Happily Never After

BRRRRRRRING! BRRRRRRRING! BRRRRR—SLAM!

I roll over and look at where my alarm clock lay, on the ground, where I had hit it. It's the first day of 9th grade. Don’t get me wrong, I'm as excited as could be but my alarm clock just so happens to be the most annoying alarm clock in the world. It’s not normal, I tell you. You know that little ‘Bring!’ normal alarm clocks make? My alarm clock can’t seem to just stop there. Oh, no, it has to go and roll it’s R’s like it’s a freakin’ Spanish alarm clock. Not that I have anything against Spanish things and people it’s just that this alarm clock was made in China. Not exactly a Spanish speaking country, if you ask me. Oh well.

I bring my legs up and then let them fall, flinging me out of bed and to a standing position. Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I pick up the alarm clock and set it on the desk next to my bed, making my way to the bathroom.

I walk back to my closet with a toothbrush in my mouth while I rummage for a clean shirt that’ll be ok for school. I finally find a tee shirt that’s not stained with spaghetti sauce or some other food. Grabbing a handful of dirty tee shirts, I pull on a pair of shorts and head to the bathroom again. I spit out the toothpaste and rinse my face and mouth. Looking up, I yank a brush through my silky, golden brown hair and bring it into a ponytail. I laugh to myself, my hair may be silky but it’s like a forest of tangled knots when I don’t brush it.

Tossing the dirty Tees into the hamper, I run back to my room and grab my book bag before galloping down the stairs.

“Morning Elizabeth.” My dad tells me, his eyes never leaving the morning paper.

“Good morning Elizabeth, good luck today at school!” My mom calls to me cheerfully as she grabs her car keys and leaves for work.

“Bye mom!” I call to her before the door slams shut. “Morning, Dad.” I tell him as I set down my bag and start making my lunch.

Just as I finish packing a cookie, an apple and a small container of peanut butter plus a spoon, I hear the door click open and then shut closed.

“Morning Liz,” Carter greets me as he walks into the kitchen and leans against the counter. “Morning Mr. Daniels. Article any good?” He greets my dad.

“Morning Carter, yes actually, it’s very well written.” My dad answers, smiling behind his newspaper.

I finish up with the lunch and stuff it in my bag. “Ok, I’m good.” I tell Carter as I pick up my bag and walk to his side. “Bye Dad!”

“Bye Elizabeth! Have fun!” My dad calls, finally looking up.

Outside, Carter and I mount our bikes and head to school. On the way, we do our usual beginning-of-school debrief. We both have our schedules out.

“Homeroom?” Carter asks, swerving to miss running over an elementary kid.

“Rickory…a…dude, I think…” I answer him, unsure what to make of this.

Carter laughs at my uncertainty of Rickory’s gender. “Hey, don’t sweat, me too, we can figure that out together.”

I smile back at him before I look down to check the next teacher. “LA/SS?” I ask, meaning Language Arts/ Social Studies, which are combined to a double period class at our school.

“Mackey, supposedly the best LA/SS teacher in the school!” He smiles happily.

I look down and see that I have her as well. I let myself coast for a few meters while I stand up on the bike and raise my hands in happiness.

“Liz!” Carter calls, laughing at my usual display of my dramatic self. “Sit down! You’re going to run a kid over!”

I laugh and sit down.

“Ok…” Carter looks down at his schedule to see what other teachers he has. “Math?”

“Benson.” I tell him, doubting his presence in my advanced math class.

Carter shakes his head to tell me that he doesn’t have him. “Science?”

“Sykes.” I answer, making a face.

“Yikes.” He answers, and we both laugh at the ironic rhyme. “Me, too.” He smiles. “Uh…PE?”

I look down and grimace.

“Roseman?” He asks sympathetically and I nod in disappointment. “Poor you.”

“You don’t have…her?” I stick out my tongue like just referring to the evil teacher tastes nasty and Carter laughs but shakes his head no. “What language are you taking?” I ask hopefully.

“Spanish, you?”

I shake my head. “I finished taking Spanish already. They’re putting me back in French…now I actually have to finish learning it!” I cry like it’s the most tragic thing that ever happened. I had taken French for three years in elementary but had chosen not to continue when I got the choice to switch to Spanish since I didn’t get along with my old French teacher.

