summer romance (e.d.)

seventeen

anna

"you'll never guess what the groundskeeper said he saw last night," grayson says to me quietly as ethan does a few practice swings.

i yawn, still tired from the previous night. "what?"

"two people jumped into the ranch monster pond," he gapes. "no one i've ever known can step near that thing—"

ethan suddenly turns to us. "wait, what?"

i try not to look suspicious as grayson repeats the story to his brother. ethan sends me a look, saying to relax.

"did he see who it was?" i ask.

grayson shakes his head. "no. he could be lying, though. ricardo has always been one for attention."

i laugh and ethan slides in the backseat to drive to the next hole.

ethan steps out, practicing his swing once again.

"hips," i remind, and he nods.

i can't tell if ethan and i are friends or not.

sometimes he'll be nice, like last night. he even left a note before he went back home.

but then other times, he'll look at me like i'm the scum on the bottom of his shoe.

there is no in between.

just as i'm deep in the thought, my phone rings. i pick it up and smile at the caller id.

"hey liam," i say, putting the phone to my ear.

i feel ethan's eyes on me as i talk, and try to just ignore it.

"hey," he says on the other line, and i hear the morning raspiness in his voice. "are you busy later today?"

quickly i run my schedule through my brain.

"i'm available from 3:00 to 9:00," i say eventually.

"can i come hang at 3:30?"

"like, at my house?" i ask hesitantly.

"yeah. we could chill by the pool. doesn't the guest house have a hot tub?"

butterflies make an appearance in my stomach and i smile. "yeah, 3:30 sounds good. i'll see you then."

"alright," he says happily. "bye."

i hang up, already feeling excited to be done with work today, even though i just started. i have to cart around lisa and her friends at 2:00, so i hope they can finish their game within an hour.

"you shouldn't answer your phone while you're working," ethan says in a hard tone, drinking from his water bottle with an unreadable expression.

"sorry, i just thought that i don't have to be ultra professional when i'm with you and grayson," i apologize sincerely.

he gives me a quick glance. "you do."

i widen my eyes at the steering wheel and mutter, "okay, sorry."

ethan doesn't talk to me the entire rest of their game, and won't even listen to my advice when i give it. this causes him to lose badly and be even more frustrated for some reason.

"ethan, your putting game sucks," grayson laughs as they unload their bags. "you should practice that."

without thinking, i send an 'i told you so' smirk to ethan, but he's not paying attention to me.

"yeah, whatever," he mumbles, already heading up to the house.

grayson waves. "bye anna!"

"bye!" i call as i park the car in the garage and fill it up with just a little bit of gas.