The Rules of the Red - 2nd Edition |✓|

Chapter Twenty, Part One - Bitter Pills

Ethan was still asleep by the time I made it home. Collin and Addy greeted me at the door, still floating on their high from snacks and sodas and new-couple affection. She held his hand as they said their good-byes, but hung back in the doorway when Collin stepped onto the porch.

"Mimi, did you get it back? Is everything okay now?"

"I got it. Go have fun with Collin. I'll call you tomorrow."

I made my way to the darkened living room, where there was only the muted glow of the television screen to light the room. Ethan was passed out on the couch, snoring with his head on a pillow. With a contented sigh, I picked up a bowl of half-empty popcorn, grabbed the remote, and took the empty space of couch beside him.

I made it through two episodes of the Golden Girls before Ethan finally awoke. He stirred and I lowered the television's volume, watching as he sat up and stretched. "Holy... crud." He scratched the back of his head, blinking bleary, red eyes. "How long have I been out?"

"Most of the day." I dug up a handful of popcorn. "You seemed pretty beat."

"Thanks to you." He groaned, stretching his neck. "I don't get sleep anymore since you're always so busy tossing and turning at night."

That was true. It had been that way since I was a kid. I'd find any and all reasons to be awake at night. Whether this meant cramming my day full of adventures so that the time would pass more quickly, or if I chose to simply lie on my bed and twiddle my thumbs at the ceiling, I was only alive for the night. That was the time when I felt most comfortable, the most secure. Except it meant I didn't dream much, and slept even less.

"Sorry." I turned back to the screen. "I probably should've mentioned I have insomnia."

"Yeah." Ethan squinted through one, dark, sleepy eye at the television. "Ugh, why is my shoulder sore?"

Shit. I'd almost forgotten about the Hunters and their Vampire. "You probably just slept on it wrong."

"What're we watching?"

"The Golden Girls." I tossed the remote, but he made no move to pick it up. "You can turn it."

"Nah, I like this show," he said, in a voice still husky from sleep. "Rue McClanahan knew how to get the D back in the day. I learned the facts of life from that woman."

"Is sex all you think about?" Even so, I wrinkled my nose and laughed.

"No. I think about you."

There was a short, tension-filled pause as Ethan and I gazed at one another seconds too long. It was the kind of moment filled with scary possibilities that could make you forget all reason and sensibility. Swallowing hard, I looked away, snapping the moment in two.

"Mimi?"

"Yep, Ethan?" I forced myself to keep looking at the television.

"What's that? On your finger?"

"Hmm?"

"The ring. On your ring finger?"

I looked down to see my right hand on my knee, with the ring unwittingly displayed.

"Uh, well, it's the Countess' ring." I twisting it around my finger. "I'm holding onto it for Tidus, until the curse is removed."

"Ok, yeah, but you're wearing it." Ethan stood, suddenly not so tired anymore. "And it's cursed..."

"Yeah, but it only affects you if you're in love." I said, finally looking at him. "And I'm not, so...."

Ethan said, stared down at me, furious. "You can say a lie out loud as many times as you want, but that won't make it true."