he'd turned on the lights that I had no idea were turned off, of course.
I made my way to the kitchen and then to the fridge, opened it, and then touched my way to the left of the third row from the top and picked two cans, closed it and offered him one.
"Thanks, I hope I didn't wake Sandra wi–"
"She's not here, she spends weekends at Dominik's," I interrupted, assuring him it was fine and there was nothing for him to worry about.
"Really? Since when?"
"Hmm, almost four months now," I told him, opening my can and taking a sip.
"That explains it."
"Explains what?"
"He never hangs out with us on weekends anymore."
I smiled at that. "Let's go to the living room?"
"Yep."
In there, we settled on the couch and chatted a little about everything and nothing. I couldn't help but notice how off he sounded, and I wished he'd just tell me, but I didn't want to push him.
"Ethan, I can sense the stress in your voice. You can tell me anything, you know that, right?" Yeah, I couldn't help but push a little – after all, I was worried about him. "Maybe I can help, I'm not completely useless, you know?"
"It's not that, Anna, don't say that," his voice was even more down now, and I regretted what I’d said, but I couldn't help but want to ease his pain so much, anyhow. "It's just … our producer."
"Lisa? What about her?"
"She's an asshole!"
"Ok-kay…"
"Anna, I really, really don't want to talk about it," he sighed.
"It's okay, Ethan, I just wanted to help."
"You do, you do . Being here beside you … it helps a lot,"
All I could do was offer him a soft smile, still wishing I could do more.
"Is it okay if I spend the night here? I'll sleep on the couch."
"Of course it is. And you can sleep in the guest room,"
"Thanks, Anna, you're awesome," he kissed my cheek, causing me to blush.
"Not at all, what are friends for?"
"Friends … right," he said slowly and I frowned for a moment at his tone, but decided to forget about it when he asked, "Do you want to watch a movie?"
"I can listen . But you'll have to tell me what's going on every time they stop talking and about how they kiss when they do, deal?"
"I can do that. I can do more than just tell you about the kiss. I can tell you about all of the tiny details of the sex scenes, as well."
"Perv."
"Huh! Says the Sex Stories lover."
"Shut up!" I chuckled.
Ethan ended up sleeping on the couch after all. We fell asleep sometime while the movie played, and I woke up to find him hugging me tightly to his chest, my back facing him and his arms surrounding me – along with the feeling of safety that I'd longed to feel for too long.
While I took a shower upstairs in my bathroom, Ethan did the same in the guest bath, then he put on some clothes he had out in his car. After we had breakfast, Ethan and I took Tan for a walk. The weather was wonderful outside, a bit warm but with a cool breeze that would ruffle my hair every now and then. As we made our way to the park, I could smell the wet grass as we walked around the gardens that circled the community and it was such a refreshing scent.
We were stopped by some woman who recognized Ethan and wanted to get an autograph. Though I was smiling, I couldn't help but wonder if he was signing her boobs or why I felt an ache in my heart at that thought. An ache that I knew to be jealousy . Jealousy that burned even more when she asked me to take their photo and I had to tell her that I couldn't do that and why.
I knew I was wearing sunglasses, but what was on Tan's back should've told that woman of my condition. But then again, Ethan had that effect on people; they'd block everything else out when they saw him. Sandra had just told me that the other day, so … I couldn't blame that fan. I just ignored the pain and pretended to be happy. The two things I’d mastered doing the most.
"There is something stuck in your teeth, Ethan," I said, and was able to hear her laugh, but couldn't hear his.
"Would you have dinner