When Summer Ends

by Isabelle Rae

  “Will, please don’t hurt me again,” I begged against his lips.

  He gasped and shook his head fiercely. “I won’t, I promise. I honestly thought you’d get over me. I didn’t think there would be any way you could feel for me like I felt for you. I thought you’d be able to move on and be happy. I hoped you would because you deserve to be happy. But then when you tried to move on, I couldn’t stop the jealously I felt inside, and I was so horrible to you because of it. I’m so sorry, Cutie. I should be able to just turn this feeling off and ignore it, walk away from you, but I can’t. I’m not even allowed to be talking to you like this, but yet I can’t seem to stay away from you. You just deserve someone better than me.”

  I frowned. “There is no one better for me than you.”

  He smiled at me gratefully before pressing his lips against mine again, ending the conversation. I was getting really into the kiss, my whole body was vibrating with the need for more, but he didn’t make any moves to touch me other than rubbing his hand slowly up and down my back. A loud, shrill sound cut through the air, making me squeal from shock. Will jumped away from me as if a bomb had gone off.

  I looked around shocked, and he started to laugh. “Games over,” he explained, shaking his head still amused.

  Oh, was that the end of the paintball game? I’d forgotten that was what we were even here for. I was so into that kiss that an earthquake could have occurred, and I wouldn’t have minded as long as Will’s soft lips hadn’t left mine.

  I looked at him disappointed, I didn’t want to go yet, we still had a lot to talk about. He held out a hand to me, smiling happily. I grinned and slipped my hand into his, sighing contentedly at how right it felt. He felt like home somehow. He picked up both of our guns and helmets with his other hand and gave me a little tug towards the opening of the rock. I pressed against his side as we walked and couldn’t keep the happy smile off of my face. He let go of my hand, snaking his arm round my waist, pulling me closer to him as he kissed the side of my head tenderly.

  “Want to do something with me tonight?” he asked.

  I grinned and nodded. “Sure. What do you have in mind?” I asked, fighting the urge to skip along beside him.

  He shrugged. “Anything you want, but I think we should talk some more. There are a lot of things we need to discuss.” He frowned thoughtfully.

  I nodded slowly. “Yeah I guess.”

  He pulled me to a stop. There was still no one around, but we had to be close to the clearing and paintball hut because the trees were getting a little sparser. “We need to act normal today, Cutie. We’ll talk some more later and figure out what we’re going to do, but for now we just pretend nothing happened back there, okay?” he instructed, looking at me hopefully.

  I nodded in agreement. That kind of went without saying. He smiled happily and nodded towards the path again. I grinned and turned to walk off; as I turned something hit my ass making me yelp in pain. Will was laughing wickedly. I span around to see he was still pointing his gun at me.

  I look at him in disbelief. He’d just shot me in the butt for the second time today. “What the hell?” I cried, making him laugh harder.

  He stepped forward to me and gripped my upper arm. His eyes were burning into mine as he slipped my last yellow band off of my arm, pushing it into his pocket. “I told you I’d take your last life,” he whispered sexily. He pressed his lips against mine again, making me forget the small stinging pain where he’d shot me at close range. I discreetly rubbed my finger in the fresh paint, getting a blob of it on my fingertip.

  When he pulled out of the kiss, I quickly wiped it across his cheek, laughing. “Now that’s sexy,” I mused, giggling at his shocked expression.

  He laughed and wrapped his arms around me tightly. “You’re sexy,” he countered, pecking me on the lips again softly. I blushed like crazy, and his smile became more pronounced as he traced his fingers across my burning cheek. “I love it when you blush for me, it’s too cute.”

  I rolled my eyes and pushed him away from me. We needed to go and meet up with everyone else before they started to wonder where we were. “Come on, flirt, let’s go. You can make me blush some more later,” I suggested, grabbing my gun and helmet from his hand and nodding towards the path. I didn’t trust him not to shoot me again if I was to walk in front of him.

