Burned 2 (6 page)

Chapter 8

Ethan’s text became more frequent after my “surprised” visit. He even asked me
if there was anything I would like him to bring to our trip to my parents’ house. I told him to just bring himself. He sent me a smiley face. Turned out both Ethan and I had to attend study groups on Sunday morning, but Ethan still agreed to go on Saturday and come back on the same day. I was beyond excited. I never asked him just what was going on during those three days after our first kiss. I didn’t want to disturb the smooth way things were going.

When I told my Dad I was bringing my boyfriend home this weekend, he sounded so happy. My heart almost melted. I really hoped my Dad could fight off this monster of
illness. I wanted him to fight and win so that he could see not just my boyfriend. In the future, he could also walk me down to my husband in my wedding and one day, held his grandchild in his arms. I wanted our family to have a future to look forward to. I wanted to live with hope for tomorrow.

Now I just hope Ethan wouldn’t get cold feet the next second or mess things up. I didn’t know what I was doing with him. He was so unpredictable. If I wasn’t running against time, I might not even be ready to bring him home with me.  Maybe Mom and Dad could provide some insight and help me figure out this “relationship”.

Blake wasn’t kidding about making Ethan the “perfect” gentleman. When I saw him in the parking lot on Saturday, he had put on some “normal” clothing-polo shirts and jeans. He looked really down to earth for once despite the hotness was still leaking out of him.

“Let me help you with your bags,” Ethan walked up toward me and took the travel bag from my shoul
der. “How come you never invite me to your room? I could have carried this down for you.” He sounded totally innocent but who knows what would happen if I invited him in.

“Well, I have a roommate. She might want to skin you. That’s all,” I teased, leaving the meaning open-ended. I wasn’t sure what Vicky would do if she saw Ethan. She would either
scream like a fan girl or threatened him to stay away. She was just as unpredictable as Ethan.

“You mean ‘skin-me’ skin me?” Ethan’s bad boy smile revealed for just a blink of a second.

I raised my eyebrows. “Hmm, not sure. Maybe I should let you meet her and find out. No guarantee here. You will have to take full responsibility if she does ‘skin’ you.” I crossed my arms. I acted like I didn’t care if Ethan showed interested on other girls or not. But I did care even if it was Vicky. I wasn’t going to dig into that tiny tip of iceberg of jealousy I was feeling. Today I had to deliver my-boyfriend-report to my parents. I needed things to go as smoothly as possible. 

“
Haha,” Ethan patted me on the shoulder like I was his pal or something. “Already issuing a disclaimer? You should apply to law school.”

“So I could be an evil lawyer like you?” I snorted playfully and patted him on the shoulder.

“Wow, wow,” Ethan backed off from me a bit. “I know Blake is contagious, but you caught it so fast…”

“How do you know I got it from him?” I smirked. “You don’t know what I have in me.”

“What you have in you?” Ethan narrowed his eyes, smiling. He stepped closer toward me. I wasn’t wearing any heels. As he gazing down and met my eyes it was more intense than ever. “You are…” Ethan whispered as his free hand came over my waist, “pure, passionate and fierce,” his eyes kept locking on mine. “I just had a taste and I am burning.” He let the words sink in and didn’t move. His eyes were saying everything and that just made me want him even more. We just stood there, doing a staring contest that made my knees go weak. He was waiting for me to response. But I didn’t move either. I was lost. I didn’t know what a kiss meant to him. To me, it was my first kiss ever. It was passionate and fierce, sure. But it wasn’t the fairy tale happily-ever-after-problem-solved kind of kiss. Even though my brain was pretty fried from it, I was still aware that I needed to work my way toward that happily-ever-after. And that’s a long way ahead, especially after Ethan acting so distant after our kiss. We really didn’t know each other that well.

I did do something with my mouth-I managed to curve
it up into an acknowledging smile. One thing for sure, I was glad that he was here. And I wanted him to know that.  He nodded as if he understood what I was trying to say and hugged me with his free hand and squeezed me closer to him as we walked toward his car. Instantly his warmth overwhelmed me again. I felt like we were a couple -a simple couple with a nice road trip to the beach. I felt the hours ahead were bright and sunny, like today’s weather forecast. I just hope I would keep feeling this way. 

