Chapter 3 - Crossing Frenemy Lines

I Got You Babe – Sonny and Cher

portrayed by

"Spencer?"

My head snapped to Dad.

"The door."

I blinked. He noticed my confusion and sighed heavily. "The doorbell rang, that must be your girlfriend."

I squinted my eyes, "Girlfriend?" then the reality of the situation kicked in "Oh, right, girlfriend." I snickered nervously under the confused and intense stares of everyone in the room.

"I should probably get that."

"Yes." Dad said in a calm tone, "You should get that."

After a few awkward, tense moments with dad, I shuffled off to the door and lo and behold, it was Karla.

"Where the hell have you been?" I hissed quietly, allowing her to come inside.

She took off her red coat and threw it on the rack. "Sorry, but mom and dad decided that tonight was the nightto talk to me about premarital sex."

I shivered. "Gosh, apology accepted." I murmured, grabbing her by the hand and reentering the dining room.

Mom immediately stood when her eyes caught Karla's. She walked over, holding her dress in her hands so the ends wouldn't get caught in her shoes and engulfed Karla into a big hug. One that she wasn't ready for.

"Woah," Karla mumbled "it's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Haynes."

Mom parted them but kept her hands on Karla's shoulders. Looking her up and down before smiling gently. "You are a stunner." She cooed.

Karla smiled in return before returning to my side near the entrance. Dad stood and pulled out a seat next to him. "You can sit next to me young lady."

I noticed Karla tensed. "She's my girlfriend; shouldn't she sit next to me?"

Dad shrugged. "You get to see her every day. Your mom and I would like to spend a little time with her."

I was about top protest the decision but Karla spoke up. "It's fine, Spence." She insisted. "I would love to sit next to your lovely parents."

I rolled my eyes. "It's your funereal." I mumbled, moving towards the table and taking a seat next to Ethan, who had not said anything since the Piper thing.

In fact, no one of The Martin camp had said anything at all since Karla had arrived and judging by the way we were seated at the table...the silence would continue.

I sat at the end of the table closest to the door with Ethan next to me. The Martin siblings, Austin and Piper were seated across from us. The Martin parentals were seated next to their kids, Mom sat on the other side of Ethan, Karla sat next to her and Dad sat at the helm of the table.

Usually mom would be the one to defuse awkward situations like this with her mindless conversational chatter but she rushed off to the kitchen to get dinner and you could cut the tension with the butter knife that sat next to me.

"So," surprisingly Austin started, "Spencer, tell me something about yourself."

"Oh." I mumbled, caught off guard. "I'm not that interesting."

He smirked. "Nonsense."

"No, really. There's nothing about me worth saying." I giggled.

Austin's blue eyes connected with mines. "I think there is."

I smiled. "Nah, There really isn't any-"

"His name is Spencer Haynes, he's a sixteen year old junior, his favorite move is 'Jaws', he's 5'9, his favorite color is blue, sky blue, he gets sick easily, he's stubborn and sarcastic, he quotes every TV show he watches and likes old rock and roll albums."

Everyone's attention had turned to Ethan whose stoned face remained on Austin.

This is the kind of situation where I wished I could just die. That or just spontaneously combust. Either would be less painful than this.

Austin's eyes slinked back over to me. "Is all of that so?"

"You're damn right." Ethan answered for me, "I would know."

Austin smirked. "Well, then he seems interesting to me."

"Yeah," Ethan scoffed, "too bad he's not that interested in you."

Austin kept the smirk on his lips, "Why would he be? He has a beautiful girlfriend who loves him." his face returned to me, "I'll give you my number just in case though."

Ethan's jaw clenched and he slammed his fist against the table, making everyone except Austin jump at the table.

"Ethan." I hissed under my breath. He ignored it and pushed himself from the table, standing up and hastily exited the room.

It got quiet. Very quiet. Piper and her folks remained silent. Dad was pinching his nose and I'm sure mom decided to stay in the kitchen to avoid what just took place.

Karla cleared her throat, "I guess this would be a bad time to say that I found a black doll on Ethan's car."

I shot from my seat and got up. I ignored dad's voice shouting my name and calling for me to get back there at once and trudged after Ethan who left the front door open.

I spotted him grumbling and walking towards his car that was parked a little further down the street in front of one of our neighbor's houses.

"E!" I shouted.

He kept grumbling but didn't turn around.

Typical Ethan.

He was speed walking at almost inhuman speed. Me jogging wasn't even enough to catch up with him.

"Hey, dickface!" I shouted.

He stopped hot in his tracks. His hands balled into fist but he didn't turn around.

When I finally caught up with him he had started walking briskly towards his car.

I grabbed him by the arm and spun him around to face me. He raised the balled fist to strike but once he caught the look on my face his retracted it and stepped back, nearly tripping over the small pebbles that were scattered in the road.

