“Jack!” She jumped up, nearly knocking over the table. Blushing from head to toe, she hugged him. “What are you doing here? Sit down, umm, this is Liam Anderson.” She winced, waiting for the explosion.
Jack sat down, laughing at her. He shook hands with Liam who looked completely terrified at meeting the famous older Parkhurst. “I remember you. You’re in South Tower?” Liam nodded dumbly.
“I did tell you I would try to drop by for your birthday,” Jack explained, his eyes still twinkling on an uncomfortable Ellie. “Alex told me you were here.”
“I’ll get some more drinks,” Liam said, standing quickly. “Let you see your brother properly.”
“He seems alright,” Jack commented, watching Liam walk away. “I guess I don’t need to worry about Alex’s last email full of angst that you were getting involved with Nate Naverly?”
Ellie shook her head, unsure what to say.
“That’s him at the bar isn’t it?” Jack continued and Ellie nodded.
“And that would be Brenner beside him? You know the girls in my year used to call them ‘Hell’s Angels’. Apparently because they have both the names and the faces of Angels, but the souls of Devils.” He smiled at the joke. “He must be 16 or 17 now?”
“Yes, I suppose so.” Ellie got a stubborn look on her face. “I don’t know what Alex told you, but if you think you have any right…” Her voice trailed off as Jack held his hands up in mock surrender.
“Don’t look so worried, Ellie, it was just a social call. Anyway you look like you have your hands full of Liam Anderson. Let’s have a birthday drink and then I should be on my way; I’ve got a long drive up to Manchester this afternoon.”
Ellie looked downcast that he was leaving so soon.
“Cheer up brat. I’ll be back here for Christmas, don’t forget. It’s only a short term.”
Poor little Ellie, he thought. Actually not so little Ellie; she was 15 now. He wondered if he ought to say something sensible about boys. Not that she would listen, he thought; she’d already had a few boyfriends. He hadn’t approved, but at least it had all seemed fairly innocent. Until now. Openly kissing in the pub! He wondered whether to threaten Anderson about not taking it any further than that.
He looked at her, trying to assess how boys her age saw her. She had inherited the same Parkhurst good looks that he had. Her eyes were the same golden brown, framed by thick dark lashes, but she wore her chestnut hair long, with a straight fringe over her eyebrows. Her bow mouth was also just like his, but much more feminine.
Alex could be quite good-looking too, he mused, but his looks were less obvious as he wore glasses and kept his hair far too neat.
“Try to stay out of trouble, won’t you?” he said, sounding like their dad.
Ellie attempted a smile. “There isn’t nearly as much trouble to find without you here to cause it,” she countered.
“Pleased to hear it.” He chucked her under the chin.
Ellie was really glad to see Jack and for some reason it mattered that he hadn’t tried to forbid her to date Nate. Not that there was any chance she was going to, but his reaction had crossed her mind late at night when she had briefly considered it and knowing he didn’t seem to mind somehow made her feel lighter and happier.
After Jack left, Ellie and Liam went back up to the school. She wanted plenty of time to get dressed up for the school Halloween dinner; after all, it was also her birthday, so she had a good excuse for making a special effort. It wasn’t remotely because she was hoping to impress anyone with her sexy black dress; at least, that’s what she kept telling herself.
***
Nate sat at the West Tower table and watched Ellie walk in for dinner. She was wearing a long black dress. He wasn’t sure he had ever seen her in a dress before, though he supposed he must have as the girls often wore dresses for the Halloween dinner every year. It gave her some curves that her school uniform didn’t. She was also wearing lipstick and her chestnut hair seemed to glow in the candlelight that the school had laid on for the occasion.
He found he was cracking his knuckles under the table like a cave man.