“Can’t be that bad!” He teases me as he checks his electives.

“Uhhh… I got into Class Café and economics.” He offers. This means he got into the class that runs the school’s Café which is open during class hours and also afterschool and on weekends. They’re also in charge of choosing what we do for class trips so we make the most out of the money we raise.

I smile and nod. “Me, too. And…YES!!!” I hand him my schedule, too excited to tell him that I got into a special performing arts class where we do singing, dancing, and acting all in one class! And, not only that but we get automatic places in all the plays, since you have to audition to get into the class.

“Hey, you got into performing arts Liz! That’s great!” He smiles and hands me back my schedule. “I only got into regular drama.”

The teacher for the drama classes and performing arts class is the best teacher in our entire school; the classes are always big since he makes it cool to be in drama and performing arts, therefore everyone tries their best to get in. Unfortunately you actually have to have a little spark of talent for the drama classes and actual, partially developed talent for the performing arts class.

I look up and see we’re only a couple meters from the school entrance. I shove my schedule into my book bag after memorizing the location of our homeroom class and Carter does the same. We park our bikes and head to our lockers, which, since we’re in the same homeroom, happen to be next to each other as well as everyone else in our homeroom. The school was smart enough to put each homeroom’s lockers right outside the class so that we were always able to find them at least.

We shove our bags inside our lockers and look around for our other best friend, Sam. I spot him and grab Carter’s arm as I rush over to see Sam.

“Found him.” I tell Carter as I stop next to Sam.

“I can see that, Liz.” He laughs as he and Sam high five.

“Hey Lizzy!” Sam greets me.

“Hey!” I smile before I see that his locker is only 5 down from mine. “Wait…if this is your locker…and that’s ours…that means you’re in our homeroom!” I get a little overexcited because of the fact that, although Carter and I have always had classes together, we’ve never had a class with all three of us in it all at one time…mostly because we get a tinsy bit rowdy when we’re all together.

Carter and Sam cover their ears as my voice goes loud, as it does whenever I get excited. “Yeah, Liz. But be quiet about it!” He whispers teasingly, they both very well know it’s hard for me to be quiet.

But he’s right, the reason we’re not all in the same class as of until now, is because everybody in the office knows us since Sam’s mom is a substitute and Carter’s dad is a teacher and we’ve all been best friends since…let’s see, forever. So they know it’s not the easiest thing in the world to teach while we’re all sitting together…or even sitting in the same room for that fact, we seem to always draw everyone’s attention to us no matter what. Sam says it’s because we’re just more entertaining to watch then the teachers, but I think it’s because a lot of girls at our school have crushes on Carter and Sam, I mean, it’s well know girl information that all the girls in school except me like them. I can’t like them because…well, it’s just not right to like your best friend.

“Ok!” I giggle back.

Carter’s just been standing there watching us tease, as he usually does. He sees me looking curiously at him and smiles at me as he pokes my side.

I laugh and move, walking into Sam by accident. As usual, a group of girls are watching us intently. I step away from Sam and keep the annoyed look off my face. Seriously, I think, don't you have anything better to do than drool over boys? But I know that I can’t do anything about them usually watching us, even if it does annoy me sometimes. It’s better just to try not to get annoyed by it. I look up at Carter and Sam, smiling.

“We need to go get seats so we can sit together.” I tell them as I turn to walk inside and choose the perfect seat.

I stand just inside the doorway, surveying the classroom as I decide on the best place to sit. I can feel Sam run into me from behind.

“Liz?” He’s confused. I don’t even have to look at him to tell.

I can hear Carter smile. “She’s fine. Let her choose our seats.”

“Oh. Ok.” Sam has never been in class with me so he’s never had to go through my ritual with me on the first day of every school year.

Carter has though, so he helps me. He points to the far corner, where there’s a table of four empty desks just waiting to be chosen. Carter has found the exact table I was looking for.

