When Summer Ends (23 page)

“Want some popcorn or something?” he asked, grinning.

I shrugged. “Sure, if you do. I’ll buy though because you
paid for dinner.” He rolled his eyes at me and pulled me towards the
concessions stand, pulling out his wallet to pay even though I just said I
would.

The rest of the night was better than the start of it. Olly
draped his arm over the back of my seat but didn’t make any other moves to
touch me which I was grateful for. He kept stealing little glances at me
through the movie, I saw him a couple of times from the corner of my eye.

When the movie ended I felt sick. A car ride home with him
meant that he was going to kiss me; the date probably looked like it was going
well from an outsider point of view. He probably expected to kiss me at the
door at the very least. Amy nodded in encouragement as we said our goodbyes in
the parking lot.

I chewed on my fingernails we walked to his car. He was
still holding my other hand; his thumb drew little patterns against my palm as
the silence seemed to overwhelm both of us. I smiled gratefully as he opened my
door for me.
And he’s gentleman too on top of being a sweetheart.

We talked about the movie on the way home, telling each
other our favourite parts. That seemed to fill the awkward silence that was
lingering in the air. When we pulled up at my house I looked over at him
nervously, only to see that he was already getting out of the car. He jogged around
to my side and opened the door for me, while I just sat there wondering what on
earth I was supposed to say.

Does he think I’m going to invite him in or something? Is
that why he got out of the car? Wow, did he not get enough of my dad earlier
that he wants to come in and see him again?

“Olly, I can’t invite you in,” I mumbled, looking between
him and the door nervously.

He laughed and shook his head. “I was just going to walk you
to the door.” He took my hand and practically dragged me up the path to the
front door. I felt sick. My heart was beating way too fast in my chest. At this
rate I was likely to have a heart attack before he kissed me.

“I had a good time, thanks,” I muttered, still a little lost
for words.

He smiled and nodded. “Think I could take you out tomorrow?”
he asked, looking at me hopefully.

For once I was grateful that I already had an excuse so I
didn’t have to think of one. “I can’t tomorrow, I already have plans all day,
sorry.”

He looked a little disappointed, and I instantly felt guilty.
I hated to upset people, which was usually why I ended up doing things that I
didn’t want to do all the time, because I had trouble saying no.

“Oh, that’s okay… I guess I’ll see you Monday at school. We
could have lunch together or something?” he offered nervously.

Oh sugar lumps, another date. Well, kind of another date.
I wanted to say no, I wanted to push him back to his car and tell him that I
was totally crazy about my teacher. But all I could see was Amy’s face when she
said I needed to try and move on, and Miss Teller’s face as she flirted with
Will, and their little trips home and to school together everyday this week.

I took a deep breath and swallowed the immense doubt that I
had in my mind as to whether I was ready for this. “Sure, lunch sounds nice,” I
agreed, trying to sound more confident than I felt inside.

He grinned. “Great!” he chirped. “Well, night then, and
thanks for a great night.” He stepped a little closer to me. I resisted the
urge to slap his face as he started inching closer towards me.

Oh crap, just do it, Chloe, move on already and stop
comparing him to Will. Will’s moved on, so should you!

Olly’s lips pressed against mine for a couple of seconds,
and in that moment, I felt nothing. No heat, no sparks, no passion that seemed
to run through every vein. Nothing. It was a nice kiss, soft and sweet, but it
just didn’t do anything for me. It obviously did something for him though
because he pulled back and grinned like he’d won the lottery or something. I
forced a smile in response.

He nodded back to his car. “I should get going then.”

I smiled and laughed. “Yeah my dad’s probably watching from
the window so he’ll be out here in a minute or two,” I joked, laughing as he
flinched and flicked his eyes to the window nervously. “I’m kidding. I’ll see
you Monday.”

He laughed sheepishly and shook his head. “Yeah, see ya.” He
turned and walked back to his car as I headed inside. Once I was in I leant
against the door and resisted the urge to cry. I actually felt like I’d just
cheated on Will, but that was just stupid because he didn’t want me. I sighed
and pushed myself away from the door heading to bed.