===

I didn’t know what kind of GPS Ethan was using. He had this sexy female with a Japanese accent ordering him around along the way to the beach.

“This toy only makes this sound?” I tapped the GPS lightly with my finger. It shined some alien blue light at me.

“It’s not a toy. It’s one of mankind’s greatest inventions. With it, you will never get lost.”

“My Dad never needs to use such a thing,” I sat back as the GPS made the sweetest “make a right turn” direction.

“Never?” Ethan seemed surprised.

“Never,” I said confidently. “He can memorize a map in 10 seconds and track down wild beast across mountains.”

“Now that’s a man I really want to meet,” Ethan announced.

“Yeah, he is a
real
man,” I said proudly, feeling a bit comfort when Ethan expressed he wanted to meet my Dad. I wondered for a moment if I should tell Ethan about Dad’s diagnosis but decided against it. Dad didn’t like people express any empathy about his illness. He was always tough. And Ethan would meet him and know him as such.

“And you are implying I am not?
Should I prove it to you?” Ethan smirked at me.

I kept a straight face. “You just disproved yourself by using this high-pitched robot thingy,” I crossed my arms.

Ethan shrugged. “Fine,” he tapped some blue buttons on the GPS, the girl voice changed into a male voice with British accent. “How about now?” he looked at me, raising an eyebrow.

“Maybe,” I made a face. Now the GPS was much more charming than before. It almost felt like the British voice was reading a classic instead of giving driving direction. “That sounds good,” I mumbled.

“Ha, right,” Ethan shook his head. “Now I know what kind of guy might steal you away from me.”

“Silly,” I slapped his shoulder gently. “I am not going anywhere.”

Ethan turned and looked at me, a bit too attentively. He smiled but it was almost a sad smile. Maybe I saw it wrong. I wasn’t sure. When the charming British accent gave another direction and Ethan looked away, the moment was gone like it never happened.

--

When we got to my parents’ house, it was almost noon. The warm sunny weather greeted me once I got out of the car. I always liked the feeling of the ocean wind blushing on my skin. I was home.

“You live here?” Ethan took a glance from the car. I couldn’t quite make out his tone.

“Yeah, why?” I blinked at him. Oh, right, he was the son of the billionaire. I almost forgot that he probably grew up in a giant mansion. My humble home must look ridiculous to him. Whatever. Soon he would find out how comfortable it was.

“That’s pretty awesome!” He exclaimed, surprising me. “I like the organic design of it.” He pointed at the solid wood wall.

“Oh, my Dad built it when he and Mom were engaged,” I explained. 

“So she would marry him,” he mused.

“So they could have a place to live and start a family?” I narrowed eyes.

Ethan studied me for a few seconds, not saying anything. I stared at him back. I saw our differences now and then and it troubled me a little. People said “the opposites attract”, I wonder
ed if that was indeed the case.

“Dana, is that you?” Mom came out of the door. She must have been expecting us but didn’t recognize Ethan’s car.

“Mom!” I rushed out the car and hugged her. She was thinner than I remembered it felt like if I lifted my arms I could just pick her up. She had been worried and working hard since Dad got sick. She looked so happy to see me but the weariness still showed on her face. She lifted her face and looked curiously behind me. A shy smile appeared on her face. I supposed Ethan’s charming effect worked on women of all age. “This is Ethan, Mom,” I introduced him.

“Nice to meet you, ma’am,” Ethan said in the most look-at-me-I-am-a-good-boy manner and extended his hand.

“Oh, he’s handsome,” Mom looked at me with wide eyes, covering her month. She didn’t even shake his hand.

“Mom!”
I was so flustered I had no words.

“Glad you think so, ma’am,” Ethan chuckled, not at all cared about how awkward this seemed, “Dana had never complimented me this way.” He winked at me and smirked.

I looked at Ethan out of the corner of my eyes, shying away. What did he even expect me to say? Of course I thought he was beyond handsome. He didn’t need me to say it to know that.

