When Summer Ends

by Isabelle Rae

  I paced around the kitchen nervously until the doorbell rang. I practically skipped to the door, straightening my dress and taking a deep breath before pulling it open. My breath caught in my throat when I saw him. He looked incredible in a black tux, white shirt with a pale blue tie.

  I ran my eyes down his body slowly, taking every part of him in before dragging my eyes back to his face. His hair was styled but yet still managed to look messy and like he’d been running his hands through it. His eyes were still raking down my body, his mouth open slightly. I smiled to myself. He likes what he sees! I cleared my throat dramatically to get his attention. His eyes snapped to mine and he smiled at me, his grey eyes boring into mine again.

  “Finished undressing me with your eyes or do you need a few more minutes?” I teased, leaning against the door frame, trying to look sexy.

  “Sorry, I was just trying to work out how the hell I’m going to keep my hands off of you in front of my family today,” he replied, shaking his head, looking me over again.

  I giggled and grabbed his tie, pulling him into the house, shutting the door behind him. “I’m sure you’ll manage somehow,” I stated, rolling my eyes and patting his tie back down in the right place, discretely loving the feel of his chest under my hand. Actually I’m not sure how I’m going to keep my hands off of him either. He looked so handsome he was making my mouth water.

  “I’ll have to I guess,” he said, blowing out a breath and flicking his head to get his hair from his eyes. Wow, that’s so sexy when he does that.

  “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.

  I grinned and shook my head slowly. “Oh no, I won’t be forgetting any of that for a while,” I teased. He laughed dejectedly and cringed.

  The DJ announced the bride and groom’s first dance so I pulled Will off of the dance floor, much to his disappointment it seemed. I watched the happy couple dancing. They looked so cute and in love that I was actually a little jealous of their relationship.

  Suddenly Will’s arms went around me, pulling me close to his chest as a guy walked over. He was probably in his mid-forties. He looked me over slowly with a sly grin on his face. I smiled back nervously, wondering what was going on.

  Will held out his hand to him. “Hey, how are you? Long time no see,” he said politely as they shook hands.

  “I’m great, son, you look like you’re doing good,” the guy answered, nodding at me as his eyes wandered down my body again.

  “Yeah. Chris, this is Chloe, my girlfriend. Chloe, this is my Uncle Chris,” Will introduced, looki
ng at me with one eyebrow raised. My heart thumped in my chest when he said the G word. Girlfriend? Oh wait I get it; this is the pervert Uncle I’m supposed to stay away from.

  “Hi, Chris, it’s nice to meet you.” I shook his outstretched hand and he brought it to his lips, kissing the back gently. Will’s arms tightened on me again as he pulled me back into his chest, making me giggle at how protective he was.

  Another arm snaked around my shoulder. “Come dance with me, Chloe,” Sam instructed, winking at his brother. Will immediately let go of me and smiled at Sam gratefully. I glanced at Will to see if this was okay and he nodded in prompt, stepping away from me. I didn’t actually want to dance with Sam, but Will seemed a little relieved to see me go. More people were dancing now. The cheesy wedding songs were out in force, eighties and nineties music to get people up off of their seats.

  “So, what’s up with that guy then? Will doesn’t seem to like him,” I observed, frowning as I watched them talking. Will looked decidedly uncomfortable, and also a little annoyed.

  Sam snorted, looking distastefully in their direction. “Chris is an ass. He hits on everything that moves, it’s gross. Will probably doesn’t like him looking at you like that. He asked me to keep an eye on you too,” Sam replied, leaning in to talk into my ear over the music.

  “Ew, he’s like forty, that’s gross. Wait… when did Will ask you that?” I asked, confused. He’d barely left my side the whole time.

  “When we had our photos done,” he answered, shrugging. “So, Will’s never mentioned you before. I actually didn’t know he was dating anyone. How long have you been together?” he asked, moving closer to me.

  I grinned. “We’re not together, we only met last night.”

  He laughed and put his hands on my hips, pulling me closer to him. “Oh really? So if you’re not dating, maybe I could ask you out?” he flirted, winking at me suggestively.