A/N: Hi everyone! I'm back after drowning in prelims (and A levels are in a month, so i'm not sure it's a good idea that I am still here). Here's my bid to gain good karma before getting my results tomorrow by hopefully providing some laughter! Don't you just love cliches?
Whipped by a Kiss
Ethan Blake took orders from no one.
I repeat. NO ONE.
So, it was really no wonder that he glared at me, slowly lowering his raised fist and shoving the poor guy aside, and releasing the death grip he had on that guy's shirt. He motioned to his fellow cronies to hold onto the guy before slowly closing in on me.
"What did you just say?"
I gulped, but maintained a brave front, pointing to the guy he had been threatening previously.
"Let go of him."
He took another step closer. Alright, did anyone just hear my personal bubble go "pop"?
"And if I don't?"
"Er…I'll punch you! I have three black belts!" Well, it does not hurt if he did not know that one belt had pink sparkles on it, the other had little white skulls and the last was the rust belt research for geography. He raised one eyebrow in question and scoffed, "right." I leapt into the kungfu move that I have perfected from watching kungfu panda a billion times and glared at him.
"Come any closer…" and I trailed off for him to fill in the blanks himself.
He took another step closer. The ass.
Bracing myself, and my knuckles, hoping against hope that it would not hurt too much (for me) and I jumped up, swinging my fist at him. But as my incredible luck would have it…no, I did not crush his nose or anything so glamourous…I tripped.
Pathetic right? I know.
I flew towards him, and before I knew it, my swinging arm hooked itself around his neck and my face crashed into his. Weirdly enough, his lips instantly sought mine out, and he melded them together, first kissing softly before he pulled me tighter against him, and he became fiercer, more passionate, and insistent, demanding then gentle again, pressing a final soft peck against my lips before pulling away. He continued to hold onto me while breathing heavily and he looked slightly dazed as he grinned boyishly at me.
"Well…that was…"
"Amazing?"
"Yeah…"
The moment was broken by the subdued whimpers of the poor guy I had forgotten about somewhere between the cornering and the kiss. Noticing that Ethan was still in some sort of a little haze, I asked.
"You liked it?"
"Yeah…"
"Wanna do it again?"
"Yeah…"
"Will you let him go?"
"Yeah…WHAT? NO."
I leaned in closer to him and when my lips were just a breath away from his, I muttered a barely audible "Please?" just barely touching his as they moved. His breath hitched and he sighed resignedly before motioning to his sidekicks to release the guy. And, boy, did that guy move fast when he sprinted away. Ethan grinned at me and moved in for another kiss. I pushed him away gently and entangled myself out of his arms. Disappointment visible clouded his face, but he let me go.
"Why are you leaving so soon?"
"Don't get used to kissing me! You won't get to do it again! Toodles!" I wriggled my fingers at him, before jetting when he looked outraged.
An angry Ethan Blake is scary.
"You will! You just wait."
Right, buddy threatening a girl is the best way to make her kiss you. Seriously, why are so many girls in love with this…barbarian anyway? Well, besides the fact that he has great abs, a strong, chiseled jaw, deep swirling brown eyes, spiked black hair…okay, stop giving me that why-are-you-so-stupid look, I get my own point now.
I stuffed my books into my locker and slumped casually against it as I chatted with my friends. And as I was happily rambling about the latest chick lit, as sudden silence fell about the usually noisy hallways. I froze and turned around slowly as Ethan Blake strutted through the doors and did not even throw an acknowledging look at the person holding the door open for his highness. He tossed his book at the hapless freshman standing nearby and she trailed both fearfully and worshipfully behind. He signaled to his crony who entered his locker combination in dutifully. As these were all happening, I was stealthily creeping backwards, trying to merge into the back of my group. Just as I was almost through to being invisible, Ethan turned sharply towards me and his eyes narrowed as they sought me out and he fixed them on me.
Everyone, say "oops" with me now.
He stalked purposefully towards me and the crowd, including my group- the traitors- parted for him. Cliché much?
"Hello sweetheart."
