Alethia woke by 2:00 p.m. with a kind of headache that seemed to hold her forehead captive. The last time she remembered having such a headache was when she'd drank for the first time -- courtesy of Olivia. Now, she wasn't sure if it was because the whiskey was cheap, or because alcohol wasn't her thing, just as she wasn't sure if the slap from her mom was the cause of this headache. She wasn't the type to sleep during the day anyway. So, maybe the slap brought some side effects after all.She took some time to think about the slap and the rundown of the situation that led to that. She reckoned she could have held her frustrations in because as her mom had said, It wasn't in Alethia's place to meddle in her mom's sexual life. Alethia sighed heavily. She thought about Ethan quickly and decided not to even think about him -- or so she thought. She couldn't stop thinking about what Ethan must think of her now. She'd made a fool of herself, and now she wasn't sure how to face him again w

"Hey, honey." Alethia swore she heard Ethan's voice in her head. A gentle and caressing hand cupped her cheek and felt the smoothness of her skin. She recognized the hand, and it wasn't Ethan's."Mom?""Good morning, dear," Emily said. She was smiling so wide as if she'd practiced it to warm up to Alethia that morning. Ethan had convinced her that she had to make an apology to Alethia that morning, and his idea of an apology with the highest probability of being accepted was the one made early in the morning."What are you doing here?" Alethia said. She strained as she rose from the bed and sat on it, then she drew her knees to her chest so that her blanket was crumpled within her arms. "How was your night?" Emily said, forcing the smile again. By now her lips were aching, so she let them relax a bit, then cleared her throat as she adjusted where she sat at the edge of the bed.Alethia squinted her eyes severally, then brushed a hand over it to keep her awake. She'd gone to bed late

He wanted to reach out to her to touch her face, caress her cheeks, and draw her close to himself. He knew she could only feel the passion that was swelling in him if only she was within the embrace of those hands that kept numb at his sides as if everything moral in the world was urging him to keep still.Ethan was just standing there, staring at her who'd channeled all her efforts into restraining herself from looking at him. He swallowed."Aleth?" He managed to say. Alethia sighed softly. She should have left him be while he was fast asleep, now he'd woken the lion and she had to work out a way to escape from its claws. She turned to look at him, holding herself in a way that suggested that she wasn't fazed by the unceasing awkwardness between them. But she only had to look at his face to lose her composure again."Have you had breakfast?" Ethan said. That seemed like a perfect escape, but Alethia was rather surprised by the sudden change of topic. She looked at him for a while bef

"What was that for?" Alethia yelled once they had gotten to her room and she'd sat Olivia down on her bed. She moved about worriedly, her heart still pounding from the moment downstairs. She wanted to run back to tell Ethan that Olivia had come up with the story, probably because she was out of her mind. She'd just been cheated on, so it made sense that Olivia was not in her right senses. But Alethia was too tensed to face him at the moment. The only thing she could think about was that, whatever hope she might have had with Ethan, Olivia had just kicked it out, without her consent."Calm down," Olivia said."Don't tell me to calm down," she said hotly. Then, "You and I know that I don't have a boyfriend, so why the hell did you have to lie about that? And to Ethan of all people."Olivia chortled. "You need to calm down, Aleth. At least, hear me out.""I think I've heard enough already.""No, you haven't. You're being paranoid right now, and that's not what you need.""I told you Ger

Alethia had forced her mom out of her room. The woman wanted more information about the mystery boyfriend, his name, what he does and everything there was to know about him."It's not a big deal, mom. We just met." Alethia had said."But he does have a name, doesn't he?"Alethia had grunted. Why did she have to drop the news at that point, when it shouldn't even matter? It had been on an impulse anyway, but Emily wasn't going to take it that way, and Alethia knew how her mom could be when she decided to pester for information."Ethan, that's his name," Alethia said.Emily recoiled, her forehead squeezed so that she looked like a wandering cat. "Ethan?" Alethia bit her lower lip till she almost felt the taste of her blood. Why Ethan? It could have been any name and her mom would have bought it without stress. Why did Alethia have to make it more complicated again?"I'm confused here, Aleth. Why Ethan?" "Why not Ethan, mom? It's a name, and you wanted to know, right?" "Yes…? But, why