i think it's love | ethma

eight

When Amanda disappears into the crowd, Ethan collapses onto the couch next to Emma and looks at her. She remains stiff, now perched on the edge of the seat. "How you holding up?" When she doesn't respond, he sighs and hands her his beer. "That bad, huh?"

Emma takes a large gulp without hesitation. "Unfortunately," she says grimly. And then, it must be the alcohol because she normally wouldn't disclose this: "Amanda wants to fuck you."

He's quiet for a moment, which seems uncharacteristic. She might have thought he would grin, puff out his chest, etc. But instead, he looks like he's thinking about something. "And?"

"And what?" Emma snorts.

"Why are you telling me this?"

She doesn't know why. "So you can decide whether you want to or not."

"Should I?"

She snorts again, unattractively. What the hell kind of question is that? "Why are you asking me? Go fuck her for all I care."

He ignores that. "You want me to?"

"Like I said, I don't care," she lies carelessly. "Fuck her, fuck everyone... you know what, fuck this entire world. Fuck Mark," she says suddenly, feeling suddenly angry.

"I'm not really interested in fucking Mark." She can hear the grin without looking at him.

"You know what I fucking meant." She takes another gulp of beer. "God, I hate Mark." She knows she doesn't mean that; Ethan does too. "Maybe I should fuck someone," Emma says suddenly. Maybe this is exactly what she needs; a new start.

He doesn't say anything for a moment. "Who?"

She looks at him, and he's staring at her far too intensely for her liking. Her eyes flit down to his mouth and back up before she swallows. "I don't know." Their gazes hold for a beat too long, and it's uncomfortable because Emma is this close to just leaning over and ending everything, but then Ethan says quietly, "I could give some recommendations."

The moment is over. She leans back. "What?"

"Oh, you know..." One of his eyebrows lifts. "We have the same taste in girls, Emma. I mean, remember that one time— "

"We don't talk about that," Emma hisses at him. "And I still maintain that you hooked up with her to irritate me."

"Did it work?"

"You're such a— "

"Emmy!" A new voice sings out, and suddenly Emma is being wrenched up by the forearm, met by the glazed-over eyes of Jack. "We're playing Seven Minutes in Heaven, you have to come with us!"

"I— I don't—" Emma stutters, caught off guard.

"Back off, Jack," Ethan advises, standing up as well. "She doesn't want to play."

Well, that does it. "I want to play," she announces. Maybe this will be for the best. Hooking up with a stranger in a closet suddenly sounds like the best idea she's heard this entire week. Ethan sighs in the background.

Jack grins. "That's the spirit! Come on."

Somehow Ethan gets tugged along as well, and she's not quite sure exactly how it happens but then they're sitting down in the circle with a chorus of drunken "Mom and Dad!"s at their arrival. Emma isn't really sure how they somehow became "Mom and Dad", but she has a feeling if Jack, Olivia, Nate and two other girls all weren't drunk they wouldn't be saying it, and Ethan definitely wouldn't be tolerating it. She looks around and sees Amanda and Will also sitting at the circle. Will looks distinctly uncomfortable.