Kiss Me at Midnight(26)
Author: Diane Alberts

“Don’t leave me. I need to talk to you. I have to tell you why I didn’t get on the plane. Let’s get a drink and find a table to chat at.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She crossed her arms. “We both know how this ends. We both know you’ll stay for a few more days, maybe blow my world a little bit more. And I’ll love every second of it, because you’re you, and I’m me.” She shrugged, twisting her lips a little bit. “But then you’ll run away again, and I’ll be left behind again. I’m done being that girl, Ethan.”

He shook his head and pressed his lips together. “I don’t want you to be that girl, Ash.”

“But yet…I will be.” She lifted her chin. “Why would it be any different than every other time before this? Give me one good reason.”

He caught her hand again. “B-Because I’m different. I don’t want to run away this time. I want to be here with you.”

“For now.” She pulled free. “Look, I care about you, but we already said everything there is to say. You’re not staying, and I’m not going. End of story.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “What if I stayed? Would you give me a chance, then?”

“Why would you want to do that?” Her heart picked up speed. “You hate it here. You’d be miserable.”

He dragged his hand through his hair. “I did, but I realized you’re right. This place isn’t as bad as I thought it was. Now, I want to be here. I want to be with you. I’m not scared anymore. I’m not running.”

She wanted to believe him so damned bad. But how could he have come to this conclusion so fast? It seemed way too fast and sure for a man who spent his life avoiding this town and everyone in it. She shook her head. “I don’t believe you. I’m sorry.”

“Well, believe it. I can prove it, too. I’m not scared of this town anymore, or what they say about me. I’m not scared of anything, if you’re by my side.” He looked over his shoulder and then started backing up toward the stage, crooking his finger at her. “There’s a lot of people from high school in this room. The same people that tormented me. Agreed?”

She followed him despite the warning bells screaming in her head. He said all the right things, but would he follow through with these promises? That was the question. “Yeah…?”

“The old me never would have drawn attention to myself in front of them. The old me would’ve faded into a corner, or left as soon as he saw the people he hated so much.” He grinned at her. “But the new me? The one you brought to life with only a few short days at your disposal? He says f**k it, I’m gonna prove to my girl that I’m not scared anymore.”

Her jaw dropped when he jumped up on the stage and whispered something to the DJ. “Ethan, get down from there,” she hissed, her cheeks heating. “You don’t have to—”

“Oh, but I do.” Ethan looked down at her, the mic in his hand tight, and cleared his throat. “Hello, everyone. I’m Ethan Pierce, which most of you will recognize. You may or may not have shoved me into a locker or a trash can at some point in my life…” He grinned and held his hands up. “…but don’t worry. That’s not why I’m up here. We don’t have a Carrie situation on our hands.”

Ashley buried her face in her hands, then motioned him down from the stage. “Oh my God, get down from there.”

“Nope.” He grinned down at her, but his eyes showed a different story. He was nervous, but he was doing this anyway. “Anyway, I’m up here because I love that girl down there, Ashley Hanes, and I was kind of a jerk to her…more than once. I refused to be myself and let her in, and in doing so, I pushed her too far away. So much so that she doesn’t want to let me back in. So, I’m going to prove she should give me a chance by singing her a song. But I apologize in advance, because I suck.”

Ashley held a hand over her mouth. Wait, he loved her? What was he doing up there, then? He needed to come down here and kiss her and then she could—

He cleared his throat again. “And Ashley? When I’m done, if you can stand being with a man who sings like me, well then…” He pointed at the clock on the wall. It was just shy of midnight. “Kiss me at midnight. Show me you can maybe love me, too.”

He nodded to the DJ, and the music started up. She recognized the song right away as a Chris Daughtry song. Within seconds, Ethan was signing about being wrong and wanting to spend his life laughing with her by his side.

He was right.

He was awful…but it was the most beautiful thing she’d ever heard.

She laughed when he held a long, off-key note, covering her mouth even as tears came down her face. This right here was love. Someone clapped when he did a little dance move, right up on stage in front of everyone, and the whole bar erupted in applause. Ashley burst into laughter, shaking her head at him when he crooked his finger for her to join him on stage.

No way in hell she was getting up there. She wasn’t drunk enough.

“Kiss him, sweetie,” a man yelled from the far corner of the bar.

“Yeah, kiss him!” Rhiannon shouted.

“Put him out of his misery,” another guy yelled.

“He loves you,” another girl yelled.

Ashley laughed. “Okay, okay.”

She climbed the steps to the stage, her heart racing when the entire bar erupted into loud applause. She stopped right next to him, just as he held the last note in a pathetic imitation of Chris Daughtry, but it sounded perfect to her. More than perfect.

“Okay, enough torturing the bar,” she teased. She grinned at him, and he cupped her cheeks, the mic still in his right hand. As he swiped the tears away with his thumbs, she closed her hands around his wrists. “I can’t believe you did that.”

“But can you forgive me for being a coward?” he asked, his voice hoarse. “Because I love you so damned much, and I’m not running this time. I promise you this. I will not run or push you away or revert to being the man I’d become without you. My f-feet are firmly planted, and I won’t waver from my course.”

She grinned and nodded, tears blurring her vision even more. “I love you, too. And I believe you now.”

“Y-You love me?” he asked, his eyes wide. “Are you sure?”

She laughed. “Yes, I’m sure. It’s kind of something a girl knows, Ethan.”