rivals in the sheets

chapter six

"You know, you guys should really figure your shit out," said Joshua, and he said it so calmly that Ethan almost fell from his chair.

"I'm sorry, did you just swear?" he asked, too shocked to even consider what Joshua said.

Joshua laughed it off and looked Ethan right in the eyes. "I meant what I said. You don't even know why you hate each other in the first place."

"I hate him because he had sex with more than one girl I've had a crush on and he tried to make my life as miserable as it can be."

Joshua shrugged and looked away, but Ethan had a feeling that the conversation certainly wasn't over.

Sure, that was a good enough reason for him to hate Lucas, but others apparently didn't seem to think so.

Ethan tried to pay attention to the teacher, but he really wasn't making any sense. Sure, he was saying words, but they didn't stay in his head.

Fuck philosophy, man.

Joshua cleared his throat to bring attention back to himself. "You never told me how the two of you went from being best friends to trying to rip each other's throats out. It seems like a drastic enough change to at least try to mention it to your best friend."

"I don't need a reason to not like someone."

Ethan's words were harsh, maybe, but they made sense to him.

He didn't need a reason to hate Lucas Hamilton because every single time Hamilton took a breath, he stole the air from Ethan. Every time he won a game, he stole a potential victory from Ethan.

In short, everything he did was just to spite Ethan, and so that was precisely why he hated him.

But if he tried to explain it to Joshua, he wouldn't understand. He'd probably tell him he was crazy or something like that.

"You maybe don't need a reason to not like someone, but you sure need a reason to hate someone as much as you hate Lucas. You go around acting like he broke your heart or something."

"No, he certainly didn't do that, but it's enough that he exists. He tries to bother me all the time and he made it his life's mission to steal every single girl I set my sights on from me."

"Has he ever even slept with any of your girlfriends?" Joshua looked at Ethan like he was a damn detective. "And that you know for a fact they actually slept together."

Ethan had to think hard about it.

Sure, there were rumors that things happened, but he never got any proof.

Sometimes Hamilton made jokes about it, and it was implied by a great number of people that he slept with Ava at the party, but besides that, nobody had any proof.

People liked to talk about him because they knew it made Ethan upset and apparently any drama was enough to spice up their boring lives.

"So?" asked Joshua, tapping his foot against the floor rhythmically. "Has he?"

Ethan shook his head. "I don't know of any for sure. But he's slept with girls that I had a crush on."

"Did he know you had a crush on them?"

"Probably. I mean, maybe he did. It's not like I'm great at hiding my feelings."

Joshua laughed at that. "No, it's actually that you're great at hiding your feelings and if someone doesn't know you well enough, they can't tell what you're thinking. Ever. Because you're very very bad at sharing your thoughts and feelings with the outside world."