That scene in the pub today had thrown him. She hadn’t even seen him; she had been too busy sucking face with that idiot Anderson. She wasn’t pining for his attention; she hadn’t even noticed him. Then her brother had come in and he had hoped Jack Parkhurst was going to be angry at her public display of affection. In fact, he’d expected Jack to put Anderson through the wall, but no luck there. Still, he was glad it wasn’t him that had been caught kissing her though; Jack might have left Compass Court, but you still wouldn’t want to get found compromising his sister.
On the plus side, Alex was being friendly again and had persuaded Nate to come and sit at their table for dinner. He wasn’t sure why he had agreed. It was masochistic if Ellie was bringing Anderson and it was against his plan to be aloof until the right time. But then the plan was clearly not working, which stumped him a little; it always worked.
Ellie had indeed invited Liam Anderson to join the West Tower table. Alex called her over and she sat down opposite him. With a polite smile at Nate she pulled Liam down next to her so he was sat directly in front of Nate.
As dinner unfolded, Nate began to rethink his notion that it wasn’t working.
He watched from the corner of his eye for all the small signs. Ellie wasn’t looking at him, but she was deliberately not looking at him. She let Liam whisper in her ear, and laughed and smiled up at him, but Nate noticed that when he tried to put his hand on her knee she shoved him away without really noticing.
Nate began to smile to himself.
It was for his benefit; it was all for his benefit! She didn’t have strong feelings for Anderson at all. What a player! She had very nearly fooled him into thinking she was just as indifferent to him. He had to give her credit for matching him in the game.
But it had made him jealous just the same and it wasn’t a game he wanted to continue any more. Somewhere along the way his feelings had become involved. He couldn’t remember that ever happening before. He didn’t want her to be with anyone else.
Maybe the time had come for a change of tactics. Maybe it was time to get more up front and personal.
Chapter 10
On Wednesday afternoon Ellie had History. It was half past three when the lesson ended and she felt completely confused. She couldn’t seem to get the kings and queens in any kind of order. She turned, sighing, to put her book back in her bag and found Mrs Marsh at her elbow.
“Still struggling, Ellie?” her teacher asked kindly. Ellie nodded; she liked Mrs Marsh, but really didn’t enjoy the class much. She had been fine with the War of the Roses, but now she was lost.
“You know if it carries on this way you won’t even get a C grade,” the teacher continued. Ellie nodded again dejectedly.
“Did you know that Nathaniel Naverly recently sat the entrance exam for Oxford University? A whole year early. They’ve offered him an unconditional place to study History regardless of how well he does in his A levels.”
Ellie looked suspicious. Was Mrs Marsh part of the conspiracy that everyone seemed to be in on to talk about how wonderful Nate was all the time?
“So how about a little extra tutoring?” the teacher continued. “Nathaniel mentioned that the two of you were friends and that he would be happy to give you some tutoring if you could join him on Thursday evenings?”
Ellie was dumbfounded. Nate had suggested it? How did he even know she was failing History? He had told the teacher they were friends? Why?
Ellie found herself nodding to Mrs Marsh’s suggestion.
The teacher smiled. “Well that’s great, Ellie. I have no doubt Nathaniel could help you scrape your grade up to at least a B. He has special access to the History books in my classroom after Prep time. I’ll add your name for a late pass on Thursday evenings for the next few weeks and you can let me know how it goes, alright?”
Ellie nodded again, still too surprised to know
how to take it.
On Thursday at breakfast, lunch and dinner she had tried to catch his eye, but he seemed oblivious to her. She had even tried to stop him for a quick word in the hall, but he hadn’t seemed to even hear her and had carried on talking and laughing with his friends as they swept out of the door.
That evening, as she stood once again in front of the mirror, she looked at her own confused reflection and tried to work out what his game was. Why would he want to tutor her? He was smart and had probably worked out what her game was, and he was a total player himself so he was probably playing it back. That would make sense. Yet Nate had pretty much ignored her for the past couple of weeks. He had stopped taking any interest in her or playing any games. He had seemed to forget she even existed, which was fine, as until this year she hadn’t existed as far as he was concerned.