I nod and walk over, choosing to take the seat with my back to the window while Carter and Sam sat across from me on the other side. Good. There was only one seat left and it wasn’t next to the boys so we wouldn’t have a drooling girl over here. I don’t get along with the girls at my school very well and they don’t like me very much so the most they would put up with was across from me if it meant they could sit next to the boys but they didn’t think next to me and across from the boys was worth it. And I’m perfectly fine with that.
The bell rings and the seat remains empty. Well, it did…until the teacher—Mr. Rickory—walked up to the front of the class with a new kid. While Mr. Rickory says the usual welcome back, I study the new boy. By my standards, he was pretty cute, but he looked like had been through a lot. Just by looking at the tough look on his face, I can tell he’s searching the class for possible friends and enemies. His floppy black hair falls slightly into his eyes and he brushes it out, unconsciously allowing me to see his beautiful, emerald green eyes. I study his face. His eyes look worn out and his face looked tired. Poor guy, I think to myself, probably didn’t get much sleep last night.

I start feeling a little bit depressed so I zone back into what Mr. Rickory it telling us.

“Our class was lucky enough to get a new kid. This,” He motioned for new-boy to step forward, “is Ethan Danielson. Elizabeth?”

“Yeah, Mr. Rickory?” I answer quietly, because I already know what he’s going to say.

“Would you be willing to be Ethan’s buddy? You two are the only in this class who have the exact same schedule. Ethan, go with Elizabeth, back there in the corner.” He tells Ethan even though I haven’t said yes. That’s what I dislike about teachers, they already expect you to say yes even if you want to say no. If they mean it as an order and not a question then why do they ask? It makes it sound like we actually have a choice. “That’s good. Elizabeth, don’t let Ethan leave you sight. You’re responsible for making sure he doesn’t get lost. Ok? Good.”

He’s obviously about to move on, but I raise my hand anyways and ask him, “Mr. Rickory?”

“Yes, Elizabeth?” He looks at me again.

“So…I have to show Ethan around?” Ethan is sitting down next to me with a grumpy look on his face like I always get stuck with the lame teacher’s pets. So I’ve decided to prove him wrong. I look up at Mr. Rickory innocently, “and I can’t let him out of my sight at school…ever?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Sam looking at me in surprise, knowing what I'm getting at. I’m usually never the smart-alec.

“No, Elizabeth, never, that is the new student buddy policy, we don’t want him getting lost.” Mr. Rickory tells me and waits to see if I understand. He’s talking to me like he would to a toddler but, whatever, it’s worth seeing Grumpy Ethan’s face when I ask what I’m about to.

“But what if he has to go to the bathroom?” I ask, smiling at Mr. Rickory.

Carter and Sam have always told me that when I smile it’s practically impossible not to smile with me, even if they’re mad at me. They were right. Mr. Rickory looks at me for a second then starts allows a smile himself. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Grumpy give a half smile in the direction of his desk. The bell rings and I stand up as Mr. Rickory comes over to us.

“Alright, you may let him out of your sight if he needs to go to the bathroom, but otherwise stay together ok?”

“Ready?” I ask Ethan as I scoop up my notebook and my pencil case off the desk.

“But…I don’t have my schedule.” Ethan tells me as we head out of homeroom.

“Yeah, but I do.” I tell him matter-of-factly. “We have the same exact schedule, remember?”

“Oh, yeah.” Ethan looks a little embarrassed for not remembering. He takes sudden interest in his shoes. “So what do we have next?” He paused, and looked up, smiling sheepishly, “jeez, that sounds kinda strange since I just met you.”

I laugh encouragingly and glance down from his angel’s face to the schedule. I groan, the smile disappearing from my face. “Français avec Madame Pensalton.” I sigh. “Great. My least favorite class with my least favorite teacher. I’m overfilled with joy.” I moan.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Ethan snorts in agreement.

I turn to him. “I thought I was the only one who thought my French class was really a torture chamber in disguise! Carter and Sam are always telling me I’m just overreacting and it’s probably not that bad. But they’re one to talk, they’ve never been in there.” I shiver at the thought as we head down the hall.

He chuckles, then smiles at me. “Well, then, welcome to the club.” And he sticks out his hand. Just like that.

I think I finally got it through his thick head that I’m not a stuck up teacher’s pet. I shake his hand and we continue down the hall, complaining about our French teachers.

As we come up to Madame Pensalton’s class, one that I swore I would avoid at all cost, if I could, in elementary, I look at him seriously. “Just wait ‘til you meet her. She’s the one thing I don’t overreact with.”

He nods, copying my grave seriousness and we head into the dungeon. I look around. Sitting in the front of the class is Brittany Wattson, the most popular girl in the grade, not to mention the meanest. She’s sitting on one of the desks up front, chatting with her brainless, popular friends. When she looks up and sees me, she sneers.

