3: Taking Farts on Heart

Chapter 3: Taking Farts on Heart

Ethan

One thing was clear, Kiara was acting weird.

She was fidgeting with her T-shirt in my room to take me God knows where and the way she couldn’t look me in the eyes, I knew something was wrong. Why was she so nervous? Is it me? Wait, do I stink?

I frowned because I had showered after the practice and did apply cologne and deodorant. I didn’t stink. Then why was my presence making her nervous?

I was about to ask her if she was feeling uncomfortable around me when the car came to a stop. She changed the gear and grinned at me with her wide brown eyes with flecks of gold shining in them. Her eyes were so beautiful. And just like that, I forgot all my worries.

“We are here!”

I smiled and couldn’t help my eyes when they dropped to her brother’s T-shirt and the denim shorts that gave me a perfect, gorgeous view of her golden legs. Shit, I really couldn’t stop staring at her. Her face, her fumbling hands, her dimples, her eyes, her hair, the cute little mole on the left thigh . . . her!

No, no, no. I shook my head to clear the fog in my brain and got out of the car. Kiara is my best friend. I can’t think about those things right now. Maybe the breakup is taking a toll on me. Hmm, that’s the only reason.

The cold breeze kissed my bare skin. Palm trees moved with the wind and my eyes landed on the farmhouse. It was Ryan’s manor and our all-time favorite hangout spot as it had a swimming pool big enough for Kiara’s Indian family. It was a white manor with big white pillars on each side and huge door that would open up to the spacious foyer and luxurious interior.

I remembered when I was eleven, I had tried to climb one of the palm trees and fell, getting my shoulder dislocated. I couldn’t remember anything afterward because I had blacked out from the pain, but I did remember the crying face of Kiara when she scolded me for even thinking about climbing the tree. I didn’t tell her that I did it because she wanted to drink coconut water from one of the juicy coconuts that were hanging low.

“Don’t smile like that, E,” she said. “I know what you’re thinking. God, you were an idiot.”

“I can still get the coconuts, you know?”

Her eyes narrowed at me and I was surprised to see that she was angry. “No, you won’t because I won’t let you.”

I watched her open the back door of the car to take out the paper bags of our fast food. She slammed the car door, walking toward the manor by herself, and I didn’t miss the small stomping of her feet. What happened?

“Why are you angry, Bella?” I asked, opening the door with the key that was hidden underneath the mat.

I heard her sigh when I flipped on the light switches and a soft glow illuminated the hallway that led to the living room and adjoined kitchen.

“I’m not angry, Ethan. I’m hurt because I don’t want to go through that again.” Kiara turned to me and the raw emotions gleaming in her eyes made me feel guilty. “At one moment, you were sitting beside me and the next you were running to the tree, climbing it as if you were Spiderman.”

She let out a humorless chuckle and I saw the tears gleam in her eyes. “I can still remember the sound your body made when you fell on the ground.” She took a shaky breath and I stepped closer. “I . . . your shoulder was. I didn’t move you, knowing I could hurt you, so I stayed with you until the paramedics came. And the worst part was that you were smiling when I scolded you in the hospital for your stupidity.”

I bit back my smile and pulled her to my chest, wrapping my arms around her. She didn’t move and I felt my heartbeat increase, thudding loudly against my ribs when she hugged me back, hiding her face in my T-shirt. Kissing the top of her head, I pulled away and wiped a stray tear from her face. Fk, I never want to make her cry.

“I’m sorry, Bella,” I said softly. “I won’t bring it up and I was smiling because you scrunch your nose when you get angry and it’s quite cute.”

She scrunched her face and I smiled. Kiara let out a snort and I laughed when she turned away, fighting off the red blush on her cheeks. “You’re unbelievable.”

I followed her into the living room and watched her start Star Wars on the LED screen. She sure knew how to handle a broken heart with junk food and Star Wars. I tilted my head when she pulled out dozens of bottles of beers and I knew I was in for a treat.

Walking around, I came to a halt at one of the paintings done by Kiara’s mom, Damini. Ryan’s mother was good friends with her mom and bought this painting from her mother during one of her art exhibitions. The canvas was painted in different hues of blue and white, creating a jarring view that if you looked closer, you would get lost in the swirls and whorls of the colors.

“Remember we almost ruined it?”

Kiara was grinning at me and turned to her mother’s painting with a soft smile.

I chuckled at the memory. We were around twelve and playing hide and seek in her apartment because it was summer and we didn’t want to leave the comfort of our house. She was hiding and when I was about to catch her, she ran without looking around and almost ran into her mother’s painting. But I pulled her back, tripping on a brush, and fell, hitting the stool, which had a paint bucket. We had laughed when we were covered in blue and white and played with it until her mom found us dripping in the oil paint.

