Arranged British Love

The door flung open and I was confronted with Ethan, two girls, and two more boys. Ethan was lying down in his bed which was identical to mine apart from his navy blue sheets. He had propped himself up on his elbows and was staring wide-eyed at me.

Busted.

There was a brunette sat on the end of the bed, glaring at me. The other girl, a redhead, was holding hands with a boy by the window. Ethan’s room was laid out in the same way as mine, and the windows were along the back wall, complete with French doors.

The door, by which I was standing gormlessly, had been opened by a short guy who was staring at me, raising his eyebrows slightly.

“Phoebe?”

I looked at Ethan, my mouth opening and closing like a fish. “I, urr, stubbed my toe. Ahh, it hurts!” I was considering falling to the floor and clutching my big toe, but I thought that would be overkill.

The other four in the room were staring at me with raised eyebrows and the you-cannot-be-serious look on their faces. Ethan, on the other hand, was nodding ferociously. “Yes. Okay, well...did you want something?”

I was still in shock that I had gotten away with it.

“Pheebs?”

My head snapped towards him at the nickname my dad had adapted for me.

“Huh?” I asked gormlessly. Smooth as always.

“What did you want?” He was using a tone which told me that he thought that I had the IQ of a seven year old.

“Oh, I was just seeing if you were okay. And you are!” My cheerful attitude was me trying to make up for my lack of words earlier. “So, I’m going to go now. Bye!” I waved and slammed the door close. Well that was perfect, just amazing. I should get an award for that performance! Not.

Just as I was about to walk away, voices carried through the door from Ethan’s room. Honestly, you’d think that they’d have thicker doors, it’s not like they aren’t rich enough!

One of the girls spoke first. “She knows.”

“I don’t know.” Ethan was talking now. “Phoebe is...a little out there.”

“You hardly know her!” The girl who spoke was speaking in a measured voice, trying to keep her cool. “She’s hardly been here two minutes and already she’s saving people’s lives and listening into private conversations. If I hadn’t just seen that pathetic cover-up I would’ve said she was up to something serious.”

“As in Joey serious.” A guy added. At the mention of his name I heard gasps and mutters.

Joey? What’s with the sudden Friends references?

The other guy talked in a quiet voice and I had to press my ear to the door to hear it properly. “What does it matter if she knows? She’ll find out anyway; she’s about to become your wife.”

Yes! I like this guy’s way of thinking.

“I just...” Ethan began and then trailed off, picking his words carefully it seemed. “I just want to protect her. If she doesn’t know, he can’t get to her. This isn’t her fight, Phoebe has nothing to do with this. She has nothing to do with my mistakes.”

“Wait a minute!” The first guy was speaking in a sarcastic tone. “You hit your head on the ground, right? No way is this you saying these things. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk this serious before.”

“What?! I’ve done some growing up-“

“In the past half hour?” The guy interrupted Ethan.

“Jake, this is my chance to change who I am! I haven’t been exactly the best of role models and Phoebe probably has no idea! I can be me with her. Just...a better me.”

I couldn’t help but smile as I walked away from the conversation; he wanted to be a better person for me. It was kinda sweet, but I knew that it wasn’t just for me. No doubt his parents had given him grief about the way he’d acted.

There was just that little bit of wonder niggling away at me; could he put his money where his mouth was?