Quarterback And I: My Best Friend's Brother

Chapter 1

"Who is that?" I arched my brows as I studied Ethan.

He had kept me waiting for over 45 minutes. And he rushed down here with a flimsy apology. He was barely even settled and he was smiling over some text which beeped on his phone. He had promised me a date because we barely have enough time together due to his practice in school.

"Em.. my friend, Panda. He wanted us to be at some event," he glanced away.

Something was wrong. Ethan was clearly avoiding eye contact with me. Unless he was hiding something from me.

"Have you ordered something?" Ethan's gaze shifted to me.

"No," I muttered.

I have to stop with the absurd assumptions. There was no way Ethan was cheating on me. It got to be Panda like he had said.

"Okay. I'll be right back." Ethan said, placed his phone over the table before walking to the counter.

Ethan and I had met when I first walked into Sundale High. He had been kind to show me around until we grew as friends. After I got acquitted with the environment and meeting my best friend, Irene - Ethan asked me to be his girlfriend.

But things were changing so fast after he became a quarterback of Frost team in our school.

His phone beeped again.

A text again.

Curious to know who it was, I peered into the screen of his phone.

My Doe: You need to come now. I can't sit here all day knowing you're with that bitch.

Something crashed inside me.

Who the hell was Doe?

And was I the 'bitch' she was referring to?

There was only one way to know the truth.

"Here you go," Ethan came over with two cups of ice cream, handling one to me.

My hands were trembling.

Taking a deep breath, I watched as Ethan smiled as he picked up his phone again.

"Who is 'My Doe?" I asked calmly, hoping I didn't give away the fear in my eyes.

I was hoping that he didn't notice how my heart was thumping wildly to the assumptions that swamped my mind.

That gave me horrific dreams for days because of his constant disappearances, and his lies and_

"Do you go snooping around in someone's phone?" Ethan waggled his brows as he dropped his ice cream.

"I was just asking a simple question. You only have to accord me an answer." I breathed in another shaky breath.

Ethan shot me a brow. "Doe is an abbreviation for the name Diane. She's my niece. She's staying with us presently. You know what? I had to cancel whatever I had going with her just for you.

And you're being paranoid?" He sat back to study me.

My lips parted. I couldn't understand it. He never told me about his niece staying with him for a while.

"But why will your niece call me a bitch?" I was still stunned that he was lying to me.

Ethan stood up aggressively that it got the attention of other people.

"I don't want to deal with this, Inez. I have other things to do than to be dealing with your insecurities right now."

I stood up as well. "I just needed you to tell me the truth." I told him, hoping that would thwart him from leaving our date.

Ethan gasped. "You want the truth? I'm done. It's over between us."

Just like that, he grabbed his phone and started leaving.

It took me a moment to realize that Ethan meant what he had just said.

I ran after him but Ethan was already driving away in his SUV leaving me all by myself in the stall where we were to have our date.

Tears slid down my cheeks as I started to walk home.

I haven't been home for fifteen minutes when my uncle, my mother's brother burst through the door. I had been living with him since I started high school.

Mum had promised she would reach out to me when she is fully settled in Boston after she discovered that her abusive father had been stalking them. But weeks had rolled on and I could barely get a phone call through to mum.

"Did you take my money?" Uncle Terry asked as he showed me his empty wallet.

"I didn't take your money, uncle. But I will appreciate it if you knock next time." I was pissed. I needed some time alone to grieve about my broken relationship and uncle Terry did the same thing he always do to me - intruding in my privacy.

Would I call it luck that I hadn't been so unfortunate whenever he burst into my room when I was naked?

"What did you just say to me?" He scoffed, coming close to where I sat at my desk.

I wiped the tears from my eyes. "I said, I will be pleased if you-"

Uncle Terry grabbed a handful of my brown hair. I yelped, wincing as he pulled me out from my seat.

"It hurts, Uncle Terry," I cried out.

Uncle Terry was drunk. I could perceive the stench of alcohol coating him. It was so strong that I thought it could make me throw up.

But the grievous pain emanating from my scalp was much worse than the need to vomit.

"I gave you a roof over your head. And you have the right to tell me how to treat you?" He yelled.

"I'm sorry," I cried, tugging at his hand to let me go.

"This should be the last time you ever talk to me like that again. You hear me?" He said.

"Yes yes, yes. I promise!" I was forced to go down on my knees.

He let go of my hair while I remained on my knees.

I knew the moment he left my room that he would return - probably to ask me for money or worse - to whip me if he truly hadn't been satisfied with my apology.

I grabbed my romance novel, my diary - threw them into my tote bag. Lastly, I picked my phone and scrambled out of the window.

The moment I hit the ground. Irene's call came in at the perfect time.

I picked barely giving it enough time to ring.

"Irene," I said, my shaky voice already giving me away.

"Inez, what happened? Are you alright?"