During the next two weeks, I completed my thesis and hung out with Ethan.  He gave me foot massages and multiple orgasms.  We watched movies and talked about everything under the sun.  I read books to him, went out for dinner, and I watched him and his friends ride their bikes at Gibbs Park.  I avoided everyone else in my life.  It wasn’t easy, especially since I had one class with Presley, but I showed up late, focused on the lecture, and raced out as soon as it was done.

Presley called and texted me constantly.  At best, I would give her brief answers to confirm I was not kidnapped or dead.  I knew I would eventually have to deal with her, but spending this time with Ethan had been wonderful, and I didn’t want to spoil it with her disapproval and judgment.

I had even skipped Vanessa’s luncheon last Sunday.  With my father’s comment about bringing a “suitable” date fresh in my mind, I had elected not to show up at all rather than attend the gathering without Ethan.  I tried calling Dad, but he didn’t answer.  Vanessa had called that evening, and I did speak with her briefly, but she said Ethan was not a topic he was willing to discuss and that he was only going to speak with me when I came to my senses.  I did apologize for missing her engagement.

“We’ll just see you next time,” Vanessa had said.  “Miles and I will be in New York next weekend, and the next luncheon will be your graduation celebration!  I’m so proud of you, and I can’t wait to show you off to everyone!”

“You really don’t have to do that.

“Of course I do, my darling.  Don’t you worry about a thing though—I have it all planned out, and all you have to do is show up!”

I had been glad of that, at least.  I couldn’t bring myself to think about my graduation party, not yet, anyway.

Right now, I just wanted to lie here on Ethan’s couch getting a foot massage.

“I can’t wait until studying for a test is a thing of the past.”  I sipped lemonade from a straw and moaned softly as Ethan’s hands kneaded and rubbed my feet.  I leaned back a little more in the pink bean bag chair.  “Just one more exam, and then I am done!  I sure would have enjoyed college more without the tests.  I love to learn, but having to prove to someone else that I learned something annoys me.”

“I could tell how much more relaxed you were once your thesis was turned in,” Ethan said.  His fingers worked their way between my toes.  “And don’t complain too much.  I would have liked to have been able to stay in school.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way,” I said.  Even though Ethan kept saying we hadn’t known each other long enough to worry about such shit, I seemed to keep slipping up with comments that could certainly be taken the wrong way.  We had checked out a new restaurant earlier in the week, and I had really stuck my foot in my mouth when Ethan asked me to come with him when he needed to excuse himself to the restroom.  I had laughed, thinking he was making some kind of joke or maybe just coming on to me.  Then it hit me—since he hadn’t been to that place before, he didn’t know which door led to the women’s room and which one led to the men’s.  Of course he would need someone to point out the right one in an unfamiliar place.

Needless to say, I felt like a complete and total shit after that one.

“It’s okay,” Ethan said with a small smile.  “I could try to go back to school.  It just seemed like there was no way to do it like a normal person.  I didn’t want to have to explain myself all the time.”

“What do you mean, ‘like a normal person’?”

“I could have gone back with a whole individual learning plan, had tutors to help me with the textbooks, and taken oral tests instead of written, but I couldn’t have really been like the other students then.  The last year of high school sucked when I was taken out of class during the tests so someone could read the questions, and I could spout off the answers.  I hated being singled out like that.”

“I can understand that,” I said.  “I never liked being the center of attention—not at school or anywhere else.”

“But you want to be an executive, where people are going to be looking up to you all the time?”

“Want?  No.  But…it is what it is.”

“Why are you doing it, Ashlyn?”  Ethan’s voice dropped low and his massaging fingers slowed to a calming pace.

“Granddad grew that company from nothing,” I said with a shrug.  “Dad took over from him and grew it even more.  Taking over from him when he retires is his dream for me.  I’m supposed to carry on the Draganov Financial legacy.  It’s in my blood!  Just ask Dad.”

“You should do something with books,” Ethan said so quietly I almost didn’t hear him.