The next morning I rolled over and my hand slapped against
something hard. The hard thing grunted so I jumped a mile, a scream about to
rip its way out of my throat, until I saw Nick lying there sound asleep.
What
the hell is he doing in my bed?
I shook his shoulder roughly. He hadn’t
been there when I fell asleep last night.  

“Nick, what are you doing here?” I croaked. I settled back
down next to him, snuggling into his side and resting my head on his chest.

He yawned loudly. “Came to pick you up,” he muttered.

I frowned and titled my head so I could see the alarm clock.
It wasn’t even eight in the morning. He wasn’t supposed to be here until nine.
“You came to pick me up an hour early and then just decided to take a nap in my
bed?” I teased, laughing sleepily.

He smiled sadly. “I couldn’t sleep so I thought I’d come
over here early to see you. Your mom let me up here. You were still asleep so I
decided to let you sleep instead of waking you up. I must have fallen asleep
too,” he mumbled, rubbing at his eyes roughly.

I groaned.
He couldn’t sleep? I bet that’s code for ‘I
was upset about my mom and laid awake upset all night’.
I hugged him
tightly and pulled the sheets up around us tighter. “Go back to sleep, we don’t
need to go yet,” I cooed, setting my head back on his chest again and listening
to his lazy heartbeat.

He sighed, seeming to relax again as his arm wrapped around
me, stroking the back of my head. He was deep breathing within minutes while I
just laid there awake, trying not to cry because he was so sad. Today was the
day I needed to be the strong one. Today was the day where I needed to take
care of him and make sure he was okay, instead of the other way around like
usual. I closed my eyes and finally drifted off to sleep again too.

Two hours later and we pulled into the cemetery parking lot.
I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat on the drive over here. I
hated it here just as much as he did, but I couldn’t let him do this on his
own. I held his hand tightly as we weaved up the path heading to the back left
where she was buried. When we got there I stopped a few paces away and let him
put the flowers down on her grave. White lilies; her favourites.

I stood there quietly, waiting to see what he wanted to do.
Sometimes he wanted to stay for a while, but last time we came here, on her
birthday, he couldn’t stay more than a minute or so. He’d given her flowers,
and we had to leave because he couldn’t cope. Nick sighed deeply and sat down
on the grass near her headstone. I moved and sat down at his side, pressing my
body against his as I took his hand. His grip on my hand was tight as we just
sat there in silence, looking at the grave, while he said whatever he wanted to
say inside his head. After a little while I laid my head on his shoulder as his
hold on my hand tightened, and his body began to tremble.

“I can’t stay anymore,” he mumbled after about ten minutes.

“Okay let’s go,” I whispered, not trusting my voice to
speak. I wrapped my arm around his waist, clinging to him tightly as we walked
in silence to his car. “Want to go get something to eat?” I offered, looking at
his sad face.

He nodded and put on a fake smile. “I don’t really want to
eat anywhere out.” He shrugged; his whole posture was sad and upset. It made my
heart ache.

“Come to mine then,” I suggested, knowing he wouldn’t want
to go home and see his dad while he was upset; they kind of avoided each other
like the plague on sad days, with both of them coping on their own instead of
with each other. Nick smiled gratefully so we headed to my house.

While we were eating, Amy burst through the door - without
knocking as usual - and practically screamed my name as she skidded to a halt
in front of me. I looked between her and Nick, shocked.

What on earth is this about?
“Amy, what?” I cried as
she practically bounced on the spot in front of me. She had her hands clasped
together and the biggest smile on her face.

“So I was listening to the radio and guess what?” she
screeched, gripping my arm so tightly it was actually painful.

“Ow! What?” I asked, trying unsuccessfully to pry her
fingers from my arm.

“Daniel freaking Masters is coming to town!” she screamed
making my ears ring.

“Holy mother of… no way!” I gasped.

