When Summer Ends (65 page)

He broke the kiss and smiled. He took hold of my wrist and
brought it up, examining my bracelet, playing with the little charm on it,
fingering it a little nervously. “This charm looks a little lonely,” he mused,
kissing the inside of my wrist, on my pulse point. My skin prickled with
pleasure at that one tiny little show of affection.

I smiled and brushed my free hand across his forehead,
sweeping the hair away from his eyes so I could see them better. “I like just
having that one charm on there. It’s perfect. A math symbol, from my math nerd
boyfriend,” I teased, laughing as he bit my wrist.

He put my hand in his lap and straightened up, looking at me
softly. “I actually bought you another charm to go on there too,” he whispered,
trailing his fingers over my wrist lightly, making my stomach start to flutter.

He’s bought me something else?
“You did? Will, you
shouldn’t have got me anything at all, this was already too much,” I protested,
shaking my head. I didn’t need him to spend his money on me at all. Not that I
didn’t love the bracelet, because I did, but I just didn’t need expensive
things from him.

He sighed and pulled back, fumbling in his jeans pocket. He pulled
something out, looking at it a little anxiously. I looked at the little black
velvet pouch that he had in his hand, he was playing with the rope like string
that held it closed at the top. I heard him gulp, and I started to get nervous.
Will is never like this, he’s always so confident, why is he so flustered
all of a sudden?

I was just about to ask him what was wrong, when he took my
hand and turned it over, palm facing upwards. He untied the string, tipping the
bag up into my hand.

Out fell a miniature gold diamond ring, a charm for my bracelet,
but it was a ring one.

My mouth dropped open. It was beautiful. “Will, that’s…” I
trailed off, my eyes filling with tears again.

He seemed to take a deep breath as he picked up the little
charm, fiddling with the little clasp that was attached to it. “I wanted to get
you this because… well, it’s kind of like a promise ring, and I was wondering
if you would wear it?” he asked, his voice a little husky and croaky. He was
looking at the charm, seeming to be avoiding my gaze.

A promise ring? What’s that supposed to mean?
“A what?”
I chewed on my lip and bent my head slightly so I could see his face better.
When I saw his expression I felt even more confused. He looked terrified,
genuinely scared for some reason.
What am I missing here?

He gulped again, lifting his gaze to meet mine again. “A
promise ring. Like, I promise one day to replace that ring, with a real one.
It’s like a commitment, but without the title,” he explained. “I love you,
Cutie, I’ll always love you, and if things were different, if you were older
and not my student and things were easier, then that wouldn’t be a promise
ring, it’d be the real thing.” His beautiful eyes were searching mine, looking
for some sort of response.

Wait, is he talking about an engagement ring? If things
were different, he would be giving me an engagement ring? Oh my gosh, what the
heck do I say to that? That is so freaking romantic!

“Really?” I muttered, looking from him to the little diamond
ring charm that he put back into the middle of my palm.

He nodded. “Really,” he confirmed. “Will you wear my ring,
Cutie? I just need you to know how serious I am about you. I want to spend my
life with you, Chloe, and one day, when you’re least expecting it, I’ll replace
this little charm, with a ring that goes on your finger. All I want from you
tonight is for you to tell me that if I asked you at some point in our future,
that you’d consider making me the luckiest guy in the world.”

Holy cow, he’s seriously thinking about us getting married
at some point in the future! He said ‘our future’; I love those two words
together. Not my future, or his future, but ours.
My head was spinning a
little, my heart crashing against my ribs. My whole body was alight with
excitement as I nodded, grinning like an idiot. “I’d love to wear your promise
ring,” I accepted, trying not to let the ridiculous happiness that I felt
inside, burst from me.

Before I knew what happened he’d jumped up to his feet and
pumped the air above his head with both hands. “Yessssssssssssssss! Score! Come
on, get in!” he shouted happily as if this was some sort of football
celebration. I was almost expecting him to pull his shirt over his head and run
around singing ‘We are the champions’.

I burst into a fit of giggles at the sight of my supposedly
mature teacher, almost dancing on the spot as he grinned like an idiot. He
didn’t even look embarrassed to have been caught doing it.