  “Oh I’ll definitely be making you blush later.” He grinned at me cockily making my cheeks burn again even though I was trying my hardest not to let them. He just had that effect on me though, I just couldn’t help myself around him, and he damn well knew it.

  He winked at me and walked up the path. I matched my step to his and couldn’t help but steal little glances at him as we walked. He kept brushing the back of his hand against mine on purpose as we made our way to the clearing, his little finger hooking around mine subtly making my heart race.

  We got to the clearing and I spotted Amy and Nick standing there with Ryan, all chatting happily. I smiled at how happy Amy looked; I was immensely pleased for her because she’d finally spoken to Ryan.

  “I’ll speak to you later, Cutie,” Will whispered as he walked off in the other direction to me. I watched him walk away as I fought with my desire to do a happy dance in the middle of the clearing. He loved me, he genuinely loved me. Nothing else mattered other than those three words. The student and teacher thing, the minor thing, none of that mattered anymore, I knew we could work through it. It’d be hard, but we’d get through it together.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  I reluctantly dragged my eyes off of him and headed towards my group of friends. I fought hard to keep the happy smile off of my face, but I probably didn’t do a very good job at it. I had a feeling I would even be smiling in my sleep tonight. I ran my tongue over my still tingling lips, tasting him on the skin. My stomach fluttered, and I flicked my eyes to him again. He was leaning up against a tree just looking around at the students milling there.

  “There she is, the disappearing woman!” Nick joked as I got up to them.

  I laughed and shook my head. “I didn’t disappear; you ran off and left me!” I scolded playfully, slapping his arm.

  He rolled his eyes. “I didn’t. I ran into the trees expecting you to follow me, but you just crouched down, which was downright stupid by the way. Then I watched you walk off in the wrong direction looking for me, but by then there were another couple of people around so I couldn’t shout you or anything. I assumed you got caught and were out, you only had one life left,” he explained, laughing to himself at my obvious lack of paintball skills. His eyes flicked to my upper arm. “And I was right by the look of it, you were out. Where have you been though? Amy and Ryan were both out too and said you didn’t come back to the hut.”

  Oh no, what do I say to that? I shrugged. “Got lost?” I suggested, hoping he’d buy it. He did.

  His eyes roamed my paint covered body, obviously checking out the damage. He burst out laughing as he turned me around to look at my back. “You got shot in the ass again? That’s so funny. Only you, Chloe, only you!” he teased.

  I laughed and pushed him back, pouting. “Obviously not ‘only me’ because Amy and Ryan were out too!”

  I looked at Amy, she had her hand on Ryan’s arm as she giggled at something he’d said, looking at him through her eyelashes. I was so proud of her I could burst; she’d been crazy about him forever. I personally couldn’t see the attraction he held. He was cute, but not really my type. He was a complete jock, with big broad shoulders, and a thick muscled neck. Nothing like Will’s toned, yet not too over the top, physique.

  As soon as I’d thought about Will, my eyes flicked in his direction. Miss Teller was standing close to him, a seductive smile on her face as she pulled her natural blonde hair down from her hairband, shaking it out like one of those goddess women do on TV. Oh my goodness, how can he be interested in me while she’s doing that right in front of him? I’ve no chance in competing with that woman at all. If I was a guy I would
totally be drooling over her too.

  I looked away as I started to get a little jealous. What do I do if he cheats on me? He’s never had a girlfriend before; does he even know what being faithful means? Is he going to get bored of me in a few weeks and go after someone more deserving of his attention? Wait, wait, am I over analysing everything again, like I was doing before?

  I looked over to Will again at exactly the same time as he looked at me. I smiled at him and got a heartbreaking smile in return before he looked away again to Miss Teller. I sighed and decided I just needed to play it cool. I needed to stop thinking about things too hard because most of the time I’d been jumping to entirely the wrong conclusions about him.

