He opened his eyes feeling the vibration from his phone, he sat up groggily and read the text.
"Hey Ethan, Jacie, Jake and myself are out for a walk, do you want to meet up with us?" Ethan felt the feeling of sleep drain away as he smiled then he glanced at the time, it was still early and none of his family was home or they would have woken him for sure.
He shrugged, it wasn't like it would be a big deal anyway. Making up his mind he quickly typed back "For sure! I have no idea where anything is though; could we meet up at my place?"
"Affirmative, see you in a few minutes"
Ethan grinned then walked into the kitchen and grabbed an apple from the bowl, he tore a chunk from the apple as the phone beeped again. Ethan picked it up and read the newest message "Why is the homophobe in our chat?" Ethan frowned "Why does he hate me so much" he muttered, "I am not a homophobe," he typed back
"Yes you are, you and that freak of a sister" Ethan glared at the phone and started typing a response, he was just about to press send when another message came through,
"Leave him alone Justin, we invited him because he apologised, he doesn't share his sister's opinion and you have no reason to be rude to him!" Jacie texted back
"Whatever, I am not staying in the chat if he is here and neither is Jake," Justin replied,
"Actually, I'm staying Justin, I believed Ethan when he told me he didn't share his sister's views" Jake replied,
The group chat was silent for a few moments and then the phone beeped notifying the chat that Justin had removed himself. Jake sent a sighing emoji then the chat was silent again.
Ethan frowned, he did not want to cause trouble for Jake or damage his relationship with Justin even if Justin was from Ethan's point of view, not a very nice person.
There was a loud knock on the front door and Ethan hurried over then flung the door open, Jacie and Nate grinned at him and Jake smiled even though Ethan could see he was upset about the group chat.
"Hey peeps, do you want to come in or should we go for that walk?" he smiled as they stepped inside
"Can we have a poke around first?" Jacie teased
Ethan shrugged then smiled "Curiosity killed the cat"
"With a dead cat comes a fat rat," Jake said quietly, Ethan looked at him then started laughing and a few moments later all four of them were laughing. It was at this moment that Lucy walked in the front door; she looked up from her phone and raised an eyebrow
"Uh, Hey Lucy," Ethan said awkwardly, "How was your day?" Ethan asked nervously,
"Hello," she said coolly, ignoring his question, she nodded to the others but didn't say anything. Ethan watched as she gripped her phone tighter and stormed upstairs.
Ethan smiled apologetically at Jake "Sorry, she gets like that"
Jake shrugged "It's ok, why don't you show us around?" he suggested.
Ethan grimaced but started talking.
Lucy groaned as she entered her room. Of all the people he could become friends with she thought angrily. She sighed and shook her head. It wasn't up to her to tell him who to be friends with and at least he wasn't a loner anymore. She hadn't exactly welcomed them with open arms but she didn't want to be the reason that her brother had no friends so she headed back downstairs
"Hey," she started, Ethan shot her a nervous look and the others looked at her blankly, she shifted her weight to the other foot awkwardly "Do you guys feel like watching a movie? We have a home cinema that won't get used unless my brother has an excuse and I just feel like popcorn, I'll make you some as well if you want?"
Ethan looked at her in disbelief "Uh"
"Yeah we'd like that" Jacie said gratefully
"Great, you three pick a movie" He quickly gave them some directions "While you do that, Lucy and I will get some food ready!" Ethan stated, cutting across whatever Lucy had been about to say, he grabbed her hand and dragged her into the kitchen and out of earshot
"What in the name of everything sane in this world are you doing?" Ethan demanded
Lucy tilted her head slightly "I am trying to make peace with your friends, I don't want them to be hostile towards me if they are going to be around all the time, particularly not the drama queen. Besides, I am not watching the movie with you, just helping you set it up"
Ethan scowled "He is not a drama queen, he's a cool guy Lucy"
Lucy raised her hands in defeat "Whatever, it seems like you're more dramatic than him at the moment anyway"
Ethan flinched "What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded,
Lucy looked at her younger brother and saw the hurt in his face, she sighed "I'm sorry, let's just get this food ready"
He stared at her for a moment"Ok," he said finally "But you're doing the dishes tonight"
Lucy nodded and they made popcorn, ordered pizza and opened numerous packets of lollies, chocolate and potato chips piling them into bowls and carrying them into the home cinema where Jake and Jacie were arguing whether they should watch the Hunger Games or Harry Potter. Even as Ethan set down the last platter of different foods, Nate sided with Jake and so they put on the Hunger Games movie and moved to the lounges.
"Is Lucy going to join us?" Jake asked Ethan
"Nah she has some online shopping to do so it is just us four, we ordered pizza though if you want to stay for dinner?" Ethan facepalmed "You guys need to ask permission, don't you? I'm sorry I didn't even think about it, I just did it."
Jake laughed "It's fine, there's no harm in asking, I doubt there will be any issues"
He looked at the twins as if for confirmation that he was right. They both nodded and started texting which for some reason Ethan found funny. He guessed it was because both Nate and Jacie messaged their grandmother Elsbeth even though they were both doing the same thing but waited patiently for them to finish. Finally, they finished and he pressed play, the twins were lying on opposite sides of one couch so he nervously sat on the other with Jake. There were other chairs but they were off to the side and he didn't want it to look like he didn't want to be near them.
To his surprise when he sat down Jake shuffled a little closer, Ethan was glad the room was dark now because he could feel himself blushing but the movie started and he quickly forgot about it. At least at first, he'd been enjoying the movie but right as the tributes were being picked he started thinking about the group chat. He'd caused nothing but drama since he'd met this trio, the twins had already accepted and defended him twice and Jake had gone against Justin to hang around with him. He could feel tears clawing their way to his eyes and he quickly rubbed at them hoping to discourage them. He was thinking about it so much that he did not hear the doorbell the first time it rang, it was only when Jake called his name that he withdrew from his thoughts and headed for the door. He heard the movie pause behind him; he smiled and then opened the door
"Hello, are you Ethan?" The pizza delivery man said hoarsely, Ethan nodded "Great I have four large pizzas here for you. Two meat lovers and two cheese, three two-litre bottles of coke and four loaves of garlic bread. Is that the correct order?" he asked
"Yes! thank you, that was fast"
The man nodded then smiled and handed the order to Ethan "Good night sir"
Ethan smiled and placed the food on a side table "Here's a tip" he said cheerfully and handed the man a twenty-dollar note
The man tipped his hat in thanks and got back into his car; Ethan picked up the food, closed the door quietly and headed back to the cinema room.
"How much do you think this place cost?" Nate wondered
"Stop it, Ethan obviously doesn't feel comfortable talking about it. You saw how he closes up when it gets brought up" Jacie scolded
Ethan hesitated wondering if he should wait to hear what else they said then shook his head and stepped into the room "I don't mind you guys talking about it."
He laughed awkwardly and scratched his head, "I just don't know what my father does for work. Lucy and I have tried to find out but it is classified. Like, we ask and that's what he says to us."
Jake looked up excitedly "Is he a spy?"
Ethan shrugged "He could be an undercover cop or an Intelligence Service operative or even just work in government, I have no idea. He goes away for long periods and we have no idea where he goes, it drives my mum mad"
He walked over to the table and put the food down "Let's eat before it gets cold"
They moved over so they could reach the food and then resumed the movie, this time Ethan focused only on the movie, forcing himself to react properly at the correct moments. By the end of the movie, he'd decided they were his friends and he wasn't going to let Justin ruin that just because he didn't like him.
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