There was a brief moment of silence before I took a daring step forward.

"Ethan, what's the problem? That was uncalled for and you could have just cost my dad his promotion."

He snorted, "When since do you care about your dad's job."

"Since I realized he's the one paying our bills." I snapped back but calmed myself immediately afterwards. I wasn't one to start a fight – especially not with someone who thinks so irrationally.

"Now, tell me. What's going on in your noggin?"

His eyes escaped mine, finding new solace in the dusty ground. He placed his hands in his pockets and kicked a rock before grumbling something under his breath.

I cocked my head, folding my arms across my chest. "I'm not The Idiot Whisperer E, speak up."

"I said," He grumbled, meeting my eyes again, "Austin was all over you."

I blinked. "What?"

He growled. "Dude do I have to spell it out?"

"You probably can't." I bit back, earning a sharp punch on the shoulder. "Ow, dickwad." I moaned. "Now what do you mean Austin was all over me?"

"He was eye raping you dude! Full on statutory, pervert, pedo, five years in gross prison eye rape!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose and shook my head. "Ethan, I'm not gay."

"Well, you could have fooled me in there." He noted, spinning on his heels and restarted walking to his car that was parked in front of the Johnson's yard next door. A habit that they hated him for.

"What the hell do you mean by that?" I asked, growing in annoyance at his vagueness.

He spun back around at the sound of my voice, "Bro, you were giggling and smiling and blushing and everything in there; you two practically were having gay sex and not the good kind."

I gaped at him and stepped closer. "What in God's name is up with you? I know this Piper thing is hurting you but don't take it out on me or Austin."

He scoffed. "Dude, the Piper thing died a long damn time ago. I'm just saying, you two looked like potential mates."

I was about to say something back but by chance I looked down at Ethan's hands.

He was playing with his fingers.

Whenever Ethan played with his fingers it meant he was nervous and if he was nervous it meant he was scared and the only time Ethan gets scared his when he has something to lose.

"Ethan," I murmured "Are you afraid you're going to lose me to Austin?"

He scoffed, "Why does that sound so gay?"

I rolled my eyes, "Because we're Ethan and Spencer."

He looked at me for a moment before snickered a bit. "I guess you're right." the snicker turned bitter, "It's just that – he was getting all of your attention and I was feeling a little bit, you know..." he trailed off, looking at me to finish his sentence.

I narrowed my eyes and looked into his eyes and for the first time, I couldn't see what was happening in his head. His eyes were too conflicted with emotion.

"...Left out?" I tried.

The sides of his mouth twitched until a little smile appeared, "Jealous." He answered.

"Why..." I trailed, watching him intently. He didn't break eye contact and it was starting to rack my nerves. I felt uneasy. "Why would you be jealous?"

He sweetly smiled. "Because I'm your boyfriend."

I huffed. "We're not dating, Ethan."

He shrugged off my comment. "We might as well be." He admitted before stepping a little closer.

"I know we're not in a legit relationship but we do act like it and sometimes those romantic gestures translate into romantic feelings and you know how territorial I get with my girlfriends."

I knew all too well.

It was more dangerous to stare too long at Ethan's girlfriend than it was to stare at the sun.

"I feel like I've claimed you. You're mine whether we're really dating or not...we even have a little black child and if that's not commitment then what is this world coming to?"

I snorted, "You are such an idiot."

His eyes grazed the ground, "Yeah," he snorted, looking back up to meet my eyes, "but I'm your idiot."

I sighed but it was muffled by the sporadic rolling of thunder that rumbled across the night sky. I looked up at the chaotic, star laced heavens and sighed again. "Ethan, you've got me."

As fast as the lighting ripped across the sky, a smile appeared on Ethan's face and I knew what was coming.

I folded my arms over my chest and peered at him. "If you start singing that song, I will punch you, I swear." I threatened.

But to no avail.

'They say we're young and we don't know, we won't find out until we grow.' He sung, off key and horribly with a goofy smile forming at his lips.

"Ethan, I'm serious."

He spun around, and unfortunately he caught himself before he tripped, 'Well, I don't know if all that's true cause you've got me and baby I've got you'

He pivoted on his heels all the way around until he was facing me again and popped the collars on his shirt.

"Ethan, I'm ser-"

He cut me off. 'Babe'

I groaned.

'I got you babe; I got you babe.'

He held out his hands and before I could tell him to go to hell he yanked me by my arm to his chest.

He started rocking us back and forth roughly with his hands tightly secured around me. I broke free and stumbled backwards under the loud cackles of Ethan.

