Page 4 of She Was Mine First

“I’m going to punch you,” I playfully sassed.

He smiled, handing me the ladybug. “Yeah… well it wouldn’t hurt even if you did.”

Before I could jokingly hit him, he took off on his skateboard. Ethan was a much better skater than I was, but there weren’t many things that he wasn’t good at. Our teachers called him gifted.

After what seemed like forever, we reached the waterhole in the woods . Ethan found this place a few years ago, and it sort of became our secret spot. Nobody knew about it but us.

This was the place where lines were crossed, boundaries were blurred, and limits were tested. The tightrope of our friendship would eventually snap in our faces without us ever expecting it for one second.

I slid off my shirt and shorts, throwing them onto a tree branch by the grass. Wearing a purple one-piece bathing suit, I made my way to the water when I heard Ethan haul ass from behind me, jumping headfirst into the river. As soon as he appeared from under the water, he whipped his hair back away from his face and swam closer to the bank, waiting for me.

I scrunched my face and tottered through the swampy grass, my feet sinking to the bottom of my slippery steps. Ethan jerked his head to the side, causing me to smirk. It was our silent agreement for me to hang off his back. I smiled and swam up behind him, putting my arms around his neck and my legs around his torso.

I watched him swing off the rope into the water for the next hour. He had tied it to a tree last month, but I had yet to do it.

“Your turn,” he coaxed, swimming up beside me.

“Ummm… no, I’m good.”

I wasn’t the best swimmer, and the current could change, easily dragging me along.

As if reading my mind, he reminded me, “You know I’d never let anything happen to you.”

“You can’t control the river’s current, Ethan.”

He cocked his head to the side. “I can control you, though.”

I arched an eyebrow, waiting…

For what, I don’t know.

Ethan

A part of me always knew she was aware of the emotions she stirred inside me. It didn’t matter what she was doing. My eyes followed her everywhere, constantly waiting for her to do something else to make me fall in love with her a little more.

I thought it was normal…

The feelings I had for her. I learned later that I was wrong. I couldn’t have been more wrong if I tried. Livvy’s and my friendship was never complicated until it was. I guess that was what happened when you meet your soulmate as a kid and instantly become best friends.

We should have known.

It would have saved us from years of mistakes and time lost of us being together that way.

“You weigh eighty pounds wet, Livvy.”

I was the only person to call her that. Everyone else called her Liv or Elizabeth.

Livvy was only my nickname for her.

“If the current shifts,” I added with a smile. “I can control you from being dragged with it.”

“Yeah? Well, I don’t want to test that theory.”

“All right,” I snapped, hitting my breaking point of her fear not letting her enjoy this with me. “I’ve had enough of this.” With that, I caught her by the waist right before she was about to haul ass and run away. Throwing her over my shoulder, I carried her to the rope.

“No, no, no, no, no,” she repeated, kicking her legs and squirming her body around.

“We’re going to do it together,” I demanded. “Stop fighting me, Livvy. I’ll put you right on my back, and all you have to do is hang on.”

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