“You’re a dork,” I teased around my giggles.

He grinned and nodded, plopping himself back down in front
of me, his eyes still dancing with excitement. “Yeah, but this dorky math nerd
just got the girl of his dreams,” he replied, smirking at me.

I literally threw myself at him, wrapping my arms tight
around his neck as I pressed my forehead to his. I didn’t know what to say. What
words could I use to describe this feeling? I didn’t know enough superlatives
to describe it. So I settled for three little words, hoping they would convey
my feelings.

“I love you.”

He kissed me softly, his hands cupping my face. “I love you
too,” he whispered against my lips. I shivered, but it wasn’t from the cool air
or the wind that whipped my hair around our faces.

I pulled back and opened my hand, holding the little charm
out to him. “You gonna put it on for me then?” I asked quietly.

His smile got even bigger as he clipped it onto the opposite
side of the bracelet to the little Pi symbol. “You’re mine now,” he bragged,
smirking at me.

I laughed, deciding to steal a line from a movie. “Will, you
had me at hello. I’ve always been yours.”

He sighed happily. “And you always will be.”

We sat on the cliff top for a while, just talking and
sipping champagne. Listening to the little music player that he’d brought up
here. As the sun started to go down over the town. I watched in awe as the
colours danced in the sky, making everything look beautiful. I kind of wished
I’d brought my new camera from the car so I could take a few photos of it.

Will was still facing me, his back to the sunset. “Why don’t
you sit over here next to me, you’re missing the view,” I suggested, patting
the blanket next to me.

He smiled. “I’m looking at the most beautiful thing here.
The view can’t get any better than this,” he replied, his eyes raking over my
face slowly.

Oh my days, that was amazing!
“Cheesy,” I breathed.
My heart was beating way too fast to be healthy.

“Truthful,” he countered, moving closer to me slowly. He
moved so close that I had to lie down onto my back. He hovered above me but
didn’t touch me.

I swallowed loudly. His proximity was making me lose all
coherent thoughts. “Corny.”

A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth that I longed to
trace with my fingertip. “Romantic.”

He was so close now that I could feel the heat of his body
coming off of him in waves, my brain was a little fuzzy, I couldn’t think of
anything to say at all. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he inched his
mouth closer to mine. He was so close that I could almost taste the champagne
on his breath as it blew across my lips. He hovered above me, just looking into
my eyes as if we were the only two people in the world.

“You win,” I whispered, guiding his mouth closer to mine.

He laughed quietly. “Always, because I have you. Therefore
I’ll always be the winner.”

Jeez, can this guy blow my mind anymore?
I knew the
answer to that question though, and the answer was heck yes he can. I tightened
my arms around his neck. “Will, make love to me now.” My voice was breathy and
husky because of the emotions and feelings that were crashing through my body.

He smiled and traced his fingertips across my cheek softly.
I knew he would be tracing the line of my blush; he always seemed to take pride
in the fact that he caused that reaction in me. “Now that would be my
pleasure,” he teased.

He smiled before he bent his head and captured my lips in
the most beautiful kiss I had ever felt in my life. That one kiss conveyed so
much feeling, so much love, and so many unspoken words that I could hardly even
cope with it. The feel of that kiss almost brought me to tears again. But he
didn’t stop there, that one kiss was followed by another, and another as he
made love to me. Neither of us paid any attention to what was sure to be a
beautiful sunset that was happening behind us.

Chapter Forty

As soon as the doorbell rang Amy jumped up, grinning like a
fool. She was ridiculously eager for tonight. She was wearing a sexy, yet
classy, blood red dress that fitted her perfectly and showed off her long legs
to perfection. Her face was alight with excitement, her eyes shining with glee.
I smiled too, not because I was looking forward to tonight, but because she
looked so happy. Tonight was going to be a long night for me. Tonight was Prom
night. It should have been a night for celebration, I should have been bursting
with excitement just like Amy, but instead I dreaded it. The reason? Because I
couldn’t go with the one I wanted to go with. There was no possible way that I
could go to the dance with Will. So instead I was going with his brother. I
hadn’t wanted to go at all because I couldn’t go with him, but both Will and
Amy had insisted that it was part of the ‘rite of passage into womanhood’ or
something, so they were literally forcing me to go.