He rocked himself back and forward, still looking at me with playfully lit eyes. 'They say our love won't pay the rent, Before it's earned money must..um." he stopped and started stumbled over his words. 'something else then something else, something else and then Cher singgsss ssoometthign elsse'

I rolled my eyes. "God, if you're going to butcher a classic, at least get the lyrics right."

Ethan raised a curious eyebrow, "oh, and you know them?"

I scoffed, "I taught you them."

"Eighth grade was a long time ago; you think you can remember them?"

"A lot better than you." I retorted playfully.

He smirked. "Is that a challenge?"

I smiled, "No." I answered. "It's a fact."

He stared blankly for a minute before smiling and holding out his hand, waving across the ground that separated us, inviting me to step forward.

It was my turn to raise an eyebrow.

"You want me to sing Sonny and Cher's 'I Got You Babe' in the middle of the street, in the night while a storm is brewing?"

"I've asked you to do worse." he shrugged.

I rolled my eyes. "I'd like to argue with you but I'm still having nightmares about that one time in the woods with that raccoon." I shivered.

He snickered. "Hey, it's no worse than the time you made me put my balls in icy water." he chuckled. "I still have bald spot there."

The both of us laughed at the memory that was so stupid back then...but so worth it right now. It was just one of the seemingly hundreds of past occurrences that brought us to the point we were now.

Even the one last Halloween night that we didn't talk about.

I was so trapped in my own nostalgic thoughts; I didn't notice that things had quieted down.

Not the skies. Oh no. Thunder continued to rumble and lightning continued to ripple through the otherwise darkness.

Ethan was staring at me with this look in his eyes.

One that told me that he obviously he wasn't feeling threatened anymore. I sighed in relief.

Jealous and Irrational Ethan was a man no one wants to meet.

"I'm going to go." he whispered, again breaking my thoughts.

"Yeah," I mumbled in return. "I guess I'll keep the baby tonight."

"I packed something for him in the car." He mentioned, jogging over to his car that was parked not that far away from us.

He opened the driver's door and stretched his body across the seat, coming out with a baby blue baby bag, equipped with a bottle in its side pocket.

He jogged back over with it, throwing it into my arms. "I stole that from my aunt. She's eight months pregnant."

"You do know that it's a doll and there for doesn't have working internal organs right?"

He rolled his eyes. "I know that Einstein." He shrugged. "I just thought that we should be as realistic as possible."

I shook my head, pinching the bridge of my nose. "You are really weird."

He smiled. "I know." He murmured. "Sooo, goodnight."

I took a moment, "Goodnight."

Ethan gave me one last smile before he spun on his heels to his car.

I finally got out of the road. Just in time for the rain to start lightly falling. I jogged back to my yard and went to open the gate but Ethan's loud horn caught my attention.

I spun around to face the black vehicle. Ethan's head poked out of the driver's door and ran over to me.

The rain started getting more rebellious. Winds were picking up, lighting was getting brighter and the roar of thunder double in ferociousness.

"What's the problem?" I asked, sort of confused.

He didn't say anything. He just grabbed me by the chin, gently turning my head and placed a kiss on my left cheek.

"I almost forgot that!" he yelled, trying to overcome the scaling boisterousness of the weather.

"You're an idiot!" I shouted back. "Now get your ass home and call me when you get there."

He nodded and jogged back to his car, slamming the door and sped away.

I sighed but jumped when another bright bolt rode high above.

I ran to the door but knob turned before I even touched it. I stepped back, letting the person pace out and of course, as if on cue, Austin stepped into the florescent lighting.

"Hey," he greeted with a smile before looking around, "where's Mr. Temperamental?"

"He went home" I answered,

Austin stepped fully out of the door, shutting in behind him. "I'm sorry."

I smiled. "No-No. He's okay. He just got a little...territorial."

He smirked. "Yeah, he gets that way sometimes."

I cocked my head to the side, "What do you mean? Did you know him?"

He laughed, leaning against the door and folding his hands over his chest, letting his hair hide his eyes, "He was dating my little sister. Of course I know him."

"So you know that whatever thing happened in there with us can't happen." I made clear. "For everyone's sake."

"Who said I was gay?"

I blinked. "No one. I was ju-"

"Who said I liked you?" he questioned.

"Again, no one. I just assu-

"Well, stop assuming. Assumptions are the termites of a relationship. So if you want to know something. Ask."

I swallowed harshly. "Are you," I paused to regain my stature. His eyes. They were looking right through me.

"Am I what?" he mumbled.

I breathed out. "Are you gay?"

He stared at me awhile longer before smirking. "Yes."

I coughed. "Okay."

He lifted an eyebrow. "Anything else?"

"Are you interest in me?" Why did that sound so weird?

He chuckled, leaning against the door's frame. "Isn't it obvious?"

"And by the way Ethan stormed out. I'm not the only one."