When Summer Ends (4 page)

“I’ll just get my purse, then I’m ready.” I slipped off to
the kitchen, checking to make sure I had my keys, cell phone, and money. As I
turned back around I didn’t realise he’d followed me in there and I walked straight
into his hard chest and almost fell over. His hands shot out to steady me,
gripping my waist tightly.

“Whoa, easy, I know I look hot in my tux but you don’t have
to fall at my feet,” he teased, bending a little to look into my eyes. I felt
the heat creep up onto my cheeks because I’d made a fool of myself in front of
him. He hadn’t let go of me. We were just looking at each other, making my
breathing speed up. I couldn’t drag my eyes away from his face. After what felt
like an eternity he looked away first and stepped back. “You look extremely
beautiful, Chloe.” He smiled his sexy little smile making my face heat up even
more.

“Thanks, you just look okay,” I joked, waving a hand at him
dismissively. He chuckled at my remark. I stuck my tongue out and walked past
him to the front door, waiting for him to come out before locking up.

When we got to his car, I laughed in disbelief. He’d cleaned
out all of the clutter and empty takeout cartons from the car. It even smelled
nice inside.

“Wow, did you do this for me?” I asked, shocked.

He grinned and shrugged. “Well, I didn’t want you thinking I
was some kind of slob who couldn’t clean up after himself.”

A smile tugged at my mouth because he’d gone to so much
effort. “Yeah? How long did this take?”

He laughed wickedly. “No idea. I paid my neighbours kid five
bucks to do it for me.”

I gasped. “Five bucks? Jeez, Will, that’s just cruel, that’s
like slave labour, this car was disgusting. I hope the kid had his TB jab
before he touched anything.” I laughed.

“Yeah, I checked with his mom and made sure he was up to
date with his shots before I set him loose,” he joked, winking at me.

On the way to the church he preceded to tell me everything I
needed to know about his family before I met them. His parent’s names were
William and Angela, his sister was getting married to a guy named Andrew, and I
was to stay away from his perverted Uncle Chris, who would undoubtedly like a ‘pretty
young thing’ like me apparently. By the time we pulled up at the church I was
wringing my hands nervously.
This is a really terrible idea. I mean, who on
earth comes on a first date to a family wedding?
He jumped out and came
round to my side, holding out a hand to help me out of the car.

When I was out he leant in and grabbed something from the
glove compartment. He turned to me and held out a little corsage. “I got this
for you.”

Aww, that’s so pretty.
“Thanks, Will.” I took it and
looked it over. It was one of the ones that pinned on your dress; it had a
little white flowers in the middle with green leaves behind. It was lovely.

“Want me to put it on for you?” he asked, raising one
eyebrow cockily.

I laughed and shook my head. “I think I’ve got it, pervert,”
I answered, giggling and pinning it on the front of my dress as we walked to
the church.

When we got to the door he took my hand and pulled me to a
stop. “Thanks for coming, Chloe. If at any point you want to leave then tell me
and I’ll drive you home. I mean, this is a terrible first date.” He looked at me
apologetically, as if expecting me to run away any second.

“Oh crap, you think this is a date? Will, I only came for
the free food,” I teased, pulling him forward into the church. He was laughing
as we walked through the doors. The people in the back turned to watch us walk
in, obviously wondering what all the commotion was. I blushed and dropped my
eyes to the floor letting him lead me over to a pew near the front. He was
saying ‘hello’ and ‘nice to see you’ left right and centre. I put on a fake
smile and followed behind him uncomfortably. When we got the second row, he
gestured for me to go in first. I smiled as I sat in next to a guy who looked
like Will but just not quite as handsome and a little younger; his eyes were
brown instead of grey. He was totally checking me out, and not even bothering
to be discreet either.
This is obviously his little brother.

“You must be Sam, right?” I asked, grinning.

The guy smirked back at me, his eyes twinkling with
mischievousness. “Yeah, and you must be the girl I’ll be waking up with
tomorrow.”

I giggled quietly. “Wow, cockiness runs in your family, huh?”

Will reached over and punched his brother in the arm, making
me laugh harder. “Rein it in, dipshit, that’s my date,” he growled.

