FRIENDS

      For the next days that followed, Faith and Ethan were the best of friends and the best of lovers at home. They played at home, running around the living room, while Dolores watched them in awe, they cooked together, they did the dishes together and they ate together, they went to the mall together to help Faith pick out a suitable gift for Charlie's man and although Faith was still seeing Noah, she went out with Ethan to drink. But she still kept her life to herself, she never told Ethan about her family, how her father treated them, her mother nor that she was seeing a doctor. She felt it was better to keep them from him. 

       She never asked Ethan about himself too, his family what he does and everything. She and Ethan had been out to drink and had run into Noah. She didn't know why they don't seem to get along even though she had told Noah that Ethan was just a friend, but Noah would always refer to that dinner party where she had introduced him as her boyfriend. 

      The second night she went out with Ethan, Noah had seen them together and had to drag Faith out of the room to the parking lot. He had been furious that night. 

      "Why do you always choose to be stubborn?!" he had barked at her. 

       "Noah, don't yell at me!" 

      "Don't yell at you? Faith, we are still working things out, you know I love you, I have made the mistake of losing you once, but I'm not gonna lose you again." 

      That had made Faith blush and her heart had been calmed.  "I know, Noah, but he is just a friend. Nothing is going on between us, when have I ever lied to you? Sometimes when you are busy with work, I just meet with him and have a couple of drinks with him to ease the stress that's it." 

       "What about Nora? She can drink too." 

       "Nora is always on night shifts and won't have the time to be here most nights." 

       "You introduced this man at that dinner party as your boyfriend, what do you expect me to do? I can't help but get jealous." 

       "Come on, you don't have to be. You introduced some woman to me at that party too..."

        "She is not some woman her name is Belle as in Isabelle." 

        "Whatever her name is, I'm not jealous and curious. Ethan and I are just friends, we just acted out of the moment and so I won't look like a sorry sight in your presence." 

        "Have you seen Belle and me ever since I started coming back to you?!" 

        "That is because you actually dated and going your separate ways, it might be awkward to speak to each other. But Ethan and I have been friends we can't just stop being friends because we are getting back together. He is a nice guy and you would like him if you make his acquaintance. "

     Ethan had watched them from a corner in the car lot, he had watched her kiss him, he had felt so bad that he had gotten into his car to leave. But he had halted. His mother had seen them go out together, she would ask about her, his mother had started to grow fond of her and it wasn't noble to leave without telling her, because of some crappy, unrealistic feeling he had inside. 

      He should be happy for her, if he was jealous, he was being selfish. He had dated Charlotte in front of her and she didn't put up any attitude—but that was because she has no feelings for him. But it was difficult for him to see her with another man whom she love, it's was freaking difficult to stay calm when he had feelings for her, no, he had completely fallen for her and couldn't even look at any other woman, he didn't even find them interesting anymore. He had taken out his phone and had texted her that he needed to go. 

      Faith's phone had buzzed while she kissed Noah and she knew it might be Ethan. She had broken away from the kiss and had asked Noah for a second. She had read Ethan's text and had told Noah that she needed to leave. 

       "Why? We have not even started." 

        "Noah, I have had a couple of drinks and I'm so tired. I have work tomorrow." 

         "Alright, I'll drop you home." 

        "No!" Faith had blurted. 

     Noah's brows had knitted in a frown.  "Why?" 

   Faith had thought of a lie. Noah knew her inside out, front, back and centre so she couldn't lie with a family member, he knew she had none. Then she had remembered that Noah hated pets. 

      "Because I have a dog and a cat." 

     Noah had chuckled.  "A dog and a cat? But you said pets were messy and you never allowed them anywhere near your place." 

      "Oh, I did? That was before." Who hated the pets between them, was it her or Noah?  "I thought you hated them?" 

       "Hated them? I was just keeping them away because of you. One of the things that had attracted me to Belle was her dog, an adorable German Shepherd." 

       Who was Belle again?  "Who is Belle?" 

      Noah had huffed.  "My ex, the one I introduced at that dinner party." 

        "Oh." So what's gonna happen now? It turns out she is the one with the hatred for pets. 

       "Can I see your pets? You really amaze me. You changed so much that I could barely recognise you. You grew from hating pets to getting two. I'll love to see them." 

       "Should I take that as a compliment?" 

       "Of course, I love the changes. I mean you are no longer the frumpy Faith who never gave a damn about her looks, you have pets and I guess you are not as hygienic anymore. You see, our little separation did you more good than harm.

     Faith had kept herself from scoffing.  You think? she thought.

        "So, shall we?" 

     The pet excuse had failed. Noah cannot come to her place and find out that she was living with Ethan. Ethan could cooperate with her and leave the house, but what about Mrs Floyd? No, no, no Noah can't come over. She had to think of something else and had to think about it quickly. Then she had remembered that Nora and Noah were sworn, enemies. 

      "Oh, I just remembered. The text I got was just from Nora. She had asked me to come pick up something from her place, you know Nora has not approved of us yet, so I wouldn't want her to get pissed that I brought you to her home." 

      "I won't even go inside, I'll be in the car waiting for you."

      "Really?" Faith had chuckled.  "Like you don't know how girls are? I might go there and get carried away by gossip, I don wanna waste your time, besides I'll feel choked and Nora would still find out about you because I would be in a hurry."

     Noah had stared at her for a while.  "You are right. I think we should go on a double date sometime with Nora and Danny so I can get to apologize to her." 

     Men! This guy is serious about her!  "Really?" 

     He nodded and smiled, then spread his arms and she went in.  "So, when am I seeing you again?" 

        "The day after tomorrow, I'm going to my friend's birthday party tomorrow." 

         "It's high time I met all your friends. Alright, bye then." 

        "Bye." Faith had hurried away from him, calling Ethan on the phone. 

     When she had finally seen his car, she had looked back to be sure that Noah wasn't looking at her. She had entered the back seat. 

       "Move! Move! Move! Move!" she had urged Ethan. 

     Ethan who had been perplexed and hurt at the time same time started the car on impulse.  "What's wrong?" 

       "Just go!" Faith had yelled looking behind. 

      "Al...alright...alright... Did he hur..." 

      "Drive!" 

      "Okay, okay! I'm on it." Ethan had zoomed away from the restaurant premises and had watched her from the rearview mirror and had seen as she had relaxed as they had driven away from the restaurant. 

    He had driven a few kilometres away from the restaurant and had suddenly pulled the car over. Faith had stared quizzically at him.  He had not turned back and his fingers had tapped on the staring. 

      "What's the problem?" Faith had asked. 

      "What did he do? Did he hurt you?" Ethan's tone had been serious. 

     Faith had chuckled and had climbed over to the front seat.  "It's such a good idea having you as a friend, aside from being a gentleman, you are my Knight in shining armour too." 

       "What did he do? Why did you come running into the car like that that you even had to go to the back seat?" 

      Faith had spanked his shoulder softly.  "He just asked to take me home and you know I didn't want that, I had to lie my way out and rush over so that he wouldn't see you. He gets really jealous." 

      Faith hadn't known if it was in her head or if it really happened, but she had seen Ethan's muscles relax. Sh e had seen his hands loosen on the stirring. 

     "It's a relief that he didn't harm you, let's go, " he had said.