When Summer Ends (24 page)

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Will, I remember you don’t like him.
Is there a point to this little dragging me away from my friends thing or…” I
trailed off, crossing my arms over my chest. I was already annoyed so he needed
to stop winding me up.

He laughed and shook his head. “Here.” He held an envelope
out to me, his eyes shining with amusement.

“What’s that?” I asked, frowning at it as I took it from his
hand.

“It’s a detention slip. Jeez, will you just open it and see,
and stop with the attitude?” he said, laughing.

I swallowed my angry retort and opened the envelope, pulling
out two tickets for the concert.
Oh my freaking God!
My mouth dropped
open in shock as my heart started to beat way too fast.
Holy poop, I’m holding
tickets to the concert in my hand! I’m going to see him live?
I squealed
and jumped up and down on the spot, which just made Will laugh and shake his
head at me. I looked up to him in disbelief.
He got these tickets for me,
knowing I loved Daniel Masters? Damn it, he really is something else.

“Are these yours?” I asked breathlessly. He smirked at me
and shook his head slowly but didn’t elaborate. “Who’s are they?” I asked,
praying he would say he was selling them to me.

“Yours,” he replied, his voice all husky and sexy making my
stomach get fluttery.

“You’re going to sell them to me?” I asked hopefully,
bouncing on the spot again.

“They’re yours, I got them for you. I’m not selling them to
you.” He rolled his eyes as if I’d said something stupid.

“You got them for me?” I asked, swallowing the lump in my
throat.

He shrugged like it was no big deal. “I heard that he was
doing the show and thought you’d want to go. The manager of the club that I
used to work at has some contacts. Apparently his brother is the guy who books
the venues and stuff so I asked him to get me a couple of tickets. I know he’s
your favourite.”

Why the heck did he do that? We’re not going out anymore,
so why did he go to the trouble to do that for me?
“Why would you get them
for me?” I asked, my voice breaking slightly as I spoke.

He looked at me intently, his grey eyes locked onto mine
making my whole body feel like it was on fire. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to
get tickets, I thought you’d like to go,” he explained simply.

“Thank you,” I gushed. He nodded, his eyes still locked on
mine. I wanted to throw myself at his feet and beg him to give me another
chance, to beg for him to change his mind, to leave the hot teacher that was
ten times better for him than me. “How much do I owe you?” I asked, breaking
the silence before I did what my heart was screaming at me to do.

“Nothing, I didn’t have to pay for them.” He turned away
from me, busying himself with moving his things around on his desk. “I pulled
in a favour; they didn’t cost me any money.”

Did he really not have to pay for them?
I stepped
closer to him knowing the bell was about to ring and that his class would be
here soon. I touched his arm, and he turned round to face me, his eyes
tightening as his body tensed up.

Oh God, can I kiss him? Would he kiss me back if I did?

“Thank you,” I whispered gratefully. That was probably one
of the nicest things anyone had done for me, so thoughtful and adorable.

“You’re welcome,” he whispered back. He was so close I could
feel his body heat seeping into mine.
Jeez, I need him so much. Why did this
have to happen? Why did he have to turn out to be my stupid teacher?
“You
should go, the bell’s about to ring.”

Before I could stop myself I stepped forward and pressed my
lips against his cheek softly, letting my mouth linger on his skin for a couple
of seconds while I enjoyed the feel of him under my lips again. He moaned in
the back of his throat and turned his face towards mine slightly so my lips
touched the corner of his mouth. I felt my heart skip a beat as hope started to
build inside me. I wanted him to kiss me so much. If he just moved his face
again our lips would connect. I pulled back ever so slightly so I wasn’t
kissing him anymore, but our faces we so close that I could feel his breath blowing
across my cheek and down my neck.

“Please go, Chloe,” he begged, closing his eyes as his hands
clenched into tight fists.

“Thank you for the tickets. That was really sweet, Will.”

“No problem, glad you liked them.” He stepped back, folding
his arms across his chest. “Not sure what you’re going to tell Amy though, good
luck with that.” He smirked at me and laughed as I practically skipped out of
the classroom. When I looked back at him, he winked, and my smile grew
impossibly bigger.