“Not my fault, Ethan,” she said. “You are intimidating when you want to be.”

“Intimidating? Me?”

“Yes, you. Everyone is scared of you.”

“But I don’t even do anything.”

“You don’t need to. Just glare at them until they cower or piss their pants.”

I followed her to the couch as she played the movie. “I do that because I might hate him or her. I don’t do it all the time.”

I do it all the time.

Kiara stared at me and huffed. “You hate everyone!”

“I don’t hate swimming.” I didn’t miss a beat. “And I don’t hate you.”

Her throat bobbed when she swallowed nervously and my eyes slid down to the soft column of her neck before looking back at her face. Her brown eyes reminded me of warmth and chocolate, and tons of other things that make me happy.

Clearing her throat, she looked away and I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding. Why was I nervous?

After a while, she turned to me with a mischievous glint in her russet brown eyes and opened the beer bottle with a pop.

“Are you ready?”

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

I didn’t know what I was getting into.

***

No, I regretted it.

It’s because after devouring the dinner along with an unusual amount of beer and getting sad over the movie, I was crying in Kiara’s arms. I was an emotional drunk and she knew that.

That little devil!

A throaty sob escaped my lips and my arms tightened around her small waist. “I . . . I gave her everything, Kia! Why . . . why did she leave me?”

Her body moved as she heaved a sob. Kiara will start crying with you if you are crying.

I felt her fingers running through my scalp and I took a deep breath because I wanted her to do that again. “I-it’s okay, Ethan. Please don’t cry.”

Fk, I was such a bad person. I was making her cry with me.

I sniffled and held her as an anchor, hiding my face in her stomach. “I liked her so much, Kiara,” I cried. “I considered Liam my brother.”

Heartbreak sucks!

Fk human emotions.

She made me look at her. Her face was stained with tears, her brown eyes glinting with tears as she cried with me. Her bottom lip quivered and I realized I was probably looking like a mess. A drunken mess.

Kiara smiled through her tears and I’d be fked if I didn’t like the sight. Not her tears, but that damned smile. Her fingers were cold against my cheek when she gently wiped away my tears.

“Listen to me, Ethan,” she said. “Nobody wants to hear this, but sometimes the person you need the most is the person you’re best without.”

I blinked away the tears and whispered, “Am I . . . am I not good enough?”

Her smile dropped and her pupils dilated. She snapped.

No, literally.

She slapped me.

My head whipped to the side and pain stung on my left cheek. “What the fk, Kiara? That fking stings!” I rubbed my cheek, looking at her in shock and surprise.

Kiara leaned closer, cupping my cheek, and my breath hitched. As the moonlight gleamed on her from the glass door, I noticed her eyes were every shade of brown I could imagine. A raw umber and caramel mix, dotted with bits of dark chocolate.

My heart stumbled when she kept looking at me with those dark galaxies of brown and gold, drowning me in the endless pit.

“Don’t you ever say that, Ethan. Ariana should be the one regretting cheating on you with your best friend. And he’s an asshole to break your trust. She never took you seriously and took you for granted.” Her face softened. “I considered her the luckiest girl to date you, but now I take it back for going behind your back. She never noticed how kind, how loving, and how caring you are, E. Well, you do get stubborn and possessive of what you want, but other than that, you are a great person and she’s a bich. No offense.”

She pulled away to take the beer from the coffee table and took a large swig from the bottle. I wanted to tug her back to me and feel the warmth of her petite body pressing against mine. Her skin was smooth and I wanted to know if her whole body felt so soft. I wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying because I was too busy gazing at her wet full lips.

I blinked and looked away to clear those thoughts about my best friend. What the fk was that, man? I shuffled away from her because her scent was contagious and the musky perfume she was wearing was affecting my brain.

I decided to drink my beer and swallowed big gulps until it was empty and kept it down on the table. I wonder where she bought all these beers from. But knowing Kiara, she must have arranged it from somewhere.

She relaxed on the couch and leaned back on her elbows. I swallowed the lump in my throat when I noticed the swathe of golden skin that had appeared between the hem of her tee and the top of her shorts.

“Kiara?” I blurted out, “Can I touch your bobs?”

Oh, did I mention I was a hrny drunk too? Yeah, I probably missed it when I was lost in her.

She started coughing violently and almost spluttered out the beer. Almost.

“You okay?” I asked, watching her as she nodded furiously, keeping a hand on her heart.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at me. Her face was flushed. And the bad part of me wanted to know where else she was flushed. “Ethan, you are drunk. A-and I don’t think it’d be a good idea.”

Hmm, well, if you look at that.

I turned to the black screen of the television and said, “Oh . . .”

