When Summer Ends (67 page)

I nodded in confirmation. “Yep.”

He smiled. “Go wait in there for me while I just take a
leak.”

I frowned. “I’ll just wait here. You’re not gonna be long,
are you?” I asked sarcastically.

He made a disgusted face. “I can’t go if I know you’re
waiting outside for me, it’ll put me off.”

“You didn’t seem to have a problem with it when you peed
when I was in the actual room with you earlier!” I scolded, shaking my head at
the memory.

He chuckled wickedly. “Hmm, you’re right, maybe you should
come in with me again. I quite liked that in a kinky, peeing in front of your
brother’s girlfriend kind of way,” he admitted, raising one eyebrow
conspiratorially.

I laughed and rolled my eyes.
What a weird boy.
“Never,
ever again. I’m still mentally scarred from it. I’ll just wait in the gym for
you. I’ll go find Amy and Ryan,” I suggested, turning to head back to the
party.

He gripped my hand and shook his head. “I don’t want to walk
back in on my own, I might not be able to find you, and then we’ll miss the
last dance. Can’t have a girl missing the last dance of her prom, can we?” he teased.

“Fine then, I’ll wait here.”

He sighed and shook his head adamantly. “Just go sit in
Will’s classroom for me. If you stay here then you’ll get distracted with your
ditsy little goldfish brain and end up wandering off somewhere.”

“Goldfish brain?” I gasped, slapping his arm but laughing at
the same time.

He grinned cheekily. “Go!” he insisted, giving me an
encouraging little push towards Will’s classroom. “I’ll be right out and then
we can dance.”

I sighed dramatically and stormed over there, not really
having the energy to argue with him about it. All I wanted to do was go home
now; I’d had enough of tonight. This should have been the most special night of
my life, dancing with the man of my dreams; instead I get to spend the night
with his brother and look for him all night. Not how I would have expected my
prom night to turn out before this whole Will situation happened.

I gripped the handle and pushed the door open, only to see
someone sitting on the desk in front of me. I let out a little scream before I
realised it was Will. I felt the goofy smile stretch onto my face as he pushed
himself up off of the desk and headed over to me, taking my hand and pulling me
into the room. He closed the door and pushed me against it, kissing me
fiercely. I moaned into his mouth at his taste, his smell was all around me
making my insides tingle with happiness. He pulled out of the kiss and put his
forehead to mine, a beautiful smile stretched across his face.

“Hi,” he whispered.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, tilting my head and
kissing him again for a second. “Hi.” I closed my eyes and pulled him closer to
me, loving the weight of his body as it pressed against mine and trapped me
against the door. “What are you hiding in here for?” I murmured with my eyes
still closed, just breathing him in and savouring the moment.

He laughed quietly. “I couldn’t let the night go past
without dancing with my girl. I was wondering if I could get your last dance,”
he cooed, his nose tracing up the side of mine.

My last dance? How would that work?
“Huh?” was my
brilliant response as I opened my eyes to look at him quizzically.

He laughed and pulled back, taking my hand and stepping away
from me. As he did that I realised that the light wasn’t turned on in the room.
Instead, there were little candles littering the desks and spotted at various
points around the room, casting little shadows all around. On the desk nearest
me there was a single tulip and two cups of punch. I looked back at Will in
awe.
He is so freaking romantic sometimes.
I really don’t deserve
this guy to be so thoughtful all the time. He’d planned this so we could have
the last dance? Is that why Sam was so jumpy and insisted that we head to these
bathrooms instead? They had this planned from the start?
My heart melted
into a puddle, and I looked back at Will who was watching me intently.

“You are just too sweet sometimes,” I breathed, stepping
closer to him.

He smiled. “And you are just so beautiful in this dress that
I’m not even sure how I’m managing to speak coherently,” he mumbled, running
his hands down my sides, his fingers tracing the lines of my dress. “I’ve never
seen anything more angelic in my life, you’re incredible.” His breath blew
across my face and neck making my skin prickle with sensations.

“Damn it, Will, stop making me fall more in love with you!”
I whined playfully.