“Well, Dana is a beautiful woman in her prime,” My Mom just reached out her skinny arm and patted Ethan on the shoulder. “Her standards might be different than mine.” I watched her with wide eyes as she said it.  She gave Ethan the most benevolent smile and gestured us to go inside.   

“Wow, I love your Mom,” Ethan said quietly.

“You do?” I had no idea what just
happened in the pass few minutes.

“Yeah, she’s just like you,” Ethan beaned at me. That immediately made my heart skipped a beat. My little analytical brain decided to work itself on Ethan’s words. If he loved my Mom and thought she was like me, did it mean he loved m
e too? Gee, I need to stop over-thinking it, especially the L-word. Too soon. Too fast.

As soon as we got in the house, the rich smell of cookies filled our sense. Mom always baked the best cookies. I couldn’t wait to eat them.

“My cookie jar is home!” Dad got up from his wooden chair. He was wearing a T-shirt and his favorite jeans. When he came closer, I could make out the words on the T-shit. Big black capital letters displayed “NOT DEAD YET” in the front.

“Dad?”
I pointed at the T-shirt after he hugged me tighter as ever.

“Come on, have a little humor. Your uncle Joe gave it to me,” Dad’s sharped eyes shifted toward Ethan. He looked a
bit livelier than the last time I saw him. I was happy to see him caring to make a little fun out of the shirt.

“This is Ethan, my boyfriend,” I said the word “boyfriend” a little bit stiffly. I hoped Dad didn’t catch that.

“An honor to meet you, sir,” Ethan was behaving much better than my parents in terms of manners. For that I was grateful. “I like your shirt, too. It’s funny,” he commented friendly.

“That also means I will be watching you while I am alive, boy,” Dad gave Ethan the I-am-serious look. They shook hands in a manly manner. I could be over-sensitive to see some tension in it. I hoped I was wrong.

“Dad, come on. Ethan is a nice guy,” I said “nice guy” a bit stiffly too. Darn.

Lunch went all right. Mostly Dad told us the hunting stories and explained to Ethan why I was nicked named Cookie-Jar.

“Haha,” Ethan laughed. “She does have a sweet tooth. Now I know what to get Dana if she gets mad at me.”

Dad just nodded. His expression was a bit grim. For some reason, Dad didn’t seem to be as happy and excited
as I expected about me bringing a boyfriend home. I wasn’t sure why. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time even when Mom brought out the cookies.

Ethan on the contrary, seemed very comfortable sitting
at our table. With his dressed-down jeans, he looked like a boy next door I could easily ask to play card games or walk on the beach with.

“These cookies are made from heaven,” Ethan said with dreamy expression. That instantly put a heartfelt smile on Mom’s face.

“You can’t eat them all,” I teased him. “Save some for me,” I slapped Ethan’s hand slightly. Mom was laughing now. But Dad’s face was still hard as stone. I was sure it wasn’t about table manners. Dad was never big about table manners. He said the table was for the family to enjoy food and have fun, and manners would restrict that. So Dad was upset about something else. I had an idea what, or rather, who it was about. But I rather it was just about our table manners.

“Kids are kids, still fighting over cookies,” Mom’s
new wrinkles showed as she beamed at us.

“Well, let’s help Mom with the dishes, Cookie Jar,” Dad hinted at me.

What? I thought he planned to give Ethan “the Talk”. Why was I the target?

Ethan continued to enjoy the cookies as I insisted he
to stay at the table with Mom.

Once
there was enough noise from the dish washing could “cover” us, Dad started whispering. We discovered this trick when Mom got mad at the both of us when I was little.

“Where did you find this guy? He looks artificial,” Dad eyed Ethan in the dining room.

“What?” I didn’t expect that question. Now that my Dad asked it, I seriously could understand just how bad it sounded if I said I found him on the internet. It was like anything from the Internet was automatically coming off as “bullshit”, using Vicky’s words. My Dad didn’t trust anything-needless to say that invisible wire web that magically connects every bits of the magnificent world together. I had to stall. “What do you mean ‘artificial’?” I pretended to focus on the dishes. “The artificial intelligent that kind of artificial or the artificial flavor for candies kind?” Guilty charged. I knew my Dad was old so I was playing his wits.