“Your boyfriend dump you yet, Elizabeth?” She mocks, “Oh, wait, you didn’t have one!”

It’s one of the stupidest remarks she’s ever made to me but somehow, her friends still find it funny.

They all start cackling with laughter. I really can’t understand how they find it funny but then again, they might just be laughing at how stupid it sounds.

“What?” Ethan asks. He’s standing behind me.

I turn to him and shake my head. “You familiar with the popular rule, Ethan?”

He thinks for a moment, frowning, “You mean the one that all popular kids are jerks by default?” I nod. He pauses for a second, and then nods his head in Brittany’s direction. “She popular?”

“The most.” I grumble as I walk to the back corner and plop down.

To my surprise, he follows me. I look up at him, unable to hide the surprise on my face. “You can sit anywhere you know. You don’t have to sit with me. Besides, if you do, you’re going to inherit Brittany's love for me.” This last part obviously sarcastic since Brittany pretty much loathes me just because my best friends are guys and I have no girl friends. Sexist of them, yeah, but that’s just how it works. “And it’s already bad enough you’re new… no offence.” I add quickly.

He nods and sits down next to me. “It’s cool. Prisoners stick together, right?” He smiles a crooked smile at me and I move my stuff over so he has some space as well at the small table. Yeah, in French class we don’t have desk…we have the same tables they use for the elementary-schoolers. It gives the place a sort of everyone ate cake that made them way too big vibe. Totally sympathizing with Alice here.

A few other kids stream into class with a pained look on their faces. But as soon as some of the boys walk in and see Brittany, they smile and sit near her. The boys look around and see me, sitting with Ethan.

“Hey Liz!” They call to me, smiling, and then they turn their attention back to Brittany.

But one of them, one of my homeroom classmates, continues to talk to me. “Hey, Liz, what are you doing here? I thought you hated it.”

Just then, Madame Pensalton walks in. She stops by Brittany’s table and smiles warmly, chatting in French with her for a few minutes. I catch Freddie’s—he’s the one who was asking me about my current location in my least favorite class—eye and motion to him an explanation. ‘I know, but then…my schedule…’ I mouth before slitting my throat with my finger and roll my head back and stick out my tongue, miming dying. He laughs, understanding my unusual explanation.

Madame Pensalton finishes chatting with Brittany, her favorite student, and turns to the class. “I am pleasantly surprised to see you all here, I am glad to see you have decided to continue French from elementary.” She sees me and her face darkens for a moment before she sees Ethan next to me. “Ahh… we have a new student! How wonderful!” Her French accent makes English sound like a different language to me. “And what is your name?”

Ethan stiffens next to me. Apparently he doesn’t like getting all this attention and forgot how to say his name. I nudge him with my elbow and nod towards her. “Uh…Ethan, Madame.”

She smiles warmly at him and the bell rings, saving us. Ethan and I grab our stuff and rush out of class.

“I love having the first day so short.” I mumble as we move back to our lockers.

Somehow, the school arranged for us to have lockers right next to each other. So my locker is between Carter and Ethan. Thank goodness compared to some of the goons I could have been next to. I grab my shorts and tank out of my locker and roll them up as I plop myself down on the floor and replace my flip-flops with sneakers. I reach up my hand and grab Ethan’s as I pull myself up. As soon as I’m up, I let go of his soft skin.

“We have PE next. Did you bring shorts?” I ask him as I grab my baseball hat and place it on, stringing my ponytail through the hole in the back.

He holds them up. “Yeah, but what about top?”

I place my hand on his tee to see if it’ll allow him to move his arms freely. “It’ll work. Come on!”

I drag him through the hall way and down the stairs. Taking a short cut through the cafeteria, we arrive at the changing rooms. I open the door to the boys’ locker room and shove him inside. “Meet me out here, Sam should already be in there.”

I head back over to the Girls’ locker room and yank my short, black shorts and turquoise tank on, before running back out to meet Sam and Ethan.

“And…12 seconds, that’s a record, Lizzy.” Sam smiles at me, as I give him a high five.

“Everyone! My class! Come over here!” We hear a scary voice bark at everyone one.

At the same time, Sam and I cringe and moan, “Ms. Roseman.”