“Shh, you can’t swear in a church!” I hissed, giggling
again.

Will rolled his eyes as the lady in the front row turned
round. She was very pretty and had the same grey-blue eyes as Will. “Can’t you
boys cut it out for one day?” she scolded, shaking her head, obviously trying
to sound stern but the smile on her face kind of ruined the effect. Her gaze
locked on me, and her smile got even bigger. “Oh, Will, are you going to
introduce us?” she cooed excitedly. I sat up straighter.
That’s his mom and
I’m sitting here giggling in a church. Wow, great first impression, Chloe.

Will nodded. “Mom, this is Chloe. Chloe, my mom, Angela,” he
introduced, “and that’s my dad there,” he added, pointing to a man who was
standing up talking to a couple of people at the front of the other aisle.

“I’m so pleased to meet you,” Angela gushed, holding out a
hand to me.

I shook it uncomfortably, feeling my face heat up. “You too,
Angela. I love your hat,” I said, smiling. She looked extremely cute in a
little cream suit and matching hat with a little netting on it, my mom have
totally bought that hat too.

“Thank you, honey.” She smiled happily, touching the top of
it.

The guy that Will had pointed out as his dad, came over and
sat down, before turning in his seat to talk to us too. He shook Will’s hand in
a very grown up gesture. I could see they had a close relationship; his parents
doted on him, I could tell just by looking at them.

“William, this is Will’s girlfriend, Chloe,” Angela chirped,
looking at me proudly.

Girlfriend? Wow, okay, jumping the gun there, Angela.
It’s not my place to put them straight though.
I glanced at Will, waiting
for him to say something, but he just slipped his arm across the back of the
pew, resting along my back, making me shiver slightly.

“Yeah? Nice to meet you, Chloe,” his dad greeted, grinning and
looking proudly at Will.

“You too,” I muttered, embarrassed by all the attention.

“So, how’s Andrew doing?” Will asked, glancing over at a
nervous looking guy standing up the front. He looked extremely cute in his tux,
but was wringing his hands together, watching the door.

William chuckled to himself quietly. “He’s fine. I think
he’ll feel a lot better when Kaitlin shows her face. He’s somehow got it into
his head she’s going to stand him up at the altar,” he replied, laughing.

“Why does he think that?” I asked, frowning, a little
concerned.
That will be awful if she doesn’t turn up. Poor guy.

William laughed harder, which earned him an elbow to the
ribs from Angela. “I told him that she would. I was just joking around this
morning, but I think the poor guy’s taken it to heart,” he replied wickedly.
Will and Sam both started laughing. “It would have all been fine if the wedding
planner hadn’t just dragged Kaitlin off to fix a problem with her dress. When
he saw me on my own, I think he thought she wasn’t coming.”

Angela shook her head and looked at them all disapprovingly.
“You three are mean! Seriously, like father like sons, you all have the same
warped sense of humour,” she scolded. “Chloe, I would think twice about having
children with Will. You should look at his father to see what he’ll be like in
twenty years.” She rolled her eyes playfully.

I blushed like crazy and giggled, looking at Will and
waiting for him to say something to his mother about this being our first date.
He didn’t. Instead, he smirked at me and leant in, kissing my burning cheek.
“You are way too cute,” he whispered in my ear as his hand traced patterns
across my bare shoulder.

My skin prickled where he touched me. “And you are way too
confident,” I whispered back, making him laugh.

A little while later a pretty lady in a business suit came
to collect William so they both disappeared off. A few minutes later the organ
music started. People stood up, turning around to watch the bride’s entrance.
Will took my hand, interlacing our fingers, and I must admit, I really liked
it. His hand seemed to fit mine perfectly, making my whole body feel warmer.

I looked back to see his sister and his dad walk up the
aisle, but quickly realised that I couldn’t see over the sea of people, so I
turned back to the front and watched the groom instead. He was watching the
back of the church, all signs of nervousness gone now. A huge, proud smile was stretched
across his face. I felt my heart skip a beat. I would love someone to look at
me like that one day, I could only hope for that level of devotion that was
clear across his face in that moment. He was watching her entrance like she was
the only girl in the world, like she was the most beautiful thing he had ever
seen. It was so romantic that my eyes prickled with tears, which was silly
because I didn’t even know the couple.