Will had volunteered to chaperone the prom. Apparently he
said that he wanted to be there for me, even if he couldn’t actually ‘be there
for me’. He said he wanted to be part of it in some way even if he just had to
stand on the sidelines. Plus he said he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see
me in my prom dress.

I forced a smile and stood too, smoothing down the skirt of
my knee length, strapless electric blue dress. The black netting that sat over
the top of it was soft under my fingertips. I silently wondered what Will would
think of my dress, and if he would like it. He would probably like the little
black lacy belt that tied just under my cleavage. It did draw the eye to that
area.

“That’ll be Ryan and Nick,” Amy chirped, clapping her hands
excitedly.

I nodded, and we both headed out of the lounge and to the
door. Of course, my dad was already there, talking to both boys in hushed
whispers. I winced at Amy, praying that my dad wouldn’t scare Ryan away from
her by threatening him with disembowelment if he hurt her. Nick was of course
used to this kind of thing so he was just smiling at my dad patiently.

I discreetly waved over my dad’s shoulder, looking at Nick
in his tux. He looked incredibly handsome tonight. His date was a lucky girl.
He didn’t actually want to come tonight at all, but Amy and I had practically forced
him into it - if I had to subject myself to a school dance, then so did he.
We’d set him up with Jasmine, a cute little brunette that was a junior instead
of a senior. She was adorable, the quiet artsy type.

Technically, my date was Sam tonight, but we had all agreed
that because we didn’t want Sam to meet my parents, that Nick would pick me up
instead and pretend he was my date. Will approved of the plan because
apparently he didn’t want Sam meeting his ‘future in-laws’ before he did and
‘tainting the Morris name’ for him. Sam’s brilliant response to that was that
the Morris name would already be tainted when they found out that I’d been
‘banging my teacher for a couple of months’. I smiled as I remembered the
conversation; it was actually pretty funny day and took place in front of his
parents who found the whole thing rather amusing.

When my dad stepped back and waved the boys into the
hallway, Nick grinned. “Hey, wow, you both look great,” he gushed. I smiled,
and before I could answer he held out a large bunch of red tulips to me. I
gasped, looking at him with wide eyes.
Are they from him? What on earth…

“Er, thanks,” I muttered, taking them out of his hand and
casting an uneasy glance at Amy. She was too busy shooting Ryan the doe eyes to
notice my unease though. He stepped closer to me, smiling happily as he held
out a box that contained a little white bracelet corsage. My dad had
disappeared off to get the camera or something so I took my opportunity to quiz
Nick. “Are these from you?”

He shook his head quickly. “Nope. Will asked me to give them
to you. And I’m also supposed to tell you that you look beautiful and that he
hopes you have a nice time,” he replied.

My heart throbbed in my chest.
So thoughtful!
  I
sighed dreamily, but before I could respond my dad was back, my mom hot on his
heels as she gushed and praised how lovely everyone looked. We had a few photos
done and then we finally escaped into the chill night air.

It was a little early to be picked up, it was only just
after seven, but we were going to dinner first apparently. As we stepped out of
the door, I looked with wide eyes towards the road. Parked there, all shiny and
long, was a black limousine. I looked back at Nick, shocked. I was told Ryan
was driving tonight, I wasn’t expecting a limo. “Seriously? A limo?” I gasped.
Amy squealed as she saw it too.

Nick smiled and leant in close to my ear. “Will ordered it,”
he whispered.

Gosh damn, he’s incredible!
My eyes prickled with
tears because of how much thought had gone into tonight - but yet he wasn’t
even the one that was taking me. Amy grabbed my hand, and we both ran across
the grass to the waiting limo. A man in a black uniform opened the door for us,
smiling happily. As I climbed in, the first thing I spotted was Sam. He was
stretched out on the back seat, looking the picture of ease as he sipped orange
juice from a champagne flute. He grinned over at me, his eyes raking down my
body as I clambered awkwardly into the car and plopped down next to him.