Page 31 of A Certain Step
“Yeah, Sahar and Marie know.”
“Okay, good,” he answered. “Want me to get Sahar?”
“I’m fine. I just need to mentally prepare myself in case he notices me. I’m the one who broke up with him, but it wasn’t pleasant. He’s not dangerous or anything like that, just a dick. And in all honesty, I’m disgusted by him.”
Ethan’s eyes darted back toward the opening door. Sahar walked out to them. “Oh my God. Willa?”
Ethan moved a little. Willa looked at Sahar. “Did you see?”
“Yup, I tried to find you, but when I noticed you and Ethan were gone, I figured you’d be out here. I’m going ram my fist into his throat. See how he—” She stopped mid-sentence, likely and thankfully remembering that Ethan didn’t know about what led to their breakup.
“Maybe let’s not ruin Miles’ night with you getting arrested?”
Sahar’s fury was palpable, heat nearly sizzling from her eyes in a cartoonish way. “I will say something if he even dares to look in your direction,” she countered.
“You will say nothing; we’re going to play it cool and hope that he’s too stubborn to even come near me.”
“And what if he does?” Sahar asked.
Willa shrugged her shoulders. “I’ll be fine. I just need to get over the shock of seeing him.”
Sahar sighed and nodded with understanding. “I’m so sorry. I wish you hadn’t.”
“Yet, here we are,” Willa declared.
Sahar took her hand and squeezed it. “Okay, I’m going to go inside, and I promise to behave myself. Come back whenever you’re ready. Or if you need to leave, I’m sure Miles will get it.”
Willa looked back at Ethan when Sahar left, his gaze so intensely fixed on her that it was concerning. “You don’t have to tell me what he did, Willa, but…” he swallowed. “Sahar’s response…that isn’t the kind of reaction a friend has just because someone was an asshole. Did he hurt you?”
A giant lump formed in her lungs, extending up toward her throat. “You know Sahar. She gets like that even while gaming.”
“I know she’s passionate, but that was something else.” She could recognize all of Ethan’s smiles, every one of his tired expressions, his frustrations, his excitement, but the look on his face right now was new. She hated it. She hated being the reason for it.
She also didn’t know how to answer him. She didn’t want to make the situation worse, but as close as she and Ethan were, she couldn’t tell him about her one, horribly failed attempt at doing something with a man that went beyond kissing. Their friendship had few barriers, and this was one of them.
“He didn’t hurt me. At least not in the way you’re probably thinking. He just…” she questioned how she could tell him a portion of the truth without disclosing all the details. She’d have to share this again someday, likely with a future partner if she ever found someone she wanted to be intimate with.
How she wished for a moment that it could beEthan.
“Let’s just say he was under the impression that demisexuality was a made-up construct and thought I had to ‘grow up’ for the way I reacted to him,” she said.
And yet, somehow, she did, in fact, say too much.
Ethan’s eyes darkened, fire bouncing from the streetlights above them into his sapphire hues. He remained silent for a moment, unpacking what she had said like an equation in front of his face.
“Hey,” she called out.
Ethan looked at her, his face softening slightly from the anger that had undoubtedly pooled through him.
She brushed her hand along his bicep. “I’m good, I promise. It’s just ghastly to see him after all this time.”
Willa hadn’t seen Alden since their second to last rehearsal before starting the show in Boston, which was almost two years ago now. They didn’t run in the same circles; they’d met at a bar, which was a seemingly cute occurrence where he spilled his drink all over her and then asked to make it up to her with dinner. He had been an absolute sweetheart until his true colors appeared when he grew tired of waiting until she was ready to fuck him.
“You sure? We could leave if you want. Sahar is right; Miles wouldn’t mind if he knew.”
“No. I’m not letting him ruin a perfectly good night with my favorite people,” she answered firmly.
Ethan nodded, the glow in his eyes making a slow return.