He grinned and did a little bow, holding out his hand.
“Would the lady care to spend her last dance with me?” he asked, putting on a
fake British accent.

I grinned and curtsied in my dress. “I would be honoured,” I
accepted, taking his hand. He grinned and pulled me to his chest, wrapping his
arms around me tightly. The music from the gym was drifting down the hallway to
his classroom; it wasn’t loud, but just loud enough for it to be perfect. I
wrapped my arms tight around his neck, clamping my body to his as we swayed to
the beat of the song. The candles flickered, casting romantic shadows across
the walls and ceiling. In the candle light he looked so handsome, the way the
hue caught his features made him look incredibly beautiful. And impossibly, I
actually did find myself falling even more in love with him.

When the song finished, he pulled back and kissed me. His
lips claimed mine in a kiss that was so tender and soft that it was almost
hypnotic. He pressed his forehead to mine again, his eyes locked onto mine
making me feel weightless and like we were dancing on a cloud. “I love you so
much, Cutie,” he mumbled, his lips brushing mine as he spoke. I just sighed
dreamily in response, which made him laugh quietly. “Thank you for the dance,”
he whispered.

“No. Thank you,” I replied, looking at him in awe.

He smiled and pulled back even more, letting his arms drop
from my side as he shoved one hand into his pants pocket. “So, I couldn’t let a
special occasion go by without marking it with something,” he mused, pulling
his hand out and holding out a little velvet pouch, the same type of one that
held the little ring charm that he gave me on my birthday. I gulped and made an
excited little aww sound when I realised he’d bought me another charm from my
bracelet.

“You didn’t need to,” I whispered, taking the little bag
from his hand and pulling on the string.

“I know, but I wanted to. I want to get you a charm for
everything significant in our lives, then maybe when we die you can pass it
down to our kids, or if we’re really, really old then we’ll have
great-great-grandchildren by then, and you can pass it to one of them, it’ll be
an heirloom by then,” he teased.

I laughed. “You plan on living a long time,” I joked,
feeling my eyes fill with tears at the sweetness that was dripping out of his
mouth like honey. He smiled and watched as I tipped a little gold tulip charm
out of the bag onto the palm of my hand. It was beautiful and had little red
petals. “Will,” I breathed, not quite knowing what to say.
How does he
manage to make me feel so special all the time? He just seems to know the
perfect thing to buy, something so thoughtful that it makes my heart ache.

“Here, I’ll put it on for you and then you’d better go and
find Sam. The prom’s finished now and I need to help with the clearing up,” he
suggested, stepping closer and taking it out of my hand. I smiled and held out
my wrist to him. He clipped it onto my bracelet that I had yet to take off in
the last two months, and then kissed the inside of my wrist on my pulse point.
I sucked in a breath through my teeth when he did that, I loved that one little
move, and I was pretty sure he knew that too because he always seemed to keep
doing it to put me in the mood.
The damn boy knows that drives me crazy.

I closed my eyes and gripped the lapels of his jacket,
pulling him closer to me, crushing my chest against his. “You know that makes
me hot, that wasn’t fair when I’m not going to be seeing you all night,” I
whispered, shaking my head in mock disapproval.

He laughed and wrapped his arms around my waist. “Well maybe
you’ll have to call me, and we can do something about it over the phone if
you’re that hot,” he teased, flicking my nose.

I giggled and blushed knowing what he meant. “Maybe I will,”
I replied, raising one eyebrow at him suggestively.

He gulped loudly. The smile fell off of his face; he
obviously thought I would react differently to that little suggestion.
“Really?” he asked, his voice shocked.

I nodded and shrugged easily. I was up for anything he
wanted to try, a little dirty talk should be all right, he wouldn’t be able to
see my burning face from the other end of the phone anyway, and who knows, we
might just enjoy it. “Sure,” I breathed, watching as his eyes widened. I
smirked, knowing that I’d won; he was unquestionably more shocked than I was.
“I’d better go. Thank you so much for making my night so special. I love you,”
I promised, gripping my hand in the back of his hair and pulling his mouth down
to mine again. He kissed me for a few minutes. The kiss was scorching hot, and
my breathing was practically in pants with excitement.
If we weren’t in
school right now then I so would have been tearing his clothes off of him!