“What?  Work in a library or something?”  I laughed at the idea.

“Yes,” he said, just as quietly.  “You would like that more.  You don’t even like your accounting and economics classes.  I can tell by your expression when you’re studying.”

“Careers aren’t the same as hobbies, Ethan,” I said.  “Reading is a hobby, not something you do for the rest of your life.”

“Sounds like something your dad would say.”  Ethan smirked.  Apparently, I quoted my dad quite a lot.  I hadn’t noticed before, but Ethan had been calling me out on it for the past two days.  I scowled at first but then laughed because he was absolutely right.

“Fine, it is something he’s said to me before.  But he’s right—I can’t make a career out of hanging out around books.”

“You could write.”

“Writers don’t make it, Ethan.  That’s nothing more than a pipedream.”

“Would you enjoy it?”

“Not the point.”

“It’s my point.  It’s not like you need the money, so why not do something you love?”

“Because I don’t want to be one of those kids that just lives off the money someone else had worked to earn.  I want to earn my own money, my own place in life.”

“Respect.”  Ethan saluted me before going back to work on my heels.  “But you’ll never know if you can make it as a writer without trying.  And you could earn money working at a library.  You could even open a bookstore.”

“Ugh!” I pulled my feet from his hands and crawled out of my bean bag chair and into his.  “Enough!  I think announcing my relationship with you was enough of a shock to my dad’s system.  I’m not sure he could handle anything else.”

“I just want you to be happy.”  Ethan gave me his luscious smile, which I kissed and then kissed again.

“I’m happy,” I told him, moving my lips over the edge of his jaw and then up to his ear.  “You are making me very happy.”

He slipped his hands down my sides and cupped my rear end, pulling my hips up against the bulge in his khaki, cut-off shorts.

“I want to give you something.” He snickered.  “I’ll give you a hint what it is…”

“Oh really?”  I played along, trying to look naïve about his, um, gift.  “Whatever could it be?”

“Well, it’s long…”  He pressed up against me again.

“Is that so?”

“Uh huh…and hard…”

“Keep going!”

“And it wants to be inside of you.”  He pulled me close and whispered into my ear.

“Whatever could it be?” I whispered back.

“It’s a banana,” Ethan said.  “They aren’t quite ripe, but I like them that way, and I’m starving!”

I smacked him on the shoulder as he rolled out from under me, grabbed me by the waist, and hoisted me up over his shoulder.  He ran us to his bedroom, threw me into the middle of the mattress, and started pulling off his shirt and unbuttoning his shorts.

“Aren’t you a little presumptuous?” I asked, giggling as I pulled my own shirt over my head.

“You want me.”  He shrugged and laughed.  “Either that or the idea of eating a green banana has you all panting and sweating.”

I threw one of the pillows at him, which went way over his head and smacked the door behind him.  He jumped on top of me, pulling at the button and zipper of my jeans and quickly discarding them off the side of the bed.

“I can’t wait to be inside you,” he murmured into my ear as he slipped his fingers between my legs.  He reached over to the nightstand drawer with his free hand, pulled out a string of condoms, and tore one open with his teeth.  “God, you are so wet…I want you so much.”

He pulled his fingers out and unrolled the condom quickly, rolling back on top of me and placing his hands on either side of my face, kissing me deeply.  My heart was pounding, and the muscles in my thighs were begging me to start moving against him.  I pulled my mouth away from his lips, tugging a little at his lip rings as I did.

“Please,” I kissed up the side of his jaw and nipped at his ear lobe, “don’t make me wait…I need that cock of yours in me.”

He didn’t prolong the moment but hitched my leg up over his hip and pushed slowly and sweetly into me.  He sighed as he entered me fully and held himself there, gazing down at me with sparkling, intense green eyes.  He swiveled his hips, pulled out a little, then back in again, repeating the motion until I was screaming his name and digging my nails into his shoulders.

“You feel so fucking good.”  Ethan moaned and bucked against me a few more times before letting out a sound that might have been my name, tensing all his muscles around me, and then slowly relaxing with his forehead on my chest.