She nodded, still jumping on the spot. “Oh yeah and he’s
doing a private concert for fifty people! It’s in like a month, and you can win
tickets on the radio. They’re giving away two of them. All we have to do is
wait for one of his songs to come on, ring the radio station, be the tenth
caller and get the question right. They’re practically ours already!” she
screamed, clapping her hands and running over to the radio in the kitchen
turning it on full blast.

I looked at Nick apologetically, but he was shaking his head
in amusement. Maybe seeing Amy all gaga over a pop star was taking his mind off
of his mom. That was certainly a good thing. “Daniel Masters isn’t that good,
his voice is kinda screechy,” he joked, earning death glares from both of us
girls. Daniel Masters was the hottest singer around. Amy and I both had a
little obsession with him, in the best way of course, nothing stalkerish or
anything.

All three of us sat there playing cards for over an hour
before one of his songs came on. Instinctively Amy and I both dove for our cell
phones, calling the radio station. And even though he couldn’t stand Daniel
Masters, Nick pulled out his cell phone and tried to get through for us too.

I shoved the phone to my ear excitedly, but it was just
engaged so I hung up and tried again and again, but nothing. I glanced at Amy
to see a desperate expression on her face as she pouted, doing the same as I
was, just hitting redial over and over. When the song finished they brought
someone on to the line who, of course, knew that Daniel’s birthday was February
7th, so the silly girl won the tickets instead of us.

I growled in frustration and shoved my cell phone away from
me, pouting.

Nick laughed and shook his head, looking at Amy and I as we
both sat there sulking like little kids. “It’s not the end of the world, it’ll
be on YouTube,” he offered, shrugging.

Chapter Fifteen

My parents let Nick stay over that night. Of course we had to
leave the door open all night so they could hear if anything went on, and Nick
had to sleep on my bedroom floor, but they trusted us both to be in the same
room which was nice. They knew we were just friends and that I was still hung
up on Will so they let it pass because of his mom.

In the morning he drove us to school and I ignored the fact
that we pulled into the parking lot at the same time as the new hot teacher
couple. I held my breath as they walked up to the school chatting happily; it was
obviously going well for them. Will’s eyes flicked to me for a split second so
I smiled and pretended I was fine with it. He smiled back and held the door
open for his new little bed buddy to enter the school. As I walked up behind
them, he stepped to the side, holding the door open for me too.

“After you, Miss Henderson.” He smirked making my insides
melt.
Stupid insides, just get over him already!
I wanted to slap myself
and call myself names for still being under his spell when he had so obviously
moved on to bigger and better than me - well maybe not bigger but undeniably
older and sexier.

“Thanks,” I mumbled uncomfortably.

“Think I could have a word with you before class?” he asked,
cocking his head to the side looking cute as a button. I swallowed loudly and
nodded wondering what this was about. “Great. Come to my room with me.” He
nodded up the hallway so I waved goodbye to Nick, promising to see him at
lunchtime, and then followed Will up the hallway. I tried not to look at his
butt as we walked, but I failed my task miserably.

When we got there he unlocked his door and immediately
headed over to his desk, rummaging through his little bag thing that he’d
brought with him. I just watched him curiously wondering if he was going to ask
about how my date went on Saturday. I couldn’t think of any other reason for
him to want to speak to me. I’d done well all week with my project gaining an A
grade for the first time in calculus for the presentation that Tricia did on
Friday, so he couldn’t want to lecture me about that.

He turned back and smiled. I tried desperately not to smile
back, but it was so hard not to smile at the stupid guy. “Did you hear that
Daniel Masters is doing a concert next month?” he asked, looking at me
curiously as he perched on the edge of his desk.

I nodded. “Yeah I heard that on the radio on Sunday.” I
sighed sadly thinking about it again.

“You didn’t get tickets?” He had a sly smile on his face as
he asked.

I shook my head sadly and let my shoulders slump in defeat.
“Nope, sold out. We tried to win some from the radio because it’s an exclusive
concert, but we couldn’t get through.”

He nodded, chewing on his bottom lip, looking amused about
something. “What is it with that guy that you like? I mean, his music’s terrible.”