My Robotic Boyfriend

32

Ivy

I sat amongst Janie, Fiona, Kyle, Roman, and other people who wanted to play the truth or dare game. I had been really excited to play before, but I lost that excitement the moment Ethan excused himself from the party.

I wasn't paying attention to how the game would go, because all I could think about was Ethan. Why he reacted that way towards me and why he just left?

Does he know? Does he know of my plans? Hadn't I been careful enough?

I played with my fingers nervously.

It had to be something. Something had to be really wrong with him, I mean why else would he stop me from touching him in public? Why else would he look at me like I was a disease he had to detach himself from?

God! Make me understand this!

I mean, he was fine earlier. Why did his mood suddenly change? Did something happen? Or was it just me?

"Ivy? Where's Trevor? I thought he would be playing with us?" Kyle asked.

Suddenly, I snapped out of my thinking state. "Uh... Um... He went outside to-"

"I'm here." His voice resounded behind me, cutting of my stuttering mess.

At the sound of his voice, my heart picked up a sudden unsteady pace.

Why? I don't freaking know.

Before I could look behind, he had made himself comfortable beside me. "Sorry I kept you all waiting, I had an important call to make... Did I miss anything?" He asked, his eyes not meeting mine.

Kyle had a scrawl on his face, but either way, he answered. "Not exactly, we weren't waiting for you, Ivy just didn't look too pleased. Someone had to make sure everything was okay." He said, his eyes boring into Ethan's.

Silence dragged at the circle.

When Ethan looked away, I noticed how hard he was holding on to the beer bottle, I was scared it was going to shatter.

To ease the tension, Janie took that time to explain how it would go.

With my heart attacking my chest so violently, I placed my palm gently against his strong arm. He stiffened underneath my touch, but his head turned towards me. "Yeah?" He asked.

"Are you okay? Earlier you-" I whispered.

"I'm fine." He cut me off with a reassuring smile. It didn't reach his eyes.

"Really? Are you sure? Did something happen?" I asked again, just to be sure.

"No, nothing happened, PT. I'm good." He said, placing his hand over mine, and taking it from his arm with a reassuring squeeze.

His hand felt really warm against mine, the warmth seemed to have found its way to my body and it felt as if I was being wrapped by a warm comfortable blanket.

His chip might be responsible for that, or maybe it was just him as a whole but- whatever, it just felt really good.

But then, he placed it back against my lap, detaching his hands from mine and looking away.