Page 3 of A Certain Step
If you need me to play pretend from a distance, tell everyone I’m yours. I’ll vouch for us.
WILLA
Hahaha noted. I should try to sleep. Miss you too, by the way.
ETHAN
Good. I was worried the attachment was one-sided. Sweet dreams, Wills.
WILLA
Never! You too!
He stood up, swung his backpack over his shoulder, and trekked out of the theatre’s rehabilitation room. He was thankful Declan had invited him and Sam to have dinner tonight because he needed to shut off his mind. He needed it to be tomorrow and for interviews to start so that he could distract himself from all things Willa.
“Ethan,you’re too quiet. It’s weird. What’s going on?” Sam asked, taking a swig from the beer bottle in his hand. The three of them were sitting out on Declan’s balcony, the weather slightly warmer than it had been the past week.
Had he been too quiet? Ethan tried to unfreeze his gaze. “Nothing. I’m just beat.”
“He’s sulking over Willa,” Declan chimed.
Well, shit. Had he beenthatobvious? “Why would I be sulking over Willa?”
“Oh, mate. Come on. How long are you going to deny this?” Sam asked.
Ethan arched his eyebrows. “You’re both off.”
Declan laughed. “Bro, you’ve been a sad sack of shit for two days. I know why. You know why. Everyone knows why.”
There was no way they could read him that closely. There was no way that everyone knew. Did this mean Willa could figure it out, too?
“Everyone knows what?”
Declan downed a final gulp and knocked the bottle against Ethan’s shoulder. “Everyone knows that you’re into Willa.”
He responded too rapidly. “I’m not into Willa. She’s my best friend.”
“I’m also your best friend, but you don’t look at me like I put stars in the sky. Why don’t you look at me like I put stars in the sky, Ethan?” Sam remarked, doing some abysmal kissing face.
Ethan grimaced. Yes, he thought the world of Willa, but he also thought he was successfully cloaking his more romantic feelings. “I don’t look at Willa like she put the stars in the sky. Stop going method into Bingley. You’re growing soft.”
Sam chuckled. “And you’re brooding, so who’s method acting now?”
“Fuck off,” Ethan bit back.
Declan turned to whisper to Sam. “Oh, he’s down bad. The lines between his eyebrows are getting deeper.”
Ethan rolled his eyes, kicking the foot of Declan’s chair while he’d been tipping back in it.
“You’re lucky we love it when you’re broody and annoying,” Declan said.
“You’re annoying,” Ethan replied. Jesus, they sounded like twelve-year-olds.
“You’re annoying,” Sam and Declan mimicked in unison.
Declan’s wife Carmen conveniently popped her head out, returning from where she’d gone, putting Ethan out of the heckling misery. She kissed Declan’s head. “How was dinner?” she asked.
“Great, love. I left you a plate to heat up.” Declan was the best cook in their entire circle, often joking that if he weren’t an actor, he would’ve dabbled in the culinary world. He’d made them beef gyros and the best damn homemade tzatziki sauce Ethan had ever had. As irritating as Declan was being, Ethan would swallow it up with gratitude.
