Stepbrother With Benefits 11 by Mia Clark Page A

food and a picnic blanket.  I'm not  entirely sure what we're doing, except it involves walking through the woods and also fishing.
    "What's that supposed to mean?" Ethan asks.
    We've been walking in the woods for awhile now.  We climb up over a small ridge and the woods vanish ahead of us, replaced by a rocky hill, and beyond that an open lake.  It's hidden away in the woods, and it's not exactly huge, but it looks like it would take awhile to swim across it.
    "We were going to come here alone before, remember?" Ethan's dad says to him.  "I thought it'd be nice if we just had some alone time and gave the ladies their time, too.  We can meet back up for dinner."
    Ethan gives his dad a weird look.  I'm not sure what exactly it's for, but he doesn't look too thrilled about the idea of splitting up.
    "We can go fishing, Ashley," my mom says to me.  "We'll see if we can catch something nice for dinner."
    "Mhm, and we'll take a hike through the woods," Ethan's dad says to him.  "There's a trail by the river that feeds into the lake and I thought it'd be nice to check it out."
    It looks like everything's been decided and it's just up to us to agree, but...
    I don't really know if I want to?  It's not that I don't want to, and I'd love to spend some time with my mom, but, um... what about Ethan?  I know he's stressed right now, because how could he not be?  I'm stressed, too, but I just have this strange feeling that everything is going to be fine.  Maybe I'm being intentionally obtuse and delusional right now, but I just want everything to work out.
    Isn't this kind of like what happened with Jake, though?  I thought I could be with him before, and in reality he was just using me.  Then, after that, when he found out I was sleeping with my stepbrother after I accidentally sent him those incriminating text messages, well...
    I know it sounds stupid, because I'm supposed to be smart.  I am smart, at least as far as book smarts are concerned, but there's so many other ways to be smart, and I'm just not sure how all of them work.  Street smarts, or social awareness, or intuition and instinct.
    I've watched Ethan be Ethan for years now.  I've seen him flawlessly interact with all sorts of people, and sometimes I've wondered how he does it so easily.  It's not like that's something you can just watch and copy, you know?  There's more to it than that, but I don't know what exactly that is or what it means.
    I've seen him play football and move so athletically, and even though I could probably explain to you exactly how he's moving, I couldn't move that way on my own.  Sometimes it's the small, simple things that are the hardest.  If you can do something so extremely complicated, but make it seem incredibly easy... that's what being smart is.
    I suppose that's how I am with book smarts, though.  I understand intellect and problem-solving like it's my second nature, but that comes harder for other people.
    We all have our strengths and weaknesses.  We're all good at something and bad at something else.  This is why we need each other.  This is why it makes sense for Ethan and I to be together.
    I'm the good girl, the careful, cautious one, who thinks before she acts.  Ethan is the bad boy, the risk taker, the person who jumps into action regardless of the consequences.  Sometimes you can't wait to think before you act, though.  Sometimes you can't be careful or cautious.  And sometimes you need to know when a risk is too great, and when you should reign in your recklessness and consider the repercussions.
    This is why we're perfect together.  I'm sure there's a lot more reasons, but I think that's one of them.
    I see Ethan, too.  I really see him, I understand him.  I think he understands me, as well.  He's not just a bad boy, at least not to me.  He's careful with me, he's patient and kind  with me.  He's understanding, also.  Ethan isn't reckless with me and he doesn't take careless risks with