a douche? If this is how he wanted to act 2 could play at that game. I quickly shot James a text asking for the address of the nail salon. We'd see who would get to Emma first.

—

I pulled up to a spot in front of the place, mentally congratulating myself on how quick I had gotten there. There was no way Grayson had beat me here. I got of my car and started walking toward the salon when I saw it. It felt like someone had just punched me in the balls.

I found Emma, but not in the way I had wanted to. She was laughing with James when she spotted Grayson waiting for her, leaning against his car. He had a smirk on his face and a coffee in his hand. God I wanted to wipe that grin clean off.

Her face broke out in a huge smile and she immediately ran up to hug him. They let go and he took her hands in his, admiring her nails. I watched him whisper something in her ear. Watched her giggle behind her hand. Watched him take the only thing I wanted in the world.

I wasn't gonna let Gray take away the first girl I had actually liked in so long. I walked over to them and picked Emma up from my behind. "Hey stranger" I whispered in her ear.

She laughed and kicked her feet till I sat her back down. "Hey E, what are you doing here?"

"He's here for me kitty girl don't get excited." James said flipping his nonexistent hair. I wasn't here for him...well technically I was, but in reality I was here to convince Emma to come with me instead.

"I'm taking James to do some sister shopping. You should come." I sprinkled in some pleading in my tone in hopes it would persuade her my way.

She shook her head and pointed to my brother. "I'm catching a movie with Gray actually."

Well that failed.

I could feel Grayson staring at me incredulously. "Yeah dude I told you earlier." I glared at him and he looked back at me confused.

Maybe I was being unfair, it's not like Grayson knew I was starting to have feelings for Emma. Still, he was always going after the same girls as me. If this was gonna turn into a fight over her, I was determined to win.

—

EMMA POV

"Bye guys" I waved goodbye to Ethan and James and followed Grayson to his car. He slung his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close. I smiled at him and rested my head against his shoulder. It felt so fucking good to finally have someone I could share my secret with. A best friend. A brother. Grayson had become everything to me.

"I'm glad we're doing this, E. We have a lot to catch up on." Grayson said, as he slid into the drivers seat.

I sipped my coffee and nodded my head. Grayson was the only one who knew how I felt about Ethan. When he finally decided to stop roasting the shit out of me he became my closest confidant.

"I feel like he's making up random excuses to see me. Which could be like a sign ya know?" I said, picking at my freshly done manicure. Grayson noticed what I was doing and slapped my hand away, he was beginning to learn my bad habits like the back of his hand.

He scoffed, "Yeah I mean I barely mentioned your name earlier and he shows up five seconds later. Just tell him how you feel. He's my twin brother, I know he must feel the same.

My eyes widened at the thought of confessing my (maybe?) feelings for Ethan. I could already see myself dying of embarrassment. I shook my head and attempted to erase away the thought.

"Hellll no" I argued. "If anyone's spilling, it's gonna have to be him. I don't know, Gray I just feel like this whole thing is a bad idea. What if this ruins our whole friendship group? Or he doesn't like me and things get awkward as fuck."

"Emma, you maybe a scrawny lunatic to me, but I'm telling you my brother looks at you like you're the most beautiful girl in the world." He turned his attention away from the road to look at me for a second. "And nothing is gonna break our friendship apart."

I didn't know whether to laugh and get mad at Grayson's remark or melt at the fact he thought Ethan looked at me in that way.

"If you would just let me bring it up to him, I could find out how he really feels," he continued.

I almost spat my coffee out. That was the absolute last thing I wanted. "HELL NO" I screeched. "Grayson please don't."

"Alright I won't." He chuckled. "But one of you is gonna have to fess up sooner or later."