Getting back to my senses, I faced her. “I’m sorry, Kiara. I . . . I didn’t mean that and I was being stu—”

“Do you want to dance?”

“Yeah. Dance? Hmm . . . Uhm, sure. Dancing would be great.”

She was about to stand up from the couch and I remembered my mother’s advice to always ask a lady for a dance by taking an arrow on the knee.

“Wait, stop. Sit down!” I exclaimed and stood up, shocking her as she quickly sat down. I stumbled toward her, my head swirling, and bent down on one knee, staring at her wide brown eyes.

I smiled awkwardly and asked, “Would you honor me with one dance, ma’am?” Pleasssssseeeeee?

She raised her eyebrow. “Without a song?”

“Do we need a song?”

Kiara smiled, a dimple poking her cheek. She laid her soft palm on my hand. “It would be my pleasure.”

I squeezed her hand and stood up, tugging her toward the center of the living room, exactly under the glass chandelier. She snickered when I pulled her closer to me and wrapped my arm around her waist. Her one palm squeezed my shoulder.

“This is so cliché.” She grinned and we swayed, making our own rhythm.

“And who doesn’t like cliché?”

Her chocolaty wavy hair was flowing down her back, brushing against my hand. I could see her pulse increasing on her slender neck with the little star necklace she was wearing. I noticed the mole on her left collarbone and had the sudden urge to sway her down and kiss her.

Yep, I am definitely drunk.

“Do you remember our kiss?” I slurred, lost in the beauty dancing in my arms.

Kiara bit her lip, my eyes flickering from her lips to her eyes. “Of course, E. That was our first kiss. Sloppy and awkward. How could I forget it?”

I snickered remembering it. We were twelve when we accidentally shared a chaste kiss. I was about to kiss her cheek when she turned and my lips landed on her lips instead. Thankfully, she didn’t run away after that.

When we were thirteen and stargazing on the roof, I asked her if I could kiss her because she looked gorgeous under the stars. She shyly agreed and I remembered cradling her face and kissing her softly at first. And then with more fervor. It was sloppy and awkward, but it was beautiful because we couldn’t stop grinning and clumsily kissing each other.

We were each other’s first kiss.

Leaning down, I hid my face in the crook of her neck, my warm breath caressing her bare skin. She tensed underneath me and I wondered if I should pull away, but she relaxed, laying her head on my collarbone. She couldn’t reach my shoulder. I smiled when her hand trailed from my shoulder to my neck, her thumb brushing over the pulse on my neck, and my arms tightened around her waist.

“You’re perfect, Bella.”

To my surprise, she replied, “I know.”

I chuckled and pulled away to see her smile, swaying slowly and trying not to trip.

Kiara touched my cheek, my breath hitching in my throat, and she said, “You’re not perfect, but I love you anyway. Your flaws and your imperfections make you who you are and I quite love that.”

Taking a shaky breath, I cupped her cheek and brushed my thumb over her cheekbone. She closed her eyes, leaning on my palm, a soft smile tugging her rosy lips.

I blurted out, “I took a fart on the heart.”

Fk me.

Her eyes opened and a laugh bubbled out of her throat. She pulled away and laughed heartily, clutching her stomach, her hair falling on her face. 

Way to embarrass yourself, Ethan.

She fell on the carpet, her chortle echoing in the room, and I couldn’t help but join her on the floor, snickering beside her.

“Fart . . . on the heart? Who says that?” she said, taking a deep breath. “You’re so weird, Ethan.”

I smiled at her as we both sobered up from our laughing session. She came closer, laying her head on my shoulder, and I kissed her hair, looking up at the chandelier. We stayed like that for a while, my heart thudding loudly in my ears, and I wondered if she could feel that I was nervous. Her body wasn’t completely relaxed either, her breath warm against my neck and tickling me.

Leaning on my elbow, I faced her, her warm smile igniting flutters in my stomach. “Can I kiss you, Kiara?”

Ariana who? HA!

Her eyes fell on my lips and looked back at me, her cheeks turning red with a blush as she leaned closer and cupped my jaw. “Yes, Ethan.”

Fking scored it. Pew, pew!

I grinned and pulled her closer, our faces inches away from one another, and I closed my eyes, her breath falling on my lips, urging me to kiss her. I could feel my blood pounding in my ears and her pulse increasing as something stirred in my stomach.

Were those butterflies?

No, no, I don’t think so.

I quickly pulled away and cupped my mouth. “I think I’m going to puke.”

Her eyes widened and she cupped her mouth too. “Now that you’re saying . . .”

That’s how our night came to an end. After puking our guts out and brushing our teeth, we ended up cuddling in the empty bathtub because we were too tired to go to the bed.

I hope she took a fart on the heart too.

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