A loud and insistent banging on the door had him jumping
away from me like I had the plague. We both looked at the door with wide eyes
wondering who it would be. “I don’t care if you’re in the middle of something
nasty; if you don’t let Chloe get dressed and send her out here in ten seconds,
then I’m coming to join in!” Sam shouted, laughing from the other side of the
door.

I burst into a fit of giggles as Will blew out a big breath
and closed his eyes, running a hand through his hair. I kissed him lightly on
the lips again. “Want me to help you put out the candles? We could wait for you
and you could come get a pizza with us,” I offered, looking around at the
twenty or so candles he’d set around the room.

He shook his head. “Nah, I got it. You should go, I’ve got
to reset all the fire alarms in here anyway and then I’m tidying up the gym.
Call me tomorrow?” he asked, stroking the side of my face.

I slapped his ass and stepped to the door. “I’m calling you
tonight, remember?” I winked at him and laughed as I pulled the door open and
headed out to the hall to see Sam leaning against the wall waiting for me.

“Your dress is on inside out, Foxy,” he teased, smirking at
me.

“Ha-ha. Come on let’s go get some food before you take me
home. I’m buying considering you helped set all this up for me,” I insisted,
linking my arm through his and heading off through the hallways to the waiting
limos. I looked down at the little charm on my bracelet and sighed dreamily. I
really was one lucky girl.

Chapter Forty-One

I stood there with an uneasy excitement in the pit of my
stomach. This was it; this was the day we had been waiting for. This was the
day that my whole school life had been building up to. Graduation.

Today I would leaving this school, graduating with honours,
and finally all of the hiding, the being careful, the worrying, would all be
over. Will and I could be together without looking over our shoulders all of
the time. Once this ceremony was over, it was no longer illegal for me to be in
love with my teacher. Sure, it would probably still be frowned upon a little,
but people would get over it eventually, and I didn’t care anyway.

I smiled as I scanned over the crowd of people. I saw my
parents sitting there; my mom was crying happy tears, with a big smile on her
face. Sitting a couple of rows away from them was Sam, Angela, and William.
They had insisted that they wanted to come today too and watch me graduate,
though they would be staying clear of my parents for now. The time would come
for them to meet, but that day wasn’t quite yet.

I spotted the teachers sitting off to one side. Will was
watching me with a proud smile on his face; I felt the goofy smile stretch onto
my face so I quickly looked away before I made anything obvious. I frowned a
little. I hadn’t seen him much recently; I’d been studying and working hard so
that I could graduate so we hadn’t spent much time together lately.

Also, even when I did spend time with him, he’d been a
little distant recently, making phone calls, sending emails, talking to Sam and
then stopping when I walked into the room. I didn’t know what it was about, but
I was hoping it was something as simple as he was buying me a graduation
present or something. My mind started wandering to horrible things, like maybe
he didn’t want to be with me anymore; maybe now that the excitement of a forbidden
relationship was over he didn’t want me. I’d been worrying about that for the
last couple of weeks when he started going away for the weekends with Sam, and
turning his cell phone off so I couldn’t call him. He said it was nothing, that
Sam needed to let loose, and he was just having ‘boy bonding time’. So I’d let
it go, just praying that he wasn’t cheating on me or something.

I forced myself to stop thinking about it. Today wasn’t about
that; today was about finally being thrust into society as an adult. I’d speak
to Will later and find out what was going on, but for now, I needed to worry
about nothing more important than tripping on the bottom of my robes and
falling on my face in front of everyone. Sam would love that.

I absentmindedly traced my hand over my wrist, catching my
charm bracelet and worrying the little charms between my fingers trying to calm
my nerves. There had been a couple more additions to my bracelet recently, the
one that he gave me on prom night - the tulip - had also been joined by a
horseshoe that he bought me when I had my exams, and the one that he gave me
this morning, the little silver scroll charm that was for my graduation.