Cinderella: A Fractured Fairytale

Thirty-Nine

Jovette's POV

Chapter 39

***

By that night, Ethan seemed to have cooled down a bit. He would talk to me sometimes, but only when it was necessary.

When we stopped for the night, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

"I'm making the fire tonight." I announced. I had seen him do it enough times that I was convinced I could do it.

He settled back and watched me, face lit with a wry twist that could almost have been a smile. Obviously, he didn't believe I could do it.

I grabbed two rocks and hit them together over a pile of twigs and grass, just as I'd seen him do so many times.

No spark.

I did it again.

Still nothing.

As the time passed, I grew more and more frustrated with the pile of tinder and two rocks. "Stupid rocks," I finally grumbled, throwing the stones to the ground.

Ethan's mouth twitched.

"You're not strong enough," he said, reaching down and grabbing the rocks. "You need to strike them so hard that they spark."

I groaned. "I know that!"

"You know that you have to strike them together, or you know that you're not strong enough?"

"I am strong enough," I snapped in return.

His expression twitched again. "Obviously."

I glared at him and flounced over to my side of the fire pit, sticking my tongue out at him.

But then I began to warm towards him. He had used sarcasm! That had to be a good sign.

The fire sparked and flames licked at his pile of twigs. He began adding more branches.

"I'm proud of you," I said quietly. I wasn't talking about the fire, but he didn't know that.

He shot me a strange look, then lay back in the grass on his side of the fire. "Hmm?"

"Nothing."

As twilight painted the sky with silvery-moonlit stars, my mind began to wander.

Ethan?" I said quietly, dreamily. My judgement was clouded by the fact that I was half asleep.

"Hmm?" he mumbled, his voice thick with drowsiness. He was probably almost asleep.

"... Have you ever... kissed a girl?"

He sat up halfway and stared at me, suddenly wide awake. "What?"

I turned red. "You heard me," I muttered. Suddenly the ridiculousness of my question hit me, and I wished I could go die in a hole.

Ethan lay back down, staring up at the sky until he closed his eyes again. For a moment I thought he wasn't going to answer. Then: "No."

"Hmmm." I closed my eyes. Suddenly I was very happy.

What he said next pulled me back into reality.

"And I never will."