Whispers broke out as everyone continued staring at the two of us – him advancing and me backing as fast as my short legs would allow me to. He trapped me against the lockers and blocked my useless attempt at an escape by blocking off any path of exit with his muscled body. In fact, I think he had lots of fun pushing himself closer and closer against me till he was pressing right up to me.
"How about a morning kiss?"
"Eh…No?"
He rolled his eyes and completely ignored my refusal, leaning down to capture my lips once again. At the last moment, I turned my head away, and he just brushed against my cheek. Undeterred, he tried it again, only to kiss the other cheek this time. Hurt flashed in his eyes for a moment before he mumbled a soft "why not" just audible enough for me to hear.
"Er…because you're mean and ungrateful and pushy, and I don't kiss people like that."
"So…you go for the good guys huh?"
I nodded awkwardly, and he turned around, leaving me free. Then, unexpectedly, he retrieved his books out of the girl's hands and thanked her then placed his books into his locker himself (which he usually does not do by himself) and closed it, thanking his sidekick for opening it for him. Noticing the little freshie still holding onto the door, Ethan placed a hand against the door and motioned for the freshie to come in. I could only gape at him when he sauntered back to where I was standing.
"Everything okay now? And I'm going to take that hanging mouth as an invitation for me to use the best way I know to close it."
And he did just that.
"You may want to look at 6 o'clock now," Beth, whispered.
My chocolate donut hovered midway in my mouth and I slowly turned my head round to glance sneakily at the sauntering Ethan Blake who had just entered the cafeteria and whose eyes were currently steadily searching. I swiftly averted my eyes and tried to slouch down slightly in my chair. But even as nervously tried to stuff myself with the donut, I could tell his movements behind me by the increasing volume of gasps and giggles that came closer and closer to me.
When Beth refused to look up, I knew he was right behind me. He slipped into the seat next to mine and curved his arm around my waist.
"Hey honey, how was your day?"
He looked pointedly at Beth, who took his hint and scooted away even as I called after her. I guess self-preservation came before friendship. I tried to push his persistent hand off my waist but froze, when he tipped my face towards his with his other hand. He traced my jaw lightly, and chuckled as he used his thumb to wipe off the smudges of chocolate at the side of my lips. The light-humour in his eyes soon changed though, and he stared intensely at my lips. His head bent slowly and just as his lips grazed mine slightly, his friend, or rather, his sidekick, appeared at the table with a full tray.
"Hey Ethan…oh…"
I pushed Ethan away, and he sighed, frustrated, and ordered him to place the tray before him. After waving his sidekick away, Ethan plastered himself to my side and whispered lowly into my ears.
"Can I pick up where we left off?"
I used my half-eaten donut as a shield to block my mouth.
"No!"
He pulled me closer to him and whispered against my skin, so close that I could feel his lips grazing my cheek.
"Why not?"
""You're mean to everyone!" I muttered indignantly. When he remained silent for a long moment, I added. "You chased Beth away and you didn't even thank that guy who brought you your lunch!"
"Okay then, I'm sorry and I'll apologize to them tomorrow."
I grinned and nodded my head. "That's better."
He flashed a devilish grin in return and leaned in closer.
"So…about that kiss…"
"I think chocolate looks good on your face."
You would think he would get bored of me after a few weeks. I wish.
He just got you-are-my-mate-werewolf-possessive.
"You know, I was perfectly capable of catching that ball."
Ethan looked back at me distractedly for a moment before focusing on the opponents once again and making sure that he was not more than two feet away from me.
"What if you get hit?"
"This is dodgeball. I think that's the point."
He leapt in front of me, caught another ball hurtling towards me and smashed it right into the stomach of the unthinking guy directly opposite me. He smiled smugly at the guy who winced as he got off the court before replying me.
"Your point is?"
"I want to, you know, maybe, actually play instead of hiding behind a wall of muscles!"
He hesitated for a moment before grabbing the ball flying towards my left with one hand.
"Promise you will tell me if you are hurt?"
"Okay!"
