16 Pizza and Milkshake

Ethan stands in front of me with a boyish smile, flashing his perfect white teeth. He is so tall, maybe 6'1 or 6'2. Because I am already 5'9 and he is taller than me. Alex was only 6 feet then.

 Ethan has a plastic bag hanging from his right hand while he has a notebook under his left arm pit and a blue pen tucked in his plane black shirt's pocket. His pale blue jeans aren't ripped.

"Hey", he says lowly.

" Hi. Come inside.", I say quickly stepping aside. I don't want anyone to see him here. He nods and walks in shutting the door behind.

I follow him as he walks to my desk and places his book and the plastic bag on it. The bag I guess contains something to eat. Great if be brought me food. Because breakfast and lunch are the only food I have after coming here. I often feel hungry at night and when I feel hungry, I can't sleep.

" Were you about to go outside?", Ethan asks whilst walking to my bed and slumping himself down on it.

" No. Why did you a..ask that ?", I ask.

" I see you took a shower. And you are wearing jeans.", he says eying my clothes.

" oh ! I s..sometimes wear jeans at home.", I lie. I only wear shorts or pyjamas. He nods with a frown. " Let's g..get started ?", I ask.

" I bought pizza and milkshake. Let's have it first and start?", he asks.

Pizza ! I immediately nod with a smile. He smiles back as if amused. I don't care much as my stomach is already grumbling after hearing the word 'Pizza'.

I walk to the desk and take the pizza and two bottles of milkshake out of the plastic bag, a bit too eagerly. Woah ! Chocolate Milkshake and Pizza they are my favourite. I can't help but smile widely. Taking the food, I walk to the bed and slumps down beside Ethan with the Pizza on my lap. I hands him a bottle and he takes it opening the lid in one swift motion, taking a quick sip.

" Thanks for b..buying me food.", I say with a smile. " You didn't have to."

" It's okay.", he smiles.

"This two are actually my f..favourite.", I say opening my milkshake bottle.

" Oh..really ? Pizza and chocolate milkshake are my sister's favourite too.", he says smiling whilst taking the pizza box from my lap and opening in. " okay now, attack." He says already taking a portion from it. I nod after taking a sip of the milkshake. It's really tasty. I lick my lips and then I notice him smiling at me.

" Why are you s..smiling?", I ask.

" Nothing. My sister does the same while drinking milkshake."

" oh..sister ? How old is she ?", I ask.

" Six.", he says and chuckles. Wait ! So basically he is saying I act like his six year old sister ? I let out an embarrassed laugh.

" Do you have siblings?", he asks while we munch on the Pizza.

" Yeah..., a sister.", I say after swallowing the food in my mouth. I still remember how much I loved to say I have a big bro and big sis.

" older, hmm ? ", he asks. But it sounds more like a statement.

" Yeah.", I nod. " How did you know ?"

" I guessed. You seems like the baby of home.", he chuckles. " How much older is she ?"

" 26. Married and has a b..baby.", I reply rolling my eyes.

He laughs a little. " Nice."

" Just that I s..stammer, doesn't mean I am a b..baby.", I say totally not liking his earlier comment.

" Did I say that ?", he asks biting on the remaining pizza with an amused smile playing on his lips. I open my mouth to say something but then I close. First of all why am I talking so freely with him ? I barely know him. He is here to do the history assignment. We should just be doing the assignment instead of talking and eating. And Moreover he is one among the people who bullied me. A goddamn bully ! He slapped me on the face. How can I forget that ?

And now why did he buy me food ? It's not like I'm his friend or anything. Why does he need to act nice to me ? No one behaves nice to me. There is definitely some trap behind this !

Who knows what his actual intention is ? Just that he has Alex's innocent face and he helped me a bit doesn't make him a good person. Maybe his actual aim is to hurt my feelings after getting close to me.

 Maybe this whole thing is some plan. He would first behave nice and act all friendly and then he would hurt me along with his friends. Or What if he is gay and he is trying to take advantage of me ? I can't trust him. I surely can't ! Oh my God I shouldn't get close to him. I should be careful.

" Uhmm..what happened? What are you thinking ?", he asks snapping me out of my long train of thoughts.

" N..no..nothing.", I shake my head.

“ I didn’t see you in Calculus class today. What happened?”, he ask casually.

“ Ahmm..I- I had a.....meeting with Miss T..Taylor.”, I lie.

“ Oh..I see.” He nods. Good he believed or he just pretended like he actually believed. " Let's start working then ?", he then asks standing up.

" uhmm..okay.", I nod.

He walks to the desk and takes his seat on one of the chairs. I also follow him and sits down beside him on the other chair. I open my textbook to unit one, chapter one. It's about the history of U.S during the period between 1491 and 1607. I had already read the chapter yesterday and marked the important points from where we can make questions. So I guess this task would turn out easy and we can finish it in an hour. I then open my notebook and Ethan also follows my model. Then he takes out the blue pen which was clipped on his pocket.

" I didn't bring my textbook.", he says looking at mine.

" It's okay. Only w..one is needed.", I replies. " Let's make q..questions then."

" okay, I will read out paragraph by paragraph.", he says and moves my textbook closer to him. " Oh..I see you have already marked everything. Then I would just read those points." I nod in reply and he starts reading the lines I have marked. "The Great plains was home to bands of nomadic tribes who relied on their..."

I cut him before he completes reading the sentence. "Which region was home to the n..nomadic tribes who relied on their g..game for vast majority of their n..needs ?",

" Oh wow ! You already studied all this ?", he asks, surprise evident in his voice.

" No, I just read it yesterday."

" Then you are a genius.", he compliments with a smile before writing down the question I just said on his notebook. I also write it down on mine. I don't smile to his compliment. I don't really know what's going on and what's his intention is. So I am not going to let myself feel happy to his sweet words and gestures.

Anyway I observe his hands and handwriting while he is writing. The way he holds his pen and all. It's just the normal way every other normal person holds their pen. And his handwriting is a rather speedy and illegible one with long tails for 'g' and 'y'. My handwriting is totally different. I always prefer to write every letter clearly. And I am left handed.

" Can you please move your hands a bit ?", he asks as my left hand hits his right hand while we both write. " oh ! You are left handed?", he asks noticing the pen in my left hand, only then. I nods in reply. " oh sorry.", he says and moves a little away from me, so we both can write comfortably.

" Or Michael, you sit on this chair.", he says once he finishes writing. I smile involuntarily. It's really good to hear him call me 'Michael'. It's just the same way Alex used to say my name. " Uhmm..why are you smiling ?", he asks.

" N..nothing. That'd be good.", I say and stand up from the chair. He also stand up and we both exchange chairs. Once I sit down, he easily drags my chair closer to him as if he is pulling an empty chair. Hmm..he is strong. He even carried me in his arms, I remember.

He takes the textbook again and reads the next point. " As a result of Columbia Exchange, the new world gained..",

" New animals as s..source of food and to serve as b..beast of burden.", I reply. " That q..question can be written that way itself."

" Great ! Wonderful memory Michael.", he squeals whilst writing down the question.

He continues to compliment me every time I finish a sentence he reads. And sometimes I can't help but smile. He is really stroking my ego. And sometimes I feel likes it's really Alex who is sitting near me. Alex used to sit near me and teach me when I was small. Hopefully Ethan don't have any bad intentions. He might be just being nice. But I can't trust him so soon.