But this year she had exerted herself to come to his attention. Not because she had a crush on him, she reiterated to herself firmly! But because she didn’t trust him and didn’t want him near Rose.
Is that really the reason you don’t want him near Rose? her inner voice whispered.
“He’s bad news!” she said out loud to her reflection. Why didn’t she seem to care about that?
He’s so gorgeous, whispered the annoying inner voice.
Yes, but so is Liam and several other people who are much nicer! her sensible mind answered back.
So why don’t you want them? Why don’t they make you feel like he does?
Shut up!! she almost shouted in her head.
Who was she fooling? Only herself. She was clearly a sucker for a bad boy. When had she fallen for him? How had it happened without her noticing? The whole point had been to make him fall for her, not the other way round. No, the point had been to get his focus off Rose and it had worked. But he was clearly much better at matters of the heart than her; she had ended up being the one who had fallen for him. In a big way.
Now she admitted it to herself, she realized she wanted him badly and only him. There had been moments when she had felt like she was winning their flirting game. When she had turned up at the Halloween dinner, she really thought she was getting under his skin for real, but now she accepted she was probably the loser.
But at least he didn’t know; she could never let him know! She still had her pride and she could hide her heart beneath it forever if necessary. Oh well, might as well make the most of getting some time alone with him.
She applied her make-up with particular care that night. She was getting rather good at perfecting the ‘I look great, but I don’t look like I’ve made an effort’ style of subtle make-up. Although it was officially a History lesson, she also decided that as it was after hours she would dispense with school uniform and instead went in jeans, trainers and a long sweater which constantly slipped off one shoulder, giving that ‘I didn’t mean to look sexy it just keeps slipping’ sort of skin appeal.
***
Ellie was bending over, looking at the books on the lower shelves when Nate came in to the History classroom. He stopped in the dark doorway for a few moments to admire her bottom before coughing to making his presence known.
“Nate! You made me jump.” Ellie began to edge behind a table. “I don’t understand why you told Mrs Marsh we were friends. Why have you invited me here? What’s really going on here?”
“History is what is going on here,” Nate replied smoothly. “And I thought we were friends? We’ve chatted a few times, even sent the odd email; what a swamp of a mind you must have to think it’s anything more.”
His eyes were full of humor as he teased her and she began to smile back, relaxing slightly. Though not too much; it was not going to be a good idea to let her guard down.
“I’m quite serious about History, though, and I really am going to teach you,” he continued. “Put your books away. What you really need is to be familiar with the real people.”
Ellie watched as he pulled up two chairs side-by-side at a table and laid out a huge Royal family tree; each important name had a portrait illustration beside it.
“Sit down. You can’t see anything properly from over there.” Ellie looked at the chair next to Nate and her heart thumped in her chest. She sat down, shifting slightly away from him, but Nate just laughed and dragged her chair a little closer.
“I’m not going to bite you! Well, not yet anyway,” he said suggestively. “But you do need to be able to see. Come on, snuggle in.” She elbowed him hard in the ribs in response, but leaned closer. They sat side-by-side, looking at each other for a few moments before Nate began to speak.
“You need to know every king and queen personally. They all have a story of their own. You need to know each of them like an old friend so you can spot their face in a crowded room.” As they both looked at the family tree, he began to tell her the story of Edward II. How he had spent lots of money on pleasure and paid no attention to the country. How Robert the Bruce had defeated him at Bannockburn and how in desperation his own wife, Isabella of France, had successfully led an invading force against him to put their son on the throne instead.
He was full of humorous anecdotes about each king and Ellie soon found that she could pick them out much more clearly the longer she looked; she could remember which was which by the stories.
“Do you know,” Ellie said at last, stretching and surreptitiously moving a little closer. “I’ve learned more in the last couple of hours than I have in four years of History classes!”
“Last couple of hours?” Nate waved his wrist at her. “It’s past midnight.”