  I could barely wait for tonight. Just to be close to him again, talk to him and just wrap my arms around him for a little while, it was going to be like heaven on earth. And his body… now that I was thinking about him, I couldn’t help but want his body, knowing how hot and incredible making love to him was. I shivered with desire, and I felt something squeeze my arm.

  “Chloe?” I looked up quickly, shaking my head to clear the thoughts away. Nick was snapping his fingers in front of my face, obviously trying to get my attention.

  Oh no, was I daydreaming? “Sorry, what?” I smiled apologetically, making him laugh and roll his eyes. Ryan walked away, throwing one last smile in Amy’s direction, which made her grin and bite her lip before she skipped to my side and grabbed my arm, digging her fingers into my skin as she looked at me with wide eyes.

  “He asked me out! Oh man, he actually asked me out!” she hissed excitedly, almost shaking me where she was so excited.

  I laughed and hugged her. “I’m so proud of you! I can’t believe you managed to talk to him finally,” I congratulated, grinning happily. Looks like today was great for both of our love lives. I sighed happily and risked another glance at Will; he was talking to Mr Young and then headed over to lean lazily against the door of the first coach.

  “I know! Thank the lord for paintball,” she gushed, sighing dreamily. I never thought I would agree, but I silently thanked the lord for paintball too because this was one of the best days I’d had in a long time.

  “So when are you going out? What did he say? Give me all of the details,” I instructed, linking my arm through hers and dragging her towards Mr Young so we could get checked onto a coach and I could gossip with her about Ryan. I was dying to tell her about Will, but I really needed to talk to him about it first to make sure he was all right with me telling her. The last thing I wanted to do was upset him or ruin anything when we’d only just gotten back together.

  Amy sighed dreamily and began to tell me all about how she had arranged with Nick to get paired with Ryan for the game. We joined the line to get onto the coach, and I lost myself in her story about their time together. I listened with wide eyes and an enormous smile as she talked excitedly about them having a lot in common, how they’d flirted, and how she hadn’t once make a fool out of herself in front of him for a change. I followed the line of the queue until I was at the door, ready to climb on board.

  I raised my foot to step on, just as an arm shot out across the doorway blocking my entry. I looked up shocked to see Will leaning there casually, his arm stretched out so I couldn’t enter the coach. A sexy little smirk was on his lips that I just wanted to run my tongue over. Amy was obviously lost in the story too because she crashed into my back not knowing that I’d stopped. I blushed like crazy, and Will’s smirk became more pronounced.

  “I think I’m going to get a bruise on my shoulder where you shot me, Miss Henderson. I may have to give you detention for it,” he teased, chuckling quietly.

  I laughed sheepishly. “You can’t give me detention, Mr Morris; we’re not on school property. Besides, it was an accident, and I’ve already apologised,” I replied, playing along with the whole teacher theme.

  He looked at me thoughtfully. “Hmm, I guess you’re right. But one step out of line on school property and your ass is in detention.”

  I rolled my eyes at him; he obviously liked having this power over me. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  He grinned and moved his arm from the doorway, nodding for me to get on. I felt my insides tremble just because of the way he was looking at me, playfully, teasingly. My Will was back with full force. I loved it, I loved him.

  I bit my lip so I didn’t say anything inappropriate and climbed on the coach with Amy hot on my heels. She slumped down into the seat next to mine, but she was obviously still off in Ryan La La land because she’d totally missed the whole Will incident outside the door, and just continued her story from where she left off. I watched as Will walked in a few minutes later and sat up the front of the coach.

  After half an hour of gossiping about Ryan and planning her date for tomorrow night, we finally started getting near the school. My cell phone beeped in my pocket so I pulled it out wondering who it would be from; when I read the name I immediately felt my face heat up. It was from Will.

  ‘I have 2 drive Caroline home. Shall I pick U up from yours at 4?’

  My heart jumped in my chest at the thought of seeing him. I was so excited I could barely sit still in my seat. Wait, four o’clock? He said he wanted to do something tonight, I was hoping to have time to shower and do my hair, make myself look a little worthier of his attention. But I couldn’t really say no to him, if he picked me up and four then I got to spend extra time about which I certainly wasn’t complaining about.