Ethan’s eyes widen. “That’s our PE teacher?!”

I nod as we walk to our doom.

“Right, now. Everyone, around the track.” Ms. Roseman commands as the class arrives.

“Uh, Ms. Roseman, how many laps?” A kid asks timidly from the back of class.

“Until the bell rings, now run! Chop, chop!” She barks back at us.

We all groan and start jogging to the track. I take the lead with Sam behind me, then the rest of the class. I look around and notice Ethan is missing. I look behind me and see him halfway down. I motion for him to hurry up.

He makes a face but speeds up and runs next to me. “Yeah?”

“You ok?” I ask, he’s panting a little hard now.

“Yeah,” He pants, “I’ll be ok… just… not… used…to…long…distance…running”

“Ok, here.” I slow down to a slower stride.

His breathing evens out a little. “Thanks.”

“No prob.” I smile, “’sides, if anything happens to you, they blame me, remember?”

“Oh, yeah.” He laughs.

We run for a few more laps in silence before I hear the faint ringing of the bell, followed by Ms. Roseman’s shrill whistle.

I sigh and head off the track and to the changing room in a few long strides. I’m well aware of Ethan and Sam stopping to catch their breath behind me. But for some strange reason, I don’t hear them move until I’m in the changing room.

Switching back into my jeans and blue Pokémon tee, I grab my things, then go back outside to wait for the boys. After a few seconds, they both come out, shoving and laughing. When they reach me, they stop. Sam turns to me.

“Alright, I gotta meet Carter for Drama, you guys go ahead and have fun in music!” He tells me as he turns and walks away.

Ethan turns to me, a curious look on his face. “How did he know we have music next?” He asks me.

Absentmindedly, I start walking to our lockers, kicking at a pebble on the ground. “We memorize each other’s schedule every year. Helps us know when we’re going to be able to meet up and where to pick each other up. He memorized it during homeroom.”

“Oh.” He grows silent and we continue walking to the lockers.

Shoving my PE clothes in my locker, I kick off my sneakers and grab my flip-flops. After waiting for Ethan, we walk towards the music department of our school, and I carry my flip-flops with me, content with the feel of the cool floor on my feet. Ethan stares at my bare feet and chuckles quietly. I look up at him, and he looks away, smiling.

After the bell rings at the end of music, we head to Café and Economics Class. I walk into the room, with Ethan on my tail, and inhale the sweet smell. It may sound like a strange class, and it is, but it’s also super fun, to spend the year learning about Economics and run a Café, which also means we have to learn how to bake.

I open my eyes and immediately spot Carter and Sam, sitting at the table in the back. I run over, smiling.

“Hey Lizzy!” Carter smiles at me as I sit down next to him. “Hey, Ethan, right?” He greets Ethan.

“Yeah… I didn’t get your guys’ names, though.” Ethan answers coolly.

Sam pulls out the chair next to him for Ethan to sit. “I’m Sam, and that’s Carter. And obviously that’s Lizzy.”

Ethan shoots me a confused look. “How come everyone calls you Elizabeth?”

At the sound of my full name, I cringe and look up at him. “Ok, first of all: don’t call me that. Second of all: only the teachers and…Brittany, “ I spit the name out like it leaves a nasty taste in my mouth, and it does. “Call me that. Everyone else calls me Liz, well, these two call me Lizzy.” I tell him.

“No… sometimes we call you Lizster” Sam adds, smiling.

“Lizaroo, or Lizabeth, and sometimes Lizzabella…or Liz K—“ Carter continues before I clamp my hand over his big mouth.

I shake my head at the embarrassing nickname and Carter closes his mouth beneath my hand, understanding. “Thank you, for that!” I glare at Sam and Carter, who shrug and look guilty.

“What were you going to say?” Ethan asks Carter curiously.

Eyeing me nervously, Carter blushes and mumbles, “nothing.”

“Welcome class!” Mr. Ryan walks into the room with smile. “Today we’re just going to be getting to know each other so please chat with the people at your table until the bell rings.”

I smile. “I love this class already.” Carter, Sam, and Ethan take one look at me and laugh.

Carter turns to me. “How did French go?” He asks kindly.

“It didn’t.” I answer simply.

He raises an eyebrow.

I smile mischievously. “Bell rang 2 minutes after she walked in the door.”