I lasted for a grand total of twenty-six seconds. My seemingly awe-inspiring, gravity-defying, jaw-dropping throw fell to the ground about 10 feet short of its target. It is true that the higher you aim, the harder you fall – especially when you aimed far up the dodge ball hierarchy at the Prince himself. Needless to say, his shot sent me barreling to the losers' corner. As he skillfully dodged the balls zooming around him, Ethan edged closer to me to inspect me.
"Are you hurt?"
"Nope."
"You sure? I'll kill him if you are."
"Yes! I'm fine!"
"You…"
"FOCUS! THE BALL IS COMING! AH! LOOKOUT!"
If I sounded like this was a matter of life and death, it is because it is. Only Ethan and another guy were left of our sad team and they were facing up to the terror of five footballers currently flexing their muscles and towering over their store of ammunition – more than half of the balls. Honestly speaking, there's only one guy left on my team, since that other guy had been hiding in a corner for the past twenty minutes. Fortunately, my Ethan is the king of dodge ball. My? My! I mean…THE Ethan.
The five footballers each held a ball and advanced menacingly towards the line separating the two teams. Their plan was obvious. Kill off the key player swiftly and then maybe toss the ball in celebration to the side to, offhand, kill the other. But, even as four of them released their ball on Ethan, who avoided them all by a slide along the ground, one fired it towards the guy in the corner. Caught off guard, he simply stared at it wide-eyed as it sailed towards his face. I scrunched up my eyes, unable to watch the imminent face-plant.
There was only a muffled grunt. A peek through one eye revealed a disgruntled Ethan who was currently rubbing the back of his head as he got off the court. A full-on "ouch!" from behind Ethan marked the demise of our entire team.
He had taken the shot for that guy. As Guy-in-the-corner shuffled past Ethan, he gave him a small smile and squeaked out a "thanks!" before scuttling off. Ethan frowned at his retreating figure before pouting at me.
"I think people are getting less terrified of me."
"That's great! I wouldn't want to be with some scary-looking, mean, ass of a guy."
His pout morphed into his trademark come-hither smirk and he wriggled his eyebrows "seductively".
"You know, as a reward, I believe you owe me a kiss right now."
As he closed his eyes and leaned in towards me, and I did the only thing that any sane girl would do. I ducked, picked up a ball and smashed his face with a squishy ball.
"You've got to have A LOT of balls to kiss me when you are drowning in sweat."
As I rounded the corner, I was met with the strangely familiar sight of Ethan holding yet another guy against the wall with a clenched fist swinging up, ready to crunch his face in.
"ETHAN BLAKE! What do you think you are doing?!"
He glanced at me before drawling lazily.
"Relax, sweetheart. This asshole here was hitting his girlfriend."
I paused for a moment and looked at the guy who was, at this point, red from the lack of air. A brief flash of hope crossed his face when I gave him a sympathetic look.
"Oh Ethan! How could you do this! Um…I think three punches will do. See you later!"
I skipped off to lunch and settled down at Ethan's table. A few minutes later, he plopped himself down into the seat next to mine and grunted.
"I was going to give him at least five."
I sighed and placed my lovely ice-cream down, tilted his head towards me and kissed him softly on the lips. His frown immediately turned into a huge smile. As we pulled apart amidst the catcalls and cheers, he whispered, "well…a kiss from you makes me feel better."
One of his basketball teammates walking by slapped him on his back and loudly declared, "man, you're whipped!"
Ethan smirked, crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair.
"Yeah, I'm whipped. Whipped by her every smile, her every touch and her every kiss. Her kisses are all I'll ever need. You got a problem with that?"
Amidst the mock gagging of the male population and the dreamy sighs of the female population, I gave him a big kiss again. After that blatant and very adorable declaration, he did deserve that – and that annoying endearing smirk indicated that he knew that he would get a kiss with that.
And that was how Ethan Blake went from bad-boy extraordinaire to voted school sweetheart. True, Ethan Blake still took orders from no one. Except me.
Kisses make very good leverage.