I didn’t tell Amy about the tickets. I was itching to though,
especially when she was moaning and whining about not being able to go. They
felt like they were burning a hole in my pocket and I couldn’t wipe the excited
grin off of my face all morning. When lunchtime came Olly plopped himself down
next to me, grinning happily. My heart sank. I’d forgotten we went on a semi
date, and that I’d agreed to eat with him today. 

“Hey, want to go eat outside or something?” he asked.

Crap, I guess I’d agreed to it so I can’t exactly say no!
“Sure.”

I grabbed my sandwich and drink following him out of the
building, ignoring Amy’s proud smile. He walked over to the benches at the back
of the school and sat down looking at me expectantly. I gulped and sat down next
to him with a forced smile.

“So how was the rest of your weekend?” he asked, tucking
into his sandwich.

I shrugged. “It was okay. I didn’t do much really, I spent
the day with Nick, and then Amy came over in the afternoon. What about you?” I
asked, moving slightly further away from him as my arm kept brushing his as we
moved to eat.

A frown lined his forehead. “You spent the day with Nick? So
are you two back together then or…” he trailed off, looking away from me.

I smiled and rolled my eyes. People always assumed things
about me and Nick. It drove me crazy. Couldn’t two people just be friends? Why
did something always have to be going on?

“Definitely
or
,” I confirmed.

He smiled happily, turning in his seat to look at me. “Awesome,
I thought you meant… never mind, I guess it doesn’t matter what I thought.”

“You thought I got back with my ex,” I guessed.

He nodded. “Yeah sorry. It’s weird you two being friends, you
don’t see that very often.”

I shrugged. “Yeah but people forget that Nick and I were
good friends before we even got together, so that makes it easier. I want to
keep him in my life so we just need to work a little harder to make that
happen. It was a little strained at first, but it’s cool now.”

He grinned happily and reached out to brush my bangs away
from my eyes. “Well then that’s great,” he whispered. His eyes flicked down to
my lips as he moved closer to me.

Oh no! I need to talk to him and explain a few things
about Will before he starts to really crush on me and then he ends up getting
hurt or something.

I reached up and took his hand that was tracing along my
cheekbone. I pulled back, smiling apologetically. “Olly, I need to talk to you
about something.”

He looked at me curiously as he intertwined our fingers,
leaving his hand in my lap. “Okay, what’s up?”

I sighed.
How the heck do I say this without giving
anything away and making myself sound like a moron who’s obsessed with her ex-boyfriend?
“Well this summer I started dating someone.” I frowned. The situation hurt to
talk about so I would actually rather not do it at all.

He pulled away further, frowning as he let go of my hand. “Great,
so you are seeing someone,” he accused, frowning.

I shook my head quickly. “No I’m not, honestly I’m not. It’s
just I really liked him and then he broke up with me like two weeks ago and I
still don’t think I’m over it properly.”
Wow that doesn’t even cover a tenth
of what I’m feeling.

“The guy dumped you? What is he, stupid or something?” he
asked, looking confused.

Aww, that’s a sweet thing to say!
I smiled. “I don’t
know. It just didn’t work out and I don’t want to rush into something if I’m
not over him because that wouldn’t be fair on either of us.” I smiled
apologetically.

“So you’re still into this guy that dumped you. You think
you two will get back together?” he asked, his expression was hopeful as he
studied my face.

“No I don’t.” There was no chance that Will wanted me now
that he was dating Miss Teller. He wouldn’t want to down grade to a stupid
school girl after being with her. Not to mention the fact that he thought I’d lied
to him about my age, and he’s my teacher. Everything just made it impossible
for us to get back together so I could say with absolute certainty that what
Will and I had was over - for him at least.

“So… maybe we could take it slow or something until you feel
over it,” Olly suggested, cocking his head to the side and giving me the puppy
dog face.