He nods and smiles.

“Hey, are we still hanging out tonight?” Sam wants to know.

“I think so…” Carter tells him. “Hey, Lizabella, your parents cool?” He asks me, referring to our plans to hang out and watch some movies or something, which was what we did afterschool everyday of the first week of every school year.

I laugh, “as always.” I smile my evil smile and rub my hands together like an evil genius with a plan. “I’ve got the hot cocoa and cookies…sorry they won’t taste the same but I have to have something to eat.” I tell them, referring to my gluten-free cookies.

Sam raises his eyebrow, “did you make them?” I nod. He smiles happily, “that’s fine, they taste the same when you make them!” He rubs his belly and licks his lips hungrily, causing Carter and me to laugh.

Carter nods. “It’s cool, we get it. Anyways, I got the popcorn and some Fanta, Coke, and Sprite.” He confirms.

I widen my eyes happily, “green Fanta?” I ask hopefully.

“Would I get you anything else?” Carter laughs and Sam joins in.

“Yeah, and I have the gummies, chocolate, and special jelly beans for Lizgetti.” He reaches over the table and pokes my stomach.

I laugh and cover it with my arms, “you guys are the greatest!” I look over at Ethan, sitting quietly, watching us. I look back at Carter and Sam, questioningly. They understand and nod. “Hey, Ethan?”

His eyes clear as he snaps out of his trance, “yeah, Liz?”

“We have this…thing…where every year we all meet afterschool each day the first week of school and watch movies or TV shows that we like and everyone brings different snacks…we were kinda wondering…since you’re new and all, and your house is probably full of boxes,” he nods, “if you wanted to join us? We’re going to be at my house this afternoon.”

“You guys sure you really want me there?” He asks doubtfully, and Sam, Carter, and I all nod. He smiles, “ok, yeah, I’d like that.”

I grin and the bell sounds, ringing the sweet sound of lunchtime. I jump up and hurry down to the cafeteria, Carter, Sam, and Ethan in tow. When I reach our usual table outside I stop and sit down on my favorite spot on our bench. After a few seconds, Carter and Ethan appear and then Sam.

They’re all grinning and chatting but when they reach the table they stop. I give Carter a curious look; he knows how much I dislike being left out of anything. He shakes his head and mouths ‘Later’ to me and I sigh and nod, disappointed.

Sam shoots Carter a warning look and Carter looks back at him, innocently, shrugging his shoulders. Ethan looks back and forth between the two of them, a slightly worried look on his face but when they sit down on either side of me and don’t say anything he relaxes and sits down as well. I look back at Carter and dig my elbow into his ribs. He turns to me, his hand on his side where I elbowed him.

‘What?’ He mouths, slightly annoyed with me.

‘What’s going on?’ I mouth but I bet from the expression he sees on my face that if I had been talking it would have come out as a whine.

He looks a little sympathetic. I guess he understands that I’m a little worried, since they never keep anything from me.

He puts his hand on my arm and mouths, ‘he was asking about you, but he didn’t want us to tell you because it would seem a little strange. Ok?’ I nod. ‘But don’t say anything. He’ll get a little mad if he knows you know. He’s kinda shy.’

I nod and turn back to the table, pulling out my lunch.

I pull out the cookie and break it in half, handing Carter and Sam a half, each. I can’t eat it since it has flour with means it has gluten. I have celiac disease, so, no gluten. So whenever my family has glutinous cookies or whatever, I bring one for Carter and Sam to share. They take the cookie halves eagerly and give me a half-hug in gratitude. I laugh and bring out my container of peanut butter and my spoon, along with my apple.

“Hmm…Ethan, stay still for a minute.” I tell him as I carve his face into the peanut butter. I bite two small circles out of the skin of my green apple and put them in the centers of his eyes.

I smile and turn the container of peanut butter carved into Ethan’s face so that they can see.

Ethan laughs. “That’s pretty good for peanut butter.”

I smile, “thank you. Watch this.” I bring the peanut butter cup to my mouth and sink my teeth into the former art piece.

Sam laughs. “I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned you’re a peanut-butter-face-eating vampire.”

Carter wiggles his index finger in front of my face teasingly. I bite it and the boys all laugh.

“I wouldn’t sit too close to her tonight if I were you guys.” Ethan tells Sam and Carter as he grins at me.