“You’re joking? How did the time go so fast? We only had a pass from nine until ten-thirty.” But she still didn’t move.
He rolled up the large document in front of them and leaned on his elbow, looking directly at her.
“The old adage about time flying when you’re having fun might apply here?” he suggested.
“Are you having fun, Ellie?” He traced his finger across her cheek and it seemed to pleasantly burn where he touched her. She looked back at him, eyes wide, and was lost for words.
They continued to look at each other for several seconds and she was sure he was about to kiss her.
At that moment he froze and lifted his head to listen to the sound of someone coming along the dark corridor.
“Shit! It’s probably the caretaker,” he whispered, looking frantically round for somewhere to hide.
Grabbing her hand, he pulled her swiftly away from the desk and over to the stationery cupboard in the corner. He tried the handle and was surprised when it opened.
Bundling her in, he pulled it almost shut, careful not to let it lock closed behind them, and they stood silent in the darkness with just a crack of light showing through the gap in the doorway.
She was acutely aware of his closeness. They had very little room and their breathing seemed suddenly very loud.
It was the caretaker. He moved into the History room, mumbling to himself, “Was sure there was something, someone, bloody kids.” They heard him moving around and then suddenly the light went out in the room, plunging the stationery cupboard into almost pitch black. They heard that sound of the door to the room closing again and then a key being turned in the lock.
Ellie made a move to get out of the cupboard, panicked that they might be locked in the room for the night, but Nate kept a firm grip on her arm.
“Don’t worry, Mrs Marsh gave me a key,” he said, reading her thoughts.
The sounds of the caretaker’s footsteps receded down the corridor and Ellie again pushed at Nate. He let the cupboard door swing open and moonlight streamed in from the long windows of the room that looked out onto the courtyard.
“I think we should wait for a minute,” he said, keeping his voice low. “You know how sneaky he is; he might have suspected we were here and just hoped to give us a scare before coming back.”
Ellie nodded. She didn’t care; all she was aware of was her hand now on his chest, his whole body presse
d against the side of hers. They didn’t have an awful lot of room in the cupboard and even if she backed up there was nowhere to go, just rows of shelves behind her. He pressed a little closer and she could feel something hard nudging her hip as he smiled wickedly down at her.
They both looked up as a shooting star crossed the sky outside the windows. So close it blazed a trail of gold.
“Make a wish,” instructed Nate. Ellie closed her eyes and wished silently inside her head.
“Granted,” he whispered, as he bent his head and brushed his lips across hers. Then he lifted his head, giving her a chance to escape if she wanted.
She didn’t want to. She didn’t move; just continued to look at him, waiting.
“God, Ellie,” he groaned. “You have no idea what you do to me.” He put his arms around her and bent his head again. She opened her mouth and he kissed her deeply.
She felt like she had been waiting forever for his kiss. All those weeks of flirting and games, all leading to this one moment.
Her heart beat wildly, her brain turned to mush and every bone in her body was yearning to get even closer to him.
His hands snaked under her jumper and explored the bare flesh it found there. She murmured in pleasure and her own hands sought out the belt of his jeans. She began to tug it open, still kissing him passionately. She wanted, needed, more. Abruptly Nate pushed away from her.
“No, love,” he said gently. “Not like this; not for you and me.”
Ellie was completely lost. Dazed by lust and confused by emotion. Didn’t he want her? Wasn’t he trying to seduce her? Had he just called her his love?
Nate leaned against the wall and did his jeans and belt back up. Then he put one finger under her chin, tilting her head up to look him in the eye.
“You and me, we’re going to take it slow, okay?” he said firmly. She nodded.
“But you’re my girl from now on. No dating other boys, got it?”
He did want her! Ellie felt giddy with relief and flushed with confidence.
“I’ll think about it,” she said cheekily.
The Flirting Games (The Flirting Series - Young Adult) Page 5