Could I take it slow with him? What would that actually mean
though? Going out on dates, kissing, and holding his hand. I guess I could do
that, as long as both of us understood that it was nothing serious. I knew I
didn’t have strong feelings for him, but he was a sweet guy. Maybe, like Amy
always says, my feelings would grow once I let myself get over Will. Maybe one
day he would make me fall for him, and I would be passing up an opportunity
that I should be grabbing with both hands. Will and I were over. I needed to
accept that fact.

“What if I’m just on the rebound from this guy and we both
end up getting hurt?” I quizzed, giving him the chance to walk away from me. I
would hate it if I ended up hurting him.  

He shrugged. “Who knows, but you’ll never know if you don’t
try, and I want to try.” His blue eyes were burning into mine, willing me to
give him a shot. I could feel my resistance crumbling.
Why oh why can I
never say no to people?

“We’ll have to take it really slow though, Olly,” I
whispered, not trusting my voice to speak.
I’ve just done it – taken the
significant step and chose to move on. Now I just need to make my heart move on
too.

He grinned and took my hand again; I smiled and looked at
our intertwined hands. It still felt wrong but it was nice to know that I was trying.
“Then we’ll take it really slow,” he confirmed. The bell rang signalling the
end of lunch, and I smiled at his disappointed face. “I guess we should get to
class. I’ll see you in calculus.”

He stood up grabbing my empty lunch things throwing them in
the trash for me. He smiled and held his hand out for me to take so I slipped
my hand back into his as we walked down the hall towards my next class. He
stopped outside the door to my Spanish class and smiled. “So I’ll see you in a
bit,” he mumbled, tucking some of my loose hair behind my ear for me.

“Yeah. Thanks for walking me to class.”

“No worries.” He turned and practically ran down the hallway
where he was late for his class because he walked me to mine. As I watched him
run off, I spotted Will standing there. It was like he was frozen in place, staring
at me, frowning angrily. Well, it was more like glaring actually.

What on earth is that look for?
I sighed and headed
into the classroom.
I give up trying to work out what goes on in that sexy
head of his.

Chapter Sixteen

I sat down next to Amy. She was grinning at me expectantly so
I knew she’d just seen us in the hallway and now wanted the gossip on lunch. I
smiled teasingly which made her almost bounce in her chair as she looked at me
pleadingly.

I chuckled darkly. “It was nice,” I stated, knowing she
would want details, and it would kill her to wait.

“Annnnnnd?” she cried excitedly.

I shrugged noncommittally. “I don’t know, it was nice. He
was sweet. I told him about Will and that I wasn’t ready for anything, and he
said we could take it slow. Then he held my hand and walked me to class.” That
was it, no juicy details like she thought.

She sighed dramatically. “Well he’s hot so you’re lucky. I
hope you give him a proper shot, Chloe, because he’s a nice guy.”

“I will give him a proper shot. Hopefully the taking it slow
thing will help,” I confirmed, turning to the front of the class as the teacher
walked in. All through class I ignored Amy’s stares and obvious frustration at
not getting the gossip.

When the class was over she looped her arm through mine and
skipped along at my side. “So did he kiss you again?” she asked with wide eyes.

I shook my head. “Nope.”

“You think he will?” she asked, grinning.

I gulped. I didn’t really want to be thinking about this
yet. “Probably,” I admitted reluctantly.

“Oh good grief he’s hot,” she gushed. “And you already know
what his body is like because of all the swim meets. Oh my God, your
boyfriend’s on the swim team! You’ll have to go to all of the races and stuff
to support him. You get to perv on him in his trunks!” she squealed.

Wow, it’s so wrong that Amy is more excited about this
than me!

“Tone it down, Amy. He’s not my boyfriend.” I frowned as we
stopped outside Will’s room. This class would be awkward with both Will and
Olly in the same room.

“He didn’t officially ask you out?” she asked, pouting disappointedly.

“No,” I answered. “Now come on let’s get a seat before Mr
Morris gives us detention for being late or something.” I headed into the class
to see Will was already sitting at his desk, watching as we walked in. I smiled
but he didn’t smile back.

What the heck is his problem now? This morning we had a
great moment, and now he’s looking all angry at me again.