  ‘You’re eager, thought we were meeting tonight’ I sent back to him.

  Amy was looking at me curiously. I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to tell her. I knew she would be crazy excited for me, but I just needed to check with Will if he minded. He’d said I was to pretend like nothing had happened and this really wasn’t a conversation I could have with her with all of the other students around.

  “It’s my mom,” I lied, shrugging and willing my flushed face not to give me away.

  My cell beeped with his reply so I opened it excitedly. ‘Definitely eager! Is 4 OK?’

  I sighed dreamily and looked at the time on my phone; it was only just after three so at least I would have a little time to change into something nicer than baggy jeans and T-shirt that I wore for paintballing. ‘Sure, c u then’ I sent back to him, barely able to type with my shaky hands where I was so excited.

  We pulled into the school, and Will got off first, standing off to the side watching everyone file out. Nick was waiting just outside the door for us with a euphoric I-got-to-shoot-people-with-paint smile on his face, just like the rest of the boys that went.

  I skipped off with them excitedly towards Amy’s car; I was literally counting down the minutes until four o’clock when I would see Will again. It felt like I was in some sort of dream, like I wasn’t properly in control of myself or my actions, I was just moving around in some sort of trance, blissfully happy.

  Amy pulled up outside my house and looked at me pleadingly. “So you’ll come round tomorrow and help me pick my outfit, right?” she asked, chewing on her lip with either nerves or excitement, probably a mixture of both.

  I nodded. “For definite, wouldn’t miss the chance to tart you up for Ryan for the world!” I teased, hugging her as I got out of the car, waving as she drove up the road.

  I turned and practically ran into the house. My parents gave me strange looks as I pelted past them at full speed, heading for my bedroom. “Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad!” I chirped as I blurred past them.

  “Hey, pumpkin. Have fun?” my dad called to my back as I darted up the stairs.

  “Lots!” I shouted from the top of the stairs, already stripping out of my clothes so I had a precious few extra seconds in the shower.

  I showered as quick as humanly possible, being careful not to wet my hair, then headed to my bedroom, picking out tight jeans that I knew Will liked because the last time I wore them he’d barely been able to keep his hands off of my derrière. I grabbed a black tank top and a grey loo
se knitted sweater to go over the top. I ran a brush through my hair and put on fresh make-up, but to be honest I didn’t really need much. My face was already alight with excitement, my eyes shining. I sighed happily and headed downstairs to tell my parents I was going out.

  It was only just after twenty to four, I had managed to get ready in record time. I was actually a little proud of myself. I went into the kitchen; my dad was sitting there reading the newspaper, while my mom was starting dinner for tonight.

  “Hey,” I chirped, sitting on the spare stool next to my dad, hoping that they wouldn’t ask me what I was so excited about.

  “So you had fun at paintballing? I was expecting an irate call from Amy telling me I needed to come and collect you two from hospital or something,” my dad teased, bumping my shoulder with his.

  I laughed and shook my head. “Surprisingly, I managed to go the whole afternoon unscathed. Maybe my luck’s turning around?” I suggested. My luck definitely seemed to feel as if it was turning around to me. I had my dream guy, who was in love with me, great friends, great parents, and next weekend I was off to see Daniel Masters in concert. What more could a seventeen year old girl ask for?

  My mom smiled happily. “You’ll always be a klutz, Chloe, you were born one and you’ll die one,” she replied, sticking out her tongue at me.

  I laughed and nodded in agreement. I looked at her chopping up a mound of potatoes and suddenly realised she was probably cooking for me tonight, as well. “Mom, I’m going out for dinner tonight, is that okay?” I asked, praying she would say yes. My parents were pretty cool and easy going most of the time; hopefully this wouldn’t be the only exception to the rule.

  She shrugged. “Sure. Are you and Amy going somewhere nice?” she asked.