Ethan pulled out of me slowly, his eyes never leaving mine as he tossed the condom in the trash.  He wrapped his arms around me again, rolling us until I was lying on his chest.  He tilted his head up under my chin and started nibbling my skin.

“Move in with me,” Ethan said with his mouth against my neck and his arms wrapped tightly around me.

He said it after every time we made love.  I had a pretty good idea that he was saying it when I was in a state of vulnerable, post-coital bliss in order to catch me off guard.  The past week started running through my head.  The times I had been happy, content, and at ease had all been here, not necessarily lying on top of him with parts of him buried inside parts of me, but in this place, with Ethan.  Every time I had been in my apartment alone, I had hated it.  I had been uncomfortable, at best.   Most of the time I was there, I had felt like something drastically important was missing, and it finally hit me exactly what it was.  I raised my head, pulling away from his lips at my throat, and stared down at him.  His cheeks turned pink, and he graced me with his cocky half smile.

“All right,” I said, smiling back.

“All right?”  His smile faltered, and he narrowed his eyes at me, confused.

“I’ll move in with you.”

“Seriously?”  Ethan sat up against the headboard, pulled me onto his lap, and took my face in his hands.  “Do you mean it?”

“I mean it, seriously,” I said with a laugh.  “I mean, if you really want me to.”

“Fuck yeah, I do!” Ethan exclaimed.  I laughed at his exuberance.

“But not until the first of the month,” I said, clarifying my plans so there would be no misunderstanding.  “I need to give my landlord some notice if I expect to get out of my lease without paying for the whole summer.  That will give me time to figure out what to bring with me and what to put in storage.”

“Deal!” Ethan cried.  I watched as his tongue darted out over his lip rings, and I just had to kiss them.  He kissed me back and then started mumbling against my mouth.  “I can’t wait.  Your being here…it just feels so right to me.  I’ll get better food in the fridge, too—I swear…”

I laughed and shook my head.

“I think there are a few other things we’ll have to tackle,” I said.  “The fridge isn’t my main concern.”

“What is?” Ethan asked, his eyes showing a little wariness.

“Telling my dad would be the main one.  He still won’t talk to me about you at all.  After I hung up on him, he’s refused my calls.  I talked to Vanessa for a while, but she said he’s still mad and won’t talk about you.”

“He hates me, doesn’t he?”

“I don’t think so,” I said.  Then I felt bad about lying.  “I mean, he hasn’t given you a chance, so whatever he feels isn’t justified.”

“He has seen one side of me,” Ethan said quietly, his blush returning.  “I can understand why he wouldn’t want you to be with me.”

“He’s not giving you the opportunity,” I argued.  “He’s going to have to give you a chance.  What are you doing Sunday?”

“Um, bikes, hanging out—the usual.  You said you were busy with your graduation stuff all day.  If you were going to do the whole graduation processional to get your diploma, I’d go, but you said you weren’t.”

“It’s a long and boring ceremony,” I said.  “I don’t think any of my friends are going, and Dad said a long time ago that he hates those things.”

“So yeah, I’ll just spend the day with CeeCee.”

“No, you won’t.”  I smiled at him.  “You are going to be my date at my stepmom’s luncheon.”

“Ashlyn, that can’t possibly be a good idea.”

“Of course it is,” I said definitively.  “Dad will have to acknowledge you and be at least reasonably polite.  It is my graduation party, and Vanessa would murder him if he caused a scene at one of her gatherings.”

“I don’t know…”

“Please?” I asked, knowing it was underhanded to resort to begging.  “I want you to be there, and Dad will get a chance to see how wonderful you are for me.”

Ethan furrowed his brow and looked away for a minute, then back again.

“If you think it’s a good idea, I’ll do it.”

“I don’t know if it’s a good idea,” I said, “but I know it has to happen eventually.  I can’t avoid my family forever, which brings me to my next thought.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“Tonight we hang out with my friends.”