After the ceremony we headed to the churchyard for the
photos. I stood with Will and Sam while their sister had all manner of family
photos done in various positions, with all sort of people. Will and Sam had a
photo done with their sister. Kaitlin was really pretty, and her dress was
beautiful. She had the same colour hair as the rest of the family, but brown
eyes the same as her dad and Sam. They were all so attractive; the photos would
be really nice.

Will came over and grabbed me, pulling me over to the
photographer. “What are we doing? Are you done?” I asked as he wrapped his arm
around my waist.

“No, I need to have my photo done with my date, apparently,”
he explained, taking hold of my chin and turning my head towards the guy.
“Smile,” he whispered.
Oh man, I hate having my photo taken!
“Smile,
Chloe. Stop panicking,” he instructed, laughing quietly. I took a deep breath
and smiled, hearing the sound of the camera going crazy in front of me while I
blushed and tried not to blink.

“Thanks guys, you two are done. Okay, can I get Aunts and
Uncles with the bride and groom?” the photographer shouted, waving around.

I breathed a sigh of relief as Will led me off to one side
again. As we were walking I noticed he hadn’t taken his arm from around my
waist, and I also noticed I didn’t want him to.

“There now, that wasn’t too bad was it?” he teased, bending
to look into my eyes, a smirk across his face.

“As long as you didn’t smile like that,” I retorted, putting
my hand over his mouth. He laughed and bit the palm of my hand lightly making
me giggle and pull my hand away quickly, wiping my hand across his shirt.

After another few minutes of flirting and joking around, we
were all dismissed to go to the reception. “Hope you have your dancing shoes
on,” Will chirped, grinning happily as we drove to the hotel where it was being
held.

“Why, you going to bust a few moves?”

“I’ve been known to in my time.” He smirked at me, making me
laugh.

When we got to the hotel, he took my hand again, leading me
through to the function room at the back. It was beautifully done out. Round
tables were dotted around the room, each covered by a blue table cloth and
matching napkins. Set on the centre of every table was a little blue and white
flower arrangement. It was perfect.

“Looks like we’re early,” Will mused. “Let’s go check out
where we’re sitting and pray that it’s not near Uncle Chris.” He looked at me
with mock horror as he led us over to a seating plan. He stood close behind me
as we scanned it over, looking for his name. His breath blew across my
shoulders making my body almost tremble with excitement. “Oh dammit, we’re
sitting with Aunt Lucy and Uncle Ronald,” he muttered under his breath.

I turned to face him, smiling. “More perverts?”

He grinned and shook his head. “No, but if you want to hear
stories of what I was like as a child and see naked baby pictures, then we’re
sitting in the right place.” He closed his eyes and shook his head, looking
like he was in pain. I burst out laughing.
This dinner is going to be
awesome.

Will was incredibly funny during dinner. His aunt was one of
those cute ones that pinches cheeks and pulls out the photos from the back of
her purse to show you. During the three course meal, I heard all manner of
stories about him and his brother from their childhood. Some good, some bad.
Will was a pretty naughty child by the sounds of it.

When he was younger he gave Aunt Lucy’s cat a haircut with
electric clippers, painted her living room furniture with gloss paint that he
found in her shed, smashed windows with footballs, and I even found out that he
wet the bed until he was five. As he got older he crashed her car into a
lamppost, got up drunk one night when he was staying at her house and went for
a pee in her closet because he thought he was in the bathroom. One time he even
put an egg in a pan, then went to watch football on the TV and burnt half of
her kitchen down.

Every single story she told was said with a big grin on her
face though. She absolutely adored Will, that much was glaringly obvious. He
just sat there like a good sport the whole time, he didn’t complain once even
though I was teasing the life out of him all evening.

When the music finally started up he immediately jumped out
of his chair and dragged me over to the dance floor. “Damn, that was embarrassing,
any chance you can forget you heard any of that?” he pleaded, pulling me close
to him as the first slow song started.